Circe (character)

Circe is a fictional character appearing in DC Comics publications and related media. Based upon the eponymous Greek mythological figure who imprisoned Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey, she is a wicked sorceress and major recurring adversary of the superhero Wonder Woman. She has been presented variously since first appearing in 1949's Wonder Woman #37, though her characterization has consistently retained a key set of features: immortality, stunning physical beauty, a powerful command over sorcery, a penchant for turning human beings into animals (like her mythological antecedent) and often, a delight in humiliation.

Though she first appeared as a Wonder Woman villain, Circe would spend the next 43 years as an antagonist for other DC Comics heroes, such as Rip Hunter, the Sea Devils, and particularly Superman and Supergirl, for whom she was a persistent foil (and sometimes ally) throughout the late 1950s and 1960s. In 1983, at the tail-end of the Bronze Age of Comics, Circe would be returned to her roots as a member of Wonder Woman's rogues gallery, and would rise to become one of the hero's most significant Modern Age foes, appearing frequently in Wonder Woman stories throughout DC Comics' post-Crisis, New 52 and Rebirth continuities.

Circe has been adapted into several Wonder Woman and DC Comics-related animated TV and video game projects, in which she has been voiced by Michelle Forbes, Laura Post, Rachel York, and Anya Chalotra.

Circe first appeared with blonde hair and flowing red robes in 1949’s Wonder Woman #37, written by Robert Kanigher and illustrated by Harry G. Peter. Her first Silver Age appearance, with black hair and a yellow gown, saw her battle Rip Hunter in 1959’s Showcase #21, written by Jack Miller and illustrated by Mike Sekowsky. (On the cover of this issue, her hair was rendered as dark green and her gown white.) Three years later, Robert Kanigher, who had written the Wonder Woman story in which the Golden Age version of Circe first appeared, pitted her against the Sea Devils in Sea Devils #3, illustrated by Russ Heath. Here she was illustrated in a white gown and with green hair, just as she was on the cover of Showcase #21.

Also in 1962, Circe would begin to appear as a recurring character in Superman and Supergirl stories in Action Comics, Adventure Comics and Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane. In these appearances, which continued throughout the 1960’s, her hair was colored black and her gown pale pink, and she was depicted using a scepter to channel her magical powers. She was presented as a precarious ally of Superman and Supergirl, although one who occasionally lapsed into full villainy. She figured significantly in the origin and exploits of Comet the Super-Horse, a human-turned-animal character who was, somewhat alarmingly, presented as both a love-interest for Supergirl, as well as her pet and steed. Circe also expressed an unrequited romantic interest in Superman, which sometimes led her to rash and dangerous plots. She would reappear as an unambiguous villain, this time in a green gown, in 1972’s Justice League of America #102.

After appearing as an unidentified figure lurking in the shadows in 1983's Wonder Woman #302, Circe would return to battle Wonder Woman, getting a Bronze Age makeover along the way, in Wonder Woman #312-#313, written by Dan Mishkin and illustrated by Don Heck, followed by multiple appearances in Wonder Woman over the next two years. Heck’s rendering of Circe, colored by Nansi Hoolahan, composited several elements of her Golden and Silver Age designs, including the pink gown and scepter from her Superman and Supergirl appearances, and the flowing red robe from her 1949 debut. Now depicted with short-cropped auburn-red hair and allied with the treacherous Aztec god Tezcatlipoca, the Bronze Age Circe re-established the character as a weighty adversary for Wonder Woman, and would go on to reappear in 1985’s Who's Who in the DC Universe as well as Crisis on Infinite Earths, the 12-issue limited series that rebooted DC Comics’ continuity.

Circe would be re-imagined in June 1988, by creative team George Pérez and Greg Potter as part of their reboot of the Wonder Woman mythos. This version, with red irises, dark violet hair, and attired in a sultry green gown, would become one of Wonder Woman's principal Post-Crisis foes. With the goddess of witchcraft Hecate as her patron, Circe featured significantly in a number of Wonder Woman-related storylines throughout the Modern Age, including as the principal antagonist in DC Comic’s 1991 company-wide crossover event War of the Gods. Her look would be updated by illustrator John Ross in 1994’s Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #88, lightening her hair to lavender, and outfitting her in a revealing green bodysuit. Ross’s redesign accompanied a brassier, wise-cracking characterization by Christopher Priest which would be largely retained by future Wonder Woman writers, including Phil Jimenez, Gail Simone, Allan Heinberg and Greg Rucka. The Ross/Priest version of Circe had staying power and, with some design detours, remained the character’s central formulation until DC Comics’ 2011 continuity-reboot The New 52.

The New 52 Circe was introduced in 2011’s Men of War (vol. 2) #2, as a stoic nude temptress with blood-red hair and chalk-white skin, written by Ivan Brandon and illustrated by Tom Derenick. Going forward, Circe’s visual depiction would vary somewhat throughout the New 52, and into the subsequent DC Rebirth continuity reboot. Derenick’s white-skinned Circe was refined for 2016’s Trinity monthly series, adding actual clothes – a black corset and red skirt – and red braids. However, this depiction proved to be a deceptive glamour, as the post-Rebirth Circe apparently revealed her true countenance in 2016’s Wonder Woman (vol. 5) #20 in a story written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Bilquis Evely. In a surprising visual turn for the character, Rucka and Evely style Circe in contemporary clothes with a lesbian chic aesthetic. The short-cropped auburn-red hair of the character’s Bronze Age design returns, accompanied by a wardrobe of fitted blazers, sharp open-collared shirts and black jeans. Rucka also restores Circe’s irreverent, wise-cracking sense of humor, and obliquely suggests that the character may not be heterosexual.