Dr. Barbara Ann Minerva

The Cheetah is a fictional character appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as a major recurring adversary and the archenemy of the superhero, Wonder Woman. The third Cheetah is British archaeologist Dr. Barbara Ann Minerva, born as the heiress to a vast fortune in her ancient family seat in Nottinghamshire, which is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. Ambitious, selfish and severely neurotic, Barbara develops a passion for archaeology that eventually led her to finance an expedition to find a tribe in Africa, which is said to be protected by a female guardian with the powers of a cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus). A band of marauders kill the guardian and most of the expedition party. Barbara, with the aid of a tribal priest named Chuma, the caretaker of the ancient plant god Urzkartaga, agrees to become the tribe's new guardian after being told that she would gain immortality. Her powers are conferred to her by ingesting a potion made from human blood and the berries and leaves of Urzkartaga, which gives her orange skin with black spots, a tail and claws, as well as superhuman senses and reflexes. Unfortunately for Minerva, the host of the Cheetah persona is intended to be a virgin. Minerva is not, so her transformations were part curse and part blessing, as she experiences severe pain and physical disability while in her human form and bloodthirsty euphoria while in her cat form.