History Characters / WonderWomanRoguesGalleryAToL

* TheCorrupter: Grail can infect and corrode the emerald energy of willpower emanated from the Green Lantern Rings, causing great harm and pain to the ring wielder.

* NothingPersonal: Diana points out that while attempts on her life may not be from any actual dislike on Maru's part, she quite understandably takes people trying to kill her and her friends ''very'' personally.

* DependingOnTheArtist: Circe's physical appearance in DC Rebirth varies wildly, from a green eyed woman with naturally shaded red hair and peachy skin to red eyed, chalked skinned woman with blood red hair. As goddess of magic she switches between a peachy skintone with purple eyes and fire on her head the flows like hair to chalk white skin with glowing orange eyes and hair that stands on her head like fire. Basically someone decided to give Circe a complete makeover for Rebirth, and someone else decided the only thing New 52 Circe needed in the transition was more modest attire.

* EvilCounterpart: Wonder Woman loves everyone. Circe hates everyone. Both are magical and mythological superwomen empowered by higher beings who strive to change the world with their beliefs and powers. However, Wonder Woman wants a peaceful world of kindness and virtue, whereas Circe desires a world of cruelty and depravity. Even their behavior marks the contrast of a MadonnaWhoreComplex perception seen against women.

* {{Pegasus}}: Bellerophon gifted Aegeus with the winged horse Pegasus.

* TheDragon: New 52 Nikos is the pawn of an unknown deity that wants him to kill Diana and replace her as a more worthy god of war, but is totally content with Diana killing him in self defense, believing it will lead to her [[ItGetsEasier becoming a more worthy god of war]]. Nikos becomes a SpannerInTheWorks simply by deciding to "help" Diana in his own, non lethalto her manner after coming to respect her.

* LivingWeapon: Genocide's only purpose is to be a weapon who can kill Justice League members if the need arises. [[GoneHorriblyWrong Unforntunatley]] Genocide herself only cares about identifying and erradicating certaint members of the human population, [[WhatDidYouExpectWhenYouNamedIt who'd have thunk?]] The only other interests she manages to develop are theft and torture.

* TheSpook: In DC Rebirth Genocide's a monster eerily similar to Wonder Woman no one knows the origins of, attempting to remove The Gargareans from their own island before Wonder Woman is forced to bury her there. Still, Genocide made enough of an impression for Warmaster to risk resurrecting her for another round on the island of the Amazons.

* DeathIsCheap: Though he has been killed on more than one occasion he never fails to reappear eventually. He has hinted that his "resurrections" are accomplished through [[CloningBlues cloning]].

->''"You had the chance to live for eternity as my caged specimens of your dead planet's life--and you chose to throw it away on a feckless moment of empty self-sacrifice which you would call...heroism."''

->''"You were not there. You can’t know. What this place was like before she, before the dragon, was born. "Paradise Island", we called it. And it was.& Since then, it’s been endless war and invasions and death and pain. And yet the Amazons still love her. Still see her as the helpless baby in the rain."''

->''"Glad you could rejoin us, my dear. You're just in time for my final act of sabotage in America...Perhaps my greatest blow for international freedom!"''

->''"I know why I am here. I lost everything...My humanity, my life, even the memory of my name...to be a tool for my father's hatred of Wonder Woman."''

->''“Ha ! My telescopic snow ray has caught Wonder Woman ! Even if she can get out of her plane, she’ll freeze to death instantly !”''

For tropes relating specifically to their Golden Age/Earth-Two iteration see their entry [[Characters/WonderWoman1942 here]].\\

->''" I be humbly sorry, your highness. But I could not allow you to be harming my most precious Madam."''

->''"The fools--thinking to stop the Crimson Centipede! All they have is one chance against my hundred!"''

The Silver Age Crimson Centipede was created by the God of War as a super powerful entity to plague Wonder Woman. He would rob banks to fund widespread criminal enterprises to undermine Wonder Woman's efforts to bring peace to Earth.

-->''“Back up ! I *can* control my power ! I just needed help for a minute.”''

->''"We both can't exist any longer ... I'm going to remove you from this world and take your place in the cosmic balance."''

-->''"How '''ironic''', Amazon - that this new '''refuge''' should become your '''final resting place!'''"''

->''"You can't fight somebody you care for...that you're afraid of hurting! Excuse me for crowing, Diana, but game...set...and match!"''

->''“The subject was a carrier. The virus will disseminate. The nightmare of myth shall invade the world of man. This is only the beginning.”''

->''"If I learned anything as a child...it's that you always need a backup plan."''

-->''"Ladies, gentlemen, others, creatures of indeterminate inner demons and fixations--My name is Dr. Psycho. And you're going to help me with a little experiment. All I ask? That you keep an open mind. "''

* DepravedDwarf: Stunted and twisted in both body and spirit summarizes Doctor Psycho pretty well. We're talking an evil midget who once [[spoiler: used MindControl to make a bunch of people commit cannibalism, an act that not only sexually aroused him, but inspired him to MindRape them by letting them feel his arousal as if it were their own and then let them go once he was bored]]. Even beyond that, he's defined by his hateful misogyny.

* PsychicPowers
** Dr. Psycho is a potent telepath which grants him ability to create astral projection, ectoplasmic conjurations, MindControl via hypnosis and illusions.

->''"There is nowhere for you to fly off to this time, is there Princess? No way for you to avoid...THIS?"''

->''"You are generous to me, noble Mars! Weak slaves are just the kind I desire--I can train weakling more easily to cheat their superiors!"''

->''"I know you have billions in gold--Reveal the secret of your hidden vault and I will arrange your escape!"''

->''"I draw the underworld in on itself...I crush you in my damp embrace...I draw my daughters back into my womb..."''

->''"And them execute them...gruesomely. She'll be tempted to some gesture. She'll come here, either in force or by stealth..."''

->''"But now, El Gaucho has shown the world that no one may stand in the way of the Cartel...not even a Wonder Woman!"''

->''"No. Only Genocide kills. Suffer! Do you see it? A thin grail of human blood! covering the earth!"''

->''"Wonder Woman’s bonds were subduing me, but now that I’m free, I’m savage again! With [my now] human brain, I’ll destroy this golden age of love and establish a new order – a rule by force!"''

->''"GLOP...GLOP...Here's "confetti" in your eye! My wonder Girl's in the sky!"''

->''" I was one of Odin's finest. A Valkyrie full of fire and strong mead. On a wager, I sought to discover--by myself--what the Jotuns were planning... And like a fool, I was captured... A victim of Groa's mad scheme to improve her race."''

->''"Wonder Woman may hhave caught me--But no jail in the world can hold the Human Tank! Ha! Ha!"''

->''"I despise your country, Robotman--and if slaying Britain's Prime Minister will help my homeland defaet her--then die he shall, though an army stood between us!"''

->''"You shouldn't tell me what to do. You tell me what to do and maybe I get so annoyed...I make these nice people turn there guns on themeselves."''

* MindControl: Thanks to her abilities related to creating hallucinations and her intelligence, Emma is able to manipulate people controlling their minds.

* PsychoPink: Her hair is dyed pink and she can be even more unstable than her father.

* BigBad: If somebody is screwing with Diana's life it will be one of Ares, Cheetah II, or Circe. She's been the mastermind behind ''Amazons Attack'', ''War of the Gods'', and more than a few other ugly little plots...though in Amazons attack she was revealed to be [[UnwittingPawn a pawn]] motivated by lies told by Granny Goodness disguised as Athena.

* ImmortalityImmorality: Circe is one of the oldest humans in the DC Universe, and is among the most dangerous. In the Post Crisis continuity all of villainy is initially motivated by the desire to stay alive indefinitely...though she does undergo MotiveDecay.

* FisherKingdom: Devastation is literally as strong and tough as the planet she happens to be residing on...though what that "literally" means depends on the writer. As long as Earth has a functioning ecosphere she doesn't even need to eat, but apparently still has to hold her breath underwater so she still has some level human respiration.

* ForcedTransformation: Her most common shtick is turning men into Bestiamorphs against their will. The level of consciousness she leaves the victims varies with her whims but they are forced to serve her and lose their human forms to become animalistic and monstrous, usually as MixAndMatchCritters but occasionally looking like an ordinary animal.

* WorldsStrongestMan: During the 1990s she discovers a spell that makes her "The strongest woman on Earth" but [[UnskilledButStrong still ended up getting her butt kicked]] by Diana. During the 2000s she discovers another but this time it "only" makes her Diana's physical equal. Nonetheless Circe harasses Diana while the latter is [[ReligiousBruiser observing]] in The Parthenon, goading Diana into a fight that Circe is [[DoNotAdjustYourSet broadcasting around the world.]] In the second instance Circe half expects to lose and is hoping that if she does she can at least discredit Wonder Woman by [[ThanatosGambit forcing Diana to kill her]], but Wonder Woman is still able to subdue Circe nonlethally.

* SelfFulfillingProphecy: In the Golden Age, Silver Age and [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1987 post-Crisis continuities]], Circe learns of a prophecy that Diana would be her undoing. In the Silver Age Diana ends up accidentally unmaking Circe's immortality while defending herself from the witch, something she'd have had no reason to do otherwise, given that Diana hadn't even ''approached'' Circe before she started attacking her. In The Post Crisis continuity it turns out the prophecy said ''nothing'' about Hyppolyta and that Circe merely misinterpreted it. Hecate warned Circe to watch for her death by studying the moon, but since Artemis has taken over the duties of moon goddess from the Titan Selene in Post Crisis and Hyppolyta's daughter is named after Artemis's avatar Diana, [[InsaneTrollLogic she conlcuded "Diana must die"]]. When Diana hears the prophecy she mainly thinks that Hecate will eventually leave Circe's body, not that Circe will suffer any terrible fate at Diana's hands, but Circe refuses to accept Diana's alternate hypotheses, and is eventually killed by Diana on accident while Diana is defending herself from ''Hecate'', who is trying to take Diana's body because The Titans have unexpectly entered Circe's engineered war between gods and Diana's stronger body offers better protection.

** On the Golden Age Earth Two, Hyppolyte banishes Circe to the "island planet" of Sorca, where Circe "can do no harm", to punish Circe for "crimes against humanity". Upon making her way back to Earth, Circe dedicates her life to destroying Hyppolyte's daughter.

* AdaptationalSkimpiness: On the Golden Age Earth Two Circe wore long sleeved leg covering gowns of many colors. On the Silver Age Earth One Circe tended to wear sleeveless gowns. Later in the Bronze Age the Earth One Circe wore a robe over her gown but still showed more skin than her Earth Two counterpart by switching to gowns that left left her legs bare. Post Crisis Circe wore less of a "gown" than a dress that was both sleeveless, legless ''and'' had a plunging neckline, [[ZigZaggedTrope however]] this Circe did tend to switch to a one shoulder unitard or sleeveless catsuit when it was time to do a physical activity, with the skimpy dress seemingly being [[SlouchOfVillainy her longue wear]]. Circe hit the ''height'' of this in New 52, where Circe tended "wear" nothing but a towel, and sometimes [[GodivaHair even less than that]].

* AmbiguouslyBi: Comicbook/DCRebirth Circe still shows interest in men, but is all but stated to be dominating lesbians in off panel bondage sessions and uneasy about the prospect of being on the other end of the ropes. This seems to be DependingOnTheWriter ''and'' DependingOnTheArtist, as these lesbian chic/dom elements seem to abruptly disappear and return at random otherwise.

* BadassInANiceSuit: As of ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' and as one can see in the page image above Circe seems to have gone in this direction, adopting a cream blazer/long coat, black leather slacks, and WaistcoatOfStyle ensemble paired with a bright red pixie cut. This is DependingOnTheArtist, however, as there is an equally strong push to give Rebirth Circe a more medieval or rennisance look with no instory indication that she's actively changing her appearance.

* DependingOnTheArtist: Circe's physical appearance in DC Rebirth varies wildly, from a green eyed woman with naturally shaded red hair and peachy skin to red eyed, chalked skinned woman with blood red hair. As goddess of magic she switches between a peachy skintone with purple eyes and fire on her head the flows like hair to chalk white skin with glowing orange eyes and hair that stands on her head like fire.

** She was also behind ''Amazons Betrayed'', being the betrayer to goaded the Bana-Mighdall into war with Themyscira with the lie she would give them control of the island while in reality planning to kill all the amazons in one fell swoop. Too bad Diana wasn't around.

* DragonAscendant: When Circe realizes Hecate has marked Wonder Woman in DC Rebirth Circe puts off her plan for sacrificing Diana in order to take Diana's mark and use it to take all of Hecate's power after Hecate'd body is disposed of in Upside Down Man's digestive system.

** When Circe learns Hyppolyta was killed by an Imperiex probe but that Imperiex himself has left she decides Diana's time of mourning is the ''[[KickTheDog perfect]]'' time to start slowly destroying New York while tauting Diana about undoing all of her hard work as an ambassador.

** Her Donna Milton diguise was a modestly dressed blonde, as Circe had been in DC's golden age.

* OfCorsetsSexy: When Wonder Woman takes Justice League Dark on a visit to Circe's keep Circe happens to be wearing a corset. By her outburst they were not the guests she had dressed up for.

* PracticallyJoker: This has been Circe's depiction from the 90s up until the 2020s, where still ''acts'' this way to some extent but it now ''just'' an act to diguise the fact she seriously scared of dying while a demon has her soul. In addition to being a StrawNihilist who enjoys spreading chaos, Circe also enjoys striking at Diana through her loved ones like the time when she brainwashed Vanessa Kapatelis into becoming the Silver Swan. During the 90s and early 2000s she was even depicted with purple hair and a green outfit, a visual inversion of the Joker's iconic look.

* AdaptationalWimp: In Homer's tales Circe was an island goddess. In DC Comic's she's consistently been a sorceress who ''convinced'' people she was a goddess before being exposed as less than. In the Post Crisis continuity, Hecate is a BenevolentBoss who grants Circe the power of a goddess by possessing her body but leaving Circe in full control, reducing this somewhat, but Hecate still warns Circe that she will ''[[WizardsLiveLonger eventually]]'' suffer a mortal's death and that Hecate will move on after it happens. In the Rebirth continuity Circe becomes a goddess by usurping Hecate.

* AmbiguouslyBi: Comicbook/DCRebirth Circe still shows interest in men, but is all but stated to be dominating lesbians in off panel bondage sessions. Needless to say she doesn't look forward to being on the other end of the ropes.

* BadassInANiceSuit: As of ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' and as one can see in the page image above Circe seems to have gone in this direction, adopting a cream blazer/long coat, black leather slacks, and WaistcoatOfStyle ensemble paired with a bright red pixie cut.

* BackFromTheDead: In the Silver Age Circe helps Nikos Aegeus resurrect long dead amazon warmonger Artemis in an attempt to kill Diana. Post Crisis, Circe opens the tomb of Drakul Karfang after Diana invoked The Gods Of Olympus to keep it sealed, being directly related to those gods and all.

* BigBad: If somebody is screwing with Diana's life it will be one of Ares, Cheetah II, or Circe. She's been the mastermind behind ''Amazons Attack'', ''War of the Gods'', and more than a few other ugly little plots...though in Amazons attack she was revealed to be TheHeavy motivated by lies told by Granny Goodness disguised as Athena.

* CorruptedCharacterCopy: Circe's stint as Wonder Woman served as a corruption of Winged Victory. Winged Victory was a character from a rival comic book company that cut back on the classical mythology and spy smashing of Wonder Woman to focus more on the mission to guide Man's World for the better. Winged Victory took particular interest in arresting men who targeted women, but Winged Victory was still a law abiding vigilante. As Wonder Woman Circe was a {{Hanging|Judge}} JudgeJuryAndExecutioner performing mass extrajudicial executions of male criminals.

** Post Crisis, after losing Hecate's powers and then failing to defeat The White Magician, Circe decides to sell her soul to Neron for more power. He actually takes away her power to turn women into other animals, but otherwise does seem to keep to his end of the deal.

* DemonicPossession: Post Crisis Circe is possessed by the goddess of magic Hecate, although this is {{subverted|trope}} in that Hecate allows Circe to retain full control of her body. The only "catch" is that Hecate won't be giving Circe this gift forever and will eventually leave, admitting to be ''really'' tempted by the much stronger body of Diana, though Hecate stays loyal to Circe until Circe's misuse of Hecate's powers cause her to attempt to flee to Diana's body to stop the unexpected reemergence of The Titans.

** Post Crisis, after Hecate willingly gives Circe her power by possessing Circe's body but allowing Circe full control of it, Circe eventually decides [[{{Greed}} she wants more]] and pits the various pantheons of gods existing in the Post Crisis DC Universe against one another in order to steal their powers as they weaken in battle. She also undoes a the immortality of a weakned Hermes, where some of Diana's gifts come from and uses this opporitunity to also end Diana by reverting her to clay.

* DragonWithAnAgenda: Rebirth Circe is the highest ranking servant of the goddess Hecate and recognizes Diana as someone Hecate has marked as needing alive. However, Circe's reasons for prolonging Diana's life are completely different than Hecates, as while Hecate wants Diana's body Circe means to ritualistically sacrifice it to a denizen of hell.
* DragonAscendant: When Circe realizes Hecate has marked Wonder Woman in DC Rebirth Circe puts off her plan for Diana in order to take Diana's mark and use it to take all of Hecate's power after her body is disposed of in Upside Down Man's digestive system.

** After Donna Milton accepts that she ''is'' Circe she attempts to help Diana and Artemsis fight The White Magician only to see her magic doesn't work on him. It's implied Circe is rusty from her time as "Donna" but she still ends up selling her soul to Neron for more power, after properly suppressing the "Donna" personality. To her displeasure, her forced beast metamorphosis powers no longer work on women.

* WholePlotReference: In addition to nods to the prophecies of the Golden and especially Silver ages, Post Crisis Circe's jealous desire to keep Hecate's inhabitation and power from Wonder Woman is a direct reference to Eddie Brock's jealous desire to kee Spider-Man from getting the Venom symbiote. Only Circe's jealousy is even less justified than Eddie's and [[SelfFulfillingProphecy Circe ends up driving Hecate to try and take Diana through her own actions]].

* WorldsStrongestMan: During the 1990s she discovers a spell that makes her "The strongest woman on Earth" but [[UnskilledButStrong still ended up getting her butt kicked]] by Diana. During the 2000s she discovers another but this time it "only" makes her Diana's physical equal. Nonetheless Circe harasses Diana while the latter is [[ReligiousBruiser observing]] in The Parthenon, goading Diana into a fight that Circe is [[DoNotAdjustYourSet broadcasting around the world.]] In the second istance Circe half expects to lose and is hoping that if she does she can at least discredit Wonder Woman by [[ThanatosGambit forcing Diana to kill her]], but Wonder Woman is still able to subdue Circe nonlethally.

* AdaptationalSkimpiness: On the Golden Age Earth Two Circe wore long sleeved leg covering gowns of many colors. On the Silver Age Earth One Circe tended to wear sleeveless gowns. Later in the Bronze Age the Earth One Circe wore a robe over her gown but still showed more skin than her Earth Two counterpart by switching to gowns that left left her legs bare. Post Crisis Circe wore less of a "gown" than a dress that was both sleeveless, legless ''and'' had a plunging neckline, however this Circe did tend to switch to a one shoulder unitard when it was time to do a physical activity, with the skimpy dress seemingly being [[SlouchOfVillainy her longue wear]]. Circe hit the ''height'' of this in New 52, where Circe tended wear nothing but a towel, and sometimes [[GodivaHair even less than that]].

* BadBoss: Consistly treats her Bestiamorphs like crap in every continuity.

* MonsterProgenitor: As indicated by her title, she birthed most of the most famous monsters of Greek Mythology.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Her DC Rebirth incarnation is clothed in a way that makes her humanity more obvious and looks more like a muscular athlete, less like a RockMonster(which she never ''literally'' was but nonetheless looked like). This is to somewhat differentiate Genocide from new character Armageddon II, who now looks like the inhuman rock monster.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Narratively speaking, Genocide is a darker, edgier [[SevenYearRule replacement]] for Devastation. Her story follows many of the same beats, such as beating Wonder Woman and turning a Wonder Girl against her, but while Devastation is a woman with a mission, a woman Wonder Woman is out to redeem, Genocide is a LivingWeapon Wonder Woman struggles to even humanise. Reformation is out of the question and Genocide has no mission beyond "kill", only slowing down on murder when she discovers joys of theft and torture.

* EyeBeams: Inherited her father's Omega Beams. Capable of injuring the likes of New Gods and destroy the unbreakable bracelets of Wonder Woman.

* RoguesGalleryTransplant: A Golden Age Wonder Woman villain who became a Justice Society Of America villain. While the Wonder Woman stories were published first, the Justice Society stories took place earlier chronologically. From an in universe perspective she started as a Justice Society foe but became an Wonder Woman enemy.

* StatuesqueStunner: Golden Age Gundra was the same height as Wonder Woman, so about five foot eight. Post Crisis Wonder Woman is four inches taller and still shorter than Post Crisis Gudra, meaning Post Crisis Gundra's over six feet tall, and still very good-looking.

* SuperStrength: Her strength above what is possible for an unmodified human. In the golden age how much so is variable by writer, being weaker than Wonder Woman and Superman being the only constants. Post crisis Gundra's strength is consistently comparable to Wonder Woman's.
* ThoseWackyNazis: Was originally summoned by the Nazis, and continues to espouse their ideals long after the end of WWII (which caused Odin to disown her, post crisis).

* AdaptationalDyeJob: On the Golden Age Earth Two Circe was a blonde. One the Silver Age Earth One her hair wavered between green and black, before settling on auburn towards the end of Earth One in the Bronze Age. Post Crisis Circe has purple hair. New 52 makes Circe's hair blood red, while DC Rebirth sometimes makes her hair a mix of red and purple but usually gives Circe natural shades of red hair, including making her auburn again.
* AdaptationalWimp: In Homer's tales Circe was an island goddess. In DC Comic's she's consistently been a sorceress who ''conivnced'' people she was a goddess before being exposed as less than. In the Post Crisis continuity, Hecate is a BenevolentBoss who grants Circe the power of a goddess by possessing her body but leaving Circe in full control, reducing this somewhat, but Hecate still warns Circe that she will ''[[WizardsLiveLonger eventually]]'' suffer a mortal's death and that Hecate will move on after it happens. In the Rebirth continuity Circe becomes a goddess by usurping Hecate.

* AmbiguouslyBi: Comicbook/DCRebirth Circe still shows interest in men, but is all but stated to be dominating lesbians in off panel bondage sessions.

* AntiVillain: Ares [[PetTheDog relents]] and tries to give Circe everything he thinks she wants with a place beside him as queen of Tartarus and a hand in raising their daughter Lyta as his wife. "One Year Later" Circe can't help but try to get Diana killed by enchanting her enemies to be smarter and or more powerful before finally deciding she can be a better Wonder Woman than Diana, stealing her powers, and proceeding to hunt down and kill criminals who traffic women. She ''almost'' crosses over into AntiHero, but Circe unfortunately becomes an unwitting pawn of the New God Granny Goodness, who disuises herself as Athena and convinces Circe that Ares stole their daughter Lyta away while she was busy harrassing Wonder Woman. This leads Circe to instigate "Amazons Attack".

* DemonicPossession: Post Crisis Circe is possessed by the goddess of magic Hecate, although this is {{subverted|trope}} in that Hecate allows Circe to retain full control of her body. The only "catch" is that Hecate won't be giving Circe this gift forever and will eventually leave, admitting to be ''really'' tempted by the much stronger body of Diana, though she stays loyal to Circe until Circe's misuse of Hecate's powers cause her to attempt to flee to Diana's body to stop the unexpected reemergence of The Titans.

** After losing her throne on Olypus, losing Hecate's powers, and having her banishment spell on the two amazon tribes undone by Wonder Woman, Circe [[VillainDecay settles]] on casting a memory charm on Hyppolyta and removing her from to island to subject the now clueless Themysciran amazon queen to the life of a domestic housewife out of spite. Diana eventually gets an antidote for this as well.

* ItAmusedMe: Written by Christopher Priest, Post Crisis Circe is to ruin Wonder Woman's mission and demolish the world of men because it's funny enough to make the inevitable backlash she gets WorthIt. Rebirth Circe ''claims'' to be playing super villain just to pass the time, but in the latter continuity she is lying and really out to sacrifce Wonder Woman to a demon, a demon she sold her soul to and wants to it back from.

* MythologyGag: The Post Crisis conflict between the two personalities, Circe and Donna Milton, is a throw back to Pre Crisis Wonder Woman stories where there was a conflict between Priscilla Rich and her alternate personality The Cheetah. Unfortunately for Wonder Woman Post Crisis Circe follows the path of the Golden Age Rich, where the criminal personality defeats the one who wants to reform and continues to antagonize Diana.

* MotiveDecay Okay so... why is she still trying to kill Wonder Woman? Sometimes it's because she hates the world of peace and equality that Diana wants to create, sometimes it's because she hates everything Diana stands for which she sees as lies and attacks her out of hate-filled cynicism, sometimes it's because of a prophecy she probably misheard about Diana being the one to finally kill her or do something else Circe wants to avert, sometimes it's because she thinks the Amazons stole her daughter, sometimes it's because she thinks that Wonder Woman doesn't do enough to stop the oppression of women despite the fact that directly contradicts one of the main reasons she gave for hating Wonder Woman's message of peace and tolerance during one of her {{Motive Rant}}s. Most of all her actions simply just revolve around her hating Wonder Woman and just wanting to watch her squirm. Best exemplified by her banter:

** On the Golden Age Earth Two comics Hyppolyte banishes Circe to the "island planet" of Sorca, where Circe "can do no harm" to punish Circe for her "crimes against humanity". Upon making her way back to Earth, Circe dedicates her life to destroying Hyppolyte's daughter.

* HorseArcher: New 52 makes his WeaponOfChoice arrows. This allows Diana, or rather Hephaestus, to investigate Aegeus's weaponry and determine just why this kid no one ever heard of has weapons that can kill gods.

* AmnesiacDissonance: "Donna Milton" ''hates'' Circe. When Diana finds out that they are one in the same and asks for Donna's ''help'' in saving Artemis from The White Magician Donna is offended Diana dare call her a criminal.

* AntiVillain: Ares relents and tries to give Circe everything he thinks she wants with a place beside him as queen of Tartarus and a hand in raising their daughter Lyta as his wife. "One Year Later" Circe can't help but try to get Diana killed by enchanting her enemies to be smarter and or more powerful before finally deciding she can be a better Wonder Woman than Diana, stealing her powers, and proceeding to hunt down and kill criminals who traffic women. She ''almost'' crosses over into AntiHero, but Circe unfortunately becomes an unwitting pawn of the New God Granny Goodness, who disuises herself as Athena and convinces Circe that Ares stole their daughter Lyta away while she was busy harrassing Wonder Woman. This leads Circe to instigate "Amazons Attack".

* AscendedExtra: While Wonder Woman had to deal with Circe on both the "Golden Age" Earth Two and "Silver Age" Earth One Circe didn't become a persistent problem after ''Crisis On Infinite Earths'', where screwing with Diana stopped being a means to an end and became an end unto itself.

* BiTheWay: DC Rebirth Circe still shows interest in men, but is all but stated to be enjoying being a "dom" in lesbian bondage sessions.

* AGodAmI: In ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueDark'' (vol. 2), she becomes the new Goddess of Magic of the DC Universe following the death of Hecate. Thanks in part due to her manipulations of events that led to Hecate's death that led to Circe inheriting her powers.

* BigBad: If somebody is screwing with Diana's life it will be one of Ares, Cheetah II, or Circe. She's been the mastermind behind ''Amazons Attack'', ''War of the Gods'', and more than a few other ugly little plots.

** She becomes the devil again in DC Rebirth when she promises to raise an army from "The Pandora Pits" in exchange for the servitude of Lex Luthor and Ra's al Ghul. Once a demon with Superman's head arises from the "pits" Lex decides [[ScrewThisImmOuttaHere he wants nothing more to do with Circe]] but Ra's al Ghul keeps serving her until he finds out "The Pandora Pits" are a portal to hell and that Circe is using him to get her soul back from a demon.

* EvilParentsWantGoodKids: She goes out of her way to keep Lyta away from her villainous activities.

* FantasticFruitsAndVegetables: The moly herb is adapted into DC comics with the rest of classical myth, and here it is typically used in making "antidotes" for those cursed by Circe.
* Feeling OppressedByTheir Existence

** Their modus operandi, as Wonder Woman is a truth seeker and spy smasher, while Circe is a deceptive chess master. Where Wonder Woman seeks to reform Circe seeks to transform for the sake of control or torment. Where Wonder Woman handles hostilities with striking, wrestling, tieing, even cutting if she has to, Circe prefers to have other people do those things for her, lay traps or cast spells from a distance if she has to get herself involved.

* FriendlyEnemy: Sometimes behaves this way towards Diana. Like many other things about Circe, this is [[DependingOnTheWriter dependent upon the writer]]. It stems from a a story where she wanted to get close to Diana, to ruin her, but to get around the lasso of truth Circe couldn't just change how just looked and sounded but also had to banish the feelings of hatred she had for Diana from her heart, mind and guts. While these did come back, some writers portray this as having [[GoneHorriblyWrong gone wrong]], with Circe unable to rid herself of genuine feelings of friendship she formed for Diana in the interrim, causing internal conflict within Circe.

* ImmortalityImmorality
** Circe is one of the oldest humans in the DC Universe, and is among the most dangerous. In the Post Crisis continuity all of villainy is initially motivated by the desire to stay alive indefinitely...though she does undergo MotiveDecay.

* MasterOfIllusion: It's not explored too often, as Circe is dedicated to fighting a spy smasher adept at spotting lies, who later gets a lie/illusion/falsehood dispelling weapon when Diana trades in the lasso of compulsion for the lasso of truth, and in some continuities Diana houses or becomes the outright spirit or goddess of truth. Still, Circe can change the appearance of her hair, clothing, body shape, the sound of her voice and even her scent at a whim. Sometimes ''just'' perceceptions, sometimes outright, if temporary, transformations.

* MythologyGag:

* PracticallyJoker: This has been Circe's depiction since the 90s. In addition to being a StrawNihilist who enjoys spreading chaos, Circe also enjoys striking at Diana through her loved ones like the time when she brainwashed Vanessa Kapatelis into becoming the Silver Swan. During the 90s and early 2000s she was even depicted with purple hair and a green outfit, a visual inversion of the Joker's iconic look.

** During ''War Of The Gods'' Circe loses the powers of Hecate and gets reduced to dust in the wind. She later [[FirstLawOfRessurrection inexplicably shows up in the desert, still weakner than she was before but strong enough to convince The Bana-Mighdall that she is a goddess who can grant them immortality if they do her the favor of conquering Themyscira. Still inexplicably strong enough to then send the entire island to a demonic realm and seemingly rid herself of all the amazons forever.

** After being defeated by Diana on live television Circe is imprisoned but saved by the Gorgons on Themyscira. In repayment Circe resurrects their mortal sister Medusa, and the group become mutal enemies of Wonder Woman.

* AmnesiaDissonance: "Donna Milton" ''hates'' Circe. When Diana finds out that they are one in the same and asks for Donna's ''help'' in saving Artemis from The White Magician Donna is offended Diana dare call her a criminal.

* BadBoss: Treats her Bestiamorphs like crap.

* FatalFlaw: Her arrogance and sadism have often proven to be her downfall.

** Their modest operandi, as Wonder Woman is a truth seeker and spy smasher, while Circe is a deceptive chess master. Where Wonder Woman seeks to reform Circe seeks to transform for the sake of control or torment. Where Wonder Woman handles hostilities with striking, wrestling, tieing, even cutting if she has to, Circe prefers to have other people do those things for her, lay traps or cast spells from a distance if she has to get herself involved.

* ImmortalityImmorality: Circe is one of the oldest humans in the DC Universe, and is among the most dangerous. In the Post Crisis continuity all of villainy is initially motivated by the desire to stay alive indefinitely...though she does undergo MotiveDecay.

* SelfFulfillingProphecy: In the [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1987 post-Crisis continuity]], the reason Circe kept attacking Diana was that a prophecy claimed Diana would be her doom. Diana ends up accidentally unmaking Circe's immortality while defending herself from the witch, something she'd have had no reason to do otherwise, given that Diana hadn't even ''approached'' Circe before she started attacking her.

* StrawNihilist: By the end of her story, she begins to describe how everything in life from Wonder Woman to humanity live under illusions of falsehood, leaving actions of love and murder as the only things that could be called reality. As such she kills others indiscriminately in pursuit of her daughter, Lyta, the only being she loves.

* {{Troll}}: Enjoys dicking with people out sheer amusement, especially Diana.

* AbsurdlySharpBlade: Aegeus carries Vulcan's Daggers: blades forged by Vulcan himself that can slice through virtually any substance or material. They were able to cut through Wonder Woman's own lasso with ease and create a deep hole simply through slicing the ground a short number of times.
* DivineParentage: New 52 Aegues is a great grand nephew of Poseidon. Unfortunately for him Poseidon doesn't give two rats about whether Aegues lives or dies and he's too far down the family tree to have inhereted any godly powers.
* EmpoweredBadassNormal: New 52 Nikos is no match of Wonder Woman. He has divined parentage but is too far removed from it for any benefit and his godly ancestor refuses to unlock his latent potential. It's not until an unknown benefactor gives him PowerAtAPrice that he can begin his mission of killing Wonder Woman in earnest.

* GoodFeelsGood: New 52 Aegeus initially hates Diana for being stuck on the straight and narrow, incensed that someone like her could be "gifted" with the title of war god. After nearly dying several times and being still alive largely because of Diana's mercy though he Aegeus does start to warm up to her a little...[[NiceJobBreakingItHero at exactly the moment she doesn't want him around at all.]]

* HeelFaceTurn: Attempted by the New 52, who not only tries to stop killing Wonder Woman but tries to help her in her mission of spreading peace. Unfortunately he makes her angry for the first time, [[UnWantedAssistance the first time he tries to help]], when he shoots Donna Troy, who Wonder Woman was also trying to reform at the time.
* HorseArcher: New 52 makes his WeaponOfChoice arrows. This allows Diana, or rather Hephestus, to investigate his weaponry and determine just why this kid no one ever heard of has weapons that can kill gods.

* OlderHeroVersusYoungerVillain: While Diana retains the benefits of a youthful body, this is what keeps her from slaugtering Nikos in the New 52 continuity. He's just a kid who is clearly out of his depth.

* ShockAndAwe: Post Crisis Aegeus carries the Thunderbolts of Zeus, which transform into ligtning bolts when he throws them.
* TheDragon: New 52 Nikos is the pawn of an unknown deity that wants him to kill Diana and replace her as a more worthy god of war, but is totally content with Diana killing him in self defense, believing it will lead to her [[ItGetsEasier becoming a more worthy god of war]]. Nikos becomes a SpannerInTheWorks simply by deciding to "help" Diana in his own, non lethal manner after coming to respect her.

* AdaptationalBadass: Byrna "Blue Snowman" Brilyant has never posed a huge physical threat as they're a mad scientist fighting the Amazon's champion, and originally used their artificial snow to hold a farming community's fields for ransom. As of ''ComicBook/WonderWomanRebirth'' they are far more dangerous and given a mecha to pilot rather than a small powered suit, though Wondy still doesn't have too hard a time taking them down. Byrna is a much more deadly threat to civilians and non-powered opponents.

* {{Foil}}: To Zara, princess of the crimson flame. Byrna doesn't go by anything that could be assume to be a given name and hides her appearance behind machinery and armor while Zara is a performer who likes showing off her body. Byrna seeks to harm as few people as possible, seeking mostly to bolster her bank account, while Zara hates people beyond what pleasure she can get out of them, quickly burning through any money she manages to acquire and leaving many casualties in her wake. Unnatural blue snow generated by macinery that only gets more sophistated with each CosmicRetcon versus unnatural red fire produced by chemicals that become an innate super power of Zara's after such a retcon.

* MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter: Subverted. They're father was a scientist and they're's beautiful, but they're a mad scientist in their own right. Byrna's also gender-fluid.

* UncertainDoom: Their ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' incarnation was wired into her Exo-Mecha, and their brain "crashed" when Diana took down the suit. Byrna later reappeared in ''DC Love Is A Battlefield'' alive and well and back in the armor they wore in ''Power Girl''.

* {{Animorphism}}}: Circe, much like her mythological counterpart, has a nasty habit of turning men into animals against their will and erasing their sense of self while she does so. Sometimes she turns them fully into animals, which she did more often back in ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'', but from ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'' on she's more likely to turn them into animalistic monsters to serve her more usefully. She also [[ImAHumanitarian cooks and eats]] her Beast Men.

* ImmortalityImmorality: Circe is one of the oldest humans in the DC Universe, and is among the most dangerous.

* MasterOfIllusion: It's not explored too often, as Circe is dedicated to fighting a spy smasher adept at spotting lies, who later gets a lie/illusion/falsehood dispelling weapon when Diana trades in the lasso of compulsion for the lasso of truth, and in some continuities Diana houses or becomes the outright spirit or goddess of truth. Still, Circe can change the appearance of her hair, clothing, body shape, the sound of her voice and even her scent at a whim. Sometimes ''just'' perceceptions, sometimes outright if temporary transformations.

* PublicDomainCharacter: Modeled the sorceress who sought to bewitch Odysseus' crew in ''Literature/TheOdyssey''. Since the original Circe is one of the oldest characters in fiction, she's well into the public domain.

* Animorphism: Circe, much like her mythological counterpart, has a nasty habit of turning men into animals against their will and erasing their sense of self while she does so. Sometimes she turns them fully into animals, which she did more often back in ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'', but from ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'' on she's more likely to turn them into animalistic monsters to serve her more usefully. She also [[ImAHumanitarian cooks and eats]] her Beast Men.