Pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths In the original DC Comics continuity (prior to the
Crisis on Infinite Earths),
Circe is a centuries-old enchantress who is kept young by an elixir called
vitae. It is made from a special combination of plants and herbs. While living on the island Aeaea, Circe gains magical powers. Being a lover of animals and despising men, Circe spends centuries luring male sailors and travelers into her clutches, then turning them into the animals that best match their personalities. Eventually, the Amazonian queen
Hippolyta punishes Circe by banishing her to Sorca, "an island planet in space, where she could do no harm". Upon her return to Earth, Circe tries to destroy Wonder Woman, having heard from an oracle in ancient times that the daughter of Hippolyta will be her undoing. Unlike many of Wonder Woman's other Golden Age foes, Circe does not repent when her plot fails, and a legendary enmity is born. In
Captain Marvel Adventures #66, set on Earth-S, it is revealed the evil immortal
Oggar gave Circe immortality 3,000 years ago when she was a beautiful Graecian princess, hoping she would marry him. However, because he refuses to also grant her eternal youth for spurning his love, Circe slowly ages into a hideous old woman. Bitter and angry, she learns sorcery to restore her youth and also to lash out at men by transforming them into mindless beasts. Captain Marvel and Oggar battle on her island, and she turns Billy into a goat before turning him back. She finally helps Captain Marvel defeat Oggar by turning him into a boar. He jumps into a bluff and apparently dies, meaning she finally dies happily as his spell wears off. A woman claiming to be a descendant of the original Circe later appears and gives
Superman an evolution serum, which temporarily and partially transforms him into a lion after he does not agree to marry her. She leaves the planet by the time Superman returns to her island. Realizing the serum contains
kryptonite, Superman theorizes the original Circe may have been from
Krypton. She is depicted as more heroic during her appearances with Comet and
Supergirl.
Catwoman once used Circe's wand to turn Superman into a cat, but he is turned back by an Egyptian mummified magic cat's paw used by Lana Lang. Later, Saturn Woman (a version of
Saturn Girl from an alternate timeline) poses as Circe as part of Superman's plan to defeat the
Superman Revenge Squad. The character reappears, unnamed, in
Wonder Woman #302 (April 1983) Circe reappeared with a mission to kill Wonder Woman to prevent an oracular prophecy of Circe's death at Wonder Woman's hands from coming true. After she failed to kill the Amazon with a series of attacks by man-animal hybrids, she took up with the Aztec god
Tezcatlipoca, who set in motion a chain of events that led Wonder Woman to the jungles of Tropidor. Circe called on the god to send lightning down to kill Wonder Woman, who deflected the lightning bolts away from her and incinerated the herbs that made Circe immortal, thus fulfilling the prophecy. Circe then disappeared, swallowed up by Tezcatlipoca's magic obsidian mirror; the god punished her with an illusion of herself being turned into a hideous old crone. Circe begins to age normally and is last seen aiding a group of sorcerers who are trying to defeat the
Anti-Monitor.
Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Following
Crisis on Infinite Earths,
Wonder Woman and
Superman are rebooted. All of Circe's prior continuity is erased and she is reintroduced with a revamped history.
Greek mythology background Circe is the daughter of the
Titans Hyperion and
Perseis. Circe is a powerful witch and former princess of
Colchis. A beautiful, violet-haired, red-eyed sorceress, she is known for turning people into animals (which are called bestiamorphs), as well as for powers of mind control. Circe has been a devoted follower of the goddess
Hecate for thousands of years. She has lived on the island of
Aeaea where she became a powerful being in both magic and in influence over portions of man's world. During his adventure to her island, Circe fell in love with
Odysseus and bore him three sons:
Agrius,
Latinus, and
Telegonus. Though Circe's patron goddess Hecate was an offspring of the
Titans, she was not considered one of the main
Twelve Olympians.
Zeus gave Hecate much respect, but she did not hold much favor with others on Olympus. As such, she married the god
Hades, but their marriage did not last and Hecate was demoted as handmaiden to her former husband's new wife. Because of this, she left the realm of the gods and agreed to render her soul to her most devoted servant Circe. This caused Circe to attain her current goddess-level of power and immortality.
Beginning of relationship with Wonder Woman When Hecate transferred her soul to Circe, she said the words:
Upon the death of witch and the birth of witch, Hecate, by name and choice, shall repossess her soul. In addition to being goddess of witchcraft, Hecate is also a goddess of the moon. When Circe learned that Wonder Woman shared her name with moon goddess Diana, she decided that Hecate's cryptic warning must refer to her. Fearing that Diana would steal Hecate's soul and power, Circe decided to destroy her. Once Diana learned of Hecate's pronouncement, she too felt it pertained to her, but of course Diana has no desire to have the soul of Hecate possessing her body. This issue is central to the conflict between the two women.
War of the Gods Circe's most ambitious gambit was inciting war between the various pantheons of gods throughout the DC Multiverse, becoming known as the
War of the Gods. Circe's overall ploy was to gain the power of all the warring pantheons after they had defeated or destroyed one another. Another plot of the war was to disgrace Diana and the Amazons in the eyes of the world by portraying them as terrorists, allying herself with the Amazons of
Bana-Mighdall to this effect. True to her nature, Circe eventually betrayed them as well. Over the course of the war, Circe succeeded in killing Hermes, who had since been in a severely weakened state from being away from Olympus for so long and temporarily devolving Diana herself out of existence by reverting her back into the clay from which she had been formed. Finally realizing the truth of Circe's deceptions, Earth's heroes launched an assault on New Olympus, which Circe had conquered and pitted the gods of the Olympian and Roman pantheons against them. Elsewhere, with the aid of the
Spectre,
Deadman, and the
Phantom Stranger, Diana was restored to life and in a concerted effort with
Donna Troy, used the amulet of
Harmonia to open a portal into an alternate universe where the
Titans of Myth resided. This caused the soul of Hecate herself to withdraw from Circe's body, which rapidly aged and crumbled to dust. Hecate then attempted to take possession of Diana, but was destroyed by the
Lasso of Truth. Circe returned to life sometime later, though no explanation has ever been given for this.
Amazon betrayal After the Amazons of
Bana-Mighdall lost their Egyptian city at the hands of Diana's gods and turned to Circe for revenge, Circe remained true to her word and granted the Bana-Mighdallian Amazons immortality and teleported them to
Themyscira for them to take over the island for themselves. Unfortunately for them though, after this was done, Circe eventually showed her hatred for all Amazons by betraying the alliance she had with the desert Amazons and cast the island and all its inhabitants into a dimension of demons. Thus, both tribes of Amazons spent several years battling demons for their own survival. When Diana discovered what the witch had done, she forced Circe to return the island back to its original location after losing a bet with the Amazon. This is not the only time Circe has lost a bet to Wonder Woman and was forced to cancel a spell made against her. Later, Circe caused
Queen Hippolyta to forget who she was and instead embrace the false life of a domestic housewife. Circe told Diana that if she could get Hippolyta to drink the antidote, she would call off her attack. Diana was successful and Circe showed herself honorable once more by reversing all magical effects as promised.
Donna Milton . One attempt Circe made to destroy Wonder Woman involved the sorceress using her magic to become a blonde-haired lawyer named Donna Milton. As Donna, Circe planned to get close to Diana by befriending her, before striking once the opportunity arose. To circumvent Diana's Lasso of Truth, she also cast an enchantment to remove all memory of herself as Circe so that the Donna persona would be in complete control. As Donna Milton, she was hired by the mobster Ares Buchanan, who was really the god
Ares in disguise himself. During their time together, they formed a romantic relationship and Donna became pregnant. As Donna, Circe's plan succeeded more than she could have imagined. She even managed to save Diana from Ares, who was banished back to Olympus. The stress caused Donna to go into premature labor, and she gave birth to her daughter
Lyta Milton. Donna then helped Diana establish her own detective agency with
Micah Rains. When the Amazon
Artemis single-handedly battled the
White Magician, Diana realized that Donna was actually Circe and begged her to help transport her to Artemis' side. Not believing Diana and hurt that her friend would think her to be a villain, Donna yelled at Diana to leave and subconsciously teleported Diana to Artemis. Shocked, Circe's memories slowly began coming back to her. Still possessing some of Donna's false memories, she teleported herself to Diana to help her in her battle, but she was not on top of her game as she still had ties to her Donna Milton body, and the White Magician was not affected by her magical attacks. She used the remainder of her power to save Diana by teleporting herself, a demonically altered
Cheetah, and Cassandra Arnold, a television reporter and the White Magician's lover, away from the battle, leaving her last words to Diana be ''"You're my only friend, Diana"''.
Expanded horizons Circe would make a
Faustian deal with the demon-lord
Neron to sell her soul to him in exchange for increased magical powers. She later formed part of the Injustice Gang gathered by
Lex Luthor, alongside the
Joker,
Dr. Light, and the
Ocean Master. During a fight with the JLA, she became preoccupied with
Plastic Man. His shapeshifting powers allowed him to immediately change out of the animal forms she turned him into. She later proposed both a business and romantic relationship with Luthor, which he immediately shot down.
The Witch and the Warrior Shortly before
Imperiex assaulted the Earth, Circe struck at Diana through her friends. She allied herself with Sebastian Ballesteros, who had usurped the power of the
Cheetah from Barbara Ann Minerva and turned Diana's friend Vanessa Kapatelis into the new
Silver Swan. Ballestros also became Circe's lover. She reveals herself after Vanessa attacks
Wonder Girl, luring Diana into battle. After Hippolyta dies saving Diana from an Imperiex probe, Circe launches an attack on
New York City. Her scheme involved the transformation of all male superheroes into her bestiamorphs save for
J'onn Jonzz,
Beast Boy, and Plastic Man, whom she took special means to keep imprisoned due to their shape-shifting abilities. She also imprisoned and transformed her former confederates in the Injustice Gang, taking particular delight in tormenting Luthor as he had spurned her advances in his early presidency. Since the only persons who were not affected by the spell were women, many female superheroes entered the city in an attempt to save their friends and stop the witch's plan. However, Circe had planned for such a rescue and convinced various members of the supervillainess communities to join forces and stop the heroines by any means necessary. Leading the pack against Circe was Wonder Woman, who Circe also expected, sending a
Doomsday-altered
Superman. She hoped to demoralize the world by making Superman and Wonder Woman kill one another, while she transmitted the fight in a global
simulcast. Ultimately, Circe was unsuccessful in her plan as a majority of the superheroines were able to change their male counterparts back to normal with the use of the
moly herb, which has a tendency to disrupt Circe's magic. After a protracted fight, Diana broke Circe's spell on Superman with her lasso. Luthor and the Joker managed to free themselves and threaten Circe's daughter. She quickly overpowered them and escaped with her allies. Circe continued to harass Diana and Donna Troy, appearing in their dreams as a dying Hippolyta. Diana tracked Circe to the
Parthenon, where they fought in single combat, again on a global simulcast. Circe had cast spells on herself to make her Diana's physical equal, but ultimately she was defeated. During the fight, she claimed her hatred of Diana was fueled by the hypocrisy and naivete she perceived in Diana's beliefs in a better world. She attempted to goad Diana into killing her, but Diana spared her instead. She was also rescued from possible death by the two living
Gorgon sisters
Stheno and
Euryale once the island of Themyscira toppled into the sea. As repayment, Circe revived their long-dead sister
Medusa, who eventually became a fellow enemy of Wonder Woman. Shortly after Medusa's defeat, Circe's daughter Lyta was kidnapped by her father
Ares while under the protection of the Amazons on
Themyscira. Confronting Ares, she soon discovered that the time of the gods was at a crossroads and joined Ares as his consort as the new ruler of
Tartarus. Thus, Lyta continued to be cared for by both of her parents, reunited.
"One Year Later" In the "
One Year Later" storyline, Circe was revealed to be the source behind the new upgrades to Wonder Woman's rogues gallery, increasing their power "beyond their wildest imaginings". Circe stole Diana's powers, explaining her rationale for doing so was to avenge wronged women whom she believed Diana had no real interest in helping. After completing the spell, Circe is shown in an altered Wonder Woman-style costume and proceeds to slaughter slave traders in various cities. This greatly resembles a previous occurrence written by
Phil Jimenez in which Circe magically caused herself to possess the strength of "Earth's strongest woman". During her battle with Diana, she proceeded to alter her costume several times. Diana eventually regains her powers from Circe but it was revealed that Circe and Hercules were the only
Greek gods to disobey
Athena's orders to leave the earthly realm. It is assumed that she left her daughter Lyta in the care of her father Ares. She was also responsible for giving
Everyman his shapeshifting powers back to replace
Sarge Steel at the Department of Metahuman Affairs and instigate the events leading up to the
Amazons Attack! storyline. It was during this storyline that Circe revived the long-dead mother of Wonder Woman and convinced her to reclaim her throne to attack the U.S. capital,
Washington, D.C. Once Hippolyta discovered that part of Circe's plans involved the destruction of Themyscira, she threw a spear into Circe's chest, critically wounding her. She was presumed to have been killed, but she appeared at the end of
Amazons Attack! #4 alive and well. She explains that she brought about the events of Amazons Attack to punish the Olympian Gods for allowing Ares to steal her daughter Lyta from her. Circe was then banished to Hades by a disguised
Granny Goodness who stole the persona of the goddess Athena.
DC Rebirth After the events of
DC Rebirth, Circe's history was altered. Seven years after Diana left Themyscira to become Wonder Woman, the C.E.O. of Empire Industries,
Veronica Cale, performed a ritual to summon Circe to exact her revenge on the gods Phobos and Deimos, who had taken the soul of Cale's daughter Isadore. After bargaining, Circe agreed to help Cale. She gave her detailed instructions and then returned to her lair to begin her spell of binding. Circe later confronted Wonder Woman in Al-Doha,
Qurac. She spoke in Diana's native Amazonian language, which surprised the warrior. After killing several soldiers, Circe tricked Wonder Woman into wrapping her lasso around the witch, enabling her to complete the ritual to bind Phobos and Deimos into the forms of dogs. Circe then teleported back to Veronica Cale and
Doctor Cyber, Cale's ally. Circe then revealed to Cale that her daughter's soul was not in the soulstone as she previously believed. Circe communicated to Phobos and Deimos in their animal forms, discovering that Isadore's soul had been taken by Ares, who was imprisoned on Themyscira. Circe refused to help Cale any further, as she realized to free Cale's daughter would involve freeing Ares from his prison.
Reclaiming her soul Years later, Circe allied herself with
Lex Luthor and
Ra's al Ghul after discovering the Pandora Pits. The trio fought a creature that emerged from the pits, representing their fear and hatred towards
Wonder Woman,
Superman and
Batman. They managed to defeat the creature by combining their powers. Though Luthor leaves immediately afterward, Ra's remains behind and Circe explains that the pits contain an army of demons which require a sacrifice to be released. The pair is interrupted by
Etrigan the Demon, who has detected the pits. During the confrontation, Ra's cuts Etrigan and his blood touches the pits. They then absorb him and separate him from his human host, Jason Blood. Etrigan is also turned into a giant demon and attacks a nearby town, accompanied by an army of demons. Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman arrive and enact a spell to trap Etrigan inside Blood again, though the spell requires their sacrifice. Circe intervenes and saves them, knowing she needs them alive for her plan. Ra's and she teleport away to
Antarctica where the Pandora Pits have reappeared. They then greet the
Red Hood,
Artemis and
Bizarro, having lured them to the location. Circe and Ra's then have the pits possess the Red Hood and the Outlaws and send them to attack Gotham, where they battle Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman.
John Constantine,
Zatanna, and
Deadman are summoned by Batman to assist them. Zatanna and Deadman are swallowed by a possessed Red Hood and teleported to the Pandora Pits in Antarctica. John Constantine follows them and tricks Circe into using Deadman to possess Superman, all in a bid to buy time for his allies. It is revealed that long ago, Circe sold her soul to a dimension of Hell and has tried over the centuries to regain it. The Pandora Pits are actually a portal that leads to the realm where Circe's soul is located. The narration, told by Circe herself, also confesses that she believes death has finally come for her and she is in fact scared of dying. She then betrays Ra's and has Zatanna possessed, who brings her Superman and Wonder Woman. She prepares to sacrifice them when Batman intervenes with the Outlaws whom he has freed from Circe's control. Circe fights back by having her Animen form a colossus around her, only to be subdued by the heroes. Ra's then stabs Circe in revenge for her betrayal before tossing her into the pits. In what she thinks are her final moments, Circe again expresses her fear of dying before being rescued by Wonder Woman.
Helping Wonder Woman and Stopping Hecate When Diana is struck by the witchmark of the goddess Hecate, she travels to Aeaea along with the Justice League Dark, hoping Circe can help due to her being a worshipper of Hecate. At first Circe transforms the male members of the League into Ani-men, but upon seeing Diana's witchmark, she quickly reverses her spell and admits that she plays the role of a supervillain purely to occupy herself. Circe goes as far as to console Diana, informing her that the witchmark on Diana is one of five marks that serve as holds for Hecate's power for the goddess to draw upon when she desires. Refusing to become Hecate's puppet, Wonder Woman formulates a plan and Circe casts a spell allowing Diana to control Hecate's power without becoming its slave. While this initially works Hecate eventually possess Wonder Woman and launches an attack on
Nanda Parbat in an attempt to dominate all magical centres in the world. When the Justice League Dark try to free Wonder Woman from Hecate's control they fail and Hecate's power from three of her other witchmarks leaves their previous hosts, revealed to be Witchfire,
Manitou Dawn and
Black Orchid, and into the possessed Wonder Woman, empowering her further. Out of options, Circe persuades the rest of the League that the only way to stop Hecate is to kill Wonder Woman but before they are able to do so Diana regains control of her body and with the help of
Zatanna kills Hecate by feeding her to an interdimensional monster called the Upside-down Man. Shortly after Hecate's death, while alone on Aeaea, Circe reveals that she was the bearer of the fifth and final Witchmark meaning that when Hecate died all of her power flowed into Circe. She secretly begins to build her own villainous
Dark League starting by recruiting the
Floronic Man and then later
Solomon Grundy,
Papa Midnite, and
Klarion the Witch Boy. When the Sovereign conspires to turn the world against the Amazons, Sarge Steel recruits Circe and several other villains to kill Wonder Woman. ==Powers and abilities==