Introduction , from
The Brave and the Bold #60 (June 1965). Donna Troy—in
Teen Titans #22 (July–August 1969). Art by
Nick Cardy. In May 1947's
Wonder Woman #23 written by
William Moulton Marston and illustrated by
Harry G. Peter, the titular heroine (also known as Diana) is shown in flashback having adventures as a little girl. Twelve years later in April 1959's
Wonder Woman #105, writer
Robert Kanigher reprised the formula, this time featuring a flashback tale of Wonder Woman when she was a teen. Playfully dubbed "
Wonder Girl" by another character, this teenaged version would return several times in flashback stories over the next several years, paralleling similar exploits of
Superboy, the teen persona of DC Comics' flagship hero
Superman. After the shake-up in the comics industry caused by
Fredric Wertham's
Seduction of the Innocent, DC Comics sought to make the adventures of Wonder Woman appear more wholesome and family-friendly. The result was August 1961's
Wonder Woman #124 (also by Kanigher and Andru), which kicked off a series of out-of-continuity "Impossible Tales" in which Wonder Woman appeared alongside the teen "Wonder Girl" version of herself, as well as a toddler version called "Wonder Tot", and her mother
Queen Hippolyta, creating a "Wonder Family". The "Impossible Tale" label was dropped as of
Wonder Woman #150 (November 1964), though Wonder Girl continued as a regular fixture in the publication through #155 (July 1965), both side by side with Wonder Woman as well as in her own solo stories. During this five-issue period, Wonder Girl is no longer referred to as an "impossible" younger variant of Wonder Woman. Though Wonder Girl and Wonder Woman do not directly call one another "sister" in these issues, Hippolyta does refer to them as her daughters, and all three repeatedly identify themselves as a family. Additionally, Wonder Girl is temporarily promoted to the book's headliner, receiving three full-length solo stories, including top-billing with her own logo predominating Wonder Woman's on the covers of issues #152 and #153. In July 1965, Wonder Girl concluded her regular presence in the
Wonder Woman comic book with issue #155, while simultaneously appearing as a member of the newly-formed Teen Titans in
The Brave and the Bold #60, written by Bob Haney and illustrated by Bruno Premiani. The Teen Titans began as a "junior
Justice League" consisting of Robin (Dick Grayson), Kid Flash (Wally West), and Aqualad (Garth), the sidekicks of
Batman,
the Flash, and
Aquaman respectively. Wonder Girl would establish herself as a central character in Teen Titans stories, continuing to appear with the team in December 1965's
Showcase #59, and in their spinoff into the first volume of the monthly
Teen Titans comic in January 1966. However, no narrative information regarding Wonder Girl's precise identity was depicted until July 1969's
Teen Titans #22, in which Wonder Girl is unequivocally identified as Wonder Woman's younger sister, a discrete character with her own identity who adopts the alias Donna Troy. It is established that Donna had been rescued from an apartment fire as an infant by Wonder Woman. Unable to find the baby's birth family, Wonder Woman brings her to
Paradise Island to be raised by her mother Hippolyta, eventually enlisting the Amazon scientist
Paula von Gunther (herself an expatriate from "Man's World") to use advanced technology to grant the girl powers like Wonder Woman's. Donna remains with the Teen Titans until the series' cancellation with issue #43 in February 1973. She is still part of the team when the comic picks up again with #44 in November 1976.
Teen Titans is canceled again in February 1978 with issue #53, with Donna and the others, no longer teens, going their separate ways.
1980s revival Marv Wolfman and
George Pérez revived the series yet again in 1980 as
The New Teen Titans, with original members Wonder Girl, Robin, and Kid Flash joined by new heroes
Raven,
Starfire,
Cyborg, and
Beast Boy / Changeling. Donna is romantically involved with much older professor Terry Long, but along the way is put under the romantic spell of
Hyperion, one of the
Titans of Myth. Donna's origin is expanded in the January 1984 tale, "Who is Donna Troy?" Robin investigates the events surrounding the long ago fire after finding Donna's doll in a box from a coal bin. He learns that Donna's birth mother was Dorothy Hinckley, a dying unwed teen who had placed her for adoption. After Donna's adoptive father Carl Stacey had been killed in a work-related accident, her adoptive mother Fay Stacey was forced to place her for adoption again, unable to raise the toddler because of mounting expenses. However, Donna became victim to a
child-selling racket, which ended with the racketeers' deaths in a furnace explosion and the fire. With Robin's help, Donna is reunited with Fay, who had married Hank Evans and given birth to two additional children, Cindy and Jerry. Donna marries Terry Long in
Tales of the Teen Titans #50 (February 1985).
Post-Crisis Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985–1986) rewrote the history of many DC Comics characters; Wonder Woman's own pre-
Crisis history was written out of existence, and the character was reintroduced in
Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #1 (February 1987) as a new arrival from
Themyscira (formerly known as Paradise Island). With the character of Donna tied predominantly to the Titans, her origin was
retconned to fit into the new continuity created by Wonder Woman's relaunch, one severing her direct ties to the Amazons. In the storyline "Who is Wonder Girl?" featured in
The New Titans #50–54 (December 1988–March 1989), the
Titans of Myth enlist Donna's aid against the murderous
Sparta of Synriannaq. It is revealed that the Titan
Rhea had rescued a young Donna from a fire; Donna and Sparta were one of 12 orphans who had been raised on New Cronus by the Titans as "Titan Seeds", their eventual saviors. The Seeds had been given superhuman powers, and named after ancient Greek cities. Called "Troy", Donna (like the others) had eventually been stripped of her memories of her time with the Titans of Myth, and reintroduced into humankind to await her destiny; Sparta had retained her memories, and the knowledge had eventually driven her mad. Killing her fellow Seeds to "collect" their powers and destroy the Titans of Myth, Sparta is ultimately defeated by Donna and the only other Seed left alive, Athyns of Karakkan. In
The New Titans #55 (June 1989), Donna changes her identity from Wonder Girl to
Troia and adopts a new hairstyle and costume incorporating mystical gifts from the Titans of Myth.
Lord Chaos During the "Titans Hunt" storyline, Donna discovers she is pregnant; in
The New Titans Annual #7 (1991), a group calling themselves the
Team Titans appears, intent on killing her. They come from a future in which Donna's son is born with the full powers of a god and full awareness of them, which drives him mad. He instantly ages himself, kills his mother, and becomes a dictator known as Lord Chaos. The Team Titans travel back to the past to kill Donna before her son can be born. Donna eventually gives birth to Robert; to prevent him from becoming Lord Chaos, she sacrifices her powers and becomes a normal human. Eventually, Donna rethinks her decision and asks the Titans of Myth to grant her powers again; her request is rejected. She then joins the
Darkstars. During the
Zero Hour crisis, her farm in
New Jersey is destroyed and all the Team Titans are wiped out of existence except for
Terra and
Mirage. Her marriage in ruins, Donna loses custody of her son to her now ex-husband Terry. Donna rejoins the New Titans for a time, with her Darkstar suit giving her the ability to aid them. She dates
Kyle Rayner for a while and retires from the Darkstars, leaving her powerless. Donna and Kyle break up immediately following the death of her son, stepdaughter and ex-husband in a car accident.
Magical duplicate Her post-Crisis origin was updated in the late 1990s. This version had it that she was originally created by the Amazon sorceress Magala as a magical duplicate of the young Princess Diana of
Themyscira (a nod to the original Wonder Girl) to be a playmate for Diana, who was previously the only child on the island. However, Donna was soon kidnapped by the
Dark Angel (a
World War II villainess and sworn enemy of
Queen Hippolyta, Diana's mother), who thought the girl was Diana. Dark Angel cursed Donna to live endless variants of a life characterized by suffering, with her life being restarted and erased from the world's memory when Donna was at her lowest. Even Donna would forget her past lives until the moment at which Dark Angel would arrive to restart her life, at which point she would immediately recall all of her past suffering. With the help of Wonder Woman, Hippolyta, and the
third Flash (her former Titans teammate,
Wally West), the only people who remembered the previous version, Donna was restored. Somehow, she also regained her powers, presumably because that was how Wally remembered her. Initially, she was concerned that she was not the "same" Donna, but an idealized form based on Wally's memories. She has since accepted that this is not the case. Shortly afterwards, the Titans gathered together to save their friend
Cyborg. They came into conflict with the
JLA, but they saved their friend. During this incident Donna was seemingly reunited with her son via virtual reality, but with the aid of
Nightwing, realized it was not real. After that, the original five Teen Titans, including Troia, decided to reform the team. A subsequent battle with Dark Angel suggested her constant rewriting of Donna's history involved
Hypertime. It is not clear how this ties in with later revelations. Realizing that Donna was created from a portion of Diana's soul,
Queen Hippolyta accepted Donna as a blood-related daughter and held a
coronation on
Themyscira to formally introduce Donna as the second princess of Paradise Island. This aspect brought Donna more in-line with her Pre-Crisis Themyscirian origins. After her coronation, Donna and Diana's bond as sisters grew stronger. The two Amazons shared a high end apartment in New York City and Donna became more active in life on Themyscira. While the Amazons of
Bana-Mighdall saw Diana as an official moderator between the Themyscirian Amazons and themselves, Donna made strides in becoming an accepted member of both tribes in their eyes. While aiding the Amazons, Donna also came into contact with the villain
Angle Man who immediately became enamored with her. After their awkward yet flirtatious first meeting, a seriously wounded Angle Man later teleported himself to Donna seeking her help after being attacked by
The Cheetah. In a separate battle, Donna was apparently killed by a rogue
Superman robot in the Titans/
Young Justice crossover
"Graduation Day", but was later shown to be alive on another world.
The Return of Donna Troy, a four-issue miniseries written by
Phil Jimenez with art by
José Luis García-López and
George Pérez, expanded upon the resurrection of Donna Troy and cleared up her multiple origins.
DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy Donna Troy has now discovered that like every other person after the
Crisis on Infinite Earths, she is a merger of every alternate version of Donna Troy in the
Multiverse. Unlike everyone else, Donna is the repository of knowledge of every alternate universe version of herself and remembers the original Multiverse. She learned that her counterpart on
Earth-Two was saved by a firefighter and was raised in an orphanage, while her
Earth-S counterpart died in the fire. She also discovered that her sworn enemy of the past, Dark Angel, was the Donna Troy of
Earth-Seven, saved from certain death by the
Anti-Monitor, just like the
Monitor had saved
Harbinger. When the Multiverse was reconfigured in one single Universe, Dark Angel, who had somehow escaped the compression of every Donna Troy into one single person in the new Earth, sought to kill her (every life she forced her to relive was an aspect of an alternate Donna as a way to avoid the merging and remain the last one standing). When she was defeated, Donna became the real sum of every Donna Troy that existed on every Earth, a living key to the lost Multiverse. Her role in
Infinite Crisis is, at the end of
The Return of Donna Troy, fully stated: Donna had been reborn after her death at the hands of the
Superman android. The Titans of Myth, realizing that she was the child who was destined to save them from some impending threat, brought her to New Cronus and implanted false memories within her mind to make her believe she was the original Goddess of the Moon and wife of
Coeus. The Titans of Myth incited war between other worlds near New Cronus in order to gain new worshipers. They would then use the combined power of their collective faith to open a passageway into another reality, where they would be safe from destruction. Donna was another means to that end until she was found by the Titans and the
Outsiders, who restored her true memories. This was not without casualties, however. Sparta (who was restored to full mental health and stripped of the bulk of her power) had been made an officer in the Titans of Myth's royal military. She was sacrificed by the Titans of Myth in an attempt to lay siege to the planet Minosyss, which housed a
Sun-Eater factory miles beneath its surface. Sparta's death had inadvertently helped trigger Donna's memory restoration. Athyns had also reappeared by this time and aided the heroes and the Mynossian resistance in battling the Titans of Myth. It was then that
Hyperion, the Titan of the Sun, revealed Donna's true origins to her and ordered her to open a passageway into another reality by means of a dimensional nexus that once served as a gateway to the
Multiverse itself, within the Sun-Eater factory's core. This turned out to be the Titans of Myth's real target. Donna did so, but, fearing that they would simply continue with their power-mad ambitions, she banished most of them into
Tartarus. However, Hyperion and his wife,
Thia, were warned of the deception at the last moment. Enraged, they turned on Donna, intending to kill her for the betrayal, but Coeus activated the Sun-Eater to save her and
Arsenal. As the Sun-Eater began absorbing their vast solar energies, Hyperion and Thia tried to escape through the Nexus, but they were both torn apart by the combined forces of the Nexus' dimensional pull and the Sun-Eater's power. Coeus, who had learned humility and compassion from Donna, vowed to guard the gateway to make certain the other Titans of Myth remained imprisoned forever.
Infinite Crisis and 52 Donna returns to the now-barren New Cronus where she shares a joyful reunion with Wonder Woman. Donna, charged with the guardianship of the Universe Orb containing the Multiverse Chronicles collected by
Harbinger, makes the startling discovery that an impending doom is facing the DC Universe, a doom she cannot avert alone. Leaving
Nightwing behind on
Earth, Donna brings several heroes to New Cronus, including
Animal Man;
Cyborg;
Firestorm;
Herald;
Bumblebee;
Red Tornado;
Shift;
Green Lanterns
Alan Scott,
Kyle Rayner, and
Kilowog,
Jade,
Starfire,
Supergirl, and
Captain Marvel Jr. The heroes confront a mysterious and menacing rip in space caused by
Alexander Luthor Jr. that has sparked an
intergalactic war. Donna's team contributes to the resolution of the conflict, but things take a dangerous turn when Alexander uses the inter-dimensional tear to recreate Earth-Two and, later, the Multiverse. Donna, along with Kyle (now called Ion), leads the team to attack Alexander through his space rift, giving Nightwing, Superboy, and Wonder Girl the time needed to destroy Alexander's device, and save the two Supermen and Wonder Woman from being merged with their
Earth-Three counterparts. Though most of the team vanishes when they attempt to leave via the portal opened by Mal Duncan and
Adam Strange, she returns to Earth shortly after the Battle of Metropolis, and provides a Sun-Eater to the Green Lantern Corps in which to imprison
Superboy-Prime at the end of the battle on
Mogo. In the series
52, Cyborg, Herald, Alan Scott, Bumblebee, Hawkgirl, and Firestorm were all returned to Earth although gravely injured, while other heroes such as Supergirl, Starfire, Animal Man, and Adam Strange were lost in space. In the
History of the DC Universe backup feature, when Donna and the
artificial intelligence in charge of Harbinger's historical records finished her task of reviewing the DC Universe's history, both the artificial intelligence and one of the new
Monitors revealed to her that the current timeline has diverged from its rightful path, in which Donna herself, instead of Jade, should have sacrificed herself for Kyle. During the
World War III storyline, Donna goes into battle as Wonder Woman against a rampaging
Black Adam.
"One Year Later" During the "
One Year Later" storyline event, Donna Troy has assumed the mantle of Wonder Woman after
Diana stepped down following the Crisis, feeling the need to 'find out who Diana is'. Donna wears a set of armor during her tenure as Wonder Woman, which includes the bracelet and star-field material used as part of her Titans regalia. Donna's post-
Infinite Crisis origin, which incorporates elements from her previous origins, is as follows: Donna was a magical twin of Diana created by the Amazon Magala and intended as a playmate for the lonely princess. Donna was later captured by Hippolyta's enemy—Dark Angel who mistook her for Diana and placed her in suspended animation for several years. Years later, the grown up Diana, now Wonder Woman, eventually freed Donna and returned her to Themyscira. Donna was then trained by both the Amazons and the Titans of Myth. A few years later, Donna followed Diana into Man's World and became Wonder Girl, wearing a costume based on Wonder Woman's and helped form the Teen Titans. In her last adventure as Wonder Woman, Donna battles
Cheetah,
Giganta, and
Doctor Psycho. The trio attacks Donna as a means of finding the then-missing Diana. This eventually happens with the revelation that
Circe is the mastermind behind the attacks and capture. After Donna is freed from Circe, she dons her old red Wonder Girl jumpsuit and aids her sister in battle telling Diana that she wants to give the Wonder Woman title back to her as she was never really comfortable using that name and would rather just be called Donna Troy. Donna later works alongside ex-boyfriend Kyle Rayner, who has taken up the powers and title of Ion again. They go up against one of the Monitors who attempts to remove them from the newly rebuilt Multiverse, claiming the two are unwanted anomalies. Donna returns to Earth with Ion in time for him to say goodbye to his dying mother. After that event, Donna joins several former Teen Titans in the current team's battle against
Deathstroke and his
Titans East team.
Countdown to Final Crisis Donna attends
Duela Dent's funeral with the Teen Titans. She is confronted by
Jason Todd, who seeks her out as a kindred spirit; the two cross paths while investigating Duela's murder. Donna places her investigation on hold when the Amazons invade
Washington, D.C. during the events depicted in
Amazons Attack! She travels to the city and confronts Hippolyta, advising her to end the invasion, but Hippolyta informs her that she will only consider a withdrawal if Donna will include Diana in their talks. Donna leaves to find her sister. Jason, who has followed Donna to Washington, tells her that the
Monitors are responsible for Duela's death. Donna and Jason are attacked by the Monitor's warrior,
Forerunner. They are saved by a benevolent Monitor, whom Jason calls Bob, and recruited to locate
Ray Palmer. They soon learn that Palmer is hiding in the Multiverse. The group is joined by
Kyle Rayner; Jason and Kyle bicker during the journey and Donna is annoyed. Ray Palmer is located on
Earth-51 and Bob attacks him, betraying the group. Donna and the others escape, and are caught in the crossfire when
Monarch's forces attack Earth-51. Donna is attacked by an alternate version of herself wearing a Wonder Girl costume, and overcomes her doppelganger and escapes. She takes the doppelganger's costume, defeats one of Monarch's lieutenants, and is acclaimed leader of an insect army by right of conquest. She leads the force of
Myrmidons into the battle against Monarch's forces.
Superboy-Prime confronts Monarch, and the insect warriors are killed in the fallout. Following the battle, Donna alone is able to discern a message directing the group to
Apokolips, where the team are witness to its destruction as they first meet the other
Countdown characters:
Jimmy Olsen,
Forager,
Pied Piper,
Mary Marvel,
Holly Robinson,
Harley Quinn,
Karate Kid, and
Una. Witnessing Apokolips near-destruction at the hands of
Brother Eye, the team are later sent to a reconstituted Earth-51 by Solomon, now a world similar to New Earth with the absence of the now much-expanded Challengers team. It is here that Karate Kid dies, and his Morticoccus virus transforms humans into violent animal hybrids, losing Una to the feral natives and leaving
Buddy Blank's grandson as the Last Boy on Earth. Returned to New Earth by Jimmy Olsen via a Boom Tube,
Gothamites Harley, Holly, and Jason return home while Mary Marvel is once again corrupted by
Darkseid who captures Jimmy, who holds the power of all the deceased
New Gods. Freed from Darkseid's control by Atom's microscopic rewiring, Jimmy and Darkseid duke it out until
Orion descends from the heavens (following his interrupted battle with the killer of the New Gods in
Death of the New Gods), and slays his father. In the aftermath of these events, the remaining party of Donna, Kyle, Ray, and Forager announce to the Monitors they will serve as bodyguards for the New Multiverse, and depart to places unknown. Returning to Earth after her adventures in the Multiverse with Kyle, Donna and other former and present Titans are targeted by a mysterious foe who is later revealed to be
Trigon. The Titans reform to fend off Trigon's assault and avenge the incapacitated
Titans East. In
Final Crisis #5, Donna Troy is turned into a Justifier. She, among other Justifiers, attacked the
Switzerland Checkmate HQ. She tried to put the Justifier helmet onto
Alan Scott before being knocked away by Hawkman.
Justice League The build-up to Donna's recruitment begins when she volunteers to help
Mikaal Tomas and
Congorilla track down the supervillain
Prometheus. She accompanies them to the JLA Watchtower alongside Starfire and
Animal Man, only to discover that Red Arrow has been mutilated by Prometheus. During the ensuing battle, Donna is impaled through the wrists, but frees herself. Prometheus projects a hologram around her, causing
Green Arrow to shoot her in the leg, which penetrates her skin and causes her to fall unconscious. She takes down Prometheus after he defeats the rest of the team, rips off his helmet, and starts beating him brutally, but
Shade stops her. Unfortunately, the villain destroys Star City via a teleportation device. During
Blackest Night, Donna encounters her deceased son Robert and husband Terry, revived as undead beings by the
Black Lantern Corps. She is bitten by Robert, becoming "infected" by the Black Lantern's power. Donna, along with Superboy, Kid Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) and several other resurrected heroes, began to be targeted by
Nekron, the being responsible for the Black Lanterns. Donna's previous status as a deceased allowed for her to be transformed into a Black Lantern. However, unlike the other heroes, Donna was converted by being infected with the Black Lantern's power rather than having a ring forced on her. Donna is freed by the power of white light. In the aftermath of this, Donna is told by Wonder Woman that she could benefit from being a part of the JLA. To that end, she officially joins the team, even recruiting Cyborg, Dick Grayson (now Batman), and Starfire as well. Donna remains with the League and battles such foes as
Superwoman and
Eclipso. Donna eventually resigns from the team after coming to peace with her inner turmoil, and Dick disbands the team shortly after.
The New 52 and DC Rebirth In 2011, following the
Flashpoint storyline, DC
revised its continuity, relaunching with a suite of new #1 comics as part of an initiative called
The New 52. Donna does not initially appear in this continuity at all; the Teen Titans are first established in the present day, with Cassie Sandsmark as Wonder Girl, and Wonder Woman's new origin presents her as the natural-born daughter of Zeus and Hippolyta. Donna is reintroduced in the pages of
Wonder Woman as an Amazon created by a sorcerer, Derinoe, as an attempt to usurp Diana's place as queen, replacing her with a new ruler. Diana defeats Donna and Donna sets about a period of soul-searching. Meanwhile, in the
Titans Hunt storyline which seeks to
retroactively reestablish the history of the Teen Titans in the New 52, Donna is shown as having been a Teen Titan, working alongside Titans co-founders such as Dick Grayson and Garth, until an encounter with the telepathic supervillain Mister Twister resulted in the Titans' memories being erased. In the
Wonder Woman series, Donna struggles with her rage and anger and after being killed in a battle is chosen by Zeus to replace the Fates, making Donna a new embodiment of Fate. In the last issue of
Titans Hunt, Donna confirms that she is "the Fate of the Gods", but does not reconcile her history depicted in
Titans Hunt with her creation depicted in
Wonder Woman.
Titans Hunt led into the
DC Rebirth initiative, which brought back more popular elements of past continuity after former Titan Wally West returns to the DC Universe and reunites his friends. He explains to his fellow Titans how 10 years were stolen from their lives as a result of unknown forces, partially accounting for the discrepancies. Donna and her friends then reform the Titans. On touching Wally in
Titans Rebirth #1, Donna has her childhood memories of Wally restored. Later, the
Titans (vol. 2) Annual #1 (May 2017) reconciles the two accounts of Donna's history — recent magical creation or longtime ally of Wonder Woman — revealing that Donna was, as in the New 52 story, created out of clay to destroy Wonder Woman, but the Amazons later gave her false memories of being an orphan rescued by Wonder Woman. This allowed Donna to be more than a living weapon, and to establish a stable life. Though Donna was heartbroken by the revelation, she was supported by her Titans colleagues, who affirmed their friendship. Donna remains a main character in the
Titans series at DC after the team was broken up by the Justice League and reformed by Nightwing with supervision from the League this time. After Dick Grayson was shot in the head by
KGBeast, Donna becomes leader of the team while he is recovering from his injury and amnesia. In the
Infinite Frontier era, Donna's original origin story is restored and her backstory is a close approximation of her complete publication history. In
Titans Annual 2025, Donna receives a message from her biological father, and intends to meet him, only to discover he has recently died. She learns Lou was a gay man who impregnated her mother, Dorothy, while he was young and "deeply closeted", leading to his abandoning Dorthy, who died shortly after putting Donna up for adoption. After starting a new life for himself, Lou spent years trying to make contact with his estranged daughter before realising that she had become the famous superhero Wonder Girl, after which time he "followed her career religiously" but was afraid to make contact. Donna bonds with her father's husband Carlos and meets his firehouse colleagues. However, Carlos does not tell her about the existence of her biological half-sister, Zoe Rivera. The story's epilogue imagines that Donna's son Robert is being cared for by Lou and Dorothy in heaven. ==Origin retcons==