Anyone know the origin of Cheetah,The Shade, and Copperhead?

[Batman 80]

Anyone? Thanks!

[DisneyBoy]

From what little I know, Cheetah is an archeologist named Barbara Minerva. She became the Cheetah with the aid of an old, tribal man-servant who knew of a plant that possessed the spirit of the Cheetah (or something to that extent). When the plant is watered with the blood of the one willing to become the Cheetah, it grows. When it blooms, the person must drink a mixture made from the leaves/fruit of the plant and the transformation occurs. Honestly, the details are really sketchy on the plant, but I've read this in the 80's relaunch of Wonder Woman's comic series by George Perez. In any case, Minerva became the Cheetah and went after Wondie's lasso of truth, since she is obsessed with ancient artifacts. Basically, she dirives her powers from the earth while Wondie dirives her's from the ancient Gods. Cheetah wants her powers and is a formidable foe, with rajor sharp claws, Cheetah-like reflexes and a dangerous blood lust. Apparantly, Wonder Woman eventually found out she was Minerva, which ruined her professionally and turned her into a vengeful fugitive.

[EarthX]

Disneyboy has the modern-age Cheetah down. I'm not sure if the Golden and Silver age Cheetahs ever had origins

If I recall the Shade miniseries correctly, his powers came to life in the mid-1800's when a murderous family tried to kill him. He's basically lived a "Do-as-I-please" life since then, sometimes being villainous, other times being heroic. During the Golden and Silver ages, he was your standard dastardly villain.

Copperhead is just your standard costumed thief. I don't think he's ever had a true origin tale. I've always liked him though.

[Karkull]

There have been a couple of Cheetahs in the past 60 years, so we really don't know which the creative team will use. They may combine them or create a brand new origin for the character. Her appearance is similar to Catwoman's in the episode Tyger, Tyger...

I don't think that the Shade's origin was ever truly spelled out, but EarthX did a good job of recaping what little we do know. James Robinson's Starman series did a great job of fleshing out the character, but he was mum on his true origin.

Copperhead...uh, I don't know too much about him.

[The Mad Hatter]

Near as I can tell, Copperhead is a REALLY obscure villain that one member of the creative staff lobbied hard to get in there... and the rest of the staff has turned him into a semi-joke.

So it'll be the devoted comic book fan who actually knows his origin.

[Ricochet]

Wow... I actually beat somebody to posting info... The Golden age Cheetah was a debutante named Priscilla Something. She was a psycho with a split personality that envied WW's beauty. Her split persona became the CHEETAH! The Silver Age Cheetah was the GA's niece. She was an environmentalist. An evil terrorist organization wanted to hire the original, but she was dead. They kidnapped the niece and showed her all kinds of images of the environment being destroyed. She went nuts, bad bing, bada boom, SA Cheetah. When I find my old Who's Who, I'll get more specfic.

[Toddman]

Originally posted by Ricochet
Wow... I actually beat somebody to posting info... The Golden age Cheetah was a debutante named Priscilla Something. She was a psycho with a split personality that envied WW's beauty. Her split persona became the CHEETAH! The Silver Age Cheetah was the GA's niece. She was an environmentalist. An evil terrorist organization wanted to hire the original, but she was dead. They kidnapped the niece and showed her all kinds of images of the environment being destroyed. She went nuts, bad bing, bada boom, SA Cheetah. When I find my old Who's Who, I'll get more specfic.

GA Cheetah's last name= Rich

Terrorist organization that created the SA Cheetah= Kobra

Toddman

[Ricochet]

Originally posted by Toddman


GA Cheetah's last name= Rich

Terrorist organization that created the SA Cheetah= Kobra

Toddman

Thanks! I thought it was Kobra, but I wasn't sure.:) :)

[Toddman]

A little more info...

The second Cheetah's real name was Debbi Domaine.

And I did a little research on Copperhead, thinking there was more to the character than those of us on this thread could remember, and well...there really ISN'T much more to tell about him than what was already reported here. He's never been given a real name or an origin story. All I know is that his power comes from his suit. That's it. The character made one appearance in "Brave & the Bold" in the late 60's/early 70's before becoming a semi-regular character in the "Secret Society of Super-Villians" comic in the 70's. After that series was cancelled, I'm not sure he's ever appeared in a comic again.

Toddman

[Ricochet]

Copperhead was also a Superboy (the clone boy rebel, not the Kansas boyscout) villian, methinks.

[DCU Bat]

Anyway the other origins were nailed but I was surprised that one knew about Copperhead.

Anyway, We don't know much about Copperhead alter ego, All we know is he's a master assasin who trained himself to have super-agility and maximum flexiblity. Before he used wear a flexible bullet proof suit with a tail, then later on he through some events he became a real snake-man and has venom powers as well.