Doctor Cyber is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe. The character is a supervillain who fought Wonder Woman several times in stories taking place before the Crisis on Infinite Earths. After the Crisis, another villainess with the same name emerged as a foe of the Power Company.
Fictional character biography
Pre-Crisis
Doctor Cyber was the beautiful and commanding presence behind a global criminal network around the same time when Wonder Woman had relinquished her powers when her fellow Amazons retreated into another dimension. Prior to Cyber's first encounter with the depowered Amazon, her henchmen plundered the monastery of I Ching for the gems and precious metals within and slaughtered the resisting monks. Colonel Steve Trevor unsuccessfully attempted to infiltrate Cyber's network, but learned of their plot: to create chaos within the US Government by sending bombs inside toys to the children of Congressmen. This plot was actually a ruse to divert attention from a London jewel heist, foiled by Wonder Woman and I Ching. Doctor Cyber escaped only to resurface in Hong Kong several weeks later. (Wonder Woman #179-182 [Novemberâ€"December 1968â€"Mayâ€"June 1969])
In Hong Kong, Doctor Cyber's plan was to destroy the city and blackmail the world with a series of devices that could create earthquakes. Cyber lured the non-powered Diana Prince to the Asian city hoping to entice her into joining the organization, which she steadfastly refused. Soon afterward, an attack by the rival Tiger Tong gang resulted in an urn of hot coals spilling onto Cyber's face. The villainess was evacuated to a secret hospital outside of Hong Kong, swearing revenge on Diana Prince for her disfigurement. Prince stopped the earthquake plot and Cyber was believed killed when her final earthquake device exploded. (Wonder Woman #187-188 [Marchâ€"April 1970â€"Mayâ€"June 1970])
When Diana Prince teamed up with private detective Jonny Double to stop an organization called the Tribunal, she discovered that Doctor Cyber had survived their previous encounter. Cyber had created the Tribunal to find a suitable woman to transplant her brain and replace her disfigured body. After Prince's capture, Cyber unsuccessfully attempted to have her brain transplanted into Diana by Doctor Moon. During this encounter, Cyber was accidentally impaled by a scalpel and believed killed once again. (Wonder Woman #200 [Mayâ€"June 1972])
On an assignment at a Catskill Mountain resort as Diana Prince, Wonder Woman again discovered that Doctor Cyber had cheated death. While investigating a number of murders at the resort, Cyber battled Wonder Woman after an unsuccessful attempt to graft the Amazon's face onto her own. The ensuing melée ended with Cyber seemingly falling to her death from atop a ski lift. (Wonder Woman #221 [December 1975-January 1976])
Doctor Cyber laid low for several months before capturing Wonder Girl in another attempt to capture Wonder Woman for a brain transplant. Wonder Woman agreed to trade her life for her adopted sister, but both were rescued by the Teen Titans. Cyber and her partner, Dr. Moon, were finally captured. (Wonder Woman #287 [January 1982])
It is unknown if Doctor Cyber was released or escaped from custody, but she disguised herself as Diana Prince, infiltrated the Pentagon, and stole the launch codes to America's nuclear missiles. Wonder Woman averted the attempted nuclear war, but Cyber was killed attempting to flee from her and Steve Trevor (disguised as the god Eros) when her rocket sled crashed into the side of a cliff. (Wonder Woman #319-321 [Septemberâ€"November 1984])
During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Brainiac assumedly retrieved Doctor Cyber sometime prior to her death and assigned her to team-up with several other villains to conquer Earth-S. Doctor Cyber was finally excised from the DC Universe after the conclusion of Crisis.
Post-Crisis
The second Doctor Cyber first appeared, chronologically, in post-Crisis continuity in The Power Company #1 (April 2002).
Cyber, together with several other scientific geniuses and robotic beings (Automan, Brainstorm, Emil Hamilton, Ford, and Rosie the Riveter), was for a brief period part of the composite cybernetic being called Enginehead. However (if this story is still canon), the being seems to have been divided into the individual personalities again shortly after the events of the series.
Cyber is later shown re-introduced into the Wonder Woman comic by battling Donna Troy (the new Wonder Woman) and Cassie Sandsmark (the current Wonder Girl). (September 2006)
During the Infinite Crisis storyline, Doctor Cyber popped up as a member of Alexander Luthor, Jr.'s Secret Society of Super Villains.
Powers and abilities
The first Doctor Cyber had no powers but wore an armored suit that allowed her to physically fight Wonder Woman on near-equal terms. The suit enhanced her strength and endurance and also allowed her to redirect energy when fired at the suit. She also used a variety of weaponry that included laser pistols, mind control serum, an invisibility screen, rocket sleds, and myriad robot assassins. After her disfigurement she often used plain and unattractive women as henchmen so as not to be reminded of her lost beauty.
The second Doctor Cyber also wore an armored suit, but while its full abilities and limitations are as yet unknown, in keeping with her name they are more implicitly cybernetic in nature. As her limbs were able to stretch to impossible lengths it does seem that she is a cyborg and not merely a person in armor.
In other media
Television
- This supervillain is absent in the long-running Super Friends animated series. Like Ares, Doctor Psycho, Circe and Cheetah, she does not make any appearances in the 1970s live-action television series of Wonder Woman starring Lynda Carter.
- Doctor Cyber first appears in the Justice League Unlimited episode "I Am Legion." She is seen as a member of Gorilla Grodd's Secret Society. In "Dead Reckoning," she partakes in the invasion of Gorilla City. In "Far From Home," a Z8 Training Drone appears as Doctor Cyber. During the mutiny against Lex Luthor and his group in "Alive," Doctor Cyber sides with Grodd's faction. While she is not among the villains frozen by Killer Frost, she presumably died when Darkseid destroyed the Legion's base as she was not seen with the surviving villains.
Miscellaneous
- Doctor Cyber appears in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold comic that accompanies the cartoon series of the same name. In #4, she uses an obelisk-shaped throne with time-travelling technology to upset the natural history of the world only to run afoul of Batman and Aquaman.
Homages
- In Disney's Sky High, the villain in this movie called Royal Pain wears a similar costume to Doctor Cyber.
References
See also
- List of Wonder Woman enemies