COMIC ART (VILLAINS) - DOCTOR POISON

While Ares and Germany’s real-life General Erich Ludendorff may serve as the two biggest adversaries in Wonder Woman, they’re aided by the brilliant, deadly chemist named Isabel Maru, or as she’s referred to by the British army — Doctor Poison. While not as widely known as the God of War or other longtime Wonder Woman baddies like Cheetah and Circe, Doctor Poison is actually one of Diana’s oldest villains, making her debut back in 1942’s SENSATION COMICS #2. Like most baddies of the time she’s a wartime villain—a dark scientist with a knack for crafting cutting edge toxins. As such, she’s remained frighteningly relevant and has continued to act as a dangerous threat to Diana, Steve Trevor and the rest of the DC Universe since her debut…albeit with a few identity revamps along the way. The original Doctor Poison was the Chief of the Nazi Poison Division and was in league with a squadron of German spies. (Remember, while she’s a WWI-era scientist in the movie, in the realm of comics she debuted during WWII.) This early version of Doctor Poison wore a mask and large bodysuit that made her gender ambiguous until the end of her debut story, where she was revealed to be an Asian princess named Maru—a surname that has stuck with the character ever since. After CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS changed the DC Universe, Doctor Poison was eventually reintroduced to the pages of Wonder Woman. Only this time, she was a new scientist named Marina Maru who was the granddaughter of the original Doctor Poison. Like her grandmother, Marina also wore a full bodysuit and mask that made her gender pretty ambiguous. Her lips had been hooked back into a psychotic-looking grin, and she seemed to make greater use of syringes, wielding them almost as a weapon. In other words, she was nothing short of a nightmare.