Donna Troy was originally introduced to comics in 1965 in the comic book The Brave and the Bold Vol. 1, #60. She was the very first Wonder Girl, and one of the earliest members of the Teen Titans. While being considered the “team mom” of the group, Donna often struggles with knowing exactly who she is.
Thanks to DC’s ever shifting continuity, she’s had no less than three different origins, and that’s before Flashpoint came along and switched things around even more. Part of this comes from being a legacy character and connected to Diana and the Amazons, who also happen to have frequently shifting origins themselves. Nonetheless, she’s managed to remain a bedrock within the Teen Titans family.
10 Her Original Origin Saw Her Taken To The Island Of Themyscira & Given Powers
Donna Troy’s first origin came in Teen Titans vol. 1 #22, within a story called The Origin of Wonder Girl. In the story, it’s explained that Donna Troy was rescued from an apartment building on fire when she was two years old by Wonder Woman. Realizing Donna had nowhere else to go, she took her to Paradise Island.
There, Donna was trained just as the other Amazons had been, but with her abilities decidedly human, she couldn’t keep up. Fortunately, the inventor of the Purple Ray was able to modify it somewhat and give Donna the same powers of Wonder Woman.
9 She Can Mimic Anyone’s Voice
One of Donna’s stranger powers is the ability to perfectly mimic someone’s voice. It’s something that doesn’t come up often, but it made an appearance in Brave and the Bold #149.
In that book, Batman needs help taking down an elaborate group of teenaged thieves, and calls on the Teen Titans. During the mission, he asks for Donna to imitate a voice she heard in an apartment, and she does so perfectly, allowing a computer to pick up and decipher which person the voice belonged to.
8 Her Second Origin Expanded On Her Parentage
Donna’s origin would be expanded in 1984 in the legendary storyline “Who is Donna Troy?” in New Teen Titans vol. 1 #38. In that story, Donna relies on Dick Grayson’s help to discover who her parents were. The entire story involves some of Dick Grayson’s best detective work before one of his many times as Batman, as it’s discovered that Donna’s original mother was Dorothy Hinckley. Dorothy put her up for adoption when she discovered she was dying.
Donna was adopted twice. First by Fay & Carl Stacey, with Fay putting her up for adoption again when her husband was killed. The second time, she had nearly been sold by a pair of racketeers, when the apartment building where she was being kept exploded. This led to Donna changing her full name to Donna Hinckley Stacey Troy— a mouthful, but it honored her entire history.
7 Wields The Lasso Of Persuasion
Wonder Woman’s lasso is known as the Golden Perfect, or the Lasso of Truth. It compels anyone bound by it to tell the truth no matter what is asked of them.
Donna has always had a lasso of her own, but right before Flashpoint she got one with a power bonus. This lasso was known as the Lasso of Persuasion. Unlike Wonder Woman’s, Donna Troy’s lasso can make people obey but with one caveat: She has to have stronger willpower than the target.
6 Her Third Origin Turned Her Into A Child From The Titans Of Myth
Donna would get a third origin in 1989 in the story “Who Is Wonder Girl?” This time, it was a legitimately different origin, necessitated by Crisis on Infinite Earths completely changing Wonder Woman’s history. With Wonder Woman taking Donna in being impossible now, she needed a completely different history.
Now, she was saved by one of the Greek Titans, Rhea, who rescued Donna from a fire and brought her to the planet of New Cronus, giving her special abilities and raising her for years before sending her back to Earth with false memories. She returned to New Cronus as an adult to save them from one of the Titan Seeds gone mad, Sparta. Upon winning, she returned to Earth once again.
5 She Met Kyle Rayner While The Two Of Them Were On The Titans
One of the great romances of 1990s superhero comics was Kyle Rayner and Donna Troy. The two of them were properly introduced to one another in the pages of The New Titans, when Kyle Rayner was possessed by Psimon and made to attack the Titans.
After the group managed to defeat him, Kyle was offered a spot on the team and he and Donna bonded. She remained with him even after she gave up her powers, and the two dated until Green Lantern #89.
4 She Became A Darkstar After Losing Her Powers
Donna Troy gave up her powers after learning that her son would also be born with the powers of a god, which would drive him to become a dictator known as Lord Chaos in the future. But though giving up her powers means her son is born normal, that doesn’t stop her from being a superhero.
She’s brought in by the director of the Darkstars for her time as a Titan, and immediately promoted high enough to have others working under her as a deputy. She retains these powers for a time to fight alongside the Titans before eventually retiring and becoming a civilian once more.
3 Her Costume Is A Star Map
After defeating Sparta, Donna was given a number of gifts by the Titans who raised her. These gifts formed the basis of her new costume. The armor would be forged by the sun itself, while her bracelets came from the Titan who restored her memory.
But the cloth that has formed so many of her costumes came from Crius and Mnemosyne, and was made from the starry firmament. It can serve as an actual map of the universe, and even guide her back to New Cronus.
2 She's Aware Of The Multiverse's Full History
During the story “History of the DC Universe," Donna obtained an item known as the Universe Orb. This orb originally belonged to Harbinger, a being who worked for the Monitor and managed to keep track of all the different universes’ histories.
Because of this orb, Donna learned the true history of her universe, including what happened during the original Crisis and all the events of Infinite Crisis. This makes her one of the few people that was actually aware of everything that happened during the different Crisis events.
1 She Joined The Justice League
Right before Flashpoint, the Justice League would get a roster that looked different from any it had before. The normal roster of the League was unavailable because of what was going on in their own comics, meaning the League was lacking in big guns.
But this wasn’t permanent, as several heroes took their place as the next generation of the League. Mon-El would take Superman’s place, Dick Grayson would become the new Batman, and Donna Troy would step in as their Wonder Woman.