Pre-Crisis

Circe during the Pre-Crisis was a witch who was able to turn men into beasts and gained her powers on the island of Aeaea. With her ability to turn men into beasts, she is banished to Sorca. During her return, she hears of Wonder Woman and tries to destroy her.

Modern Age Circe

Origins

Born a princess of Colchis, Circe was raised to be a proper woman of the times, but wanted more. A devotee of the goddess Hecate, when Circe was forced to wed, she killed her weak willed husband. Banished from her homeland, Circe fled to Aeaea, where she could work her magics. Unfortunately, she found the island to be the limit of her mystical skills, and so began using the Sirens to lure people in to practice her beastimorphism. But it wasn't enough for the former princess, and Circe prayed to Hecate for retribution. Her prayer was answered, but not as she expected. Hecate came to her and offered a deal. Circe wanted retribution on men, but Hecate had been wronged by both sexes. Circe would then become the divine instrument of Hecate's justice. But Hecate's last words were a cryptic prophecy. "Upon the death of a witch and the birth of a witch, Hecate by name, and choice, shall reclaim her soul."

The new, gloriously reborn Circe was unconcerned. Hecate was dead, burned alive with Circe's mortal soul in the light of Hecate's Moon. In a single bloody night, Circe returned to her former home and killed the insurgents, and took those who pleased her to her island to continue the practice of beastimorphism. Those who disobeyed her were transformed into prey for her pets.

Circe's presence caused panic and paranoia. Every man feared that any woman he knew could be the Witch on the Island. Man used brute strength, while woman used sex itself as a weapon.

It was into this maelstrom that the Amazons were born. Circe was worried their peaceful message would put an end to her schemes, but Ares reassured her that he would easily destroy them. When the Amazons were ravaged by Heracles and Theseus, Antiope led a rag tag group of Amazon rebels to destroy them, against the will of the Gods. But the unexpected happened, and Theseus repented and threw himself on Antiope's mercy. First a war prisoner, Theseus soon became her husband. It was a chance for peace that Circe couldn't allow, and so in the dead of night, under Hecate's moon, Ariadne was plucked from the island where she had been abandoned by Theseus and placed in the Queen's own bedchamber. Circe had no spell to still their happy hearts, but all it needed was a sharp dagger. Antiope was dead. Her daughter Pythia fled with her youngest brother, leading a fight against Theseus and his men. Who knew she'd become an Amazon martyr and lead that rag tag group of Amazons to Egypt, where they would become the Bana Mighdall?

Over the centuries, Circe withdrew from the modern world, content to manipulate things from her island. People forgot about the Witch on the Island, and Circe was fine with that. Until the Amazon princess known as Diana came into the world and began spreading her message of peace. And Hecate's prophecy rang in Circe's ears, warning her that this new witch was before her. Hecate had many names, as a goddess of the moon. Pthia, Selene... and Diana. Convinced that Diana would usurp her power, Circe set to turn the Amazon's champion once more into the clay from which she was birthed, but was thwarted by the combined efforts of a group of island rebels, led by Diana's friend Julia Kapatelis. Diana's life was saved, and she stopped Julia from killing Circe, only to watch in confusion as Circe and her fortress were teleported away by an unknown figure, later revealed to be the God, Hermes.

War of the Gods

During the War of the Gods, Circe's biggest plan was enacted. Wishing to kill Gaea, the Goddess of Earth and mother of the Gods, the Witch realized that Wonder Woman might interfere with her plans. Circe transported her to New Olympus where she was to fight Captain Marvel, Zeus' Champion. Convincing the Gods they would receive far more power by splitting themselves into their Roman and Greek counterparts, Circe effectively halved the strength of the Gods of Olympus.

With Wonder Woman and other heroes, Black Adam arranged for the Suicide Squad to attack Circe's fortress. Circe's spells had failed, however, as Klarion The Witch Boy managed to disrupt them. All was not lost, as Circe was able to revert Diana to clay at last. Olympus then appears next to Earth where it is being threatened. Reasoning with the Gods, Earth's heroes revealed the Sorceress' treachery and exposed her as the snake she truly was. Returned to life, Wonder Woman was shocked to realize the losses the Gods suffered, including that of her one time romantic interest, the Lord Hermes, and the Goddess of Discord, Eris.

The White Magician

Seeking to hide from the world, Circe subsumed her divine presence and personality into the form of a mortal woman, Donna Milton. Hoping to force Diana to kill her, thus taking away Diana's innocence and making her just like Circe, Donna again and again revealed to the Amazon, unconciously, that she was the Goddess in mortal form.

During this time, Donna Milton began an affair with a man secretly possessed by Ares, and became pregnant. Diana helped to deliver the child, and the child was named Hippolyta after Diana's mother, but was called Lyta for short.

During this time, Diana had come up against an incredibly powerful foe, the White Magician. Sensing Diana's need, Circe unmasked herself to save Diana, and before leaving, revealed that Diana was indeed her true friend. This would later appear to be undone, a fragment of Donna Milton asserting control over the Goddess. She would come to revile Wonder Woman that much more, for making her be... good.

One Year Later

Circe as Wonder Woman

One Year Later, Circe is Goddess of Hell along side Lord God Ares. Given dominion over the demi-God, Hercules (as he's now known in comics), Circe convinces him to join her and rebuild Olympus as the new King and Queen of the mountain of the Gods. Circe powers up Wonder Woman’s enemies, Giganta, Doctor Psycho and Cheetah. They capture Donna Troy, who is acting as Wonder Woman in Diana's absence, and also Wonder Girl. There Diana Prince and Nemesis attempt to rescue them. Circe betrays Hercules, who had sought to take Diana as his own. Casting a new spell, Circe takes the powers of all the Champions of Olympus, proclaiming herself the new Wonder Woman. Diana Prince, Donna Troy, Cassie Sandsmark and Hercules are all left powerless as Circe goes on a warped and twisted search for justice, slaughtering slave traders, pimps and abusers of women. While this frees thousands, it leaves many more dead. She then claims that in one night as Wonder Woman, she's done more for the plight of women than Diana has in all her time. Meanwhile, Diana and Hercules infiltrate Circe's base but she soon attacks them. As Circe is about to kill Diana, Hercules tackles her and threatens her with her sickle. He reveals his plan to take over the gods and steal their power. He then orders Circe to transfer to power to him. Circe explains that she needs to transfer the power to Diana before she can give Hercules the power, a bit of trickery on the Goddess' part. With her powers returned, Diana launches into an all out assault on Hercules, and Circe both, disabling them. Circe's parting gift to Diana is to make her a mortal woman in the form of Diana Prince, rendering her powerless until she transforms into Wonder Woman.

But Circe was not defeated. Using her Godly contacts, Circe returns to the Underworld and brings Hippolyta back to life as a thrall under Circe's control. Using Hippolyta to use the Amazons, Circe has a minion pose as Sarge Steel and lead an all out attack on Wonder Woman, capturing her for the murder of Max Lord, which she had already been cleared of in the World Court.

With the Amazon Princess in danger, the mind controlled Hippolyta leads the Amazon nation in an all out assault on US soil, destroying Washington, DC and causing the death of thousands. Stabbed by the Amazon Queen during a confrontation with Diana, Circe is believed to be dead, but reveals only a short time later that she's alive and well, indeed. Circe was last seen being grabbed by the goddess Athena in punishment for her crimes. Athena has since been revealed to have been replaced by Granny Goodness, so Circe's fate is unknown.