Giganta

Giganta in Wonder Woman #28.

Giganta was introduced as a foe of DC Comics character Wonder Woman during the Golden Age of Comic Books.[3] In the story, a scientist named Professor Zool artificially mutates an ape named Giganta into a malicious red-haired strongwoman. The mutation machine goes haywire and somehow reverts the world to an earlier stage. Giganta joins a primitive tribe to attack Wonder Woman, but is defeated. When the world gets to the Golden Age of humanity, Giganta causes trouble by encouraging a rebellion, which Wonder Woman stops. When the world returns to normal, Giganta is still in her "strongwoman" form. Giganta is ultimately subdued and captured by Wonder Woman and taken to Themiscrya for rehabilitation.[4]

Giganta joins a rebellion of prisoners held on the island started by the Saturnian slaver Eviless, thereby becoming a member of the criminal team Villainy Inc. Eviless steals Wonder Woman's lasso and kidnaps Hippolyta. Giganta joins with the Atlantean Queen Clea to cause trouble.[5]

In 1966, Giganta's origin is revamped to include Doctor Psycho.[6] In this story, Doctor Psycho hypnotized a zoo gorilla named Giganta to fall in love with Steve Trevor. After Wonder Woman defeats Giganta, Professor Zool appeared asking to have the gorilla turned over to her for experimentation. Taking advantage of this, Doctor Psycho took Giganta out of the zoo and brought her to Professor Zool so that he can use an evolution ray on her. This turned Giganta into a huge blonde woman who still loves Steve Trevor. Wonder Woman defeated Giganta and took her to Paradise Island for rehabilitation.[7]

The contemporary version of the character is the alter-ego of Dr. Doris Zeul,[8] who suffers from a fatal blood disease. She captures Wonder Woman and plans to put her "life-essence" into Wonder Woman's body using an experimental machine. Interrupted by Wonder Girl halfway through the experiment she ends up with her consciousness in a test animal gorilla named Giganta.[1]

Desperate to return her mind to a human body, Zeul the gorilla abducts a comatose circus strongwoman named Olga with size-changing abilities[9] through unknown means (though Olga was comatose due to a mysterious shaman) and uses the machine to successfully transfer her mind into that body, keeping the villain name "Giganta".

Following her transformation, Giganta allies herself with Queen Clea and the modern incarnation of Villainy Inc. in an attempt to conquer the lost world of Skartaris.[10] Villainy Inc. is defeated by Wonder Woman, but Giganta is subsequently seen as a member of several criminal groups, including the Secret Society of Super Villains.[11]

As part of the Society, she takes part in the "Battle of Metropolis", a confrontation with multiple heroes, including Elasti-Girl, the size-changing member of the Doom Patrol. The Society ultimately loses this battle.[12]

When Diana Prince noted that Giganta's intellect reduces as she grows in size,[13] compelling the villain to become less rational and more prone to violence, she was corrected by her colleagues in the Department of Metahuman Affairs. They implied that Giganta has overcome that limitation and retains her full intelligence at any size.[14]

Giganta in her One Year Later costume, which she continued to use until the New 52.

"One Year Later," Giganta, along with The Cheetah and Doctor Psycho, engage in a battle with Donna Troy (who has assumed the identity of Wonder Woman one year after the events of Infinite Crisis), as part of a search for, as they term it, the "real" Wonder Woman (Diana of Themyscira).[9] The villains continue their quest,[13] holding Troy hostage in order to draw Diana out for a rescue attempt and contend with the current Wonder Girl, Robin, and Diana herself in the guise of government agent Diana Prince. Giganta and her allies also battle Hercules, with the giantess being felled by the legendary champion.[15]

Giganta is a teacher at Ryan Choi's Ivy Town University.[16] Infected and controlled by M'Nagalah, the monstrous Cancer god, she was sent to seduce and capture Ryan Choi, the new Atom, in the process even going so far as to swallow the miniature hero alive (he escapes, and also discovers that she has a tongue piercing[17]). Now free of M'Nagalah's control, a seemingly repentant Dr. Zeul retains her position at Ivy University and has approached Ryan for a second chance, despite the bizarre circumstances of their first meeting.

Before their second date, the Atom is approached by Wonder Woman on behalf of the Department of Metahuman Affairs and asked to wear a wire on his date with Dr. Zeul. After professing her desire to reform, she is informed that Ryan is wearing a wire and tears off the roof of the restaurant to see Wonder Woman and Ryan talking - unaware that Ryan had removed the wire. A fight between Wonder Woman and Giganta ensues. Wonder Woman quickly knocks Giganta out but Ryan intervenes to stop Wonder Woman from beating her further, after admitting she had lost her temper - they realize that Dr. Zeul has disappeared.[18] Whether she heard or saw Ryan's actions to stop her from getting further injuries is yet to be seen.

Giganta is a member of the new Injustice League[19] and she is one of the villains featured in the Salvation Run.[1]

Giganta is also a member of Libra's Secret Society of Super Villains, during the Final Crisis and is shown as a thrall of Darkseid alongside several other super-powered women. She is now called Gigantrix.[20] Over the course of the series she fights as one of the new incarnations of the Female Furies with Wonder Woman, Batwoman and Catwoman. She is possessed by the spirit of the fury Stompa, and only freed when Supergirl smashes the skull-and-crossbones mask from her face.[21]

Giganta is attacked by Diana while on her way to a date with Ryan Choi,[22] implying that their relationship has survived despite earlier difficulties. Mellower than in her appearances in the All-New Atom series, she seems to accept and respect the shortcomings brought by their different lifestyles, going so far as to help Wonder Woman in a mission, reasoning that, with Ryan being a superhero, they should both be used to putting their heroics in front of their private lives.

Most recently, Bane hires her on as one of the new members of Secret Six.[23] The team also includes the shrinking killer, Dwarfstar, who recently hired Deathstroke and his Titans to kill Ryan Choi. Giganta initially seems unaware of this fact, admitting to Dwarfstar that she is dating the Atom (much to Dwarfstar's amusement). Following a disastrous mission to Skartaris, Amanda Waller reveals the details of Ryan's murder to Giganta. After luring Dwarfstar to her bedroom with the promise of sex, Giganta strips him of his belt (the source of his powers) and beats him into submission. She is last heard covering Dwarfstar's mouth with duct tape to stifle his screams, telling him that she plans on keeping him alive so that she can prolong his suffering.[24]

In September 2011, DC Comics revised the fictional history of its comic book line under the title "The New 52". In the revised comic book line, Doris Zeul was bullied as a child due to a rare blood disease. When she got older, Doris tried to cure herself using radiation which resulted in her gaining sizeshifting abilities.[25] Giganta appears as a member of the Secret Society during the "Trinity War" storyline. She assists Vandal Savage and Signalman into tracking Pandora. When the three villains attack Pandora, Pandora successfully subdues Giganta. Her costume combines elements from her original and One Year Later costumes.[26]

After her first encounter with Pandora, Giganta returns for revenge following the conclusion of the Forever Evil storyline. During their fight, Pandora looks into Giganta's soul, and reveals her origin story. Doris Zeul was a bullied child with a blood disease, but cured herself with a radical procedure that gave her her growth powers. A side-effect of the untested operation was that it reduced her intellect.[27]

Giganta is later recruited by agents of S.H.A.D.E. to serve as a supernormal asset, fighting vampires and other monsters. She is tempted by the offer of a pardon for her crimes almost as much for the chance to kill things, which she admits to enjoying.[28]

After the events of "DC Rebirth," Giganta appeared alongside several other villains as they battled the Justice League.[29]

Later, Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor tracked Giganta down to a Los Angeles museum. Giganta had been stealing mystical artifacts for unknown reasons. Wonder Woman managed to defeat the giantess. She was then taken into custody.[30] When Steve Trevor interrogated Giganta in Belle Reve alongside Amanda Waller, he discovered that Giganta had been recruited by Darkseid to steal the artifacts. She told Steve Trevor where to find the remaining artifacts. She stated that she, Steve, and Wonder Woman have had a long history together.[31]

Giganta was then recruited by Amanda Waller into Task Force XL in order to capture the powerful creature known as Damage. During the battle, Giganta revealed that she would love to study Damage's physiology. However, Damage burst through Giganta's hand, leaving her to bandage herself while the rest of the team battled the creature.[32]

In the "Watchmen" sequel "Doomsday Clock," Giganta is among the villains that attend the underground meeting held by Riddler that talks about the Superman Theory. When Comedian crashes the meeting, Giganta attacks him as the villains start to scatter.[33] Later on, she takes part in the attack led by Black Adam against the United Nations, where she is beaten back by Wonder Woman.[34] Giganta was with Black Adam's group when the People's Heroes, the Outsiders, and the Doomed tried to get to Superman and gets into an all-out battle with them until it is broken up when Doctor Manhattan undoes the experiment that erased the Justice Society of America and the Legion of Super-Heroes.[35]

In the 'Odyssey' storyline that ran through issues 601-614 of Wonder Woman, Giganta was one of many characters re-imagined in the alternate reality created by the goddess Nemesis. She was part of a trio - along with Artemis of Bana-Mighdall and Barbara Minerva - of dead Amazons resurrected by the Morrigan to hunt Wonder Woman.[38]

Giganta possessed no size-altering power, instead relying upon enormous natural strength (enough to shatter a stone statue[39] and throw a school bus[40]) and a double-headed axe to fight. She dressed in Amazonian battle-garb decorated with leopard print, in a callback to her original costume, and stood over six feet tall.

Giganta is eventually won around to Diana's side after being shown the truth of the Morrigan's lies.[41] She joins her in attacking their stronghold, killing Bellona with her axe even as her flesh is melted from her bones by the goddess' magic.[42]

Giganta was featured as a member of the Legion of Doom in Alex Ross' maxi-series Justice. Here she is in her traditional costume, though she briefly disguises herself as a nurse and wears hunting gear in her first appearance. She attempts to assassinate the Atom in his office using a sniper rifle, but Palmer is distracted by a phone call and is instead hit in the shoulder. Later in the hospital, Giganta tries to smother the Atom to death with a pillow, though he escapes using his belt and knocks Giganta out a window by getting in her eye. Later, when the Legion toast their apparent victory, she is seen talking with Gorilla Grodd about his suspicions towards Lex Luthor and Brainiac's goals. When the Justice League storm the Hall of Doom itself, Giganta fights the League as a whole rather than any particular target. In the end she is defeated by Rita Farr of the Doom Patrol. Her origin is more in-line with that of her Golden Age and DC animated universe counterparts, having originally been a gorilla altered into a human, though she has no known connections with Gorilla Grodd or Gorilla City itself.

In the Flashpoint universe, two conflicting versions of Giganta existed. In Lois Lane's tie-in miniseries, she joined with the Amazons' Furies, as they had taken over the United Kingdom, and ambushed the resistance.[43] Here her appearance resembled that of her 'Odyssey' counterpart, and she seemingly possessed no super-powers. She was last seen fighting against Grifter on London Bridge, parrying his gunshots with twin swords.[44]

Conversely, in Hal Jordan's miniseries, Giganta appears in her traditional, original costume, and is capable of growing large enough to grasp and crush fighter jets in her hands. When she is about to kill Hal while he struggles to control his damaged plane, Giganta is shot in the eyes by Carol Ferris, collapsing and playing no further role in the fight.[45]

Giganta was set to appear in the second volume to The Legend of Wonder Woman, a retelling of Wonder Woman's origins by Renae de Liz and Ray Dillon. However, DC cancelled the project under unknown circumstances.[46] De Liz later posted preliminary artwork featuring Giganta on Twitter.[47]

Giganta appears in the digital comic sequel to the animated film Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay.[48]

Giganta as seen in Challenge of the Super Friends.

• Giganta appears in Challenge of the Super Friends, voiced by Ruth Forman. She appears as a member of the Legion of Doom. In the TV series, she has the ability to grow into a 50-foot-tall giantess simply by willing it (at the time, she did not yet possess this ability in the comics). She typically dresses in a leopard skin two-piece loincloth (which grows with her when she uses her powers to achieve her gigantic stature), wears large, bangle-like bracelets and anklets, and she is always barefoot (like her original appearances). In her giantess form, she has superhuman strength and a more muscular body. In the episode "History of Doom", it was revealed that Giganta was once an unnamed normal woman who stole the growth powder that gave Apache Chief his powers.

• Giganta appears in the Super Friends episode "Two Gleeks are Deadlier Than One," voiced again by Ruth Forman.

A super-sized Giganta squares off with Wonder Woman in Justice League.

• She appears in the Justice League episode "Secret Society", voiced by Jennifer Hale. This version has an origin somewhat similar to the Earth-Two and Earth-One versions that were evolved from a gorilla by Professor Zool. Unlike her more brutish characterization in the comics, Giganta acts in a more feminine manner in the Justice League cartoons, but is still eager for battle according to an interview with Hale. While she still has red hair and blue eyes, she does not wear a leopard skin, but a dress, complete with earrings and bracelet that increases in size when she grows. According to Grodd, she was once a small female ape that Grodd transformed into the woman she is now, whereupon she became Grodd's devoted follower and a member of his Secret Society.[49] In "Secret Society", Giganta recruits Shade into Grodd's Secret Society. In his discussion with Clayface, Grodd revealed that he created Giganta from a gorilla. Upon hearing this, The Shade glances at her eating a banana and simply shrugs and smiles at her, showing that he doesn't mind overall. During her first confrontation with the Justice League, she manages to defeat Wonder Woman with help from Killer Frost and later topples the Man of Steel. In the ambush of the other Justice Leaguers, she attempts to catch Martian Manhunter with her hands, but is unable due to Jonn's phasing abilities. Then at Gotham Field, Superman is being beaten badly by her, but manages to escape. Giganta is seen using her huge size as an advantage to step on and smash the Man of Steel. When he finally is about to strike back, she manipulates him by asking "Wouldn't hit a woman, would you?" Fortunately, Wonder Woman has no problem delivering a blow which knocks her out.[49]

• Giganta appears in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Ultimatum" with Jennifer Hale reprising her role of Giganta. She attempts to break Grodd out of prison with the help of Bizarro (whom she manipulates by pretending to be his girlfriend). She is defeated by Wonder Woman and the similarly powered Ultimen member Long Shadow (who was himself a thinly veiled homage to Apache Chief).[50] While on a mission for Grodd as a backup to retrieve the Viking Prince's corpse, she ends up comatose after Martian Manhunter tries to read her mind, which triggered a mind implant by Grodd which would prevent the Secret Society members from being questioned. Wonder Woman also gives her the nickname "Jumbo" which Giganta apparently does not like.[51] However, in the episode "The Great Brain Robbery", Giganta is seen among the rest of the Secret Society, apparently fully recovered.[52] When the Secret Society becomes divided between Luthor and Grodd, she sides with Luthor angry with Grodd for having manipulated her brain when she was angrily confronting Grodd and squeezing him. Tala blasts her with a magic bolt, but Giganta is apparently not damaged as she is seen soon slapping Silver Banshee out of the air. Parasite attempts to take her vast strength, but Sinestro stops him. When Darkseid attacks the remaining members of the Society, she argues with the Justice League to fight alongside them, going with Green Lantern and Flash to defend Paris. At the end of the series, Giganta sacrifices a few seconds of her allotted five-minute head start reward (for helping the League) to plant a quick kiss on Flash.

• Giganta made a non-speaking cameo appearance in Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Powerless". Her appearance was only in a hypothetical scenario when Captain Atom discussed how Batman's lack of superpowers made him vulnerable to supervillains. In the brief scene, Batman threatens to stop Giganta's rampage only for her to calmly step on him.

• Giganta appears in DC Nation Shorts: Wonder Woman.

• In the Robot Chicken DC Comics Special, Giganta was voiced by Alex Borstein.

• Giganta appears in the DC Super Hero Girls TV special "Super Hero High" and its short sequel "New Beginnings", voiced by Grey DeLisle.

• Giganta appears in the 2019 DC Super Hero Girls TV series, voiced again by Grey DeLisle. She is portrayed as biracial in this version, with a Caucasian father and an African-American mother and slightly overweight. An injection of a serum stolen from her parents' lab grants her growth/strength powers, which manifest themselves when she becomes angry. She is described as a large, rude, rowdy, selfish, lazy, aggressive, obnoxious, scruffy, mean-tempered and gluttonous bully with a cynical personality and a huge hatred for superheroes. Uncouth and vindictive, even with her friends, she is generally the most lonely of them. She is so easily irritated to the point of absurdity. Another recurrent trait of her personality is her evident sport fanaticism, reflecting mostly on her distinctive Tom Brady autographed football which she considers as her most prized possession, her mother lovingly nicknaming her "sports monkey", and some of her catchphrases being sport-themed including "Strike!" and "Home run!". In an interview, DeLisle called the character "the best villain [of the show]", and "that fish-eyed neighbor who you say good morning just on one of her really down days, and then makes sure you don't commit the same mistake ever again".

• Giganta also appears in Harley Quinn, voiced by Vanessa Marshall. She first appears in the episode "So You Need a Crew?", being interviewed in a late night talk show along with Doctor Psycho and their son Herman. She suddenly announces that she is leaving Psycho after revealing that he used his mind-control to make her love him. As she leaves with Herman, Psycho angrily calls her the "C-word" much to everyone's shock and Psycho's own frustration like he did in a previous battle with Wonder Woman. In "You're a Damn Good Cop, Jim Gordon", Doctor Psycho and Poison Ivy track down an online personality called the "Cowled Critic" after they slandered them. Their subsequent investigation takes them to Giganta's house, though she denies being the Cowled Critic before comparing Psycho unfavorably to her new boyfriend, Brad. The two later learn that the Cowled Critic was actually Herman, whom Psycho reconciles with.

Aleshia Brevard as Giganta in Legends of the Superheroes.

• Giganta also appeared in Legends of the Superheroes played by Aleshia Brevard. In keeping with the show's decidedly low budget, she doesn't demonstrate any ability to grow in size and instead bends a prop steel bar around Riddler's neck for a "super strength" effect. She returns in "The Roast" and is interviewed by "Rhoda Rooter" (who is an impression of gossip host Rona Barrett). Rooter interviews Giganta and the Atom about their recent engagement. Wonder Woman did not appear in this special due to the television series on CBS.

• In the Wonder Woman episode "Wonder Woman vs. Gargantua," a gorilla named Gargantua (performed by Mickey Morton) is based on the gorilla form of Giganta. Gargantua was trained by Erica Belgard (portrayed by Gretchen Corbett) to attack Wonder Woman and was eventually brought to the United States, to bring back defector Conrad Steigler (portrayed by John Hillerman). Gargantua climbed up to Steigler's hotel room, knocking out several MPs in the process, and brought Steigler to Hans Eichler (portrayed by Robert Loggia) so that he can have him be brought to High Command. Having trained him to fight Wonder Woman, Belgard wanted to take the opportunity to capture her also so that she can be brought to High Command as well. So they set up a trap and sent Gargantua on her. Before he could finish the task, Gargantua was shot by an MP and brought to Dr. Osmond. Osmond was able to undo Belgard's programming of Gargantua. But the Nazis took Gargantua back and gave him electro-shocks while looking at a picture of Wonder Woman (in hopes that it would restore the programming). He was subdued by Wonder Woman when they met again and the reprogramming failed. Feeling empathy for Gargantua after Belgard and Eichler were apprehended, Wonder Woman couldn't let him spend the rest of his life in a cage. So she broke Gargantua out and returned him to Africa.

• Giganta appears in the animated film Superman/Batman: Public Enemies with her grunts provided by Andrea Romano. She wears the same outfit as in her comic. Giganta is defeated in a few seconds after she tries to step on Superman.

• Giganta appears in Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League, voiced by April Winchell. She is among the villains controlled by Gorilla Grodd.

• Giganta appears in Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League: Attack of the Legion of Doom. She is among the villains that audition for a spot in the Legion of Doom. Due to Giganta being at a large size, Lex Luthor, Black Manta, and Sinestro exclude her from the audition because she wouldn't even fit through the front door.

• Giganta appears in Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League: Gotham City Breakout. She is shown battling Starfire and Beast Boy in Metropolis when Beast Boy calls Robin on the Batcomputer. She is defeated by Starfire before Robin goes to save Superman, Cyborg and Wonder Woman from Joker, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Penguin and Scarecrow.

• Giganta appears in the animated film Wonder Woman: Bloodlines, voiced by Kimberly Brooks.[53]

• Giganta appears in the animated film Justice League Dark: Apokolips War with no spoken lines.

• Giganta appears as a villain in a cinematic trailer for the video game DC Universe Online MMORPG, voiced by Lana Lesley.[54] In the cinematic, "Who Do You Trust",[55] the trailer depicts a dark future where Lex Luthor and other villains are engaged in what seems to be a final battle against what's then left of the Justice League. Giganta is seen only briefly crashing down through a building after being struck by the Green Lantern before he begins doing battle with Black Adam. In this depiction, she has her typical appearance and is wearing her modern, One Year Later black-and-yellow costume. In the hero's part of the story, Giganta is in cahoots with Circe in a plot to prepare a spell that would transfer her mind into the body of Wonder Girl. When Giganta succeeds, the players end up fighting Giganta in Wonder Girl's body. After destroying the Convergence Crystals, Giganta ends up back in her own body enabling the players to fight and defeat Giganta with Wonder Girl's help.

• Giganta makes a cameo appearance in Injustice: Gods Among Us. Her costume is based on her One Year Later design. She is seen at the Hall of Justice stage battling Atom Smasher in the background. Giganta also plays a role in the level's stage transition where she grabs the fighter and while holding them, punches Atom Smasher in the face, and then throwing them into the Hall of Justice.[56]

• Giganta appears as a playable character in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, voiced by Erica Luttrell. She is found in Odym, where she serves as a mini-boss who player must defeat in a quest where Grodd has player attacking her with his "Banana Cannon" (the more she takes damage, the more her size reduces). After she is defeated, she is found in her own quest she requests player to defeat a number of Reach drones and (optionally Ambush Bug).[57]

• In Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure, Giganta is one of the thousands of characters that can be summoned by the player.

• Giganta appears as a playable character in the mobile game DC Legends.[58]

• Giganta makes a non-speaking appearance in the third episode of the web series Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles. In this parallel world, Wonder Woman is the New God Bekka and Giganta is a giant metallic blue robot developed by Kobra with the intention of destroying the world. She is stopped by Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor.

• Giganta appears in DC Super Hero Girls Season 2, voiced by Grey DeLisle.

Giganta appears with her pet giraffe, Patches, in The Biggest Little Hero by John Sazaklis published by Capstone as part of their DC Super-Pets line of illustrated children's books.[59]

• Giganta appeared in the spin-off comic book Justice League Unlimited #38. She tries to go straight so she could spend time with The Flash. She reveals her intentions angrily once he announces that he is going on a date.

• Giganta appears in a flashback of Teen Titans Go! #54.

• An illusion of Giganta appears in the second story arc of the comic book based on the Wonder Woman TV series, though she did not have any appearances in that television series. She, along with several other enemies, was created by Doctor Psycho in order to battle Wonder Woman. Similar to her more recent comic counterparts, Giganta had the ability to grow to immense heights.[60]