Baroness Paula Von Gunther

Pre-Crisis

Baroness Von Gunther was Wonder Woman's first recurring villian. She was a ruthless Nazi spymaster, evil scientist, and femme fatale. She was executed by the electric chair and later revived by an electric machine that she invented. Wonder Woman found that Von Gunther was working for the Nazi's because her daughter was held captive. Wonder Woman went on a daring raid and rescued her daughter Gerta. She turned on the Nazi ring and joined forces with the Amazons. She was taken to Transformation Island, the rahabilitaion community of the Amazons.Paula von Gunther had reformed by 1943 and was accepted by Aphrodite as a new member of the Amazons.

Post-Crisis

Baroness Paula Von Gunther was a ruthless Nazi occultist and a personal assistant to Adolf Hitler during World War II. Hoping to harness the power of Johnny Thunder's Thunderbolt for her own evil ends, the Baroness summoned the ancient spirit Dark Angel, who took over her body. Channeling Dark Angel's powers, Von Gunther attacked the JSA and trapped them in a magical cage. Hippolyta, the Golden Age Wonder Woman, freed her heroic team mates and Von Gunther was seperated from the Dark Angel spirit.

Dark Angel became a constant foe of Hyppolyta and her daughter Troia, while von Gunther renounced her ties to the Nazi party and relocated to Thymescira where she became a prominent scientist, inventing the Purple Healing Ray.

Alternate Versions

• An actress named Claire Harding portrayed the Baroness in Realworlds: Wonder Woman.
• Paula Von Gunther is one of the three Savanti in the Elseworlds story Wonder Woman: The Blue Amazon. She breaks away from her two allies, versions of Lex Luthor and Jonathan Kent to create her own city, Heaven. She is later killed by Cheetah.

Other Media

Wonder Woman (1975)

Baroness Von Gunther appeared in the episode "Wonder Woman Meets Baroness von Gunther," portrayed by Christine Belford.

Batman: The Brave and The Bold

Baroness von Gunther appeared in the episode "Scorn of the Star Sapphire", where she is voiced by Eliza Schneider. She kidnaps secret agent Steve Trevor and Batman, and straps them to twin nuclear missiles to be launched at the U.N. Wonder Woman arrives and tangles with her storm trooper robots (similar to those used by Per Degaton in the Brave and the Bold episode "The Golden Age of Justice") before freeing Batman. She then faces Von Gunther (who dons hidden body armor) in hand to hand combat, but is defeated by the amazing amazon--but not before she launches the missiles, forcing Wonder Woman to go after them (and the still-trapped Steve Trevor) while Batman deals with the remaining storm trooper robots.