CRISIS OF REBIRTH, PART 5: Those Who Keep Surviving

Ever since CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, there are a handful of characters who just won't die. For one reason or another, they keep surviving and the mulitverse keeps adjusting itself for it. They get new origins. New looks. And new tragedies in their lives that just keep piling up. For one in particular, it has driven him insane, while another one you'd think would go nuts but has still managed to carry on. So, just who are these survivors?

Donna Troy: Before the Crisis, Donna was Wonder Girl. Her mother was an unwed teenager named Dorothy Hinckley and was given up for adoption to Carl and Fay Stacey. However, when she was a child, Donna's adoptive father was killed in a work-related accident. Unable to raise the toddler due to expenses, Fay placed Donna back into the adoption system. She became a victim to a child selling racket, with the racketeers killed in a fire. Donna was saved from burning by Wonder Woman. Unable to find her parents, Wonder Woman took the child with her to Paradise Island to be raised alongside other young Amazons. Eventually, Paula Von Gunther's Purple Ray gave Donna Amazonian powers.

Then came the Crisis, which radically altered her past. Now Donna was rescued from the fire by the Titan of Myth named Rhea and raised as a part of a group of twelve orphans from around the universe called the "Titan Seeds." These orphans were raised on New Chronos, intended to be the saviors of the Titans of Myth whenever the time came. They were each given powers and were named after ancient Greek cities. In Donna's case, she was named Troy. She was then stripped of her memories and reintroduced into mankind to await her foretold destiny. Aeter learning of her heritage, Donna took on the identity of Troia and adopted a costume that incorporated various mystical gifts given to her by the Titans of Myth.

Eventually, Donna married a man named Terry Long and had a son with him, Robert. However, both her husband and son perished in a car accident, devastating her.

And then came ZERO HOUR. Once again, Donna survived, and her past was rewritten. This time, Donna was created by the Amazonian sorceress named Magala to be a magical duplictae of the young Princess of Themyscira called Diana and also to be her playmate. However, mistaking her for Diana, the evil Dark Angel (an alternate reality duplicate of Donna from Earth-7's WWII era) kidnapped Donna and cursed her to live endless variant lives characterized by suffering. Wonder Woman eventually freed Donna from this curse, and Donna was restored to the way her friends thought of her. She also became the repository of knowledge of every alternate universe, including the original multiverse.

And then came INFINITE CRISIS. Once more, Donna's history was altered. This time, her origin was a combination of previous versions. She was the mystically created playmate of Wonder Woman. She was trained alongside Diana and the other Amazons and joined Wonder Woman in Man's World, taking on the identity of Wonder Girl, although she grew tired of the name and preferred to to be called by her real name, Donna Troy.

And then came FLASHPOINT. Like before, Donna's history was altered, this time more radically then ever before. This time Donna was created by an evil Amazon sorceress through the means of a ritual using the infant daughter of a nameless Amazon and the clay remains of the Amazonian queen Hippolyta that she boiled within a dark cauldron. Donna was meant to be used by Hippoltya's sister Derinoe as a weapon against the current queen of Amazons, Wonder Woman. Once Donna slayed Diana, she would become a queen Derinoe would be able to control. This plot was foiled, however, and Donna was killed in battle. Zeus later resurrected Donna and made her the new embodiment of "the Fate of the Gods."

And then came DC UNIVERSE REBIRTH...the affects of which have yet to be fully realized. However, we do know that Donna has recently retained a missing 10 years of her previous life as a Teen Titan. Exactly what memories she's gotten back have yet to be revealed.

SIDE NOTE: With the restoration of the original multiverse, which now exists beyond the current New 52 DC Universe, Donna Troy once again has alternate earth counterparts. There was one mentioned in Grant Morrison's MULTIVERSITY: THE JUST #1, and the Donna Troy of Earth-2 is called Fury there, daughter of Wonder Woman and Steppenwolf.

Coming up next, more survivors. Power Girl. Psycho-Pirate. Pariah. Harbinger. Superboy-Prime. Ultraman of Earth-3. Saturn Queen. Their stories will be told.