Time now for the last character appearing in Wonder Woman (unless someone makes me notice another one I missed), this time a regular human being. When Diana tries to infiltrate Erich Ludendorff‘s party, she steals the dress of a German woman who has a regular invitation: she’s Fausta Grables, portrayed by Rachel Pickup. Grables became famous thanks to Lynda Day George‘s portrayal in the Wonder Woman tv series, where she successfully captures Wonder Woman and brings her to Germany for studies. In her homecountry, Wonder Woman realizes she’s underestimated and mistreated by her male superiors, so the heroine obtain her alliance by appealing to their common gender. In the comics, Fausta is a loyal Nazi spy, a mistress of disguise and a worthy adversary of Wonder Woman from Earth-Two: let’s see together.
Fausta Grables was born in Switzerland from an unknown family. Pretty much nothing is known about her early life, apart from the fact that, when Adolf Hitler took power in Germany, she welcomed with enthusiasm his idea of an Anschluss, the Nazi project of reuniting all the German-speaking people under the flag of the newborn Third Reich. Austria was soon annexed to Germany, but Switzerland always remained out of the Reich’s reach. This wasn’t such a problem for Fausta, who moved to Germany and offered her services to the Nazis. Fausta was quite underestimated by the Nazi officers for being a woman, but she managed to convince them that what to them seemed to be a handicap was actually her greatest strength: nobody considered a woman a menace, men barely noticed her, so she could be the perfect spy for the Reich. This was enough to convince the officers, and Grables trained hard to become a human chameleon, able to disguise herself as whoever she 
wanted. Hitler in person was informed of Fausta’s amazing transforming skills, and he decided to assign her with an extremely delicate mission, which he saw pivotal in winning World War II: he sent her to the United States of America, where she would have learnt as much as she could on Wonder Woman, the American heroine who was putting his army to shame, and capture her. Fausta considered this mission a honor, and she accepted it without the slightest hesitation. She arrived behind enemy lines thanks to the many Nazi spies already in the States, and she stole the identity of Rora Blank, a news reporter working for The Daily Tab. In her new guise, it took little to her to isolate the two people from the US Army who had had more contacts with Wonder Woman since the beginning of the war: Lt. Col. Steve Trevor and his secretary, Diana Prince. Without further ado, she obtained an appointment with them, pretending to be writing an article about Wonder Woman.
Making herself completely identical to the real Rora Blank, Fausta presented herself to Trevor and Prince, and started making questions about their relationship with Wonder Woman; Diana was plainly suspicious, and didn’t say anything, but before she could warn Trevor of her doubts he had already told “Rora” about the Mental Radio he used to contact Wonder Woman. As soon as she realized Diana was calling The Daily Tab to confirm Rora Blank’s story, Fausta thanked Trevor and went away, ready to organize a trap. Knowing that Trevor could summon the heroine with a simple thought, Grables trapped the officer in a locked room, quickly filling it with gas; as she had foreseen, Wonder Woman came to the rescue, and as soon as she was in the house Fausta activated steel doors to trap her as well, waiting for the gas to work. Unfortunately, the spy had tragically underestimated her opponent’s strength, and Wonder Woman destroyed the steel door, freeing both herself and Trevor. After that failure, Fausta 
was summoned by the Council of Axis Chiefs, and her failure wasn’t met happily by her bosses: pleading for a second chance, Fausta obtained it, and she immediately put herself to work to set another trap for the heroine. Intercepting Steve Trevor’s phone, Fausta learnt that Wonder Woman used to spend the night at Diana Prince’s place, and she spied on the woman until she was out of her house; then, she sneaked in and she searched the place, eventually finding what she was looking for: Wonder Woman’s costume and weapons. She stole them, then she presented herself to an Army benefit show under the guise of the strongwoman Masked Marvel, wearing Wonder Woman’s garment under another costume. When she spotted Trevor and Prince in the crowd, she staged a series of fake strength displays with magnetic devices, then she pretended to be attacked by a tamed bear, Bruin, who slashed through her costume… revealing Wonder Woman’s dress underneath it. Now, Fausta had just to wait for her two victims to warn their friend Wonder Woman of what was happening, then she would have used the unbreakable Lasso of Truth to kidnap the heroine: there was no flaw in her plan, this time…
Fausta Grables is a clever and unscrupulous woman, totally devoted to the values of the Third Reich. As a Nazi spy, she’s a master of disguise, able to steal the identity of anyone, imitating the looks and voice of any woman; she’s also a great tactician, whose intricate plans can put in difficulty also a superhuman foe like Wonder Woman. With a marvelous brain loyal to the wrong cause, Fausta Grables is a remarkable threat to the US, a woman who’s eager to prove to her enemies and superiors alike that she can outsmart anyone, men included.
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