cassandra originally received her powers from a number of mystical artifacts employed by artemis during her time as wonder woman. these included the gauntlet of atlas and the sandals of hermes, which provided her with the powers of strength and speed/flight, respectively. she was eventually granted similar abilities by zeus as "her fondest wish". discouraged by previously shown arrogance in his children (ares and heracles), zeus also blessed cassandra's mother with the ability to take away her powers for a short time via a simple touch.