Faora

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Faora
Faora as depicted in Action Comics #472 (June 1977). Art by Bob Oksner.
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearance(Hu-Ul):
Action Comics #471 (May 1977)
(Unknown):
Action Comics #779 (July 2001)
Created by(Hu-Ul):
Cary Bates (writer)
Curt Swan (artist)
(Unknown):
Joe Kelly (writer)
Duncan Rouleau (artist)
In-story information
Full nameFaora Hu-Ul
Zaora Hu-Ul[1]
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Unrevealed[2]
Species(Both Hu-Ul):
Kryptonian
(Unknown):
Metahuman
PartnershipsGeneral Zod
Jax-Ur
Abilities(Both Hu-Ul):
See list
    • Superhuman strength, stamina, endurance, speed, agility, reflexes, intelligence, longevity, and hearing
    • Solar radiation absorption
    • Enhanced vision
      • EM spectrum vision
      • Infra-red vision
      • Microscopic vision
      • Telescopic vision
      • X-ray vision
    • Invulnerability
    • Ice and wind breath
    • Heat vision
    • Flight
    • Combat experience

(Pre-Crisis Hu-Ul):

(Unknown):

  • Molecular disruption

Faora is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Superman.[3] The character was created by Cary Bates and Curt Swan, and first appeared in Action Comics #471 (May 1977). Most commonly, Faora is an ally and sometimes the wife and/or lover of Superman's Kryptonian nemesis General Zod.[4]

Faora appears in the television series Smallville, portrayed by Erica Durance and Sharon Taylor. Faora appeared in the DC Extended Universe films Man of Steel (2013) and The Flash (2023), portrayed by Antje Traue.

Publication history[edit]

Faora first appeared in Action Comics #471 (May 1977) and was created by Cary Bates and Curt Swan.[5]

Fictional character biography[edit]

Pre-Crisis[edit]

The first Faora, Faora Hu-Ul, was introduced in Action Comics #471.[6][7] She is a beautiful Kryptonian woman whose unexplained hatred for men led her to torture and kill 23 of them in the secret concentration camp. For this crime, she was sentenced to 300 years of imprisonment in the Phantom Zone.[8][9] Surviving her homeworld's destruction, along with the other Phantom Zone prisoners, she existed in an invisible ghost-like form. While in the Zone, she is often depicted plotting against Superman with General Zod and Jax-Ur. Her hatred of men was not limited to the Kryptonian race, as she demonstrates with the murder of a young Frenchman who was attracted by her beauty.[10]

Faora is an expert at the Kryptonian martial of Horo-Kanu, which allows her to take advantage of the body's pressure points. Her skills in martial arts made her an extremely dangerous foe for Superman to face in close combat. When she defeated him during their first encounter, he was forced to flee.[8] During one of her appearances,[11] Faora could manifest some sort of "mental lightning" to physically attack Kryptonian survivors, but she did not exhibit this additional power during later battles.

Post-Crisis[edit]

Pocket Universe[edit]

Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, another Faora (renamed Zaora) appeared in the Pocket Universe created by the Time Trapper, along with General Zod and Quex-Ul.[4] The three tricked the Pocket Universe's Lex Luthor into releasing them from the Phantom Zone. After the Pocket Earth's population continued to resist their conquest of it, the three villains destroyed the atmosphere, killing almost all life. Superman defeated them by permanently depowering them with gold Kryptonite. He then executed them with Kryptonite in punishment for their crimes, and to protect the real Earth after they threatened to somehow regain their powers and destroy it as well. Zaora pleaded with Superman for her life, offering him "all sorts of favors", before she succumbed to the Kryptonite.[12]

Phantom Zone entity[edit]

In the Eradicator mini-series, Dr. David Conner was pressured into embracing his programming by another construct of Kem-L. This artifact, which was trapped in the Phantom Zone, claimed to be called Faora, after Kem-L's grandmother, and to be the ultimate repository of Kryptonian mythology. However, it is unclear how much of this is true.

The Eradicator rejects it, "downloading" all these aspects of ancient programming that contradicted his morality into Faora's artificial intelligence. Unknown to him, this gave it a new, monstrous form and dimensional-based powers. After leaving the Zone, it targeted Conner's family. The Eradicator destroyed Faora, but not before it kills his wife.

Pokolistanian[edit]

Another Faora was introduced as one of General Zod's aides in Pokolistan. This character, who debuted in Action Comics #779 (July 2001), is an orphan metahuman. Faora has molecular abilities to a limited degree. She created a mutagenic virus for Zod as part of the linchpin plan. Her whereabouts following the General's defeat are unknown.[4]

"Return to Krypton"[edit]

In a 2001–2002 storyline, Superman and Lois Lane visit a version of Krypton which is later revealed to have been created by the villainous Brainiac 13 and based on Jor-El's favorite period in Kryptonian history.[13] In this Krypton, Lois and Clark become fugitives and are pursued by Faora and Kru-El, romantically linked manhunters known as "the Hounds of Zod."[14] This version of Faora, calling herself "the Tigress of Zod", later returns as an ally of Jor-El. She and Kru-El are both killed in a struggle against Kryptonian religious zealots.[13][15]

New 52/DC Rebirth[edit]

Faora Hu-Ul returned during New 52 and following into DC Rebirth where she shared a loathing of Krypton's ideals of peace and science and desired a return to the old days, when Krypton was a brutal militaristic empire. In time, she met Dru-Zod, a colonel who shared the same dream. Zod gathered a group of like-minded supporters, but he became especially interested in Faora because of her blood lust. Faora became complicit in Zod's engineering of a false flag operation, which triggered a war with the alien Char. Jor-El, an old friend of Zod's, discovered the deception and turned Zod over to the authorities. This resulted in the sentencing of Zod and his followers, Faora among them, to the Phantom Zone but later sent Doomsday into the boundaries allowing an escape. [16] But the escape leaves Faora in the zone while Zod tricks Superman into releasing her using the Fortress of Solitude's technology. The duo would later face Superman again and Wonder Woman in the South Pacific.[17]

Powers and abilities[edit]

As a Kryptonian, Faora has superpowers derived from under the light of Earth's yellow Sun in the Solar System. These basic abilities are sufficient for her to bend steel, overpower a locomotive, leap over a tall building in one bound, and outrun a speeding bullet; as well as virtual invulnerability, accelerated recovery, laser eyebeams, vortex breath, and flight. She possesses extraordinary senses of hearing and sight, including x-ray, telescopic, and microscopic vision. The Pre-Crisis version of Faora had gotten new powers. She can telepathically communicate or sometimes does it unconsciously and project bolts of psychic energy to weaken other Kryptonians from the Phantom Zone. While in the Zone, she is effectively immortal (and untouchable). Faora knows Horu-Kanu - the deadliest form of martial arts on Krypton. This technique utilizes precisely aimed pressure points to disable, cripple, or kill opponents. Both versions have expertise in unarmed combat. Even her power levels are more akin to Supergirl. Like all Kryptonians, she is also vulnerable to Kryptonite, red sunlight, and magic.[18]

The metahuman version of Faora has the ability to disrupt molecular bonds.[19]

Other versions[edit]

In the DC Bombshells continuity, Faora resembling her Man of Steel counterpart led a coup on Krypton during its final days which consisted of herself, Lara Lor-Van, and Alura In-Ze, who weren't considered "clean" enough by Kryptonians for fertility. The three conceived a daughter that they believed would be the strongest of Krypton, as she had a balance of "clean" and "unclean" Kryptonian genes. When Lara and Alura discovered Faora was willing to kill to achieve her vision, they banished her to the Phantom Zone. Her pod is discovered and broken open by the Thanagarians, who provided her with a ship that could allow her to travel anywhere. She travels to Earth, where she waits decades for the baby's escape pod to crash into the planet. When the baby's pod would land in Russia and the girl would become adopted by the Starikov's and named Kara, Faora took samples of Kara's blood from the pod, which allowed her ally scientist Hugo Strange to create clones of Kara who would become known as Power Girl and Superman. She also allied herself with other villains who wanted to take over the world such as Paula von Gunther, the Joker's Daughter, and Killer Frost. She monitor's Kara's progress in the Soviet Army and as Supegirl under the disguise of General Khulun. She invites Supergirl to join her in conquering the world, but the girl refuses as she views Faora's methods as no better than the dying Krypton's. When Trigon's daughter Raven briefly transforms into an unstable demonic being after her father's death, Faora takes some of Raven's blood and injects herself with it, transforming into this dimension's version of Doomsday. The heroes stop her by trapping her inside of Swamp Thing and casting a spell that required the sacrifice of Kara's adoptive parents and Stargirl's father.

In other media[edit]

Television[edit]

Film[edit]

  • Faora purportedly served as inspiration for Superman (1978) and Superman II's incarnation of Ursa despite being introduced in the comics while the films were in the midst of production.[21]
  • Faora-Ul appears in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) film Man of Steel, portrayed by Antje Traue. Gal Gadot was originally offered the part, but declined due to being pregnant at the time.[22] This version is General Zod's lieutenant who, along with the rest of their battalion, the Sword of Rao, was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Phantom Zone. Following Krypton's destruction, the Sword of Rao escape and head to Earth to search for Kal-El and the Codex, a device containing the genetic code of all future Kryptonians, only to be defeated by Kal-El and sent back to the Phantom Zone.
    • An alternate timeline version of Faora appears in the DCEU film The Flash, portrayed again by Traue.[23] After Barry Allen accidentally creates the "Flashpoint" timeline while averting his mother's death, the Sword of Rao seek out Kara Zor-El for the Codex instead. After they successfully kill her, Allen and his Flashpoint counterpart repeatedly travel back in time in failed attempts to save Kara, leading to the Flashpoint Allen killing Faora in anger.

Video games[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Pocket Universe duplicate of the pre-Crisis character
  2. ^ The Pokolistanian character's true name has yet to be revealed.
  3. ^ Greenberger, Robert; Pasko, Martin (2010). The Essential Superman Encyclopedia. Del Rey. pp. 89–90. ISBN 978-0-345-50108-0.
  4. ^ a b c Jimenez, Phil (2008). "Faora". In Dougall, Alastair (ed.). The DC Comics Encyclopedia. New York: Dorling Kindersley. p. 118. ISBN 978-0-7566-4119-1. OCLC 213309017.
  5. ^ Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Korte, Steve; Manning, Matt; Wiacek, Win; Wilson, Sven (2016). The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe. DK Publishing. p. 105. ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0.
  6. ^ Action Comics #471 (May 1977)
  7. ^ Eury, Michael (2006). The Krypton Companion. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 31. ISBN 9781893905610.
  8. ^ a b Action Comics #472 (June 1977)
  9. ^ Phantom Zone #1 (January 1982)
  10. ^ Phantom Zone #4 (April 1982)
  11. ^ Action Comics #473 (July 1977)
  12. ^ Superman vol. 2 #22 (October 1988)
  13. ^ a b Kelly, Joe (w), Ferry, Pascual (p), Smith, Cam (i). "Return to Krypton II, Part Four: Dream's End" Action Comics, no. 793, p. 20 (September 2002). New York: DC Comics.
  14. ^ Schultz, Mark (w), Mahnke, Doug (p), Nguyen, Tom (i). "Return to Krypton Part Three: The Most Dangerous Kryptonian Game" Superman: The Man of Steel, no. 111 (April 2001). New York: DC Comics.
  15. ^ Schultz, Mark (w), Kerschl, Karl (a). "Return to Krypton II Part Three: Blood and Heresy" Superman: The Man of Steel, no. 128 (September 2002). New York: DC Comics.
  16. ^ Superman/Wonder Woman #5
  17. ^ Superman/Wonder Woman #7
  18. ^ Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe Vol 1 #18 (August 1986)
  19. ^ Action Comics Vol 1 #779 (July 2001)
  20. ^ a b c "Faora Voices (Superman)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved April 1, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information.
  21. ^ Brownfield, Troy; Matt Brady (2008-10-18). "New Krypton Countdown: When Kryptonians Walk the Earth". Newsarama.com. Imaginova Corporation. Archived from the original on 2008-11-23. Retrieved 2008-10-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  22. ^ Bugley, Chris (September 17, 2015). "Gal Gadot is Wonder Woman because she turned down a major 'Man of Steel' role". Batman News.
  23. ^ "Michael Shannon Appears on 'The Flash' Movie Cast List". Collider. 22 December 2021.
  24. ^ Eisen, Andrew (October 4, 2013). "DC Characters and Objects - Scribblenauts Unmasked Guide". IGN. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
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