| Faora | |
|---|---|
 Faora as depicted inAction Comics #472 (June 1977). Art by Bob Oksner. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC 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 name | Faora Hu-Ul Zaora Hu-Ul[1] Artificial Intelligence (AI) Unrevealed[2] |
| Species | (Both Hu-Ul): Kryptonian (Unknown): Metahuman |
| Partnerships | General Zod Jax-Ur |
| Abilities | (Both Hu-Ul): See list
(Pre-Crisis Hu-Ul):
(Unknown):
|
Faora is asupervillain appearing inAmerican comic books published byDC Comics, commonly in association withSuperman.[3] The character was created byCary Bates andCurt Swan, and first appeared inAction Comics #471 (May 1977). Most commonly, Faora is an ally and sometimes the wife or lover of Superman's Kryptonian nemesisGeneral Zod.[4]
Faora appears in the television seriesSmallville, portrayed byErica Durance andSharon Taylor. She also appeared in theDC Extended Universe filmsMan of Steel (2013) andThe Flash (2023), portrayed byAntje Traue.
Faora first appeared inAction Comics #471 (May 1977) and was created byCary Bates andCurt Swan.[5]
The first Faora,Faora Hu-Ul, was introduced inAction Comics #471.[6][7] She is a Kryptonian woman whosemisandry led her to torture and kill 23 men in the secretconcentration camp. For this crime, she was sentenced to 300 years of imprisonment in thePhantom 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 againstSuperman withGeneral Zod and Jax-Ur. Her hatred of men was not limited to the Kryptonian race, as she demonstrates with the murder of a young French man who was attracted by her beauty.[10]
Faora is an expert at the Kryptonianmartial art of Horo-Kanu, which allows her to take advantage of the body'spressure 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, Faora demonstrated the ability to generate mental lightning, but she did not exhibit this additional power during later battles.[11]
Following theCrisis on Infinite Earths, another Faora (renamedZaora) appeared in apocket universe created by theTime Trapper, along withGeneral Zod andQuex-Ul.[4] The three tricked the Pocket Universe'sLex 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 removing their powers with goldKryptonite. 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]
In theEradicator miniseries, 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'sartificial 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.
Another Faora was introduced as one ofGeneral Zod's aides inPokolistan. This character, who debuted inAction Comics #779 (July 2001), is an orphanmetahuman. 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]
In a 2001–2002 storyline, Superman andLois Lane visit a version of Krypton which is later revealed to have been created byBrainiac 13 and based onJor-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]
Faora Hu-Ul returned duringNew 52 and following intoDC 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 sentDoomsday into the boundaries allowing an escape.[16] But the escape leaves Faora in the zone while Zod tricks Superman into releasing her using theFortress of Solitude's technology. The duo would later face Superman again andWonder Woman in theSouth Pacific.[17]
As a Kryptonian, Faora has superpowers derived from under the light of Earth's yellow Sun in theSolar 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 is skilled in Horu-Kanu – a deadly form of martial arts that utilizes precise 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]
An alternate universe variant of Faora appears inDC Comics Bombshells. This version is a former ally ofLara andAlura who was banished to the Phantom Zone for her murderous tendencies. Faora is later freed byThanagarians, obtains a sample ofRaven's blood, and transforms into a monster resemblingDoomsday.
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