Faora
72 years ago - Faora-Ul is born on Krypton to the warrior caste.
57 years ago - 15-year-old Faora joins the Kryptonian warrior elite.
56 years ago - 16-year-old Faora and all the Kryptonians across the galaxy are recalled to Krypton after a tragic hyperspatial accident sends the planet Bgztl, a Kryptonian colony, into the Phantom Zone. She first meets Dru-Zod
50 years ago - 22-year-old Faora serves in Dru-Zod's rebellion of the warrior caste as his lieutenant, comitting several atrocities in his name.
46 years ago - 26-year-old Faora, Dru-Zod, & Non-Ek, the worst criminals of the rebellion, are sentenced to imprisonment in the Phantom Zone. The sentance is carried out by Jor-El, whose lifes work is corrupted. In the Phantom Zone, they organize the Daxamite survivors into survivalist colonies.
10 years ago - 26-year-old Faora, Dru-Zod & Non-Ek are released from the phantom zone by Superman, and they battle Kal-El & Krypto. She & Non-Ek follow Dru-Zod as he begins to establish their rule over humanity.They are stopped by the combined efforts of Superman & Lex Luthor, and are returned to the phantom zone.
2 years ago - 26-year-old Faora escapes the phantom zone with Dru-Zod, and aids him as he begins assembling his space fleet, planning an assault of the Sol system.
Sometimes, when a film version of a comic book character becomes successful, their depiction in the comics will shift to better represent their new more popular depiction in film. This happens WAY more often in Marvel, whose movie success is more or less unprecedented, but it does happen occasionally in DC. We point this out because The role of the Phantom Zone criminals changed completely after the success of Richard Donner's movies. "Faora" as we've depicted here is actually based on "Ursa" from those movies
Faora's Comic HistoryFaora was actually a different character, one of the original Phantom Zone criminals with her own story and her own agenda. She was depicted as being a violent, murderous man-hater (a lot of female baddies were motivated entirely by their hatred of men, which I'm sure is a pretty egregious depiction of homophobia, but I don't have the skill set to get into it). She was among the Phantom Zone criminals actually killed by Superman in John Byrne's rebooted continuity.
What we're actually more interested in is Ursa, the character depicted in Richard Donner's Superman movies. Thanks to editorial decree, we weren't allowed to see any actual Kryptonian characters other than Clark for many years, so the actual Ursa as depicted in the movie was unusable, and instead, we got a lot of other characters that seemed to represent her thematically. Eventually, Geoff Johns and Richard Donner brought in their original movie version of Zod and his followers, and we were finally treated to Ursa again. In the movie Man of Steel, for whatever reason, we again had a replacement for Ursa. It was Faora, again, but this version (as played by German actress Antje Traue) was so intensely awesome, we've decided to actually use her character's name for our hybridized character. |
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Our Faora StorySince our version of the Phantom Zone criminals is drawn essentially from the Richard Donner film version, Our Faora is built very much in keeping with the character as built there. Faora's original characterization was shown as violently murderous toward men, while Ursa's later depictions were shown as actually being romantic toward Zod, even giving birth to his child. Our favorite interpretation of this character is of course the super-ruthless Man of Steel character, so we decided to focus entirely on that. Faora is a brutal warrior who is fiercely loyal to Zod, and who is responsible for many of the more atrocious acts of his rebellion. While Zod has among his followers the immense warrior Non, his most lethal follower is definitely Faora. Trying to incorporate her gender into her characterisation by suggesting she's motivated by love or hatred of men doesn't really do her any kind of service, she's way cooler as a dangerous warrior with no moral compulsions at all.
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Faora's CostumeObviously, the original costumes of the Phantom Zone criminals as depicted in Donner's Superman movies were very seventies-tastic with their deep-v necklines and the flowing sleeves, but it certainly looked awesome and dangerous on actress Sarah Douglas and in fact was actually pretty gender-neutral, since Terrance Stamp and Jack O'Halloran wore the same thing. When Donner reimagined the characters for the comics along with Geoff Johns, the new costumes were drawn by Adam Kubert and looked more like a prison jumpsuit with a longer overcoat and goggles. While it's not quite as sexy/scary as the seventies-style costumes, it really just makes more SENSE, so we'll probably go with that.
Moving forward, however, when Zod and Faora escape the phantom zone in the far corners of the galaxy, it actually makes sense they would no longer be wearing their prison uniforms and would instead be wearing armor. There are a lot of cool versions of Ursa wearing armor, especially in the post-flashpoint new 52, but our absolute favorite is the armored version of Faora as depicted in Man of Steel. This is the characterization we really enjoy, and this is where we can get it. She can battle the champion of Warworld, and then once Superman is their prisoner she's free to bring her awesome battle ability to Earth. |
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Faora's FutureAs we come to the current state of our timeline, Faora and Zod have taken Superman prisoner on Warworld, and they are prepairing to bring their fleet to Earth. This is meant to be a story for the new Watchtower, and it will See Faora battling most of the team. Wally West, Kyle Rayner, Jason Rusch... we'll get to watch them all square off against her. Personally, I can't wait to see her trading punches with Donna Troy.
Of course, they'll end up back in the phantom zone, but the intention is to eventually come back. While having Clark and Lois adopt Zod and Faora's child (as depicted in the comic series Last Son) feels a little hamfisted, we do know that Clark and Lois will have a child of their own who will one day become a hero in his own right. If Zod and Faora escape again, then it might actually make sense that they do have a child of their own at that point, and having him fight the child of Faora and Zod at THAT point feels AWESOME. |
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