Female Furies
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Female Furies | |
The Female Furies, artist Michael Turner |
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Publication information | |
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Publisher | DC Comics |
First appearance | Mister Miracle #6 (February 1972) |
Created by | Jack Kirby (writer & artist) |
In story information | |
Base(s) | Apokolips |
Member(s) | Artemiz Bernadeth Bloody Mary Gilotina Granny Goodness Lashina Mad Harriet Malice Vundabar Speed Queen Stompa Wunda |
The Female Furies are a group of fictional women warriors appearing in comics published by DC Comics. They first appeared in Mister Miracle #6 (February 1972), and were created by Jack Kirby.
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[edit] Team history
The Female Furies, brutally trained and led by Granny Goodness, are fanatically loyal to Darkseid. However, infighting among the Furies is commonplace, most typically to appoint a leader to the group.
Big Barda was a member until she escaped to Earth with Mister Miracle. Other former members include Knockout, Seera (abandoned Granny to help Al Bizarro), Twilight's mother, and Supergirl (Kara Zor-El). There are also known male Furies, though they are lower in rank than the females.
The majority of Furies are New Gods themselves, but Granny has been known to accept other races of females. A woman named Alianna Hubbard is the only human ever trained as a Female Fury; she was ordered to kill Mister Miracle by Granny Goodness. She appeared in Mister Miracle #25, part one of an uncompleted story. According to Mister Miracle Alianna's strength was equal to that of his wife Big Barda, and her reflexes and speed were superhuman.
During their first appearance, Lashina, Stompa, Bernadeth, and Mad Harriet attempted to bring Big Barda back to Apokolips, after she had escaped alongside Mister Miracle. However, Barda was eventually able to convince her former teammates to help her, and the four Furies stayed on Earth for quite some time. They eventually returned to Apokolips under unknown circumstances, and were punished by Granny Goodness for their betrayal.
Darkseid has used the Female Furies on several occasions, such as when they broke into a prison to rescue Glorious Godfrey, and they have battled several super-heroes, including Superman, Wonder Woman, Superboy, and the Suicide Squad. A second wave of Female Furies, including long-time member Gilotina, Malice Vundabar, Bloody Mary, and Speed Queen, later appeared, causing trouble for Hawk and Dove.
The Furies have recently resurfaced, battling Firestorm and Hawkgirl. They are also aiding Granny in her scheme to overthrow the Greek Gods, though several Furies have been slain by the God-Killer. After the deaths of Mister Miracle and Metron during the Death of the New Gods, the Source stated Darkseid was the only remaining New God. The only Furies who were not visibly killed, currently, are Lashina, Stompa, Gilotina, Malice, and Artemiz.
[edit] Members
Known Female Furies include:
- Artemiz, an archer with bio-seeking arrows and a pack of cyber-hounds. Not to be confused with the Amazon Artemis, who took the identity of Wonder Woman for a time.
- Bernadeth, sister of Desaad, armed with a burning "fahren-knife". Often challenges Lashina's leadership. Deceased.
- Bloody Mary, a vampire-like character with energy-draining eye-beams. Deceased.
- Gilotina, a young Fury who could slice through things with karate chops, later abandoned the Furies to work with Project Cadmus, though inevitably returned.
- Knockout, a Superboy villain who, like Barda, escaped the Furies. She has super-strength and views life-or-death battle as flirting.
- Lashina, the field leader of the Furies. She is armed with flexible steel bands which she can control telekinetically. On one occasion, during a Furies mission to fetch the disgraced Glorious Godfrey for Darkseid, Lashina was betrayed by her teammate Bernadeth and became stranded on Earth. During her Earth exile, she joined the Suicide Squad under the name "Duchess". She eventually led the Suicide Squad on a mission to Apokolips, where she killed Bernadeth. Darkseid brought Bernadeth back to life and slew Lashina in turn, but has since resurrected Lashina as well.
- Mad Harriet, a cackling madwoman with razor-sharp claws. Deceased.
- Malice Vundabar, the niece of Virman Vundabar. Apparently even younger than Gilotina, she resembles Alice in Wonderland, and controls a savage, disembodied mouth called Chessure (see Cheshire Cat).
- Speed Queen, as her name suggests, has super-speed. She was killed by the entity targeting New Gods after she discovered Grayven.
- Stompa, who creates earthquakes by stamping her feet and also has high super strength. She was presumed dead after an encounter with Wonder Woman and Big Barda, but has since returned.
- Twilight's mother. Name unknown, she escaped the Furies centuries ago, and left her daughter to be raised on Earth, where she eventually became a Supergirl villain/supporting character.
- Wunda, the most recent Fury, a black woman with light-based powers.
[edit] In other media
Bernadeth, Lashina, Stompa and Mad Harriet are the core members of the group, with others appearing only occasionally. These Furies (sans Bernadeth) appeared in Superman: The Animated Series episode Little Girl Lost part 1, where Supergirl Kara In-Ze, in an attempt to prove herself to Superman by challenging Intergang with the help of Jimmy Olsen, unwittingly stumbles upon Granny Goodness' connections with Apokolips. After trashing Intergang, Kara so inspires the wrath of Granny Goodness that the latter summons the Furies to personally annihilate Supergirl. In part 2, the Female Furies defeat Supergirl and then Superman, who attempts to save her. Bringing Superman to Apokolips for Darkseid, the Furies again battle Supergirl, in which they are eventually defeated one-by-one.
They also appeared in the series finale, Legacy, where at least Lashina had a relationship with Superman when he was brainwashed by Darkseid. When Superman returned to Apokolips, the Female Furies ambushed him, but he defeated them by crashing into a fiery pillar.
The Furies lastly appeared in Justice League Unlimited (this time with Bernadeth) serving Granny Goodness in her power struggle against Virman Vundabar and his lieutenants Kanto and Mantis. Shortly afterwards, a resurrected Darkseid (following his death at the end of the Justice League episode Twilight) returns and puts an end to the war.
[edit] External links
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