Fury (DC Comics)

Fury is the codename shared by three DC Comics superheroes, two of whom are mother and daughter, both of whom directly connected with the Furies of mythology, and the third who is an altogether different character.

Fictional character biography

Pre-Crisis

Originally Fury was Hippolyta "Lyta" Trevor, the daughter of the Golden Age Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor; Lyta inherited all her mother's powers. She was introduced in Wonder Woman (vol. 1) #300. Like most Golden Age-related characters at the time, Lyta lived on the parallel world of "Earth-Two".^[1]

Lyta later adopted the identity of "The Fury", named after the Furies of mythology, and was one of the founding members of Infinity Inc., in the book of the same name written by Roy Thomas. She began a relationship with her teammate Hector Hall, the Silver Scarab, whom she had met as a child; they reunited as classmates at UCLA. Shortly after their decision to marry, Hector was possessed by an enemy of his father, Hawkman, and killed. Fury was pregnant with Hector's child, and it was instrumental in the Silver Scarab's defeat. In 52, a new Earth-2 with a similar history is created, and Lyta Trevor serves as a member of the Justice Society Infinity.

Post-Crisis

Hippolyta "Lyta" Trevor-Hall

Following the 1985 miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Golden Age Wonder Woman retroactively no longer existed, and Lyta was now the daughter of the newly created character Helena Kosmatos, the Golden Age Fury (a Greek superheroine and member of the All-Star Squadron, and an avatar of the Fury Tisiphone) and had been raised by Joan Trevor (née Dale), the Quality Comics superheroine Miss America, and her husband, Derek.^[1] Lyta was told of her mother's history by Alecto,^[2] and visited yearly by the time travelling Hippolyta, who trained Lyta as a heroine.

For a while, Lyta served with Infinity, Inc., but eventually left the team to bear a child.^[1] At home, Lyta was visited by a resurrected Hector Hall. After his death, Hall mistakenly believed he had been chosen as the Guardian of Dreams, the Sandman, and joined the real Sandman in the Dream Dimension, where they had adventures masterminded by the two schemers Brute and Glob.^[3]

After suffering a nervous breakdown, Lyta Hall searches for her baby Daniel in The Sandman #60. Pencils by Marc Hempel, inks by D'Israeli.

In Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, it was revealed that the Dream Dimension was a portion of the Dreaming enclosed by Brute and Glob during Morpheus' imprisonment, as a domain of their own. Upon Morpheus' return, Hector's soul was released and Lyta was sent back to Earth, where she gave birth to their son. Afterwards, Lyta blamed Morpheus for Hector's death;^[4] but Morpheus visited the child, named him Daniel, and claimed him as an heir.^[5] When Daniel was later captured by Loki and Robin Goodfellow, Lyta invoked the Furies to destroy Morpheus, whereupon Daniel became the new Lord of the Dreaming.^[1]

At the wake held for Morpheus, Lyta met her son in his new role. He gave her his protection from the immortals offended by her, and returned her to the waking world.

Hector and Lyta's spirits depart into the Dreaming in JSA #80. Art by Don Kramer.

Lyta's story continued in the graphic novel Sandman Presents: The Furies. She appeared in JSA where she was reunited with Hector, now reincarnated as Doctor Fate. At some point between the graphic novel and her return in JSA, the evil wizard Mordru had captured Lyta and imprisoned her in Dr. Fate's amulet. Once freed, she rejoined her husband and later regained her true memories of Daniel.

During the Spectre's quest to destroy magic throughout the DC Universe, he banished Doctor Fate and Lyta to a freezing mountain, later identified as part of Hell. In JSA #80, Lyta recalls being visited by Daniel in a dream, where he offers to bring Lyta and Hector to the Dreaming for all eternity; because Hector is dying, Lyta accepts the offer.^[1]

She was ranked 32nd in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list.^[6]

Helena Kosmatos

Helena Kosmatos was a new character named "Fury", created to replace the Golden Age Wonder Woman as Lyta Trevor's biological mother.^[7] She began appearing in Thomas' Young All-Stars, a book set in World War II, and her backstory was revealed in Secret Origins #12. She was a Greek national who had learned her brother was co-operating with Italian Fascists who previously killed her father. When she confronted her brother with this revelation in front of their mother, it was too much for the widow to take and she died of an instant heart-attack. Wishing revenge upon her brother she was approached by Tisiphone, one of the Eumenides or Furies, who gave her a suit of magic armor, which increased her strength, speed and stamina. When angered, she became an Avatar of Tisiphone, and it was in this state that she killed her brother.^[7]

She was later briefly released from this possession, and retained the other powers, but is once again acting as Tisiphone's avatar.^[8]

At one point the Amazon Queen Hippolyta took over the role of Wonder Woman and traveled back in time to aid the JSA against the Nazis. During this time Helena began to look to Hippolyta as a mother figure and believed that she was indeed the daughter of the Amazon Queen, despite the knowledge that her true parents were killed during the war. When Queen Hippolyta returned to her own time Helena sought a magical means to gain eternal youth; this was accomplished via a magical document that, if destroyed, would revert Helena to her true age and possible death. After this was done Helena met Hippolyta's true daughter Diana and took an immediate dislike to her. By this point Helena's mental state was near collapse as she began to behave irrationally.^[1] Diana took her to Themyscira, where Hippolyta addressed Helena as a daughter to support her fragile psyche.^[9] After Hippolyta's death during the Our Worlds At War saga, Helena went into mourning and much of her mental imbalance was resolved.^[10] Thereafter she served Artemis and Philippus as a trusted aide. Her powers were briefly stolen from her by Barbara Minerva whose role as the Cheetah had been usurped by Sebastian Ballestros. Minerva used the power of Tisiphone to kill Ballestros, regaining her Cheetah form, and restored Helena's powers.^[11]

During the events of Infinite Crisis, OMACs engaged the Amazons of Themyscira in battle, and the Amazons relocated their island home to another plane of existence. Helena Kosmatos is shown leaving with the other Amazons.^[12] A year after their departure the Amazons return to wage war on the U.S., which takes place in the Amazons Attack storyline. Helena is never shown as part of this return.

Erik Storn

In 52 week 21, a new Infinity Inc., created by Lex Luthor was introduced, with a male hero going by the name of Fury. The newest Fury had been given blackened skin and razor-sharp claws from submitting to Luthor's Everyman Project. Infinity Inc. #1 (Sept 2007) reveals that, after Luthor's arrest and the project shut down, Erik has become depressed when his powers were shut down and has developed a stuttering problem. He is also suffering from hot flashes and mistakenly took his mother's clothes from the laundry one day. In Infinity Inc. #3, Erik reveals that the stutter is a defense mechanism to hide his desire for self-castration. He also transforms into a fighting woman named "Erika." In #8, Erik/Erika is given a costume and the superhero name "Amazing Woman".

Erik is later found and tortured by Codename: Assassin, having discovered, and shared with Jimmy Olsen, precious informations about Project 7734, the secret agenda of General Sam Lane for Kryptonians. Shifting one last time to the all-powerful Erika body, Erik is able to put Jimmy in contact with Natasha Irons before dying.^[13]

The New 52

Fury made her New 52 debut in Earth 2 #8 (2013). She is the daughter of the late Wonder Woman of Earth 2 and Steppenwolf of Apokolips.^[14] In Issue 14 of Earth 2: Society (Sept 2016), she reveals Fury is her War Name, Donna is her true name. Thus making this Fury a doppelganger of Donna Troy. The first Fury, Lyta Trevor, was more of an analogue to Donna Troy.

This version of Fury is the last Amazon, as the other Amazons had perished five years earlier during the Apokoliptian invasion of Earth 2. She is shown to be working with Steppenwolf. This Fury wears a red and silver costume resembling that of Orion. This new version of the character appears to be more powerful than the previous versions. As mentioned in the New 52 Earth 2 comic Fury and Big Barda are evenly matched in strength, as well as skill. And in World's Finest Huntress/Power Girl Annual #1, 'First Contact Prelude' issue comic, Donna is seen trading blows and going toe to toe with Power Girl, who at the time was still calling herself "Supergirl", displaying further proof of how strong and powerful she truly is. It is also mentioned that she has received training from Big Barda as well as her father Steppenwolf.^[15]

As Darkseid's forces converge closer to Earth 2 and assimilate the planet as fuel for Apokolips, Mister Miracle manages to change Fury's mind and she joins the opposition against Darkseid. Following the destruction of Earth 2 and the events of Convergence, Fury takes on the role of Wonder Woman of Earth Two. She is more warlike unlike her mother the predecessor, and willing to use force if necessary. At the end of the series Earth 2: Society, Fury uses Pandora's Box from Ultra-Humanite to reshape Earth Two into its classic Golden Age era and WWII setting but mixed with contemporary technology. She later joins the Earth 2 version of the Justice Society (although the team makes no mention of the name).

In other media

Aresia from the Justice League series

A character with elements of both versions of Fury appears as a villainess named Aresia (voiced by Julie Bowen) in the Justice League animated series,^[16] in an episode titled "Fury", though Aresia herself is never named as such.

Aresia is a rogue Amazon bent on exterminating men from the planet. She was born in "Man's world". When she was just a girl, she and her mother were forced to flee their homeland from war. On a refugee ship, she was attacked by pirates, who also sank the ship. After drifting aimlessly for days, she washed ashore on Themyscira, where she was taken in by Queen Hippolyta, and raised as an Amazon. During the last stage of her Amazon rebirth (solitary meditation), she secretly left the island to exact her revenge on the men of the world.

With the help of Lex Luthor's Injustice Gang, she makes a special magic-based poison that will only affect men. She tests it on Gotham City and watches as the city goes into chaos. The other male members of the League are quickly taken out, although J'onn J'onzz holds out the longest, leaving only Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl. With her sidekicks, Star Sapphire and Tsukuri, Aresia plots to send her poison around the world. She believes this will make her a hero among the Amazons.

When Queen Hippolyta arrives, Aresia explains her plan and expects the queen to approve and give her blessing (she believes she is, after all, acting on everything Hippolyta has taught her), but Hippolyta states that she has violated Amazonian Law by lying, stealing, and committing mass destruction. Disappointed by her disapproval, Aresia knocks out Hippolyta and takes her as a hostage. She then sends Star Sapphire to find Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl, and when they are led to her, she offers them both a chance to join their cause. She angrily sees Wonder Woman's polite rejection as "standing against [them, her] sisters." She, Star Sapphire, and Tsukuri then battle and subdue the female Justice Leaguers, after which Aresia hijacks a stealth bomber and attempts to release her poison into the atmosphere.

After another brief battle against Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl, this time on the jet, Star Sapphire is knocked into the sea, and Tsukuri abandons Aresia. It is then that she learns from Hippolyta that she did not survive the shipwreck on her own. She was rescued by the ship's captain (a man), who brought her to Themyscira before dying of heart failure. Both of them were found by Hippolyta, who buried the captain in an unmarked grave near the beach (making him the only man buried on Themyscira). At first, she is angry and asks why she never told her this, to which Hippolyta answers that she thought it was not important (that "he wasn't important"), which Hippolyta makes clear she regrets. However, this story does not change Aresia's mind: "The acts of one man cannot redeem the sins of his kind," she states. "They must all pay." She tries to launch the poison missiles, but Hawkgirl smashes in the missile bay doors with her mace, jamming them and making it impossible to launch the missiles. Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, and Hippolyta escape, leaving Aresia alone to die as the plane crashes down and the missiles explode. Later, Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl discover Aresia's hideout and find her notes, which they use to make an antidote for Aresia's poison.

References in other media

In the 2000 video game Deus Ex, Hippolyta Hall is listed as a current resident of the 'Ton Hotel.

References

• Beatty, Scott (2009), Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Guide To The Amazon Princess, Dorling Kindersley Publishing, pp. 46–47, ISBN 0-7894-9616-X 

External links

• The Furies (article by Bob Rozakis)
• Bio on dcdatabaseproject