FAH LO SUEE

Real Name: Zheng Bao Yu

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Criminal mastermind, leader of a criminal organization

Group Membership: Leader of the Celestial Order of the Hai Dai;
formerly Doom Maidens (Anaconda/Blanche Sitznski, Aradnea, Echidna, Mindblast/Danielle Forte, Scorpia/Elaine Coll, Shriek/Frances Barrison, Titania/Mary MacPherran);
former leader of MI-6, Oriental Expediters, the Golden Daggers sect;
former member of Si-Fan and the Council of Seven

Affiliations: Sometimes employer and lover of Maximillian Zaran and Wild Tiger; ally of the Brood (bio-engineered version), Caroline le Fay, Mr. Raven, Tarrant (Herbert Griswold), Melissa Greville, Kâramanèh, Ki Ming; uneasy ally of Freelance Restorations (Shang-Chi, Sir Denis Nayland Smith, Leiko Wu, Black Jack Tarr, Clive Reston) and Dr. Petrie;
Robert Greville (used as pawn)
former ally of Fu Manchu;
former lover of Phillip Durant (Mad Slayer)

Enemies: Sir Lionel Barton, Rima Barton, Death-Dealer, Defenders (Elsa Bloodstone, Clea, Hippolyta, Misty Knight/Mercedes Knight, Danielle Moonstar, Nova/Frankie Raye/Frances Hyatt, Dr. Annabelle Riggs, Valkyrie/Brunnhilde), Ducharme, Fu Manchu, Robert Greville, Shan Greville, Cho Lin, Mad Slayer, No-Name of Brood, Shadow-Stalker, Shang-Chi, Li King Su

Known Relatives: Fu Manchu (father), unidentified mother (presumed deceased), Brother Staff, Moving Shadow (half-brothers, deceased), Lu, Shang-Chi, Takeshi, Uncle Rat (half-brothers), Kwai Far, Zheng Esme, Zheng Shi-Hua, Zheng Zhilan (half-sisters), Zheng Yi (uncle, deceased), Shaka Kharn (ancestor, deceased), Falo (distant relative)

Aliases: Cursed Lotus, "Lady of the Si-Fan", Madame Ingomar, Koreani, Queen Mamaloi, "Sweet Perfume" (translation of Fah Lo Suee)

Base of Operations: Mobile;
   formerly MI-6 headquarters, England

First Appearance: (Literary, unidentified) Si-Fan Mysteries (1917); (named) The Daughter of Fu Manchu (1930); (Marvel) Master of Kung Fu I#26 (March, 1975)

Powers/Abilities: Hypnosis (enhanced by the ruby eyes of the Golden Beetle and mimosa gas), long lifespan due to the Elixir Vitae. She possesses vast martial arts skills and is a master of kung fu.

History:
Fah Lo Suee was born in 1900, the daughter of Fu Manchu, the leader of the Si-Fan, and an unnamed Russian woman.

(Master of Kung Fu I#48 (fb)) - When Fah Lo Suee was only a child, Fu Manchu stood with her and said that one day he would "have the power to move one world...and thus to rule another!" Fah Lo Suee would later learn this was in reference to his eventual plot of taking control of earth's moon.

(Si-Fan Mysteries) - Returning to London in 1917, Dr. Petrie found himself seated on a train next to a woman of remarkable beauty, whom he described thus:

Sighing again, involuntarily, I glanced up...to meet the gaze of a pair of wonderful eyes.
Never, in my experience, had I seen their like. The dark eyes of Kâramanèh were wonderful and beautiful, the eyes of Dr. Fu-Manchu sinister and wholly unforgettable; but the eyes of this woman who was to be my traveling companion to London were incredible. Their glance was all but insupportable; they were the eyes of a Medusa!
Since I had met, in the not distant past, the soft gaze of Ki-Ming, the mandarin whose phenomenal hypnotic powers rendered him capable of transcending the achievements of the celebrated Cagliostro, I knew much of the power of the human eye. But these were unlike any human eyes I had ever known.
Long, almond-shaped, bordered by heavy jet-black lashes, arched over by finely penciled brows, their strange brilliancy, as of a fire within, was utterly uncanny. They were the eyes of some beautiful wild creature rather than those of a woman.
Their possessor had now thrown back her motor-veil, revealing a face Orientally dark and perfectly oval, with a clustering mass of dull gold hair, small, aquiline nose, and full, red lips. Her weird eyes met mine for an instant, and then the long lashes dropped quickly, as she leant back against the cushions, with a graceful languor suggestive of the East rather than of the West.
Her long coat had fallen partly open, and I saw, with surprise, that it was lined with leopard-skin. One hand was ungloved, and lay on the arm-rest-- a slim hand of the hue of old ivory, with a strange, ancient ring upon the index finger.

   Fah Lo Suee attended a meeting of the Si-Fan in London, and was presented to the Si-Fan by her father as "the Lady of the Si-Fan", she who was whispered of by Hindus as the woman destined to one day rule the world. The Si-Fan's meeting was interrupted by a raid conducted by Sir Denis Nayland Smith himself, but Fu Manchu and Fah Lo Suee escaped.

(The Daughter of Fu Manchu) - In 1930, Fu Manchu stepped into the background of the Si-Fan, affording Fah Lo Suee greater opportunities. In the course of her plot to become leader of the Si-Fan, Fah Lo Suee again encountered Smith, and his new associate Shan Greville. She used her hypnotic abilities on archaeologist Sir Lionel Barton, forcing him to lead her to the Tomb of the Black Ape, where she stole artifacts to help secure her prestige amongst the Si-Fan. With the support of the mandarin Ki Ming, Fah Lo Suee held a meeting of the Council of Seven in Egypt. After capturing Shan when he infiltrated the meeting, she became attracted to Shan, and plotted to take him with her, but Fu Manchu stepped in and dismantled her plans, setting Smith and Greville free. Later, she sent Greville an expensive emerald ring in an unmarked package.

(The Mask of Fu Manchu) - Shan Greville again ran afoul of Fah Lo Suee, as she aided her father in his quest for the relics of "the Masked Prophet", El Mokanna. Using mimosa, they attempted to subvert Greville to their side, but it ultimately proved unsuccessful.

(Master of Kung Fu I#100 (fb)) - On May 23, 1932, Fah Lo Suee met with Sir Denis Nayland Smith in Cairo. She professed her love for him, and said that if they could defeat her father, their love would never die, because they would have access to his Elixir Vitae. Sir Denis was surprised that she would betray her own father to prove her love to him, and Dr. Petrie and Lyman Leeks warned him that she was setting him up, but she proved her word by smuggling Sir Denis into her father's secret base within a sarcophagus. When Sir Denis leapt from the sarcophagi, Fu Manchu realized that his daughter had betrayed him, but she denied involvement. Fu Manchu escaped alongside Fah Lo Suee, while his Si-Fan assassins fought Smith and his allies.

(The Trail of Fu Manchu) - Two years later, Fah Lo Suee again met with Smith, and professed her love to him; she attempted to aid him against her father, but Fu Manchu learnt of her duplicity, and forced her to take poison and die.

(The Drums of Fu Manchu) - Fu Manchu later revived Fah Lo Suee, but erased most of her memory, re-naming her "Koreani", a dancing girl. In this guise, she aided her father against Smith and his ally Bart Kerrigan.

(The Island of Fu Manchu) - Over time, Fah Lo Suee regained much of her memory, but continued to aid her father, taking on the identity of Queen Mamaloi, a voodoo priestess in Haiti, as part of Fu Manchu's ploy to revive dead people with his Elixir Vitae. She again clashed with Kerrigan and Smith.

(The Wrath of Fu Manchu) - Fah Lo Suee came to greater advancement among the Si-Fan, presiding over meetings of the Council of Seven in place of her father. Once more, she clashed with Smith.

(Master of Kung Fu I#26 (fb)) - 10 years ago, Shang-Chi's first met his half-sister in his father's fortress in Honan. Fah Lo Suee told him: "...before you slay a man in our father's service, I urge you to consider that he and I are the same and someday, I may wish him slain...and on that day, you may share my wish". At that point in his life, Shang didn't understand his sister's words, but after being ordered by his father years later to murder Dr. Petrie, he would.

(Master of Kung Fu I#28 (fb)) - 8 years ago, Shang-Chi met with his sister a second time in his father's Honan fortress. Fah Lo Suee told him that although they were both children of the same father, that being the son or daughter of Fu Manchu was enough-- all that one may hope to be...and never a brother or sister to anyone.

(Master of Kung Fu I#100 (fb)) - Years later, Fah Lo Suee returned to her father's Honan fortress, alongside her lover Phillip. She met briefly again with Shang before having a meeting with her father. During the meeting, Shang overheard some of their conversation, as Fu Manchu informed her that his punishment against her had begun, and that she would leave him. That evening, Fah Lo Suee came to Shang's room, and said goodbye to him. Shang left his bed to follow her, and came upon her and Fu Manchu, arguing over her having released Philip from her father's imprisonment. Fu Manchu had brainwashed Philip, giving him the brainwave patterns of Jack the Ripper, and was furious at having lost a new test subject. To punish her, he withheld his supply of the Elixir Vitae from her, causing her to become an old woman. Fah Lo Suee finally begged to her father that if he would give her the Elixir, she would find and stop Philip. He agreed, and the next morning, she departed from Honan.

(Master of Kung Fu I#26) - To find the burial chamber in the pyramid of Seth Amon, Fah Lo Suee hypnotized Robert Greville, son of Shan Greville, to lead her to "the Golden Beetle". Robert Greville led Fah Lo Suee to the burial chamber where she found the Golden Beetle, only to discover that the ruby eyes were gone from the beetle's sockets. She commanded Greville to search for the eyes, only to be stopped by Sir Denis Nayland Smith and Shang-Chi. Smith was surprised that Fah Lo Suee hadn't aged since their last meeting, and made the mistake of looking into her eyes, falling under her control. With both Smith and Greville under her control, she seemingly had the upper hand, but was again stopped when 6 Si-Fan assassins jumped out of some Sarcophagi. During the fight a Si-Fan was pushed into the sarcophagus of Seth Amon, which was broken, and the body of Seth Amon was discovered-- in place of the body's eyes were the Ruby Eyes of the Golden Beetle. Fah Lo Suee managed to take the Ruby Eyes and seemingly escaped alongside Greville. When Smith and Shang escaped from the pyramid, just before Fu Manchu blew it to pieces, they discovered Greville, dying with the words: "She kissed me...the angel...she kissed me..." referring to the poison from her lips.

(Master of Kung Fu I#27 - BTS) - Fu Manchu revealed to Shang-Chi that Fah Lo Suee had survived the pyramid's destruction, and was now in command of some of his Si-Fan assassins, based in China. The father and daughter were now truly set against each other.

(Master of Kung Fu I#28) - Shang-Chi, Black Jack Tarr and Clive Reston traveled to China to meet Fah Lo Suee. Shang left his two friends at the airport and journeyed to his sister's fortress alone. Reunited again, Fah Lo Suee took Shang out into the garden, where she asked him if he had chosen to side with her or their father. Shang replied that he had chosen neither side, and Fah Lo Suee then sent her Si-Fan assassins against him; one of the assassins, Shadow-Stalker, turned against Fah Lo Suee and chose to fight alongside Shang, and the two of them managed to defeat her assassins; during the fight, Shang managed to get the ruby eyes from Fah Lo Suee, (which she had turned into a pair of earrings), without her noticing it. When the fight was finished, Fah Lo Suee managed to escape, without Shang getting her...

(Master of Kung Fu I#44) - Fah Lo Suee was later revealed to be the true mastermind behind the Oriental Expediters and the Golden Daggers Sect, used in her fight against her father.

(Master of Kung Fu I#45) - Fah Lo Suee ordered her two bodyguards, Kimba and Bolo, to kill Shang and Reston for learning the truth about Oriental Expediters. After the two bodyguards were defeated, Fah Lo Suee threatened her two enemies with a gun. Her ally, Tarrant, arrived and was greeted by her. She asked Shang for the final time if he wanted to join her in the fight against their father, but Shang refused, and Fah Lo Suee ordered her men to kill the two before she left.

(Master of Kung Fu I#46) - After Reston was knocked down from behind, he woke up in seconds, but decided to play dead, watching Tarrant tell Fah Lo Suee to kill him, but she decided to keep him alive. She ordered her servant Chankar to take him into the cabin and bind him. Later in the mountains, after Reston had escaped, he watched Fah Lo Suee and her men from afar, but was knocked down by Chankar and brought to Fah Lo Suee, who brought him under her control with mimosa. She ordered her men to get Leiko Wu. Tarrant told her that she was insane to risk a dozen men on the remote possibility that Leiko might possess some significant information on Fu Manchu's plans, which too she answered: "Insane Griswold? Perhaps." Later, after Shang and Leiko managed to escape, Fah Lo Suee left in a helicopter, leaving the mind-controlled Reston screaming and begging for her to take him with her.

(Master of Kung Fu I#47) - In the plane, Fah Lo Suee discovered that two of her Oriental Expediters had been replaced by Shang-Chi and Leiko, disguised. Later, Fah Lo Suee ordered her men to retrieve Larner and Reston from a crashed airplane. She remarked to Reston, "Remarkable, Smith must have believed you about the spiders and how I framed you." Suddenly, Fu Manchu's men began to attack, and Tarrant panicked; Fah Lo Suee responded by shooting him. She escaped, but her men were taken captive by the Si-Fan. Alone, she accepted an offer from Leiko to aid MI-6 against her father, and revealed to them her father's plan-- to remove the moon from earth's orbit.

(Master of Kung Fu I#48) - With the arrival of Black Jack Tarr, Fah Lo Suee disclosed to her newfound allies the details of the plan, and how she had hoped to take over her father's plot for herself. Having failed, she was now fated to die along with everyone else on earth. She explained to them that moving the moon from earth's orbit would cause havoc on earth, slaying millions, leaving those who remained easily subjugated by her father.

(Master of Kung Fu I#49-50) - While Shang, Leiko, Reston and Black Jack invaded Fu Manchu's fortress, Larner set up explosives outside. As Black Jack and Leiko escaped, Larner gave his life to destroy Fu Manchu's base, dying at the feet of Leiko, Black Jack and Fah Lo Suee. Fu Manchu was finally defeated by Shang-Chi, and was seemingly killed.

(Master of Kung Fu I#78) - Fah Lo Suee met with her lover, Zaran, in a conversation overheard by Shang-Chi; he did not recognize her, however.

(Master of Kung Fu I#79-80 - BTS) - A tape recording of Shockwave admitting to MI-6 plot to kill former MI-6 agents Smith, Shang, Leiko, Reston and Tarr was obtained by Fah Lo Suee and Zaran. Although Shang recovered it, they found that Fah Lo Suee had taped over the confession with her own voice.

(Master of Kung Fu I#81 - BTS) - Attempting to recover a packet of information which might shed light on Fu Manchu's latest plan, Shang-Chi found only a message from his sister: "Fooled again, little spirit."

(Master of Kung Fu I#83-85) - Fah Lo Suee journeyed to Fu Manchu's South American headquarters with Zaran, and offered their services to him; Fu Manchu accepted, although not entirely convinced of his daughter's loyalty.

(Master of Kung Fu I#86) - As Shang-Chi and Black Jack Tarr invaded Fu Manchu's base, Black Jack ran into Fah Lo Suee, who tried to hypnotize him, but he escaped her.

(Master of Kung Fu I#87) - In Morocco, Black Jack encountered Fah Lo Suee and Zaran again, but this time, she successful hypnotized him. Shang and Leiko prepared to fight her and her men, but she then revealed to them that she was working for MI-6 to help bring down her father. She also promised that in the future, MI-6 would no longer hunt Shang and his friends, and that she had aided Smith's earlier rescue from Fu Manchu, using their mutual ally Kâramanèh.

(Master of Kung Fu I#88) - In another meeting with Smith and his friends, Fu Manchu's agents made an attempt on her life, but she survived. Shang ultimately thwarted her father's plans again, and he once more seemingly died.

(Master of Kung Fu I#100) - Later, having at last found her one-time lover Phillip (now the Mad Slayer), Fah Lo Suee attempted to save him, hoping to undo the damage her father had done, but he assaulted her, and she was forced to defend herself, killing him with her gun. She departed Shang's presence with the words: "I hope you truly killed the man who cursed us both by being our father..."

(Master of Kung Fu I#105) - Learning that an attempt on the life of Pavane was being planned, Fah Lo Suee summoned Smith to her MI-6 offices, so he could send Shang-Chi and Leiko Wu to protect her from Razor-Fist.

(Master of Kung Fu I#109)- Fah Lo Suee met with Zaran, and informed him that she no longer had any need for him. He tried to attack her, but her bodyguards brought him down.

(Master of Kung Fu I#113) - Interested in the reports of rare blue diamonds in Africa, Fah Lo Suee journeyed there in a helicopter, but upon arrival, was informed by Shang that they had been destroyed.

(Master of Kung Fu I#115) - Now employing Melissa Greville (grand-niece of Shan Greville) at MI-6, Fah Lo Suee had her check into the background of their agent Li Ching Lin, whose loyalties concerned her. He proved to be an agent of her father's, known as the Death-Dealer. Later, she met with Smith, and offered him a job with MI-6 to pull his investigative team-- Freelance Restorations-- out of its financial crisis. The assignment was to kill Li Ching Lin. Smith took the assignment, but never followed through on the objective.

(Master of Kung Fu I#116) - Again encountering Shang-Chi, Fah Lo Suee informed him that she believed Fu Manchu to be alive, and that a man looking exactly like Shang had been seen.

(Master of Kung Fu I#117) - Realizing her father was indeed back, and after her, she phoned Freelance Restorations for aid, but received no reply; she was captured by Shang-Chi's twin-- who proved to be his own clone.

(Master of Kung Fu I#118) - She was taken to Fu Manchu's new fortress, and learned that he intended to drink her blood in order to assist the Elixir Vitae in restoring his health. She was freed by Shang-Chi, and in the course of searching out their father, she slew Shang's teacher, Cho Lin, and Fu Manchu's servant Ducharme. She tried to shoot her father as well, but missed. Shang was furious at her for her ruthlessness, and had her depart the fortress with Reston and Black Jack. Shang went on to face their father alone, who once again, seemingly perished.

(Master of Kung Fu I#122) - Later, Fah Lo Suee warned Smith about Carrington Scullers, a former MI-6 agent who had also worked for the KGB; by then, Scullers had already assaulted Clive Reston, but he was defeated by Shang.

(Journey Into Mystery I#514 - BTS, 515-516) - Years later, taking the alias of "Cursed Lotus", Fah Lo Suee directed the traffic of the drug known as "Wild Tiger" throughout China. Deng Ling-Xiao, also called "Wild Tiger", served as her emissary in Hong Kong, and was also her lover. Shang-Chi ultimately thwarted further spread of the drug, but did not learn of his half-sister's involvement.

(Fearless Defenders#8 (fb) - BTS) - Zheng Bao Yu, now going with her real name, took over control of the Celestial Order of the Hai Dai and planned to continue many of her father's long-forgotten experiments.

   In New York's Chinatown Yu restarted the breeding of bio-engineered Brood in a hidden laboratory near the subway.

   She also joined Caroline le Fay's Doom Maidens in return for some protection in her operations.

(Fearless Defenders#8) - Misty Knight investigated murders in Chinatown and called in Elsa Bloodstone and Dr. Annabelle Riggs, who shared her body with Valkyrie, to aid her. They eventually discovered the Hai Dai's underground lab and fought the Hai Dai and the Brood until Zheng Bao Yu unveiled herself as the mastermind behind the operation. She allowed the three women to recover so it would be a fair fight against her and it didn't go well for Misty, Elsa and Valkyrie. No-Name of Brood, who had followed them, joined the fight against the bio-engineered Brood and while Misty and Elsa held back Yu, Valkyrie destroyed the breeding equipment. Zheng Bao Yu angrily teleported away because there was nothing left to fight for in this lab.

   Zheng Bao Yu stomped into Caroline le Fay's office because the promised protection was nowhere to be found when Elsa, Misty and Valkyrie destroyed her lab and years of work. Caroline was not happy about Yu's behavior and reminded her that they were not on the same level. Caroline made it clear that if she wanted to she could kill Yu at any time by just flooding the building with a lethal neurotoxin Caroline was completely immune to. She told Yu to just trust her.

(Fearless Defenders#12) - At a temple somewhere in South or Middle America Zheng Bao Yu wasn't too impressed with Caroline's nebulous plan connected to an energy funnel inside the temple. The Defenders/Shieldmaidens, who had learned about the location by interrogating Ruby Thursday, Quicksand and Enchantress (Lushton), attacked and Yu joined her fellow Doom Maidens and squared up with Misty Knight. The whole operation went belly up fast as the Doom Maidens, Mr. Raven and Caroline's other operatives just got taken out by the heroes. In the end Caroline plunged into the energy source and seemingly dissipated and Zheng Bao Yu and the Doom Maidens were just out of the picture.

Comments: Created by Sax Rohmer; adapted by Doug Moench and Keith Pollard.

There is no confirmation that the woman known only as "Cursed Lotus" was Fah Lo Suee, but it seems likely, given the reference to an evil that was passed "from father...to daughter". Likely, Ben Raab used this alias to avoid paying royalties to the Sax Rohmer estate.
--I agree 100%--Snood.

In Fearless Defenders#8 it was revealed that Fah Lo Suee's name is Zheng Bao Yu. It is based on Fu Manchu's real name Zheng Zu, which was revealed in Secret Avengers I#8 (February, 2011). Why the name change? Probably the same reason as before--royalties!

References to "50 years ago" etc. are topical, and refer to the time of the story when it was first printed.

My Fu Manchu novel collection is incomplete, so I would appreciate hearing from anyone who can enlighten me to any Fah Lo Suee novel appearances I may have missed.

Thank you to Quiof Thrul for the new and additional images. Fearless Defenders issues added by Markus Raymond.

Profile by The Beetle and Prime Eternal with Chuck D.

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