FEMIZONS
FEMIZONS
MEMBERSHIP: Lyra, Syrani and her security police, Vega, numerous unidentified women;
PURPOSE: Maintenance of a society ruled and completely controlled by women
AFFILIATIONS:
ENEMIES: Mogon of the Hills and his tribe, tribes of roving "Beast-Men"
ALIASES: The Sisterhood, the United Sisterhood Alliance
BASE of OPERATIONS: The United Sisterhood Alliance of North America, Earth-715 (an alternate future circa the 23rd Century)
FIRST APPEARANCE: Savage Tales I#1/2
(May, 1971)
HISTORY:
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#11: Thundra) - In the alternate reality of Earth-715, by the end of the 20th century (see comments), chemical and
biological warfare broke out, resulting in the sterilization of
95% of Earth's female population. The fertile 5% seized political
power, and they began a systemized program of oppression against men,
whom they saw as having nearly exterminated the species by causing war, poverty, hatred, violence, and pollution.
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z hardcover#12: Thundra) - Women genetically enhanced themselves to become equal to men, and men strengthened themselves via radiation treatments. That radiation had the side effect of sterilizing the children they subsequently conceived, and it became impossible for men and women to have children together.
By the end of the 22nd century, society had split formally into two camps, men and women, and cataclysmic wars had occurred between the sides. Each side developed its own methods of reproduction, men drawing on parthogenetic cloning, and women using genetically manipulated sperm samples held in their Temples of Genetics.
(Savage Tales#1/2 (fb) - BTS) - At the end of the 22nd century (see comments), the Sisterhood took over Earth. Wishing to
make certain that man would never rule again, the Sisterhood kept ten percent of the
men as slaves to serve the needs of the Sisterhood, as
well as to allow the continuation of the human race.
(OHotMU I#11: Thundra) - Natural childbirth was totally supplanted by laboratory birthing, and men were bred only as servants, entertainers, and breeding stock.
(Savage Tales#1/2 (fb) - BTS) - The remaining ninety percent of all the male children were abandoned in the wilderness...where they were left to perish.
However, not all of the males died. Most of those who remained grew strong -- and savage -- and more merciless, more brutal, than man had ever been before: The Beast-Men.
A smaller number of the male survivors remained civilized.
The Sisterhood kept a supply of sperm in their Temple of Genetics, guarded by High Priestesses, which they used to maintain the population.
(OHotMU I#11: Thundra) - The major concerns of the
Sisterhood, one of the leading nations of the world, were
exterminating the renegade bands of roving free men (aka
Beast-Men) and preventing incursions from foreign nations and
powers.
(Savage Tales#1/2 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Vega became Queen of the United Sisterhood Alliance, and her sister, Lyra (born from the same sperm vial) became princess.
(Savage Tales#1/2 (fb) - BTS) - Roving Beast-Men periodically assaulted the Sisterhood, apparently slaying some and carrying off others into the wilderness. The Sisterhood gradually tracked down the Beast-Men in their lairs and presumably slew those they found.
(Savage Tales#1/2 (fb) - BTS) - Mogon of the Hills, a member of a civilized tribe of men sworn to restore the balance to society, learned of the forbidden history-detailing brain tapes of Princess Lyra, sister of Queen Vega. Realizing that Lyra might be sympathetic to his cause, Mogon arranged to become Lyra's slave.
(Savage Tales#1/2) - As a reward for slaying another female warrior in combat as entertainment within Vega's court, Vega granted Lyra a handsome male slave (Mogon).
(Savage
Tales#1/2) - After learning more of the history of their world and of
the civilized male society, Princess Lyra fell in love with Mogon and
agreed to aid his tribe in order to restore a society where men and
women could be togther. This had to be kept
secret from the rest of society, which forbade treatment of men as
anything other than possessions.
Syrani, the head of the
Sisterhood's security police, had long suspected Lyra of not being
fully loyal to the Sisterhood. She had her agents spy on Lyra,
and when she went to meet with Mogon's rebel tribe, Syrani's
police ambushed them. Mogon and Lyra slew the police squadron and
then split up and fled back to the palace, each to their
respective quarters. Lyra was called before Queen Vega, to face
charges of highest treason, leveled by Syrani. Lyra contested
the charges, but Syrani had her guards bring in Mogon, whom they
had captured. Vega challenged Lyra to prove her loyalty by
slaying Mogon.
Realizing that he was doomed and seeking to save Lyra's life both due to his love for her and the hope that she would find and aid other rebel tribes, Mogon goaded Lyra, taunting her as a weakling, while his eyes pleaded with her to slay him to vindicate herself. Lyra indeed skewered Mogon, killing him and resolving the charges leveled against her.
Lyra vowed never to forget Mogon, and she decided to seek out the other members of the tribe to find more men like him. At last she knew, "When a man is but a slave -- it is the women who live in bondage." (Feminism according to Stan the Man).
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z hardcover#12: Thundra) - North America was ruled for a century by a royal Sisterhood, but after the royal family’s assassination and the destruction of the Genetics Temples (forcing the females to rely on cloning and genetic manipulation to create young) in the early half of the 23rd century, the USR (United Sisterhood Republic) assumed power.
(Fantastic Four
I#151(fb)/OHotMU I#11)-Genetic engineering resulted in the
development of the woman warrior known as Thundra, who became the
finest warrior in the Midwestern Republic. Thundra came to be
leader of the Sisterhood's military. In the middle of her career,
the Sisterhood faced an invasion from an unexpected quarter. In
another alternate future, contemporary to Earth-Femizonia, the
world was ruled by the male-dominated society of the Machans.
Under unknown circumstances, the timelines/dimensions of Machus
and Femizonia began to grow closer together. Men of Machus had
begun to travel over to Femizonia, and the men of Femizonia had
begun to rebel. The Sisterhood was forced to use bloody and
violent means in an effort to squelch the rebellion. Nonetheless,
the two worlds continued to move closer together, and the
problems continued to worsen. The Empress of Femizonia chose
Thundra, their stongest warrior to travel back in time, in the
hopes that if she could defeat the most powerful man of the
modern era, men would learn their lesson for all time.
(Fantastic Four I#151, 152],153) - Despite
humbling the Thing, one of the modern era's most powerful men, on
numerous occasions, Thundra soon found that her actions in
"the past" did not affect her timeline to any
significant effect (Thundra later revealed that she chose the
Thing to battle, even though there were others more powerful,
because she was attracted to him). Mahkizmo, the greatest
warrior of Machus, eventually trailed Thundra back to the modern
era. Mahkizmo brought Thundra back to Machus to stand trial for
her theft of the inter-dimensional equipment (which she had
stolen from them to reach the modern era). The Fantastic Four
followed Thundra to Machus and destroyed the mind dominating
technology which the men of Machus used to keep the women of
Machus submissive. Initially the women and then men began to
battle, but almost immediately they came to reach a state of
equilibrium as the worlds of Machus and Femizonia merged
together. (punching in one panel to kissing in the
next...ain't love grand?). Thundra was shunted back to Earth
along with the Fantastic Four at the conclusion of the battle of
the sexes.
Medusa's reasoning: "The natural forces probably decided
that Thundra belonged on a world where the sexes are equal by
choice--not because two worlds were forced together!"
Ben Grimm's response: "Ahhh. That's mumbo-jumbo, Red." (Tell it like it is, Brother!)
(Sensational She-Hulk#39) - Mahkizmo, who had been apparently atomized in the final battle against the Fantastic Four, was somehow maintained as an intangible, invisible cloud of atoms. Upon observing the harmony between the men and women, Mahkizmo was furious. He managed to direct his disembodied form into a man of the new world, and transformed it into his own form. Since he had been spared the effects of the fusion, Mahkizmo was the only one who remembered how the world had been. He set out on a plan to set off a bomb to kill all of the women of the past, to prevent the women of his timeline from existing . However, when he went to the modern era, he was struck by an arrow by Cupid, and fell in love with the She-Hulk. He abducted her to his world, and they were followed by the Thing and Wyatt Wingfoot, who used Reed Richard's time machine to follow Mahkizmo's "temporal trail." The She-Hulk and the Thing defeated Mahkizmo, and she explained to him why his plan wouldn't work they way he wanted it to (you should read Byrne's runs on She-Hulk). However, the arrival of the heroes from the modern era allowed the men and women to remember their pasts. This broke their unnatural spell of harmony and peace, and allowed them to beat the crap out of each other, just like good warriors should. Mahkizmo's assistant explained that these brawls were nothing more than household spats as played out by a race of warriors...and everyone lived happily ever after.
North America was ruled for a century by a royal
sisterhood, but after the royal family’s assassination and the destruction
of the Genetics Temples (forcing the females to rely on cloning and
genetic manipulation to create young) in the early half of the 23rd century,
the USR (United Sisterhood Republic) assumed power. It was into this
world that Thundra was born from their birthing crèches.
Thundra was one of her world’s genetically superior females; after
repeated military successes against the males she became one of her
society’s best known heroes. Due to unrevealed circumstances, another
future Earth, Machus (Earth-74101), began merging with Thundra’s
world at the dawn of the 24th century, and internal male-female wars
on each world increased dramatically. Thundra’s elders sent her back
through time for two purposes: to humiliate Earth’s greatest male, in
hopes of altering time and preventing a world like Machus from arising,
and to collect genetic material from that male in order to create more
powerful children. Arriving in the modern era of Earth-616, Thundra
encountered the Wizard (Bentley Wittman), who convinced her that he
and his Frightful Four would lead her to Earth’s most powerful men if she
joined them, which she did despite some misgivings.
Told the Thing (Ben Grimm) was one of those males, Thundra
helped the team attack him and his teammate Medusa Amaquelin,
though her doubts about her compatriots were reinforced when her
teammates initially fled from Grimm. The Thing’s nobility in battle
softened Thundra’s heart; she saved his life when the Sandman
(William Baker) attempted to kill him and then aided the Fantastic Four
when the Wizard threatened young Franklin Richards. However, when
the Wizard’s team was defeated she still helped them escape. She
later challenged the Thing to single combat, a fight that ended when
Reed Richards briefly reverted Grimm to a human form too weak for
Thundra to honorably fight (during that battle, both combatants were
apparently pulled forward in time by the Beyonder for only a few
seconds before being returned). Deciding Grimm was indeed man’s
greatest warrior, Thundra aggressively sought to romance him, but
Grimm was in love with the daintier Alicia Masters. When the Hulk
(Bruce Banner) and Thing had swapped bodies and were battling,
Thundra attempted to aid Grimm, unaware of the swap, only to be
twice assaulted by the Hulk-possessed Thing. Still, she soon aided the
Fantastic Four when the rest of the Frightful Four attacked them, and
again when Namor the Sub-Mariner attacked Manhattan.
When Machus’ greatest champion, Mahkizmo the Nuclear Man, traveled
to Earth-616 and kidnapped Thundra, the Fantastic Four pursued.
Medusa brought the Sisterhood to Machus. During the war that
followed, a nuclear explosion, which resulted from Mahkizmo’s brief
*******************************************************the saga continues, sort of....
(Marvel-Two-In-One#67) - Thundra used the Nth Projector to travel to an alternate Femizonia which had never merged with Machus.
BTS-Thundra became ruler of the Sisterhood of Femizonia, in a world in which the men of Machus had been defeated and some of them imprisoned. Thundra expanded the Republic to become an Empire (apparently to claim the entire continent of North America).
(Fantastic Four I#303)-Some of the imprisoned men of Machus revolted, and constructed a large android which sent out alpha waves to weaken women. Using this android, they took several of the prison guards hostage. Thundra traveled back to the modern era and recruited the Thing to help her and they defeated the android, allowing the Femizon guards to rise up and defeats the Machans. Thundra proposed to the Thing, the only man she respected, in order to form a dynasty to continue rulership of Femizonia. The Thing refused, and Thundra sent him back to the modern era (after a brief attempt to live out a "What If?" alternate reality with Alicia).
(West Coast Avengers#75(fb))-BTS-Thundra led a delegation to the world of Polemachus. However, Arkon and his warriors were appalled at the thought of a world ruled by women. Shortly thereafter, the worlds of Femizonia and Polemachus were at war.
(Avengers West Coast#75)-Thundra used the
equipment of Femizonia to teleport the Fantastic Four and the
Avengers West Coast to her side to use as allies against Arkon
and the Polemachans. However, Arkon's scientists learned of this
plan, and attempted to do the same. As a result, five of the
group went to each world where they were forced to assist either
Thundra or Arkon in the war against the other. Thundra claimed to
have brought the Thing and the others to her world in order to
force Grimm to become her husband and Emperor-Consort.
Arkon teleported his warriors to Earth-Femizonia, and his
soldiers battled the Femizons, while the two groups of heroes
battled each other. Eventually (surprisingly enough),
the heroes fought off the cotnrol of their respective kidnappers.
Thundra then attacked Arkon himself, and the two decided to
settle the conflict man-to-woman. However, as they fought,
Thundra revealed that she had come to Polemachus in the first
place to learn more about Arkon. Arkon commented that Thundra was
the first woman he had found worthy of physical battle...and just
like that, they were smooching away. (punching each other in
one panel and kissing a few later...where have I seen that
before?). Arkon teleported he and Thundra away to "more
congenial spheres", leaving their armies behind. Both groups
were sent back to their respective citadels. (Thundra stayed
in the company of Arkon, on Polemachus, apparently abandoning the
Sisterhood).
Note:
The women of Femizonia are mostly warriors, and highly skilled in
armed and unarmed combat. Thundra was genetically engineered for
strength and endurance. She has Class 75 superhuman strength. The
rest of the population is likely athlete to peak human, although
genetic engineering may have increased them to enhanced human
level.
COMMENTS: Created by Stan "the
Man" Lee and "Jazzy" John Romita.
In fact, Stan Lee owns the Femizons, and Marvel can't even
refer to them by that name anymore. They are henceforth the Sisterhood.
For the record, in Savage Tales, it is stated
that "It was at the end of last century--when women first
took over." Since that story took place in the 23rd Century,
"last century" should refer to the 22nd century (2100s)
or possibly the 21st century (2000s).
The OHotMU I#11 detailed the events that created the world of
Femizonia, but named the date as the end of the 20th Century.
I've had to use a little "profile-writer's creative
license" to integrate the two histories, but they are not
mutually exclusive.
It's not definitely stated that Thundra's rule takes place after the time of Vega's, so the reverse is possible.
Stan actually refers to the Femizons as..."the Vicious Voluptuaries." Man, that cat is groovy!
The creed of the Femizons was "Sexuality! Solidarity! Superiority!"...you've come a long way, baby.
One of the regions in the United Sisterhood Republic of North America is the mid-western republic, which contains Greater Milago (a union of what is Milwaukee and Chicago in the modern/mainstream world).
Thundra's got her own entry in the OHotMU I#11, Deluxe#13, and Master Edition. I didn't re-read all of her stories to do this profile, so please let me know if I missed a Femizons appearance, or any source issues for Thundra/Femizonia's origin.
In MTIO#67 Thundra
invited Hyperion (formerly of the Squadron Sinister) to come with
her to Femizonia. He hesitated a second, and then jumped through
the portal after her. The moment's hesitation caused him to be
lost between the dimensions, until he was found by Master Menace
in Squadron Supreme#7.
A few years ago, I bought 3 issues of Savage Tales#1 for a total of $1.00...not a bad deal.
Lyra expanded text
(Savage Tales#1/2 (fb) - BTS) - At the end of the 22nd century (see comments), the Sisterhood took over Earth. Wishing to
make certain that man would never rule again, the Sisterhood kept ten percent of the
men as slaves to serve the needs of the Sisterhood, as
well as to allow the continuation of the human race. The
remaining ninety percent of all the male children were abandoned
in the wilderness...where they were left to perish. However, not
all of the males died. Most of those who remained grew strong -- and
savage -- and more merciless, more brutal, than man had ever been
before: The Beast-Men.
The Sisterhood kept a supply of sperm in their Temple of Genetics,
guarded by High Priestesses, which they used to maintain the population.
(Savage
Tales#1/2 (fb) - BTS) - Lyra was born from the same sperm vial as her
sister, Vega. At some point, Vega became Queen of the United Sisterhood
Alliance, and Lyra became princess. Lyra's fighting skill made her
blade the most feared throughout the alliance.
Nonetheless, Lyra
felt that something was missing from the lives of herself and the rest
of the Sisterhood. She kept forbidden history tapes which
revealed the origins of the Sisterhood, and of the time before
the Femizons.
(Savage Tales#1/2 (fb) - BTS) - Lyra heard that there were still men "with fire in their veins and courage in their hearts," but she never dreamed that she would fine one.
(Savage Tales#1/2 (fb) - BTS) - Roving Beast-Men periodically assaulted the Sisterhood, apparently slaying some and carrying off others into the wilderness. The Sisterhood gradually tracked down the Beast-Men in their lairs and presumably slew those they found.
(Savage Tales#1/2 (fb) - BTS) - Mogon of the Hills, a member of a civilized tribe of men sworn to restore the balance to society, learned of Lyra's forbidden history-detailing brain tapes. Realizing that Lyra might be sympathetic to his cause, Mogon arranged to become Lyra's slave.
(Savage Tales#1/2) - Princess Lyra, sister of Queen Vega, defeated another female warrior in combat within Vega's court and, as all present cheered her to slay her fallen foe, Lyra struck her down in the name of Vega and the New U.S.A. As a reward, Vega granted Lyra a handsome male slave (Mogon). When Vega's advisor, Syrani, noted that Lyra seemed less than pleased by her generous offering, Vega silenced Syrani, and Lyra noted that Syrani was just jealous because Syrani was the princess. Lyra further noted that she was ever loyal to the United Sisterhood Alliance, and to its creed, "Sexuality! Solidarity! Superiority!" After Lyra departed, instructing her slave to follow her and await her pleasure, Syrani nonetheless caution Vega that Lyra should be watched.
Back in her chambers, when Mogon offered Lyra a massage or balms as she
prepared for her bath, Lyra instructed him that she bathed alone and
that he should tidy up her chamber her return. As she undressed,
bathed, and donned her evening wear, Lyra wondered why she was
different from the others, plagued by doubt and discontent, feeling
that something was lacking in the lives of herself and the others in
the Sisterhood. She then realized that her slave was missing and the
door ajar to her secret room. Grabbing her sword, she commanded the
slave to stand forth or face her wrath, but Mogon grabbed her from
behind, mocking her wrath and warning her to keep quiet or she would
learn of true wrath. She warned the slave that he would be tortured for
this, but Mogon assured her she would protect him, as he knew of her
secret tapes, and that she would be slain if Vega knew she possessed
them.
Despite Lyra's arguments, Mogon then donned a brain tape, which showed him detailes of Earth when it was ruled by men, a world of war, poverty, hatred, violence, and pollution. Lyra then remarked how the Sisterhood now had the power, that they would keep the peace, and they they would eventually destroy all of the Beast-Men. Mogon continued, detailing the Sisterhood's takeover and decimation of men and noting his own tribe's goals. Arguing that Lyra was a rebel and that he would help his tribe destroy the Temple of Genetics and its sperm supply (presumably to force women to seek out relationships with men and eliminate the segregated societies), Mogon convinced the initially defiant Lyra to join his cause as he was one of the lost men she had dreamed of.
In the days that followed, Lyra and Mogon publically acted as mistress
and slave, but when back in her chambers, safe from prying eyes, they
became lady and lover; Lyra considered herself fulfilled.
Syrani remained suspicious of Lyra.
Eventually, Mogon took Lyra to meet his rebel band (during which time
she finally asked and learned his name), only to find that rebels had
been replaced by Syrani's Security Police, who drew their swords and
proclaimed, "Death to the traitors!" Although Mogon advised Lyra to
flee the trap, she countered that she fled from no one, and the two
fought and slew the Security Police, seemingly eliminating the proof of
their involvement. After they returned to the Sisterhood's city, they
separated, with Lyra returning to her palace and Mogon to his quarters,
but minutes later Lyra was summoned before Vega.
Syrani accused Lyra of highest treason against the queen and Sisterhood, and Vega asked how she pled against these gravest charges. Proclaiming her blood as royal as Vega's, Lyra refused to plead, drew her sword and asked to face her accuser in combat. However, Syrani instead then had her guards bring in the captive Mogon. Feigning ignorance, Lyra asked what a slave had to do with her, and Vega explained that as Syrani had accused them both of conspiring against her crown, the only way to disprove her claim was to run her sword through the slave. Reading that Mogon wished her to slay him so that their cause could live (as they both knew that there were others like Mogon hidden in the hills), Lyra briefly paused. Mogon then goaded Lyra, mocking her as being weak like all women and lacking the courage and strength to kill him. Realizing what she had to do, Lyra retorted, "You, a mere slave, speak to Lyra of strength? I strike for the Sisterhood!" As she stabbed her sword through Mogon's abdomen (see comments).
After Vega told Syrani that she had been wrong -- "Though she is strong-willed and reckless, she is still my sister!" -- Vega commanded the guards to dispose of this carrion and to send two more slaves to her chambers, as the night would be long. As she departed, tears welled in eyes as she silently vowed never to forget her beloved Mogon, and she wondered if there was really a time when men were all like him: A time of lover and valor? She prayed that such a time would come again. She considered that there were other men like Mogon out there and that she would seek them out and find them. She finally concluded, "When a man is but a slave -- it is the women who live in bondage." (Feminism according to Stan the Man).
CLARIFICATIONS: The Femizons of the alternate future should not be confused with:
The Sisterhood of Femizonia should not be
confused with:
First posted: 11/21/2001
Last updated: 11/13/2022
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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