#zaora

Sara Douglas as Ursa in Superman ll (1981).

Ursa was described as the deadliest woman on Krypton, who hated all men save for General Dru-Zod, to whom she was slavishly devoted.

Ursa was a character created for the first Superman film, which was in development since the early 1970s and would, eventually, be split into two parts. She would make her brief first appearance in the beginning of Superman the Movie in 1978.

Someone at DC Comics decided it would be a good idea to introduce an evil, man-hating female Kryptonian in the comics before the film was released. However, since they didn't have the rights to Ursa yet, they decided to create their own own version.

And thus, the world was introduced to Faora Hu-Ul!

Action Comics (vol. 1) #472 (June, 1977). Cover by Bob Oskner. This was Faora's first appearance on a cover in her true form.

Faora made her first appearance in Action Comics (vol. 1) #471 (May, 1977), but spends most of the story as a featureless phantom. Her true form is revealed later on, and we learn she is a Phantom Zone escapee. On Krypton Faora had an irrational hatred of all men, known to have killed at least twenty-three of them, and kept other Kryptonians as slaves in her very own concentration camp.

As a Kryptonian, once Faora was out of the Phantom Zone she had all the same powers as Superman. That alone would have made her a formidable opponent. But she was also an expert in Horu-Kanu, the deadliest of Krypton's martial arts. which targets pressure points to disable, cripple, and even kill opponents. Superman had no defense against that.

Faora made a several more appearances over the years, until she - and most of Superman's continuity - was erased in Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985), and Superman's subsequent reboot by John Byrne in Man of Steel (1986).

Interestingly enough, Faora did briefly reappear - now named mysteriously Zaora - in John Byrne's last Superman story. She was one of three villainous Phantom Zone escapees who murdered every living thing on Earth (in a pocket universe), and was, infamously, executed for her crimes by Superman.

Zaora's death from Superman (vol. 2) #22 (October, 1988) Art by John Byrne, colors by Petra Scotese, letters by John Costanza.

Faora finally made it to the big screen in Man of Steel (2013), portrayed by Antje Traue.

While I have plenty of opinions about this film, I will not share them here. I will point out that, while shown only as an overzealous follower of the tyrannical General Zod, Faora was a bad@$$ opponent for Superman nonetheless.

New versions of Faora and Ursa have been introduced into the comics, with Ursa making her debut in 2006 as Zod's spouse and mother of his son, Lor-Zod. After DC's New 52 (boo!) and Rebirth, Ursa and Lor-Zod underwent character modifications, so they are different from their 2006 incarnations.

“Phantoms”

As the last representative of law and justice on this world, it falls to me to act as judge, jury...and executioner.