Faora

Faora is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Superman. The character was created by Cary Bates and Curt Swan, and first appeared in Action Comics #471 (May 1977). Most commonly, Faora is an ally and sometimes the wife and/or lover of Superman's Kryptonian nemesis General Zod. Faora appears in the television series Smallville, portrayed by Erica Durance and Sharon Taylor. Faora appeared in the DC Extended Universe films Man of Steel (2013) and The Flash (2023), portrayed by Antje Traue. Faora first appeared in Action Comics #471 (May 1977) and was created by Cary Bates and Curt Swan. The first Faora, Faora Hu-Ul, was introduced in Action Comics #471. She is a beautiful Kryptonian woman whose unexplained hatred for men led her to torture and kill 23 of them in the secret concentration camp. For this, she was imprisoned in the Phantom Zone to complete a sentence of 300 Kryptonian years, the second longest term after Jax-Ur. Surviving her homeworld's destruction, along with the other Phantom Zone prisoners, she existed in an invisible ghost-like form. While in the Zone, she often depicted plotting against Superman with General Zod and Jax-Ur. The hatred of men was not limited to different races, as she demonstrates this pointless murder on a young Frenchman who was attracted by her beauty. Faora is an expert at the Kryptonian martial of Horo-Kanu. This allows her to take advantage on the body's pressure points. This made her an extremely dangerous foe for Superman to face in close combat. When she beaten him, he was forced to flee from their first encounter. During one of her appearances, Faora could manifest some sort of "mental lightning" to physically attack Kryptonian survivors, but did not exhibit this additional power during later battles. Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, another Faora (renamed Zaora) appeared in the Pocket Universe created by the Time Trapper, along with General Zod and Quex-Ul.