femizont

FEMIZONS

MEMBERSHIP: Lyra, Syrani and her security police, Thundra, Vega

PURPOSE: Maintenance of a society ruled and completely controlled by women

AFFILIATIONS: the Thing and the Fantastic Four, She-Hulk (occasional allies); intermittently united with the men of Machus

ENEMIES: Mahkizmo and the Men of Machus (sometimes),

Mogon of the Hills (former lover of Lyra) and his tribe, as well as the tribes of roving "Beast-Men"; Central American Empire;
men in general (used as slaves and servants); Arkon and the natives of Polemachus (formerly, fought the alternate timeline version-see below)

ALIASES: The Sisterhood; The United Sisterhood of Femizonia; the United Sisterhood Alliance; The United Sisterhood Republic of North America;
The United Sisterhood Empire of North America (the alternate timeline version)

BASE of OPERATIONS: The United Sisterhood Republic of North America, Earth-Femizonia (in an alternate future @ the 23rd Century)

FIRST APPEARANCE: Savage Tales I#1/2 (May, 1971);
an alternate timeline of Femizonia was first mentioned in Marvel Two-In-One#67 and first seen in Fantastic Four I#303 (June, 1987)-as best as I can tell, this alternate version is the one that has been seen in most subsequent stories (at least those involving Thundra).

HISTORY: (Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#11: Thundra: Origin)-Toward the end of the Twentieth Century, chemical and biological warfare broke out, resulting in the sterilization of 95% of Earth's female population. The fertile 5% seized political power, and by the 23rd Century had taken over all of North America, forming the United Sisterhood of Femizonia. They did this by beginning a systematic program of oppression against men, who were seen as having nearly exterminated the species.

(SavTales#1/2(fb))-The Sisterhood wished to make certain that man would never rule again. Ten percent of the men were kept 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. Those who remained grew strong--and savage--and more merciless, more brutal, than man had ever been before! (Stan used an exclamation point. Who am I to argue?)
(OHotMU I#11)-Natural childbirth was totally supplanted by laboratory birthing, and men were bred only as servants, entertainers, and breeding stock. 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.

(SavTales#1/2)-Princess Lyra, sister of Queen Vega, fell in love with her slave, Mogon. This had to be kept secret from the rest of society, which forbid treatment of men as anything other than possessions. Mogon was a member of a tribe of men, who were allegedly less savage and brutal than the rest. Mogon was sent by his own tribe to become a servant so that he might destroy the Sisterhood's Temple of Genetics, which contained their precious sperm supply (I kid you not). By accomplishing this, they hoped to use the need to continue the race to regain some political power and overthrow the Sisterhood.
Mogon learned that Lyra kept forbidden history tapes which revealed the origins of the Sisterhood, and of the time before the Femizons. Realizing that Lyra might be sympathetic to his cause, Mogon arranged to become Lyra's slave, and then revealed his motives to her. Lyra, unlike the rest of the Sisterhood, felt something missing in her life, and found that something in a relationship with Mogon. Eventually, Lyra agreed to assist Mogon's tribe in order to restore the possibility of the relationship she enjoyed in secret.
Syrani, the head of the Sisterhood's security police, 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, levelled 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. Mogon realized that he was doomed, and sought to save Lyra's life. To this end, he 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 resolved the charges levelled against her. Lyra vowed never to forget Mogon, and 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).

(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.

*******************************************************the saga continues, sort of....

(Marvel-Two-In-One#67)-Thundra used the N^th 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).

(FanFour#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.

CLARIFICATIONS: The Femizons of the alternate future should not be confused with:
Superia's Femizons, of the modern era, who attempted to instigate the formation of the nation of Femizons that would become Thundra's group in the future...@ Captain America I#388
The women of Elysia, who live in a world constantly warring with the men of Mahkos, @ Marvel-Team-Up I#143. This would appear to be a realm contemporary to mainstream/modern Earth, but it could be a separate nation of the Earth-Femizonia...or a precursor...or a sequellum...

The Sisterhood of Femizonia should not be confused with:
The Sisterhood, a name briefly and loosely used by the female members of the fourth Brotherhood of Evil Mutants when their male allies were imprisoned, @ ROM#32

Lyra of the Sisterhood should not be confused with:
Llyra, the Lemurian priestess of Set, @ Sub-Mariner I#33

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Last updated: 05/16/05.

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