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: Presumably other female-dominated societies;
Limited number of male slaves and servants
Enemies: Mogon of the Hills and his tribe, tribes of roving "Beast-Men";
unidentified parties who assassinated the royal family;
perhaps other female-dominated societies;
on some level, Lyra opposed the Femizons, as she desired to restore relationships with men
Aliases: The Sisterhood, the United Sisterhood Alliance (U.S.A.)
Base of Operations: The United Sisterhood Alliance of North America (aka "New U.S.A.), Earth-715 (an alternate future circa the 23rd Century)
First Appearance Savage Tales I#1/2 (May, 1971)
Powers/Abilities: The Femizons were skilled wariors, both at armed and unarmed combat, using largely bladed weapons. They were likely peak human to even enhanced human in terms of the physical abilities (strength, speed, etc.).
Semen samples were stored in their Temple of Genetics to allow perpetuation of the Femizons without requiring male involvement.
Despite being forbidden, historic brain tapes existed to view past events for those who dared.
Traits: A warrior-society ruled by a queen (and possessing a royal family), the Femizons were generally bellicose and misandric. Men were kept only as servants, entertainers, and breeding stock.
History tapes which revealed the origins of the Sisterhood, and of the time before the Femizons were forbidden.
The creed of the Femizons was "Sexuality! Solidarity! Superiority!"
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 by destroying the Temple of Genetics and its sperm supply (presumably to force women to seek out relationships with men and eliminate the segregated societies), learned of the forbidden history-detailing brain tapes of Princess Lyra. 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.
(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.
There's more...just not in this profile...
COMMENTS: Created by Stan "the
Man" Lee and "Jazzy" John Romita.
In fact, Stan Lee and John Romita (or their estates) own the Femizons, and Marvel can't even
refer to them by that name anymore. They are henceforth the Sisterhood
I'm going to profile a few other characters/groups/places from
Earth-715, namely Mogon, the Beast-Men, the Security Police, and
the Temple of Genetics, at least, and then eventually profile
Earth-715. However, this profile ends with the fall of the Femizons,
aka the United Sisterhood Alliance.
And then we have to detail the variants; it all starts with:
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).
Feminism according to Stan the Man:
Stan actually refers to the Femizons
as "the Vicious Voluptuaries."
"When a
man is but a slave -- it is the women who live in bondage."
Thundra has her own entry in
the OHotMU I#11, Deluxe#13, Master Edition, Alternate Universes 2005, A to Z hardcover#12 (2010). 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.
I am starting a profile on Thundra, but with all I have going on, it
may take me quite a while to get through it.
CLARIFICATIONS: The Femizons/United Sisterhood Alliance of Earth-715 should not be confused with:
First posted: 09/01/2001 (presumably written in the year prior to that)
Last updated: 11/15/2022
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and
© 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you
like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!