Female Furies

FEMALE FURIES

Membership: Artemis, Bernadeth, Big Barda, Bloody Mary, Gilotina, Lashina, Mad Harriet, Malice Vunderbarr, Speed Queen, Stompa

Base of Operations: Apokolips

First Appearance: Mister Miracle I #6 (February, 1972)

History: The Female Furies were Darkseid's enforcers and crack strike team, all women trained by Granny Goodness to be consummate warriors.

(Martian Manhunter II #33) - To learn more about the Anti-Life Equation Darkseid sent the Female Furies and Parademons to raid Mars. They killed a number of Martian manhunters before being driven back to Apokolips, but they succeeded in kidnapping M’Yrinn J’Onzz, who’d formulated the Life Equation.

Their leader Big Barda abandoned them to travel to Earth so she could be reunited with Mister Miracle, the love of her life. Darkseid sent the Furies to retrieve her and bring her back into the fold, but failed. For a brief time the Furies made peace with Barda and spent time on Earth. it wasn't long before they once again fell under Darkseid's thrall.

(New Gods II #6) - Darkseid made Apokolips universally automated, run by machines that protected Apokolips and kept the populace in line, but his elite troops craved the old days of war and glory. In frustration the Female Furies took pot shots at Darkseid’s Makkanoids while Orion invaded the planet. Granny scolded them, but they ran her off. Supervisors were ready to execute the Furies for their traitorous behavior, but in deference to their former accomplishments as warriors they were only tortured with energy bursts.

Bernadeth assumed leadership of the team, but Lashina has attempted to usurp her on numerous occasions.

(Hawk & Dove III #21) - Gilotina, Malice Vunderbarr, Bloody Mary and Speed Queen, a B-Squad of Female Furies, went to Earth in hopes of earning a spot on Granny Goodness' main team. They played a game to see who could kill the most people, with superheroes being worth the most points. Hawk and Dove battled them, minimalising the loss of life. Hawk's friend Rodger, who portrayed the hero Black Russian for a boys club, was nearby, and Malice mauled him with her demonic cat Chessure. With Malice as the winner they returned to Apokolips.

(Jack Kirby’s Fourth World #5) - Apokolips and New Genesis were fused into one planet, with a barrier separating them. Lashina theorized that the barrier didn’t extend deep underground, so she gathered the Female Furies, and they recruited Parademons and immense earth-movers and drills to tunnel to New Genesis. The work was slow going, and everyone except Lashina expressed doubts it would work. This led to the usual arguments, and Lashina and Stompa started pounding each other. Bernadeth said it was no wonder Darkseid’s plans failed when he had such rabble working for him. They eventually succeeded, and opened a hole in Supertown, where Parademons snatched a passing youth.

(Jack Kirby’s Fourth World #6) - The Parademons snatched god of music Harmon, and Mad Harriet butchered him. They continued building new tunnels for more surprise attacks, but Harriet stayed to enjoy her recent kill. She was discovered and apprehended by Lonar, who informed the New Gods. Big Barda felt personally responsible for the reprehensible actions of her former underlings, and joined an assault on them with Mr. Miracle and Orion. Orion slaughtered Parademons until he came upon bernadeth and staid his hand. Darkseid and Highfather recognized he had a corrupting presence in him, and with the help of Takion they removed it, the influence turning out to be Desaad.

(Harley Quinn #3) - The Female Furies, along with a number of other vilainesses, attended a slumber party thrown by Harley Quinn.

(Superman / Batman #9, 11, 12) - Darkseid wanted someone to replace Big Barda as head of the Female Furies, but Granny couldn't produce any worthy candidates. The closest Granny came was a girl named Precious, who challenged the Furies to combat, but was slaughtered by them. Darkseid told her he wanted Superman's cousin Kara Zor-El, who'd recently landed on Earth, and warned that if she failed he'd have the Furies kill her. Kara was brought to Apokolips, and Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Big Barda followed to rescue her. The Furies engaged Wonder Woman and Barda in combat, and although Stompa was impaled during the fight the Furies won and planned to present Wonder Woman to Darkseid as a possible new leader for the Furies. Wonder Woman threatened to strangle Granny with her lasso, forcing the Furies to release them.

(Firestorm: The Nuclear Man II #33, 34) - Darkseid had never found the true anti-life equation, but the prophecies that humans would uncover fragments of it came true when Prof. Martin Stein, omne-half of the superhero Firestorm, uncovered a portion of it studying the Firestorm Matrix. Mr. Miracle and Orion came to warn Firestorm, but Darkseid had already sent the Female Furies to take the hero. The villains subdued the heroes, and prepared to load Firestorm into a Boom Tube to Apokolips when Firestorm’s girlfriend Gehenna appeared with super heroine Firehawk. The Furies were vanquished, and Metron appeared inside the Firestorm-matrix, revealing that Stein had not unlocked anti-life, but life itself in understanding the elemental nature of Firestorm. The full life equation would threaten Darkseid, and Metron warned that the villsin wouldn’t rest until Stein was in his clutches.

Comments: Created by Jack Kirby

The Female Furies received a profile in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #8.

There was a pin-up of the Female Furies in the Fourth World Gallery.