Thundra

Superherobox|


caption =Cover art for "Hulk: Raging Thunder" #1.
Art by Greg Land.
comic_color = background:#ff8080
character_name = Thundra
publisher = Marvel Comics
debut = Fantastic Four #129 (Dec 1972)
creators = Roy Thomas
Gerry Conway
alliance_color = background:#c0c0ff
real_name = Thundra
alliances =Frightful Four The Grapplers Roxxon Oil
aliases =
powers =Superhuman strength and durability
All of her other physical attributes are heightened to the peak of human capability
Extensive combat training

Thundra is a Marvel Comics superheroine who is often aligned with the Fantastic Four. She is a powerful, red-haired, amazon-like warrior, or Femizon, from a matriarchal, technologically advanced future timeline where men have been subjugated by women. She was created by Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway, and first appeared in "Fantastic Four" #129.

Fictional character biography

Thundra is a warrior woman and time traveler from the 23rd century. In the future society she hails from, Planet Earth is now known as Femizonia, and is ruled by amazon-like female overlords (Femizons) who have conquered and enslaved the diminished male population. The former United States is now the 'United Sisterhood Republic', and Thundra hails from the megalopolis of 'Milago' (a merged sprawl of Milwaukee and Chicago), located in the United Sisterhood's 'Midwestern Republic'. Thundra is renowned as the United Sisterhood's most formidable warrior, having been physically enhanced by genetic engineering, and trained from childhood in combat, the martial arts, and military strategy.

She is sent to the 20th century to challenge Fantastic Four member the Thing to a bout of one-on-one combat, believing him to be the strongest male of all time. By besting the Thing in combat, she felt she would prove once and for all that women were superior to the male gender, and finally end a stagnant war between Femizonia and the warlike, male dominated planet of Machus, where the female population had been subjugated by its ruler Mahkizmo.

Thundra was also recruited into the evil group of supervillains known as the Frightful Four by the Wizard. She secretly had her own agenda and had no real interest in the group, ultimately switching sides and helping the Fantastic Four defeat them.

She has battled alongside (and sometimes against) the Fantastic Four and the Avengers. At one point, she became a professional wrestler training with 'The Grapplers', a group of female wrestlers who possessed cybernetic-endowed superpowers. In a fixed wrestling match with one Grappler member, Thundra (who had superior strength and fighting skills) was secretly drugged by her opponent, causing her to black out, and lose the match.

When she awoke, it was revealed that the Grapplers were actually agents working for the Roxxon Oil Company, a multinational petroleum company which was covertly involved in developing advanced technology and weaponry for sinister motives. The Grapplers were assigned to trick Thundra into helping them sabotage Project Pegasus, a prison/research facility built for housing supervillains.

As a result of the deception by Roxxon and the Grapplers, Thundra came to blows (yet again) with the Thing (with whom she has expressed a romantic interest in, on more than one occasion). She was briefly allied with the duplicate Hyperion while still in service to Roxxon, and later became the consort of the extra-dimensional warlord Arkon.

However, Thundra has a special place in her heart for Ben Grimm/the Thing. In addition toher amorous advances, the two have been involved in numerous superheroic adventures; one particularly significant pairing of the two involved enlisting Grimm to help liberate Femizonia from a powerful, six-armed android sent from Machus to conquer the Femizons.After defeating the android, Grimm informed Thundra that they could never be together, expressing his love for Alicia Masters. Thundra then allowed him to return to the 20th Century.

Avengers Forever

Thundra also appears in the Marvel Comics Maxi-Series "Avengers Forever". In the storyline, she is a member of a rag-tag remnant of Avengers in an alternate future where Earth has been devastated by evil robotic alien invaders from Mars. She still wields a chain as her personal weapon. Unlike the other remaining Avengers (most notably the Black Panther), it appears that Thundra has not aged. Perhaps this is due to the Femizonian genetic engineering that she was subjected to, the source of her superhuman abilities.

Hulk: Raging Thunder

Thundra is finally set to return in a June 2008 one-shot story co-starring the Hulk entitled "Hulk: Raging Thunder". In the story, Thundra takes cell scrapings from the Hulk which are used by scientists in the future to impregnate her. Thundra later gives birth to a green skinned daughter who is technically the child of herself and the Hulk.

Powers and abilities

Thundra has superhuman strength and resistance to physical injury. Her speed, stamina, agility, and reflexes are heightened to the peak of natural human capability. Trained as a warrior, she possesses superior fighting skills along with increased agility and a fair amount of invulnerability.

Thundra is also a skilled combatant with a sword or chain, the latter of which is her weapon of choice, often attached to a bracelet on her left forearm.

ee also

*List of women warriors in literature and popular culture

External links

* [http://www.marvel.com/universe/Thundra Marvel.com Bio]
* [http://secretearths.blogspot.com/2006/07/thing-versus-frightful-four-frightful.html Secret Wars on Infinite Earths: Fantastic Four #129 Review] (First Appearance)