Thundra

Origin

Toward the end of the twentieth century in an alternate future (Earth-715), worldwide chemical and biological warfare broke out, resulting in the sterilization of 95% of the Earth’s female population. The fertile 5% seized political power and began a systematized program of oppression against men, who were seen as having nearly exterminated the human species. Due to anti-male politics and advances in biological research and technology, by the early 23rd century, natural childbirth was totally supplanted by laboratory birthing, and men were bred only as servants, entertainers, and breeding stock. The major concerns of the United Sisterhood Republic, one of the leading nations of the new world, were exterminating the renegade bands of roving free men and preventing incursions from foreign nations and powers.

Thundra was born in the Central Birthing Center of Greater Milago (Milwaukee-Chicago), a government-run laboratory where fetuses were brought to term in artificial wombs. Genetically engineered for strength, durability and endurance, Thundra was sent to military school when she was eight years old. By the age of eighteen, she had distinguished herself as the finest warrior in the Midwestern Republic and became an officer in the militia, leading assaults against roving bands of renegades and the armies of the Central American Empire. Thundra has since achieved an unprecedented level of success both on the field of battle, winning many battles aginst the male oppsosition, and in the political arena, where she eventually rose to the highest position in the United Sisterhood Republic (USR).

Creation

Thundra was created by Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway. She first appeared in Fantastic Four #129 (December 1972) during and era of rising feminist sentiment in the United States. The alternate-Earth Thundra comes from is a world where the female gender of humans is clearly dominant and the battle of the sexes is more than just a philosophical debate; it’s a full-blown war.

Major Story Arcs

In the middle of Thundra’s military career, the USR faced an invasion from soldiers from another alternate timeline, a world known as Machus. Men from this alternate Earth had managed to overthrow their female oppressors generations previously, and used their technology for inter-dimensional travel to journey to Thundra’s Earth to liberate the men of that world. In an attempt to strike back at the men of Machus, Thundra stole their dimensional apparatus, planning to launch a counter-attack on their world. The machine malfunctioned, however, and displaced her through time as well as space. She arrived in the twentieth century, and after acclimating herself, decided to humble the strongest man on Earth, thereby, she believed, preventing the world of Machus from ever coming about.

Upon her arrival, she was befriended by the criminal Wizard of the Frightful Four, whose instruments detected Thundra’s time displacement. The Wizard was looking for a replacement for Medusa, and saw Thundra as an ideal choice. Thundra pretended to go along with the Wizard’s plans in order to exploit his resources. After searching for the strongest man on Earth, she determined that the Thing, Ben Grimm of the Fantastic Four, fit the bill and would be the ideal object lesson to vanquish in battle. Alongside the Frightful Four, she engaged the Thing in a battle, besting him fairly on at least one occasion. Recognizing that her actions in the past would have little bearing on the future, she betrayed the Frightful Four to become an ally of the Fantastic Four.

Months later, however, Thundra was contacted by the Nth Command, subsidiary of the Roxxon Oil Company devoted to extradimensional research. They told her that a divergent future world existed which was never invaded by Machus. She agreed to carry out a mission for them in exchange for being restored to her world. The mission was leading a band of female Roxxon operatives called the Grapplers into the government energy facility Project: Pegasus in order to sabotage it. She was apprehended in the process but was released so the authorities could track down the party that sent her. She briefly became an ally of Hyperion of the Squadron Sinister, another Roxxon operative.

When she learned of the Nth Command’s sinister motives, she decided to leave their service and then stole one of their Nth Projectors (dimensional aperture synthesizers) so she could use it to return to her own world. She created a portal to her own time/dimension and she even invited the Thing to come with her, but after he declined, she went through it after bidding him a fond farewell. Hyperion attempted to follow her, but the portal closed while he was halfway through, stranding him in limbo. Thundra arrived in her home reality safely.

Thundra became the ruler of this alternate future Femizonia and renamed it the United Sister-hood Empire. Later, as her people wanted her to establish a dynasty, Thundra decided that, since the Thing was the only male she respected, he should be the one to marry her. An emergency prompted her to call the Thing to her dimension and, once the crisis was averted, she took the opportunity to propose. Because acceptance of her marriage proposal meant he would be forever unable to return to his time, the Thing declined. As a favor, Thundra first returned the Thing to an alternate timeline where he could propose to his long-time love, Alicia. Instead, however, the Thing left Alicia at the altar and Thundra returned the Thing to his own timeline.

Now back in Femizonia, Thundra eventually found herself at war with the extradimensional kingdom Polemachus and it’s chauvinistic warrior-monarch, Arkon. Towards the end of their long, bitter conflict, Thundra employed the hero teams Avengers and Fantastic Four as pawns in her war with Arkon. However, the heroes helped Thundra and Arkon discover that they shared a strong mutual attraction, an attraction that ended their conflict when they became lovers. Thundra has since joined Arkon in Polemachus as his consort.

Some months later, Thundra and Arkon sought Avengers’ aid in repairing Polemachus’s energy ring and protecting the maiden Astra from becoming a human sacrifice to Polemachus’ religious zealots led by the high priest Anskar.

Arkon also had a rival in his Grand Vizier, who, over time, convinced Arkon to return Polemachus to a more barbaric lifestyle rather than rely on its science. The Grand Vizier then abducted the superhero and Avenger Photon along with the supervillains battling her at the time, the Wrecking Crew. The Grand Vizier used the Wrecking Crew to depose of Arkon and Thundra, until the Avengers arrived to rescue their teammate and restore Arkon to the throne. Polemachus returned to its hybrid barbaric/scientific lifestyles.

Presumably, Arkon ruled Polemachus with Thundra by his side. At some point Thundra returned to the current time. She had been operating here for some time, having her own tribe active on the present day earth. Recently Thundra confronted the Red Hulk as a member of the all-female super-team; the Lady Liberators alongside fellow members She-Hulk, Valkyrie, The Invisible Woman, Tigra, Hellcat, The Black Widow, Spider-Woman (who was actually the Skrull Queen Veranke), and Storm. After presumably defeating The Red Hulk she stayed up all night with the other women keeping a gun trained at the unconscious Red Hulk when sunrise came however he immediately woke up and took her prisoner… or so it seemed. After finding a secluded location, the Red Hulk explained that he had captured her because he wanted to recruit her for a job that, should Thundra agree, upon completion, she would be rewarded for her services with the one thing she has always wanted.

When she contacted She-Hulk sometime later, Thundra lied to her when she asked about The Red Hulk, indicating he’d said nothing to her and just took off. Thundra took the job offer and secretly worked for The Red Hulk, becoming his ace in the hole when he was attacked by a team lead by Leonard Samson consisting of the Punisher, Deadpool, Elektra and herself . When Samson ordered his team to take the Red Hulk down, Thundra revealed herself to be in league with Red Hulk and instead fought Samson while the Punisher and Deadpool felt cheated and left. Later when She-Hulk goes to Marinmer to deal with the fallout of a massive earthquake, Thundra, The Invisible Woman and Valkyrie joined her. It’s during this time that Thundra reveals at least a slight interest in women by coming on the She-Hulk. Following the incident in Marinmer, Thundra found herself, the other Lady Liberators, the female members of The Guardians of the Galaxy and the Human Torch‘s ex-wife Lyja teleported to The Collector‘s base where he was trying to hide every female superheroine in the Omniverse from a composite entity called Unum. Unum was created from the tortured souls of deceased beings who once served Annihilus, The Magus and Dormammu and he was killing superheroines in order to satiate her thirst for revenge.

Alternate Versions of Thundra

Thundra’s home reality is designated Earth-715. As of yet, she has no known counterpart in the mainstream Marvel Universe (Earth-616).

Hulk: Raging Thunder

Recently, a Thundra, from an alternate future reality, one practically identical to the Thundra already in the mainstream Marvel Universe (Earth-616), came to Earth-616 to confront the Hulk with the objective being to gain a sample of his DNA for the purpose of combining it with her own DNA to genetically engineer a female baby and thus produce the mightiest possible warrior/defender of Femizonia. Thundra and the Hulk fought for a short time until Thundra called it off. The Hulk then demanded to know who she was and why she was so strong. She told him who she was and explained some basic details of what life was like in her reality, including how procreation on her world occurred. The Hulk responded by informing her that if she lived on Earth-616 she would know that The Hulk was not a man, but instead a monster. Still in need of the Hulk’s DNA, Thundra thought of an alternative method of obtaining one and then kissed the Hulk. Shortly afterwards she returned to her native timeline where the Chief Femizonian Scientist declared that the gamuts had fused and that Thundra was the first woman to become pregnant in four generations. Nine months later she gave birth to a green-skinned daughter named Lyra. Lyra inherited physical characteristics and powers form both her parents and grew up to be an even mightier warrior than her mother. Lyra has since, upon reaching late adolescence, travelled to the Earth and time period of her father where she met both the Hulk and her mother Thundra in a younger incarnation.

JLA/Avengers

Some time ago an alternate version of Thundra and her mate Arkon were killed when the DC Universe villain known as Krona tried to unlock the secrets behind the Creation Event by probing the very fabric of time/space and destroyed the alternate reality Polemachus.

Powers and Abilities

Thundra has extraordinary superhuman strength in the “Class 90” range and can lift at least 60 tons with minimal effort (she has been depicted casually holding a 45-70 ton tank over her head with one hand). She also has a very high degree of durability with heightened speed, stamina and reflexes. Thundra has displayed the ability to regeneratively heal, although slowly, having once lost the use of an eye in battle, forcing her to wear an eye-patch until it eventually healed/regenerated some time later. Thundra is a highly skilled armed and unarmed fighter, the greatest in all Femizonia, in fact. As such she has been trained and is highly skilled in the use of a multitude of different weapons. Of all the weapons Thundra is adept at using, she is most proficient in the use of a most unorthodox, yet simple weapon; four foot length of heavy chain which she uses as a whip and a bludgeon or to bind her opponents. This chain is Thundra’s weapon of choice.

Physical statistics

• Hair – Red
• Eyes – Green
• Height – 7′ 2″
• Weight – 350lbs.
• Origin – 23rd century Earth-715 – United Sisterhood Republic.
• Expert in multiple forms of armed & unarmed combat.
• Thundra has superhuman strength enabling her to lift at least 60 tons.

Other Media

Television

Ultimate Spider-Man

Thundra appears in the pilot episode of Ultimate Spider-Man as a member of the Frightful Four. The villains attack Midtown High in hopes of flushing out Spider-Man, but end up defeated. She returns in the second episode, where the Frightful Four end up in a battle against Spider-Man, Power Man, White Tiger, Nova and Iron Fist. Thundra is accidentally thrown from the roof but is saved by Spider-Man, who webs her mouth shut (to prevent the use of profanity) and leaves her hanging bound and gagged for the police.

Games

Marvel Avengers Alliance

Thundra is a playable character in the game, and can be recruited by using normal command points.

Her bio says: Thundra is one of the strongest women in the world, and the greatest warrior in her own world: an advanced, female-dominated alternate reality. She first came to our universe to challenge the strongest male, in order to prevent her reality from being erased. Though her prime allegiance is to her planet, she has been a steadfast ally of the Fantastic Four, as well as a founding member of the new Lady Liberators.

Marvel: War of Heroes

Thundra appears in several cards in the mobile card game Marvel: War of Heroes. Her cards are:

• [Walk the walk] Thundra
• [Femizon] Thundra
• [Lady Liberator] Thundra

Merchandise

• Thundra was featured in the HeroClix figure game.
• Thundra was featured in Hasbro’s Marvel 500 series.
• Thundra was featured in Hasbro’s Marvel Legends line as part of the Hulkbuster Build-a-Figure wave.

Other Recognition

Thundra was ranked 62nd in Comics Buyer’s Guide’s 100 Sexiest Women in Comics list.