Faora Hu-Ul

"*A good death is its own reward.*"
―Faora Hu-Ul to Nathan Hardy[src]
Sub-commander **Faora-Ul** is an infamous Kryptonian war criminal and second-in-command of the Sword of Rao, serving as the loyal right hand to General Zod, and was one of the first great enemies of the hero Superman.

Together with Zod, Faora attempted to re-establish Krypton on Earth by bringing about a terraformation apocalypse, but she was ultimately defeated by Nathan Hardy and sucked into a singularity, sending her back into the Phantom Zone.

## Powers and abilities

### Powers

**Kryptonian physiology**: As a Kryptonian, Faora-Ul's bone structure is almost identical to that of a human. On a planet near a red class M main-sequence star (like Krypton with its sun Rao), Faora would have physical attributes nearly identical to those of humans, but if on a planet near a yellow G-type main-sequence star (like Earth), she has many new abilities and powers, all of them far beyond the capabilities of humans and even metahumans. Due to Faora's ruthlessness and complete lack of restraint, she never withheld her tremendous power, which initially allowed her to swiftly overpower Superman (despite the latter's superior solar energy supply). However, Faora notably never did manage to master the powers of heat vision, X-ray vision, Arctic breath, and flight.

* **Superhuman strength**:Faora-Ul has a tremendous level of superhuman strength, virtually incalculable, as she is able to carry millions of tons. She can generate large shock-waves with her mighty punches, she can effortlessly hurl cars and trucks great distances, shatter concrete, breakthrough thick metal walls and doors with ease, effortlessly overpower numerous human soldiers, and fight evenly against fellow Kryptonian Superman. In fact, Faora was able to throw him all the way to the other side of Smallville, while her mighty blows were powerful enough to send him flying and visibly hurt him, making him stagger and pant in pain. She was also able to grasp Superman by the neck hard enough to make the latter wince in pain. Together with Nam-Ek, Faora was also able to force Superman back down when the latter tried to fly up into the air. Faora's strength also extends to her ability to jump great distances.
* **Nigh-invulnerability**: Faora-Ul's body is incredibly durable, virtually indestructible. Hence, she can withstand massive explosions, exposure to both temperature extremes, falls from great heights, high-caliber bullets, anti-tank depleted uranium rounds, Maverick missiles, plasma bolts from Kryptonian weaponry, Superman's heat vision attack (though it caused her burning pain) and even numerous mighty blows from fellow Kryptonian Superman, remaining unscathed. While Faora can be affected by the considerable force of powerful impacts, they only at most cause her to stumble and briefly knock her down, leaving her unscathed. The only known things capable of actually breaking through Faora's invulnerability and harming her are beings of comparable incalculable strength (such as other Kryptonians), as they are strong enough to physically break through her invulnerability, though only other Kryptonians can potentially kill her.
	+ **Regenerative healing factor**: Faora-Ul, in the rare instances, when she is hurt, is capable of healing at superhuman speeds, especially in direct sunlight. However, if the injuries are serious enough to instantly kill her, her healing factor will not be able to save Faora, much like how General Zod was killed after Superman broke his neck.
* **Superhuman speed**: Faora-Ul can run and react at incredible supersonic speeds. During her battle in Smallville, she was able to bring down numerous human soldiers before they could even react, and even land many blows onto the equally fast Superman in rapid succession, though the latter was more due to her far superior combat skills.
	+ **Superhuman reflexes**: Faora-Ul's speed seems to extend to her reflexes as well since she manages to dodge a tackle from the equally fast Superman, and when he first attempted to engage her, Faora caught and deflected all of his blows with ease, countering just as fast.
* **Superhuman stamina**: Faora almost never grows tired if she is continuously powered by the yellow sun of Earth. She doesn't need to eat, sleep, or breathe. Hence, she ferociously battled with Superman and numerous human soldiers without ever needing to stop and catch her breath.
* **Superhuman vision**: Faora-Ul has superhuman eyesight far beyond that of humans. She possesses a superior sensory arrangement of telescopic, infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray, and gamma-ray visual capabilities. She can see the entire electromagnetic spectrum when she desires, through mental focus. However, when her visor first broke open, Faora was initially overwhelmed by her multiple spectrum vision.
	+ **X-ray vision**: Faora-Ul, when her visor first broke open, was initially overwhelmed by the sudden intensity of her X-ray vision (which enabled her to see through all objects and people), and was unable to control it. The only known materials known to be impenetrable to Faora's X-ray vision are lead, the force field of a Kryptonian Breather (when rendered opaque), as well as the Kryptonian metal which the walls of the Fortress of Solitude were composed of.
* **Superhuman hearing**: Faora-Ul, when her visor first broke open, was initially overwhelmed by the sudden intensity of her hearing (which enabled her to simultaneously perceive numerous feeble and far noises very clearly, including both infrasound and ultrasound), and was unable to control it.

### Abilities

* **Gifted intelligence**: Faora-Ul, while not on par with General Zod, Jor-El, or Jax-Ur, is very intelligent, having attained the prestigious rank of Sub-Commander in the Kryptonian Warrior Guild prior to joining the Sword of Rao. Faora-Ul's intellect mainly extends to her leadership, intimidation, and other military skills, though the thinking boundaries programmed into Faora's engineered DNA occasionally make her imperfect in utilizing these skills.
	+ **Expert leader**: Faora-Ul, as the Sub-commander of the Sword of Rao and General Zod's second-in-command, is a highly skilled leader, to the point that Zod always trusted her to take his place of leadership when he was forced to attend to other business, such as in the Kryptonian Civil War, when Faora held off the Sapphire Guards' attacks (while Zod engaged Jor-El to get the Codex) and in the Black Zero Event, when Faora protected the *Black Zero* (while Zod searching for the Fortress of Solitude).
	+ **Multilingualism**: Faora-Ul, apart from her native Kryptonian, was somehow able to quickly learn how to fluently understand and speak English (and possibly other Earth languages), as seen during her interactions with Superman, Lois Lane, General Swanwick, and Colonel Hardy.
* **Master combatant**: Faora-Ul, as an illustrious member of the Kryptonian Warrior Guild, is a fierce and ruthless combatant, being extremely skilled in a vast array of Kryptonian martial arts, more so than even General Zod himself. Therefore, during the Kryptonian Civil War, Faora was known and feared throughout Krypton as the infamous "Tigress of Zod". Hence, Faora easily gained the upper hand against Superman in a duel, and he was only able to defeat her by managing to break open her visor (and that only by catching her off-guard). Even without her powers, Faora is still extremely dangerous and absolutely lethal.
	+ **Knife mastery**: Faora-Ul might also have some skill in wielding bladed weaponry, since she was about to attack Colonel Hardy with a Kryptonian combat knife.
* **Indomitable will**: Faora-Ul, much like General Zod, has an immense determination and strength of will, which, in addition to her bloodlust, makes her an extremely formidable opponent, with Faora despising the mere idea of losing a fight or battle. As a result, it was only upon Zod's orders that she stood down and surrendered to the Sapphire Guards, as the Kryptonian Civil War was lost. Later, however, when helpless and at the mercy of High Eminence Lor-Em, Faora stood in silent defiance while being frozen into a cryocapsule, expressing no remorse for her malevolent war crimes. Later, when defeated by Superman, Faora still refused to yield, defiantly proclaiming that she would see to it that millions of humans would be wiped out in retaliation.

### Weaknesses

* **Limited Free Will**: Faora-Ul's greatest psychological weakness stems from the fact that it was genetically engineered in a genesis chamber, with the boundaries of thought programmed into its engineered DNA. Indeed, Faora induced a poor mastery of free will and a tendency to dogmatic tunnel vision. His poor free will gave him a complete lack of empathy towards humans, believing that they are weak and inferior, as Zod believes, and that they must be wiped off the face of the Earth to rebuild Krypton. Like Zod, she too was willing to kill anyone who stood in the way of her mission to rebuild Krypton, but more importantly, she mocked Kal-El for his high morality and free will superior to them, not having been raised for a specific purpose, while they yes, believing that his weakness had given the Sword of Rao an even more evolutionary advantage, a belief that turned out to be his undoing, because he had underestimated the combined intelligence of Kal-El and Jor-El, but, above all, of humans and their ability to sacrifice themselves for the world and the people they care about, even if it meant dying, as was the case with Colonel Hardy who mocked Faora before crashing the plane into the Black Zero, dying, satisfied, in the process.

## Equipment

### Former equipment

As the General, Zod originally had access to all of the weaponry the guild is equipped with, though he lost that privilege after losing the Kryptonian Civil War and getting imprisoned in the Phantom Zone. After escaping the Zone with the *Black Zero*, however, General Zod once against gradually became well-equipped, salvaging all the weapons he could find from the old colonial outposts of Krypton (such as Daxam), most notably, a fearsome World Engine.

* **Kryptonian Battle Armor**: Zod, as a Kryptonian of the Warrior Guild, was hardly ever seen not wearing a suit of extremely durable and fiercely intimidating Kryptonian battle armor, equipped with a Breather and retractable blade gauntlet. However, he discarded it after finally mastering his power of flight.
* **Command Key**: General Zod's piece of highly advanced Kryptonian technology, made of Liquid Geo, which allowed him to operate and use Scout Ship 0344 and to destroy the artificial intelligence of Jor-El. It would later be used by Lex Luthor to assume command of the ship.
* **Space suit**: General Zod wore this protective suit in airless or otherwise dangerous space environments, notably when on the Daxam colonial outpost.
* ***Black Zero***: General Zod's former prison starship, re-purposed into his residence and means of transportation after the destruction of Krypton. It was, however, ultimately sucked into the Phantom Zone.
* **World Engines**: General Zod's ultimate superweapon, obtained from the Daxam, utilized by General Zod during his attempt to terraform Earth into New Krypton. It was, however, ultimately destroyed by Superman.
* **Mind-probing machine**: General Zod utilized this device to telepathically probe the minds of both Superman and Lois Lane, to discover the Codex's location. This machine projects it's patient's and user's thoughts into a single background visual image, which changes according to swings in their mood or opinions.

#### Weapons

* **Combat Knife**: Faora-Ul always had a traditional Kryptonian combat knife by her side, with her intending to kill Colonel Hardy with it.
* **Kryptonian plasma rifle:** Faora-Ul wielded a Kryptonian plasma rifle while helping General Zod overthrow the Kryptonian Law Council, though it was ultimately confiscated by the Sapphire Guards.

### Transport

* **Kryptonian Dropship**: Faora-Ul has her own personal Kryptonian dropship, in which she flies down to Earth from the *Black Zero*, first to collect the surrendered Superman, and then to interrogate Martha Kent.

## Relationships

	+ General Zod - leader
	+ Nam-Ek - strongest soldier
	+ Tor-An - favorite hatchet man
	+ Jax-Ur - leading scientist
	+ Car-Vex - warden of the holding cells
	+ Dev-Em II
	+ Nadira
	+ Gor
* Green Lantern Corps
	+ Irma Jan-Al
* Kara Zor-El
* House of El
	+ Kal-El - intended ally turned enemy and killer
	+ Jor-El - friend turned enemy and victim
	+ Lara Lor-Van - friend turned enemy
* Kryptonian Law Council
	+ High Eminence Lor-Em - prisoner turned jailer
	+ Ro-Zar
* Kryptonian Warrior Guild - allies and subordinates turned enemies
	+ Sapphire Guards
* Daily Planet
	+ Lois Lane
* Martha Kent
* United States Army
	+ Nathan Hardy
	+ Calvin Swanwick
* Emil Hamilton

## External Links

* Faora on DC Database
* Faora-Ul on DC Extended Universe Wiki
* Faora on Wikipedia