The Femme Fatales are a group of female

supervillains A supervillain, supervillainess or supercriminal is a major antagonist and variant of the villainous stock character who possesses Superpower (ability), superpowers. The character type is sometimes found in comic books and is often the primary ...

appearing in

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publ ...

s published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

. They are often depicted as antagonists to the superhero characters

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in ...

and

Captain America Captain America is a superhero created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby who appears in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in '' Captain America Comics'' #1, published on December 20, 1940, by Timely C ...

Fictional team history

The Femme Fatales are villains and

mutants In biology, and especially in genetics, a mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism. It i ...

that serve as mercenaries for hire. Group members Bloodlust and Whiplash have a history of working together prior to joining the Femme Fatales, as members of a previous group called the Band of Baddies. They were hired by fellow villain the

Chameleon Chameleons or chamaeleons (Family (biology), family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 200 species described as of June 2015. The members of this Family (biology), family are best known for ...

in the disguise of Dr. Turner to threaten an ambassador. Spider-Man intervened and saved the ambassador, making him an enemy of the Femme Fatales. They then joined forces with other villains the

Scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the Order (biology), order Scorpiones. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by a pair of Chela (organ), grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward cur ...

and the

Tarantula Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae. , 1,100 species have been identified, with 166 genera. The term "tarantula" is usually used to describe members of the family Theraphosidae, although ...

, but all of them were defeated by Spider-Man and his ally the

Black Cat A black cat is a Cat, domestic cat with black fur. They may be a specific Purebred, breed, or a common domestic cat of no particular or mixed breed. Most black cats have golden iris (anatomy), irises due to their high melanin pigment content. Bl ...

. Though the villains got away. The Femme Fatales later received an invitation to join

Superia Superia may refer to: * ''Superia'' (video game), a Norwegian game based on ''Adventure Rock'' * ''Superia'' (comics), a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe * Fujifilm Superia, a brand of photographic film * Superior craton The Su ...

and her organization of female criminals, the

Femizons Femizon is the name of two fictional groups appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Fictional team history Earth-712 Femizons The first group to be called Femizons were the women of Femizonia, a gynarchic future world in ...

. They accepted, and battled

and the

Paladin The Paladins, also called the Twelve Peers (), are twelve legendary knights, the foremost members of Charlemagne's court in the 8th century. They first appear in the medieval (12th century) ''chanson de geste'' cycle of the Matter of France, wh ...

in the process. The group would splinter and disband sometime later: Bloodlust and Whiplash was seen at the A.I.M. Weapons Expo. Bloodlust later lost her powers after Decimation. Mindblast, who retained her powers, briefly allied herself with Hammerhead during the "

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

" storyline. During the " Avengers: Standoff!" storyline, Bloodlust and Mindblast were turned into duplicate

Maria Hill Commander Maria Christina Hill is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch (comics), David Finch, the character first appeared in ''The New Avengers (comics), The Ne ...

s through the powers of Kobik in order to keep the Avengers away from Pleasant Hill. During the " Hunt for Wolverine" storyline, the Femme Fatales are joined by

Viper Vipers are snakes in the family Viperidae, found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, New Zealand, Ireland, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipe ...

and

Sapphire Styx Sapphire Styx is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Publication history Sapphire Styx debuted in ''Marvel Comics Presents'' #1 (September 1988), created by Chris Claremont, John Buscema and Klaus Janson. ...

, with Whiplash changing her name to Snake Whip. The Fatales ambush

Kitty Pryde Katherine Anne "Kitty" Pryde is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the X-Men. The character First appearance, first appeared in ''The Uncanny X-Men'' #129 (January 1980) and was ...

Rogue A rogue is a person or entity that flouts accepted norms of behavior or strikes out on an independent and possibly destructive path. Rogue, rogues, or going rogue may also refer to: Companies * Rogue Ales, a microbrewery in Newport, Oregon * ...

Domino Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also called '' pips'' or ''dots'' ...

Jubilee A jubilee is often used to refer to the celebration of a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term comes from the Hebrew Bible (see, "Old Testament"), initially concerning ...

and

Psylocke Psylocke is the name of two connected characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the X-Men. Both characters are portrayed as Mutant (Marvel Comics), mutants, a subspecies of humans born w ...

at the King's Impresario Restaurant at Hightown,

Madripoor The Principality of Madripoor or Madripoor is a fictional island appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The island is depicted as being located in maritime Southeast Asia, and has appeared mostly associated with stories fro ...

. Soon joined by

Magneto A magneto is an electrical generator that uses permanent magnets to produce periodic pulses of alternating current. Unlike a dynamo, a magneto does not contain a commutator to produce direct current. It is categorized as a form of alternator, ...

, himself recently taken captive by the Fatales, the X-Men combat the Femme Fatales; during the encounter Sapphire Styx uses her lifeforce-draining ability on Psylocke, but this later backfires and Sapphire Styx is destroyed, enabling Psylocke to create a new body for herself from Sapphire's soul power. Viper gets away with Magneto pursuing her, and the Femme Fatales are locked up.

Members

Other versions

The Femme Fatales also exist as a team in the ''

Ultimate Marvel Ultimate Marvel, later known as Ultimate Comics, was an imprint of comic books published by Marvel Comics, featuring reimagined and modernized versions of the company's superhero characters from the Ultimate Marvel Universe, later known as the ...

'' universe. Bloodlust, Knockout, Mindblast and Whiplash briefly encounter the All-New Ultimates.''All-New Ultimates'' #8

In other media

In '' Marvel: Ultimate Alliance'', Femme Fatales is a team bonus for any four-person combination of

Storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstor ...

, Elektra,

Spider-Woman Spider-Woman is the code name of several fictional characters in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first major version is Jessica Drew (and later impersonated by Veranke), the second major version is Julia Carpenter, and the third m ...

Invisible Woman The Invisible Woman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in ''Fantastic Four (comic book), The Fantastic Four'' #1 (November 1961). Susan St ...

, and Ms. Marvel. In '' Marvel: Future Fight'', Femme Fatales is a team bonus composed of Elektra, Black Cat, and Black Widow.

References

External links