Queen of Fables is a

supervillain A supervillain or supercriminal is a variant of the villainous stock character that is commonly found in American comic books, usually possessing superhuman abilities. A supervillain is the antithesis of a superhero. Supervillains are oft ...

who has battled the

Justice League The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceived ...

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...

and

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

. Based on the character of the

Evil Queen The Evil Queen, also called the Wicked Queen, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of "Snow White", a German fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm; similar stories exist worldwide. Other versions of the Queen appear in subsequent ...

from "

Snow White "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as Ta ...

", the Queen of Fables is the living embodiment of all evil in folklore. She first appeared in '' JLA'' #47 (November 2000), and was created by

Gail Simone Gail Simone (aka Gladys Simonetti) is an American writer best known for her work in comics on DC's ''Birds of Prey'', ''Batgirl'', Dynamite Entertainment's Red Sonja, and for being the longest running female writer on Wonder Woman to date. Other ...

Mark Waid Mark Waid (; born March 21, 1962) is an American comic book writer best known for his work on DC Comics titles ''The Flash'', '' Kingdom Come'' and '' Superman: Birthright'' as well as his work on ''Captain America'', ''Fantastic Four'' and '' Dar ...

and

Bryan Hitch Bryan Hitch (born 22 April 1970) is a British comics artist and writer. Hitch began his career in the United Kingdom for Marvel UK, working on titles such as ''Action Force'' and ''Death's Head'', before gaining prominence on American titles ...

Fictional character biography

The Queen of Fables was originally a sorceress from another dimension until she was exiled to Earth. She reigned until princess

defied her and she was trapped in the Book of Fables. Snow White used the book to turn fact into fiction and undo all the Queen's terrible acts. Countless generations later the Queen was unwittingly released from her prison. She transformed

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

into an enchanted forest full of fantastic creatures extracted from folk tales. Just after being released she attempted to locate Snow White, mistaking a television for a magic mirror, and ordered it to show her -"The Fairest In The Land". Coincidentally, the TV was currently showing the news, reporting the Justice League's latest battle, and at that moment showing

. Believing the Amazon Princess to be her daughter, she confronts her, forcing her into a deep sleep in an enchanted forest.

Aquaman Aquaman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger, the character debuted in ''More Fun Comics'' #73 (November 1941). The character is a pastiche of Namor. Initially ...

awakens Wonder Woman with his kiss (as he was once a Prince, and is now the King of Atlantis, it counts as a kiss from a Prince), and

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

discovers the book that the Queen had been trapped in. Eventually, the

managed to stop her, by making her realize that she was no longer immortal and eternally beautiful in the real world, and lock her up once more (by trapping her within a book on the United States Tax Code, where she could find nothing imaginative to use as a weapon), undoing her spell again. Eventually the Queen of Fables awakens and is none too happy. Since being defeated by the Justice League, who placed her in the U.S. Tax Code manual, she has somehow escaped and now has her sights set on her own

Prince Charming Prince Charming is a fairy tale stock character who comes to the rescue of a damsel in distress and must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell. This classification suits most heroes of a number of traditional folk tales, incl ...

. After transporting Superman to a

Kryptonian Kryptonians are a fictional extraterrestrial race within the DC Comics universe that originated on the planet Krypton. The term originated from the stories of DC Comics superhero, Superman. The stories also use "Kryptonian" as an adjective to re ...

glass forest, he is able to win his freedom and defeat the Queen (although the effort leaves him weak). She is last seen standing over a young sleeping girl, saying "Sleep well, dear one. Keep me alive. Dream of me. Dream of me". She returns again after assuming the identity of Laney Kirswel, the film executive in charge of an unauthorized Wonder Woman biography, made mostly of unapproved and slandering materials. She is again able to act in the human world, where she puts Wonder Woman through hellish scenarios, taken from the movie, meant to represent distorted happenings in her life. Diana coaxes her into taking the form of a huge dragon, who she notes is reminiscent of

Maleficent Maleficent ( or ) is a fictional character who appears as the main antagonist in Walt Disney Productions' 16th animated feature film, ''Sleeping Beauty'' (1959). She is represented as an evil fairy and the self-proclaimed " Mistress of All Evil ...

, and blinds her with two battle axes, forcing her to flee.''Wonder Woman'' (vol. 3) #24-25 (2008). DC Comics.

Powers and abilities

The Queen of Fables is an extremely powerful sorceress and was able to transform Manhattan into an

enchanted forest In folklore and fantasy, an enchanted forest is a forest under, or containing, enchantments. Such forests are described in the oldest folklore from regions where forests are common, and occur throughout the centuries to modern works of fantasy. ...

. She can perform virtually any feat and usually has fairy tale creatures such as

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

ogre An ogre ( feminine: ogress) is a legendary monster depicted as a large, hideous, man-like being that eats ordinary human beings, especially infants and children. Ogres frequently feature in mythology, folklore, and fiction throughout the wor ...

s and

goblin A goblin is a small, grotesque, monstrous creature that appears in the folklore of multiple European cultures. First attested in stories from the Middle Ages, they are ascribed conflicting abilities, temperaments, and appearances depending on t ...

s at her command. The Queen of Fables has the ability to conjure various fictional monsters from other stories to use against the Justice League. She is immortal and cannot be killed while she resides within her storybook.

In other media

Television

Queen of Fables appears in the

DC Universe The DC Universe (DCU) is the fictional shared universe where most stories in American comic book titles published by DC Comics take place. Superheroes such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Robin, Martian Manhunter, The Flash, Green Lant ...

animated series ''

Harley Quinn Harley Quinn is a character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Quinn was created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm as a comic relief henchwoman for the supervillain Joker (character), Joker in ''Batman: The An ...

'', voiced by

Wanda Sykes Wanda Yvette Sykes (born March 7, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, and writer. She was first recognized for her work as a writer on ''The Chris Rock Show'', for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1999. In 2004, ''Entertainm ...

. This version's powers are derived from a magical storybook from which she can conjure storybook characters to do her bidding. Introduced in "So, You Need a Crew?", she attempted to break the glass ceiling for female supervillains in the 1980s by turning Gotham into an enchanted forest kingdom with an army of storybook characters. However, she was defeated by the

and transformed into a talking U.S. Master Tax Guide Book by

Zatanna Zatanna Zatara () is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson, and first appeared in '' Hawkman'' #4 (November 1964). Zatanna is a stage magician with a ...

, leaving the Queen annoyed about not being thrown in

Arkham Asylum The Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane (), commonly referred to as Arkham Asylum, is a fictional psychiatric hospital/prison, named after the city of Arkham which appeared first in the stories of H. P. Lovecraft, and later appear ...

"like any male villain". Following this, she gained a job as a tax consultant. In "The Line", she is freed from the tax code by a court order that deemed it to be a cruel and unusual punishment, though she is ironically sentenced to serve the rest of her term at Arkham.

breaks her out in transit and the Queen temporarily joins her crew before her extreme and violent methods lead to her being ousted. After the crew steals a weather control device to ransom Gotham, the Queen attempts to steal it for herself, but they are interrupted by Jason Praxis, a surviving member of a family she had slaughtered with electrical powers who sought revenge on the Queen. He destroys her storybook, but Harley uses a force field device she and her crew previously stole to protect the Queen and subdue Praxis before getting the former to leave. Killing Praxis on her way out, the Queen promises Harley will regret letting her live. In the episode "Devil's Snare", having formed an alliance with the Joker and acquired a new storybook, the Queen traps the Justice League in it before sending Harley and her crew up a beanstalk to be killed by a giant cyclops. After getting down with

Kite Man Kite Man (Charles "Chuck" Brown) is a supervillain appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. He is commonly depicted as an adversary of Batman who uses kite-based weapons to commit crimes. His name is a homage to ''Peanuts'' protagonist Cha ...

's help, Harley kills the Queen. As of "A Fight Worth Fighting For", the Book of Fables fell into the possession of a nurse named Bethany after Joker was rendered sane and gave it to her. Once a restored Joker retrieved it for Harley, Batman has Zatanna free the Justice League from it. The Queen later appears during an in memoriam segment during a villain's award show in season 3.

Video games

Queen of Fables appears as a summonable character in '' Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure''.

Miscellaneous

* Queen of Fables appears in '' Batman: The Brave and the Bold'' issue #5 "The Case of the Fractured Fairy Tale". She abducts children so she can use their tears to keep herself young and beautiful, but runs afoul of

and Captain Marvel. While she transforms Captain Marvel into a dragon minion, Batman steals the storybook and tricks the dragon into destroying it, causing the Queen to melt and undo her spells. * Queen of Fables appears in ''

DC Super Friends The Imaginext System is a brand of role-playing, adventure toys designed for kids 3 or older made by Mattel, as part of their Fisher-Price brand. History At the time of its introduction at the 2002 Toy Fair,

'' issue #21 "Happily Never After". When the Queen's storybook suddenly appears in their

Watchtower A watchtower or watch tower is a type of fortification used in many parts of the world. It differs from a regular tower in that its primary use is military and from a turret in that it is usually a freestanding structure. Its main purpose is to ...

, the Super Friends open it out of curiosity, but it pulls them into a fairy tale realm where the Queen invites them to become her subjects. When they decline, she scatters them throughout her realm, where they run into various fairy tale characters. The Super Friends eventually regroup, giving the characters happier endings in the process, before confronting the Queen to send them back. She threatens them with several monsters, but the Super Friends realize that they can influence the story with their imaginations. While the Queen uses this ability to undo their changes, Green Lantern forces the story to end, returning the Super Friends to the Watchtower, where they lock the storybook away in their trophy room.

References

External links

Queen of Fables Rapsheet

Queen of Fables
at DC Database
Queen of Fables
at Writeups.org
Queen of Fables
at Comic Vine {{DEFAULTSORT:Queen Of Fables Characters created by Bryan Hitch Characters created by Gail Simone Characters created by Mark Waid Comics characters introduced in 2000 DC Comics deities DC Comics female supervillains DC Comics witches DC Comics characters who are shapeshifters DC Comics characters who can teleport DC Comics characters who use magic Fictional characters who can manipulate reality Fictional characters with energy-manipulation abilities Fictional characters with immortality Fictional empaths Evil Queen