First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man (1st series) #340
BEFORE
- An evil mutant named Critical Mass gathered a “band of baddies” including Whiplash and Bloodlust to kidnap a powerful mutant girl named Mary and her father. These evil mutants fought against Spider-Man and Wolverine when they tried to rescue Mary. Eventually, the young mutant grew so scared that she unleashed a massive blast that leveled the warehouse and apparently killed all the baddies except for Whiplash and Bloodlust. [Marvel Comics Presents (1st series) #49-50]
CHRONOLOGY
The Chameleon hired the four Femme Fatales to attack the ambassador of a Baltic country as his plane arrived at JFK airport. Spider-Man was scheduled to meet the ambassador when he arrived, and Chameleon wanted to pit his mercenaries against the web-slinger. Mindblast’s tractor beams pulled the plane towards the crowd, while Whiplash and Bloodlust proved to be just as vicious as Spider-Man remembered. Knockout seemed impervious to Spider-Man’s strength, and he 
struggled to stay ahead of the multiple opponents. Mindblast captured Spider-Man in her tractor beam and held him in place as Knockout prepared to ignite the jet fuel of the leaking plane beneath him. The wall-crawler used his webbing to snag some debris and knock out Mindblast in time for him to escape the explosion. As the police arrived, the Femme Fatales retreated. [Amazing Spider-Man (1st series) #340]
In the guise of “Doctor Turner,” the Chameleon tricked Spider-Man into exposing himself to a machine that robbed him of his powers. He then provoked several past foes like Tarantula and Scorpion to cause trouble and draw out the powerless Spider-Man. Eventually, Spider-Man and his ally Black Cat tracked down the Chameleon and his hired henchmen. Black Cat kept the Femme Fatales and other villains busy while Spider-Man reactivated the machine. Using her foes against each other, Black Cat managed to knock out Knockout and Mindblast using the drug on Tarantula’s boot spikes. By that point, Spider-Man was repowered and defeated Whiplash, Bloodlust and Scorpion all on his own. [Amazing Spider-Man (1st series) #343]
The four Femme Fatales were among the many super-powered women invited by Superia on her cruise ship to Femizonia. They were attending the power pageant when Captain America and Paladin were detected by Ferocia. Whiplash and Impala from Zambia competed to get a hit on the 
Captain, while Mindblast snared Paladin in her tractor beam. As the skirmishing continued, it was Knockout who delivered the final blow that rendered Captain America unconscious. She and Titania took charge of restraining the male heroes while Doctor Nightshade and Dansen Macabre interrogated them on behalf of Superia. [Captain America (1st series) #389-391]
When A.I.M. held their weapons expo for super-villains on Boca Caliente, Knockout was present representing the Femme Fatales. She was present at the arena of combat to witness Crossbones and his round robin of bouts, only for the Red Skull’s enforcer to be revealed as Captain America in disguise. For the second time in as many years, Knockout was part of a super-villain pile-on to try and kill the Star-Spangled Avenger. [Captain America (1st series) #411-413]
IN-BETWEEN
What happened to the Femme Fatales as a group after that is uncertain. Several members made appearances independently, or even with other groups, suggesting the team broke up.
- Whiplash attacked the U.S.S. Intrepid with Killer Shrike, Orka, and Shockwave before being defeated by the White Tiger. [Heroes for Hire (1st series) #4] She was also one of the regulars at the Bar With No Name in New York. [Spider-Man’s Tangled Web #13]
- Mindblast was part of a large gathering of super-criminals brought together by Hammerhead during the Superhuman Civil War. They were raided by Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. after the Kingpin tipped them off about his rivals. [Civil War: War Crimes #1] She also worked with the Doom-Maidens assembled by Caroline le Fay, [Fearless Defenders #10-12] and spent some time in Madripoor when Mystique turned it into a mutant-friendly nation. [Uncanny X-Men (3rd series) #23] She was seen robbing a bank alone only to be opposed by Star-Lord and Ms. Marvel. [Star-Lord (2nd series) #2]
- Bloodlust reportedly lost her powers on M-Day, but depictions of her since then have been inconsistent.
- As a group, the Femme Fatales appeared at an auction facilitated by the Tinkerer to sell the Venom symbiote to a crowd of super-villains. [Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #6] When the Thing was wrongfully imprisoned on the Raft, several Fatales were among inmates. Knockout appeared in the crowd, while Bloodlust beat on Grimm for the top convict, Sharon Ventura. [Fantastic Four (5th series) #9-10]
- Bloodlust and Mindblast were among the S.H.I.E.L.D. prisoners held at Pleasant Hill by Director Maria Hill and Kobik. When the prison started to break down, Kobik used her reality-altering powers to transform the two villains into copies of Maria. She imposed instructions on their minds and sent them off to intercept the two Avengers squads and prevent them from uncovering the truth. [Standoff crossover]
- Sapphire Styx was a psychic vampire who fed on the souls of others to remain young. She was a regular in Madripoor, having worked for various crimelords there over the years. [Marvel Comics Presents (1st series) #1]
CHRONOLOGY, con’t.
In Madripoor, Viper recruited Sapphire Styx and the Femme Fatales as her new personal guards. They contracted with Soteira for a rocket launch to the mysterious organization’s satellite base. Magneto had made his home in Madripoor, and so Viper and Soteira augmented Mindblast’s abilities with cyber-psionic technology. Together, she and Sapphire Styx weakened and contained Magneto so he could not interfere with Soteira’s plans. However, the X-Men discovered Wolverine’s body was missing from his tomb, and they came to Madripoor to question Magneto as a possible suspect. Mindblast used her illusions to pose as Magneto among the X-Men until Viper and the Femme Fatales were ready to launch an ambush. Storm, Rogue and Psylocke were taken hostage by the villains, while Kate Pryde, Jubilee and Domino escaped their clutches.
Rogue and Storm were loaded as prizes aboard the rocket to Soteira, along with Magneto, but Psylocke died after Sapphire Styx fed upon her for too long. Her appetite was insatiable enough to even give Viper pause, and she mentioned her concerns to their employers in Soteira. The organization was unconcerned with Styx, and further ordered Viper to launch their rocket despite unpleasant and unsafe weather conditions. Psylocke’s soul proved unpalatable to Sapphire’s abilities, though – she remained coherent in Styx’s soul-scape, inducing hallucinations at first 
before destroying Sapphire from within, recreating a body for herself out of Styx’s energies. Meanwhile, the free X-Men infiltrated the launch site and struck back against the Femme Fatales. Shadowcat disrupted Mindblast’s tech enhancements, freeing Magneto’s mind. The X-Men rescued their friends and reunited before convincing Magneto not to murder Mindblast in cold blood for her invasion. Viper escaped, but the remaining Femme Fatales were taken into custody. [Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor #1-4]
Mindblast and Knockout attended the Criminal Technology Show Expo at the RoXXon Casino in Las Vegas. They were present to bid on A.I.M.’s newest iteration of the Super-Adaptoid when M.O.D.O.K. and Iron Man crashed the bidding for their own purposes. The Femme Fatales and other super-villains tried to overpower the unlikely duo, but they escaped with the StarkWiz prototype they desired. [M.O.D.O.K.: Head Games #2]
MEMBERSHIP
Bloodlust (Beatta Dubiel)
First Appearance: Marvel Comics Presents (1st series) #49
All Femme Fatale Appearances: Amazing Spider-Man #340, 343, Captain America #389-391, Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor #1-4
Powers: Enhanced strength, agility, reflexes, recuperative powers, heightened senses, and sharpened finger and toe claws; after losing her powers began employing punch-daggers in place of her claws
Note: Bloodlust reportedly lost her powers on M-Day, according to Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #4. She still looked like her old self in Fantastic Four (5th series) #10 and Uncanny Avengers (3rd series) #8, but appeared powerless in Mystery in Madripoor.
Snake Whip / Whiplash II (Leeann Foreman)
First Appearance: Marvel Comics Presents (1st series) #49
All Femme Fatale Appearances: Amazing Spider-Man #340, 343, Captain America #389-391, Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor #1-4
Powers: Unknown; wields triple retractable omnium metal whips in each gauntlet with Adamantium spurred tips
Note: Critical Mass’s Band of Baddies reportedly were mutants, but Whiplash’s powers have never been apparent or defined.
Knockout (Elizabeth Rawson)
First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man (1st series) #340
All Femme Fatale Appearances: Amazing Spider-Man #340, 343, Captain America #389-391, 411-413, Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor #1-4, M.O.D.O.K.: Head Games #2
Powers: Superhuman strength, endurance, and resistance to physical injury, uses knuckle pounders to increase the impact of her blows
Mindblast (Danielle Forte)
First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man (1st series) #340
All Femme Fatale Appearances: Amazing Spider-Man #340, 343, Captain America #389-391, Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor #1-4, M.O.D.O.K.: Head Games #2
Powers: Psychic abilities include telekinetic tractor beams, self-levitation, telepathic thought detection, mental shields, illusion casting, and domination of minds
Note: Mindblast’s telepathic abilities were unlocked by Soteira using cybernetic circuits attached to her back.
Sapphire Styx
First Appearance: Marvel Comics Presents (1st series) #1
All Femme Fatale Appearances: Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor #1-4
Powers: Psychic vampire who drains the soul energy of her victims, using their energies to increase her strength, accelerate healing, and maintain her youth and beauty