Red Sonja (Fictitious character)

Red Sonja is a sword-and-sorcery character created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith for American comic books published by Marvel Comics in 1973, partially inspired by Robert E. Howard's character Red Sonya of Rogatino. A warrior from the Hyborian Age of Earth-616, she was often partnered with Conan the Barbarian. Marvel Comics published stories featuring Red Sonja until 1986, and returned to the character for a one-shot story in 1995. In 2005, Dynamite Entertainment began publishing stories of the heroine, during which the original Sonja was killed and replaced by a "reincarnation", who once again met Spider-Man in 2007. The series was rebooted by writer Gail Simone in 2013, telling an altered version of Red Sonja's early life story via flashbacks. Subsequent writers of Red Sonja have included Amy Chu, Mark Russell, Luke Lieberman, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Amanda Conner, among others. Red Sonja has appeared in numerous titles, both as a solo protagonist and together with Conan, as well as in crossovers with characters from Marvel Comics and Dynamite Comics. A total of six Red Sonja novels were published from 1981 to 1983 by David C. Smith and Richard L. Tierney. A Red Sonja feature film, starring Brigitte Nielsen in the title role, was released in 1985, while a reboot film starring Matilda Lutz was released in 2025. Sonja's signature clothing is her bikini armor, consisting typically of scale mail. In 2011, Red Sonja was ranked first in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list.