Black Mercy (DC)
The Black Mercy is a plant that features in DC Comics.
Contents |
History
Origin
The Black Mercy were a breed of parasitic plants that were native to Sector 2811. (Green Lantern v4 #7) Long ago, the homeworld of the Black Mercy plants developed a mother progenitor who was part of her world. For eons, she remained in the darkness of her planet with her only concern being the nourishment of life that thrived from the nutrients she produced for the environment. This was until a spacecraft crashed on the planet with its wounded pilot slowly dying from his wounds. The Mother Mercy plant approached the being and found that she could tap into the beings nervous system and influence its capacity to feel pain by generating a perpetual blissful state. Thus, the being died from their wounds but their moments were in happiness. The Mother Mercy then learnt of her empathic nature and determined that she had a purpose in the grand design of the universe which was to alleviate pain. She then birthed a generation of empathic offspring with the purpose of alleviating pain in the cosmos with her sending them across space on this mission. (Green Lantern Corps v2 #25)
He challenged the three heroes to take him on one-on-one to find one among the Earth beings worthy enough to kill. Wonder Woman steps up to the challenge, nearly breaking her hand when she gave Mongul a punch. Mongul threw her through a wall, where she enters the weapons room of the Fortress, and uses one of the more powerful energy blasters to take on Mongul. Meanwhile, Batman tries to reach out to Superman to get him to snap out of his dream world as he attempts to unwrap Black Mercy's tendrils from the Man of Steel. Batman succeeds in pulling Black Mercy off Superman's body, only for it to now latch onto him and give him a fantasy based on the desires of his heart. In Batman's fantasy, he sees that his father, on the night that his parents were murdered by a low-life criminal on the street, succeeds in overpowering the criminal and thus preventing the murder from ever happening. Bruce grows up happily, marries Kathy Kane, and they have a teenaged daughter. Superman, now freed from the Black Mercy's thrall, attacks Mongul in a rage, angry that he had been pulled from his fantasy of being on a Krypton that was never destroyed and losing everything that was so dear in the process. During this fight, Robin uses the gauntlets that Mongul pulled off his hands and grabs Black Mercy, pulling it off Batman and carrying it to where he would hope to dump it on Mongul. The fight between Superman and Mongul, with neither side prevailing, carries over into a room where the Kryptonian is distracted by the statue of his parents holding up a globe representing the lost world of Krypton, and Mongul uses it to pummel Superman. However, Mongul is distracted by Robin calling to him and sees him through a hole in the ceiling one floor up. Robin then drops Black Mercy right on Mongul, and instantly it wraps itself around Mongul, giving him a fantasy of his own heart's desire. In that fantasy, he kills Robin as well as Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman and then takes over as the leader of a new Warworld. In reality, Mongul simply drops to the ground, with the heroes now relieved that the fight was over. (Superman Annual v1 #11)
Mongul II after escaping from his attack on the Watchtower managed to evade Earth's heroes by travelling to remote farmland on Earth. Once here, he planted Black Mercy plants that began to take over the inhabitants of the area. The Black Mercy operated on a farm in Ohio where a cultivated patch of the organisms was used to trap livestock, adhering to local cattle and siphoning their energy until the animals died. When Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen arrived to investigate the anomaly, a localized ambush occurred that allowed the parasitic organisms to swiftly attach themselves to the heroes' chests. The plants deployed their prehensile vines to puncture the skin, fusing directly with the victims' nervous systems to flood their pleasure centers with nano-spores. While feeding on the hosts' bio-electric auras, the plants maintained customized, life-like dream states tailored to their targets' thoughts. Due to Hal Jordan's high level of willpower, his consciousness actively overrode the internal programming of his plant, granting him direct telepathic manipulation over the generated fantasy. Consequently, the organism projected Hal's perception of a perfect reality onto Oliver Queen's connected mind, rather than synthesizing a dream based on Oliver's own subconscious desires. The entities maintained their symbiotic mental connection and physical immobilization of the targets until external forces disrupted the containment site. (Green Lantern v4 #7)
With his new Power Ring, Mongul II looked to forge a new empire that was based on reverse bio-engineering the Black Mercy seeds. With them, he intended to instil in them the capacity to instil great fear in other cultures that he would bring under his dominion as the new leader of the Sinestro Corps. (Green Lantern Corps v2 #24)
Dean Mayland had a shrunken Black Mercy that he wore as a boutonniere on his suit when he was confronted by Ryan Choi over his involvement in incidents in Ivy Town. Mayland then unleashed the symbiote on Choi when he had shrunk as the Atom causing him to be immobilised whereupon the Dean looked to murder him. It was then that Choi's friends arrived at the scene to stop him where they learnt that Mayland was not human but a monstrous being that had been placed at the university by Chronos. (The All-New Atom v1 #20)
Superboy Kon-El and Psionic Lad came to find an alien ship adrift in orbit around Earth where they found the alien pilot in the grips of a 'Red Mercy' plant. (Superboy v5 #7)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Black Mercy
The tyrant Mongul came to genetically engineer different variations of the plant for his purposes. He modified the original botanical template of the species to serve as a lethal interrogation mechanism and execution device for his political rivals. The cosmic flora remained bound to Mongul himself, plunging the warlord into an inescapable, vivid dream world. Within this psychic simulation, the entity continuously fed Mongul's mind with idealized illusions where he successfully executed Superman a million times, keeping the dictator completely paralyzed while siphoning his ambient psychic energy. (Green Lantern v5 #23.2)
The Black Mercy expanded its operational theater to the planet Earth when the artificial entity White Mercy breached the boundaries of the warlord's mind to manifest within the physical world. Seeking to protect her father from external disruption and secure her own survival, the psychic manifestation targeted the superhero alliance of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. The entity successfully deployed multiple physical specimens of the parasitic flora to intercept the heroes at Kent Farm, instantly latching its thick vegetative tendrils onto their bodies. The specialized organisms immediately plunged the heroes into separate, deeply personalized illusions that altered their histories, effectively trapping the protectors of Earth within a collective mental grid before they could track down Mongul’s hidden stronghold. (Trinity v2 #1) The Black Mercy legacy reached a critical turning point when the superhero trinity successfully recognized the artificial nature of their respective dream worlds, which systematically weakened the parasitic hold of the flora. The entities experienced a massive command disruption when Poison Ivy intervened in the physical world, using her elemental connection to planetary plant life to safely manipulate and detach the alien organisms from the heroes' chests. This physical separation caused the entire psychic matrix to collapse into absolute ruins, permanently dissolving the manifested persona of White Mercy back into raw spiritual energy. The systemic removal of the plants forcefully awakened Mongul from his multi-year slumber, leaving his laboratory infrastructure devastated and ensuring that his modified research templates vanished alongside the broken roots. (Trinity v2 #5)
Trapped in the Black Mercy at some point, Mongul remained in a dream state where he envisioned killing Superman a million times. However, something was missing for him and eventually this world gifted him a daughter that was White Mercy. He instructed her in the ways of conquest and taking lives with him feeling true happiness with her. Their world was then breached by Poison Ivy who encountered the dreamworld through the Green and met with White Mercy who she bonded with as well as considered a daughter of her own. This led to Mongul and White Mercy learning that they were in a dream crafted by the Black Mercy plant with them intending to use Poison Ivy as a means of escape. (Trinity v2 #5) A Black Mercy plant found itself growing near Atlantis when Aquaman alongside Mera and their guards accidently came across it. The plant ensnared the group and put Arthur and Mera in a dream state where they imagined themselves in their old age with their son. Murk along with the other guards managed to help free the pair from the illusion though the couple then mourned the loss of a son that was never born as the child Tom Curry was only a dream made by the Black Mercy. (Aquaman Annual v8 #1)
On their way back to Earth, the Justice League received a distress call on a neighbouring planet and went to investigate. Upon arriving, they discovered numerous individuals having been captured by a mature Black Mercy plant that had actually lured them to the world. Once captured, the captive heroes were placed in perfect illusionary worlds leaving them trapped in their own minds. (Justice League v4 #51)
Overview
In appearance, the Black Mercy were a species of sentient, parasitic plant life that possessed a large, distinctive central core surrounded by thick, organic layers of foliage. At the absolute center of their structure sat a cluster of dark, elongated bulbs that resembled a grouping of multi-layered, fleshy flower petals or large seed pods. From the base of this central core emerged numerous long, prehensile, tentacle-like vines and roots that were highly flexible and wrapped completely around their target hosts. These vines possessed a thick, smooth, and rubbery texture, lacking any thorns, leaves, or secondary branches along their lengths. The coloration of the organism featured deep shades of dark green, maroon, and purple, presenting an alien, non-terrestrial aesthetic. They did not possess a face, eyes, a mouth, or any discernible sensory organs, appearing entirely as a dense, writhing mass of botanical tissue that was structurally designed to perfectly mold and adhere directly to the chest and torso of a humanoid entity. Once attached, it gave its victims the desire of their hearts, trapping them in a dreamworld that they cannot escape from. (Superman Annual v1 #11) Their technical designation was Ater Clementia that was another name for the Black Mercy. (Green Lantern Corps v2 #24)
The Black Mercy demonstrated the biological ability to act as a localized parasite, instantly adhering and molding its physical structure directly onto the torso of a living host upon making physical contact. It possessed advanced telepathic capabilities, allowing it to instantly read the deepest subconscious desires, memories, and unfulfilled wishes of its victim. The organism used this data to synthesize and maintain a completely immersive, seamless, and psychologically inescapable dream state that simulated an alternate reality tailored specifically to the host. While the victim remained entirely catatonic and immobilized by the mental illusion, the plant displayed the ability to actively siphon and feed upon the host's bio-aura energy reserves. It also showed strong physical resistance to detachment, using its prehensile tendrils to latch onto clothing and skin to fight off external extraction attempts. Furthermore, the Black Mercy exhibited highly reactive predatory instincts, demonstrating the ability to immediately transition to a new nearby target and restart its immobilization and energy-feeding processes the moment it was pulled away from a previous host. (Superman Annual v1 #11)
The parasites fed off the hosts bio-electric aura until the organism died. To accomplish this, it typically attached itself to the host with main roots whilst needle-like vines entered the skin in order to fuse with the nervous system. Once attached, it flooded the pleasure centres of the brain with nano-spores creating a life-like fantasy that fit in perfect conjunction with the hosts desires which left them unaware of the danger posed by the plant. (Green Lantern v4 #7)
Mature Black Mercy plants were able to grow to massive proportions from years of feeding on other beings. (Justice League v4 #51)
Genetic manipulation over time was used to develop these blooms into powerful unique weapons where they came to form a bizarre symbiotic relationship with humanoid beings as it formed psychic links with a host. The first generation of plants trapped their hosts in a fantasy dream existence but Mongul found this too benign a fate and thus had a new breed created that left those enthralled in a state of dread. (Green Lantern v5 #23.2)
This different breed of the plants was referred to as being a Red Mercy. (Superboy v5 #7) Another variation of the plants was the Golden Fury whose blossoms could release spores and pollen increased the capacity for violence to those exposed to its effects. (Batman/Superman v1 #6)
Members
- Mother Mercy : the name given to the line of progenitors of the Black Mercy plants with this intelligent and sentient member seeing all the plantings as her children. (Green Lantern Corps v2 #25)
- White Mercy : a 'daughter' born from the consciousness of the plants when Mongul himself came to be trapped by one were she developed a connection to the Green and she existed primarily within the dream world of plants and could not only channel dreams but also nightmares. (Trinity v2 #5)
Notes
- The Black Mercy was created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons where it made its first appearance in Superman Annual v1 #11 (November, 1984).
In other media
Television
- In Justice League Unlimited, the Black Mercy featured in the DC Animated Universe in the episode "For the Man Who Has Everything". The episode adapted the comic story with Mongul placing the parasitic plant on Superman trapping him in a world of his desire where Krypton was never destroyed. Mongul sent a Black Mercy to Superman to incapacitate the Kryptonian as part of a plan to conquer Earth. The Black Mercy gave the Man of Steel a dream where Krypton never exploded. In his dream, Kal-El was a farmer with a wife, a son, and a personal robotic assistant called Brainiac. Jor-El was a disgraced scientist due to his apocalyptic predictions of a destruction Krypton never suffered. Batman tried several ways of removing the alien plant from Superman in vain. Once Superman realized that the dream wasn't real, Batman was able to pull the Black Mercy free. As he pulled the Black Mercy free from Superman, it attached itself to Batman. Batman's dream state began with the young Wayne family's fateful encounter with Joe Chill. In the dream, Thomas Wayne was fighting off the mugger with young Bruce cheering him on. As Batman realized he was dreaming, the mugger got the upper hand in the struggle. The confrontation ended as it had in reality, allowing Wonder Woman to remove the Black Mercy. Wonder Woman barely avoided getting caught by the plant herself. She threw the plant at Mongul, incapacitating the former warlord. While Mongul's dream state is unknown, Batman stated that whatever it is was too good for him.
- In Supergirl, the Black Mercy featured in the episode "For the Girl Who Has Everything". It was a telepathic alien plant that Non used to attack Kara Zor-El at her apartment where it trapped her in a world where Krypton did not explode. She was only freed when her adoptive sister Alex Danvers convinced her of the truth whereupon the Black Mercy left Supergirl's body and died. When Lillian Luthor took her daughter Lena to Lex's secret vault, there was a Black Mercy amongst the cache of anti-alien weapons.
- In Krypton, the Black Mercy appeared in the setting of the live-action television series. The Black Mercy was discovered by Val-El during his travels throughout the universe via the Phantom Zone. He brought it back to his Fortress of Solitude, and there it stayed until General Zod stormed the fortress and claimed it. General Zod used it in order to pacify his rebellious mother, Lyta-Zod, who he cloned and then somatically reconditioned said clone to be loyal. All the while, the original Lyta languished in a secure room, living out a blissful hallucination induced by the Black Mercy. General Zod, requiring a non-Kryptonian psychoactive drug to compel Doomsday, reveals Lyta-Zod and the Black Mercy infecting her to Lis-Ser, commanding her to extract the toxin from it for use on Doomsday. The repeated extraction weakens the illusion within Lyta's mind however, and she eventually breaks free, ripping the Black Mercy out of herself. After Lyta-Zod and Seg-El defeat General Zod, he is put under the influence of the Black Mercy. In his hallucination, he heads to Earth to conquer it, supported by his parents. In the real world, Seg asks Lyta how long they can keep their son under the Black Mercy's influence, to which she responds as long as they need.
Video games
- In Injustice 2, the Black Mercy was referenced in pre-battle dialogue between Supergirl and the Scarecrow in the fighting video game. She said that his Fear Toxin was no different than the Black Mercy to which Scarecrow inquired about it out of curiosity with Supergirl describing it as an evil space plant.
Appearances
- Superman Annual v1: (1984)
- Green Lantern v4:
- Green Lantern Corps v2: (2008)
- The All-New Atom v1:
- Superboy v5:
- Batman/Superman v1:
- Trinity v2:
- Aquaman Annual v8: (2018)
- Justice League v4: (2020)
External Links
This article is a stub. You can help Multiversal Omnipedia by expanding it.
