Mockingbird (Marvel)

Bobbi Morse in Mockingbird v1 #3.

Mockingbird is a female comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Origin

Barbara "Bobbi" Morse

West Coast Avengers

One of the western team's most fateful adventures had Kang the Conqueror scatter them across time. They encountered an Old West vigilante gang consisting of the Phantom Rider, Two-Gun Kid, and Rawhide Kid, and joined with them to fight a large criminal outfit headed by the evil Iron Mask. (West Coast Avengers v2 #18) The Phantom Rider came to believe that Mockingbird was a goddess, and since he was one with the spirits, that she should be his mate. After they had vanquished Iron Mask's gang, the WCA decided to try going back to the time of Kang's reformed self, the Pharaoh Rama-Tut, in order to try and get themselves home. Just before leaving, the Rider kidnapped Mockingbird and rode away. (West Coast Avengers v2 #19) With the rest of the WCA in ancient Egypt, Mockingbird was given an Indian love potion and temporarily forgot her old life and fell in love with the Phantom Rider, who revealed his secret identity as Lincoln Slade. However, Two-Gun and Rawhide were on his trail, determined to recover Barbara. They found the two, but Mockingbird, under the influence of the potion, fought them alongside Lincoln, and she and the Rider escaped. (West Coast Avengers v2 #20) However, as time passed Mockingbird began to slowly fall out of the influence of the potion, and when Two-Gun showed up in a makeshift Hawkeye outfit to jog her memory, she finally broke free from Lincoln's influence. She implied that Lincoln had raped her — having had intercourse with her while she was drugged — and rode off to kill the Phantom Rider. Two-Gun and Rawhide were alarmed, knowing the good the Rider had once done and not wishing to kill him, only to see him brought to justice. Mockingbird told them the fight was hers alone, and Two-Gun reluctantly held Rawhide back from following her. (West Coast Avengers v2 #22) Mockingbird confronted the Phantom Rider on a mountain peak he held sacred and in the fight that followed, Lincoln Slade fell from a cliff. He managed to grip the edge of the cliff with his fingers, but in the slickness of the rain that was coming down at the time, he was losing his grip. Mockingbird stood and watched him fall, doing nothing to save him. There was some justice in this, but it also broke the Avengers' code of no killing. (West Coast Avengers v2 #23)

Mockingbird's situation became even more difficult when the Phantom Rider returned. The Son of the Spirits did have a link to life after death, and used the host body of one of his descendants in the modern era. The Rider lured Bobbi away from her teammates to the cliffside of the Avengers' Palos Verdes compound, an eerily similar scene to their last encounter. As they fought, the Phantom Rider was only playing with Barbara for now, proving to her that in this incarnation he possessed real supernatural powers. Mockingbird was clearly at a disadvantage against this empowered Phantom Rider, and he tossed her off the cliff to hang just as he did. Instead of making her drop, however, he promised to torture her in the days to come for his death and her 'betrayal'. (West Coast Avengers v2 #31) As horrifying as this was, Phantom Rider's return was something Mockingbird could be proactive about. She contacted genealogical libraries, narrowing down Phantom Rider's most likely host body as his great-great-grandson Hamilton Slade, an archeologist. Barbara prepared to confront him in order to drive off the Phantom Rider haunting her. As a ruse, she convinced the West Coast Avengers to take a day-trip vacation to the Grand Canyon, near Hamilton Slade's archeology dig site. Then, from her knowledge of S.H.I.E.L.D. files, Bobbi unleashed the primitive colossus Yetrigar who had been buried there years ago after a fight with Red Ronin. With Yetrigar distracting the team, Mockingbird slipped away to Slade's camp site and assaulted him. Hamilton Slade was not consciously aware of Lincoln Slade's spirit inhabiting him, though, and was confused and defenseless in the face of Mockingbird's attack. The Avengers' newest probationary member, Moon Knight, followed Mockingbird and learned what she was doing and why. He kept her secret but drew her away from Slade due to the man's apparent innocence. (West Coast Avengers v2 #32)

Back in Palos Verdes, Mockingbird and Hawkeye remained heated with each other. The other Avengers tried to step in and mitigate, as their ranks included several married, divorced and even widowed members. Despite the counseling, however, Clint and Bobbi refused to reconcile. Clint felt he could not trust Bobbi as a spouse or as a teammate because of her actions, and wanted her gone. Bobbi felt she was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent at her core and, left alone in the Old West, she had reacted according to her training, not as an Avenger. On top of that, she felt the extreme circumstances she was under deserved more support from her husband than normal, not less. When Mockingbird declared her intent to leave both Hawkeye and the Avengers, though, she was surprised that Tigra and Moon Knight intended to come with her. Each of them felt killing was acceptable, even necessary, under certain circumstances, and chose to leave the West Coast Avengers with her as a show of support. (West Coast Avengers v2 #37)

Bobbi and her allies reached out to exorcist Daimon Hellstrom to approach Hamilton Slade more peacefully than their last encounter. Mockingbird took the time to explain her situation with Lincoln Slade to Hamilton this time, and he agreed to offer whatever support he could. Daimon's exorcism revealed that Hamilton was actually possessed by TWO spirits without his knowledge -- the mad Lincoln Slade and his brother Carter Slade, his genuinely heroic predecessor as the Phantom Rider. The brothers Slade battled each other in spirit form while Mockingbird and the Avengers were forced to deal with the sudden arrival of the Heliopolitan army of death, targeting Moon Knight and his Egyptian god patron, Khonshu. Once the antagonists were all dealt with, Carter Slade was prepared to allow Daimon to exile him into a nether-realm along with Lincoln, preventing his brother from ever returning. However, Hamilton Slade bonded with Carter at the last minute, preserving the spirit of the heroic Phantom Rider in a conscious partnership between ancestor and descendant. Mockingbird was satisfied with their assurances that Lincoln was gone forever, but could not bring herself to return to the Avengers. Moon Knight was shaken by the secondary conflict with Khonshu and left, while Tigra returned to Palos Verdes, shattering their burgeoning team. (West Coast Avengers v2 #41)

Secret Invasion

In reality, she was shown as being one of the many people that were abducted by the Skrulls and replaced with an infiltrator. (Secret Invasion v1 #8)

She remained unconscious in bed until the New Avengers shutdown Superia's operations where they recovered the mysterious formula she was studying. Nick Fury revealed that this was a variation of the Super-Soldier Serum mixed with the Infinity Formula but was untested though had the potential of saving Bobbi's life. Hawkeye insisted on using it on Bobbi leading to her injuries being healed and her waking from her coma. (New Avengers v2 #13)

Overview

Powers and abilities

After being mortally wounded, she was provided a variation of the Super-Soldier Serum and Infinity Formula that healed her injuries. This was said to provide her a long lifespan where she risked seeing all her loved die of old age whilst she outlived them. (New Avengers v2 #13)

Notes

• Mocking was created by Len Wein and Neal Adams where she made her first appearance unnamed in Astonishing Tales v1 #6 (June, 1971).
• She was later identified as Dr. Barbara Morse in Astonishing Tales v1 #12 (June, 1972).
• Morse was briefly given the identity of Huntress in Marvel Super Action v1 #1 (January, 1976).
• The character was then introduced as Mockingbird in Marvel Team-Up v1 #95 (July, 1980).

In other media

Television

• In The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Mockingbird appeared in the animated television series where she was voiced by actress Elizabeth Daily.
• In Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Mockingbird appeared in the animated television series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe starting in the episode "A Hen in the Wolf House" where she was portrayed by actress Adrianne Palicki.

Video games

• In Avengers Academy, Mockingbird appeared as a playable character in the video game.
• In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Mockingbird appeared as a playable character in the Facebook video game.
• In Marvel Future Fight, Mockingbird appeared as a playable character in the mobile video game.

Appearances

• Astonishing Tales v1: (1971)
• Marvel Super Action:
• Marvel Team-Up:
• Secret Invasion:
• New Avengers v2:
• Mockingbird:
• Amazing Spider-Man:

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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