Typhoid Mary (Marvel)

Typhoid Mary in Daredevil v2 #46.

Typhoid Mary is a female comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Origin

Mary Walker in Daredevil v1 #256.

Mary Walker

It was noted that her parents constantly argued with one another even before Mary was even born. As a fetus in the womb, the future Typhoid Mary heard the harsh words of her screaming parents, crashing against her mother's belly, causing her to curl tighter. (Marvel Comics Presents v1 #128) After being born, every night, the shadow of violence and cruelty was passed over her body, causing her to cringe in her crib. (Marvel Comics Presents v1 #129) At some point, a man tied a gun into Mary's mouth as punishment for something, telling her that she might trip the trigger by even breathing. (Typhoid v1 #4) Following her birth, her father began to molest her in the crib and one night when he was doing so the young Mary began to retreat deeply into her mind. This resulted in the formation of a new alter personality that emerged then to attack her father after which he never touched her again. (Marvel Comics Presents v1 #128) The trauma and need to protect herself caused her to manifest telepathic, telekinetic, and pyrokinetic powers. (Marvel Comics Presents v1 #151)

The infant who would become Typhoid Mary was discovered to possess a dissociative identity. One persona, which became known as Mary, was sweet and cooperative, but fragile, sickly, and prone to seizures and other disorders; the other, which became known as Typhoid, was bereft of Mary's sicknesses and proved to be utterly unapproachable, uncontrollable, and murderous, even as a little girl. Institutionalized since childhood, the young girl underwent every known test but continued to baffle the entire scientific community. Mary remained unaware of her other persona. Little was known of Typhoid, as she could only be recorded when sedated. She spent every waking moment relentlessly battling all help, relentlessly and furiously. The only time she cooperated with testing was during training of her nascent telekinetic training, as it was something she wanted to develop. (Daredevil v1 #254)

Due to her exceptional condition an vulnerability, Mary Walker fell to the clutches of a group of researchers who performed damaging psychic brainwashing to weaponize sleeper agents. (Marvel Comics Presents v1 #113) These turned out to be operatives for the Weapon Plus program where Typhoid became subject to experiments as part of Project Psyche that was designated as Weapon IX. (Wolverine & Captain America: Weapon Plus v1 #1) At some point, when institutionalized at the Creed Psychiatrist Hospital, Mary met the lethal Elektra, who broke her free from the facility. (Elektra: Black, White & Blood v1 #3)

Typhoid Mary

In Chicago, Typhoid built herself a reputation in robbery and blackmailing. Her activities led her to New York City, where she became a deadly vigilante and a criminal murder. This got her involved in the underworld affairs of the Kingpin of Crime, Wilson Fisk. The Kingpin was impressed by Typhoid's history and abilities and put word on the street for her to contact him. He hired her to seduce and emotionally destroy his archnemesis Daredevil. Typhoid accepted the offer and introduced herself to Daredevil in his blind civilian identity, Matt Murdock, in a hospital for blind patients where she claimed she volunteered at. Having fabricated a story about her father being a blind man she used to nurse, Typhoid soon gained Murdock's trust as Mary. To become closer to him, Mary helped the kid Tyrone Janson recover from an accident that had blinded him. (Daredevil v1 #254) Mary brought Tyrone by Matt Murdock's place, and she used her telepathic abilities to make Tyrone think he was gaining awareness of his surroundings. She then seduced Matt, earning a romantic kiss. Later, Typhoid ambushed Daredevil, taunting him with the name "Merry Christian." Though angered by her violent means, he nonetheless found himself strangely attracted to her, though even his perceptions could not identify her as the same person as Mary; even his radar sense blurred around her form. After getting him hot in more ways than one, she slipped away, delighting in this assignment, as making Mary fall in love with him would hurt Mary, too. (Daredevil v1 #255)

Mary met again with Matt, telling him how she was continuing to improve Tyrone's navigating skills. Matt tried to apologize for kissing her, but was distracted by a man having a heart attack. After he saved the man, Mary kissed him again. Back at her apartment, Mary was enjoying being in love when Typhoid began to take over again; Mary briefly realized what was happening before being overwhelmed completely. Typhoid later met up with one of the jurors in the case of Janson vs. Kelco, convincing her to accept payment to vote against the needed unanimous verdict for the plaintiff. When Typhoid and Rip later met with the Kingpin, she influenced the Kingpin and taunted him with her affections for Murdock and Rip, causing him to become jealous. When Daredevil tried to communicate with the juror, Typhoid assaulted him again, leading him into a sewer and continuing to fog his radar to minimize his effectiveness against her. When she gained the advantage over him and began strangling him underwater, Mary's persona surfaced and forced Typhoid to run away. Daredevil subsequently convinced the juror to reject the Kingpin's money, while Mary went home and took a shower to try to wash away how dirty she felt. The jury voted against Kelco. (Daredevil v1 #256) Kingpin summoned Typhoid to a meeting, but Mary showed up instead. After she spurned his advances and noted her affection for Murdock, the Kingpin told her to get out. Back at her apartment, Mary worked on a drawing while daydreaming about Matt, but Typhoid taunted Mary for being a slut and made her ruin the drawing. Typhoid then took over again and redecorated the whole apartment with random paint. She then visited the Kingpin. While the two engaged in some archery, Kingpin questioned Mary's showing up for her appointment, but Typhoid assured him she was in charge. As she detailed her plans to make Murdock leave Karen before revealing who he was really in love with, the Kingpin told her to drop her weapons and kissed her passionately. All the while, she thought how she had Fisk's heart in the palm of her hand and she was going to make a fist. Later still, Mary met with Matt, who told him he was thinking about telling Karen what had been going on between them. Mary kissed him again after igniting a series of nearby candles. (Daredevil v1 #257)

Claiming she was afraid to be alone, Mary pressured Murdock to spend more time with her. While working out in the pec deck, Typhoid attempted to assuage the Kingpin's concerns over delays in destroying Murdock, telling him that she was enjoying her work too much to rush it, but he was concerned that her Mary side was in love with Murdock and was preventing her from hurting him. When Typhoid tried to laugh it off, calling him fatman, Kingpin pulled back on the machine's cables, hurting Typhoid's shoulders as he told her never to call her fatman and demanded she finish up with Murdock that same day, as he could not stand the thought of Murdock touching her for one more day. Typhoid remained defiant, telling Kingpin that he would not hurt her and that she had him wrapped around her little finger; as he left, however, she realized that Mary's love was making her too strong, and she was constantly struggling to dominate. Realizing that Mary might overwhelm and lock her away, Typhoid vowed that if she could not have Daredevil then no one could. She then accessed the Kingpin's database and located a file containing names of what she felt to be 'big-time Daredevil foes': Ammo, Bullet, Bushwacker, and the Wildboys. Since Mary would not let her hurt Daredevil directly, she decided to let others do the job for her. Shortly thereafter, Typhoid entered Bullet's home, getting Bullet's attention by threatening his son Lance, but he swiftly agreed to her offer to kill Daredevil and then showed some romantic interest in her. She later fought her way into a New York City prison, slaughtering several guards before freeing Ammo and convincing him to join her. When several other prisoners tried to come with them, Mary slashed several of them with her sword and then slammed the cell door on them. Typhoid and Ammo broke the Wildboys out of prison. Alongside Ammo and the Wildboys, Typhoid watched as a surgeon reattached Bushwacker's gun arm. Typhoid then instructed all of them to feel free to brutally batter Daredevil, but to leave him alive for her. Mary later met with Murdock, again begging him not to leave her alone. (Daredevil v1 #259)

Initiative

Sometime later, Mutantkind on Earth suffered from the events of the Decimation caused by the Scarlet Witch resulting in the majority of their kind losing their powers except for a small few. (House of M v1 #8) By this point, it was estimated that there were only 198 active Mutants in the world. (X-Men: The 198 v1 #1) By this point also, the superhero community went through a tumultuous period of the Civil War following the implementation of the Superhuman Registration Act. As a result of this law in the U.S., all superhumans were required to register in order to operate under the 50-State Initiative. (Civil War v1 #7) Mary Walker came to be among those few Mutants that retained her powers but not included on the list of active ones. She came to be found by Henry Peter Gyrich who decided to recruit her into his Shadow Initiative to be his personal guard with her being the '199th' still empowered Mutant. To protect her identity, she was given the code name Mutant Zero and a suit designed to mask her from her team mate. (Avengers: The Initiative v1 #5) For Mary, she was promised two conditions as part of her cooperation; one was treatment for her dissociative identity disorder so she could integrate her fractured mind and the other was a legal pardon for her past crimes in exchange for her service as a secret agent for the Initiative. (Avengers: The Initiative v1 #21) As part of this arrangement, treatment was conducted with superhuman psychiatrist Doc Samson being involved though he was prohibited from referencing Walker's other identities to prevent any form of mental instability. This was another reason why she was only referred to by her codename of Mutant Zero. (Avengers: The Initiative v1 #5) To better manage her unstable nature, Mutant Zero was only allowed to be 'activated' once per mission where she was to always be kept isolated in the Zero Room between deployments. (Avengers: The Initiative v1 #11)

Mutant Zero remained confined within a high-security containment cell, wearing a full-body tactical suit and helmet, as part of the Shadow Initiative. Monitored by Henry Peter Gyrich, she was classified as a 'Mutant' under maximum security protocol and was not observed to engage in combat or verbal communication while stationed in a holding area. (Avengers: The Initiative v1 #4) Afterwards, she was deployed as a member of the Shadow Initiative to infiltrate the Hulk's occupied base at Madison Square Garden. Fully encased in her tactical suit and maintaining her signature silence, she successfully breached the arena to rescue captured Initiative recruits. Upon entering the facility, she engaged and defeated multiple Death's Head guards, demonstrating exceptional combat efficiency with her dual bladed weapons. As the mission progressed, the team was confronted by the Hulk and his Warbound allies. While her teammates Trauma and Cloud 9 directly engaged Korg and Elloe Kaifi, Mutant Zero focused on maintaining a perimeter and securing the exit for the rescued cadets. After the Hulk personally confronted and defeated other members of the Shadow Initiative, Mutant Zero adhered to her strict tactical protocols, successfully withdrawing from the combat zone once the primary objective of retrieval was completed. (Avengers: The Initiative v1 #5)

When Taskmaster is appointed as the Shadow Initiative's field leader, Taskmaster senses something familiar about Mutant Zero's body language, and initiates an impromptu sparring match with her to satisfy this curiosity. After witnessing her fighting style and provoking her into using her pyrokinesis, Taskmaster shatters her helmet's faceplate and reveals her true identity. (Avengers: The Initiative v1 #20)

Shadowlands

Mary later appeared before Daredevil at the Shadowland temple to offer her services as a frontline enforcer for the Hand, claiming that her recent integration in the Fifty State Initiative had successfully merged her fractured personalities and left her mentally stable. Despite Matt Murdock’s profound skepticism and his ability to sense the lingering instability within her heartbeat, he allowed her to join his inner circle alongside other former vigilantes who had answered his call for martial law in Hell's Kitchen. She pledged her absolute loyalty to his new regime, maintaining a calm and controlled demeanor that effectively masked her true role as a deep-cover sleeper agent for the Kingpin. In reality, her conscious mind remained unaware that Wilson Fisk had used post-hypnotic triggers to ensure her ultimate allegiance, intending to use her presence within the fortress to gather intelligence and eventually dismantle Daredevil’s authority from within. By the end of the meeting, she was formally accepted into the Shadowland hierarchy, securing her position as a lethal guardian of the temple as the conflict with the city's heroes began to intensify. (Shadowland v1 #1) Typhoid Mary remained within the Shadowland fortress where she was formally integrated into the Hand’s hierarchy as one of Daredevil’s elite enforcers. She stood by as the Black Tarantula questioned her presence and mental stability, but she maintained her new 'integrated' persona, insisting she was fully in control of her faculties. During a high-level briefing regarding the escalating hero presence in Hell's Kitchen, she was assigned to guard the deeper levels of the temple and monitor the dungeon where the Hand held their prisoners. She utilized her telekinetic abilities to maintain order among the ninja squads and demonstrated her absolute loyalty to Daredevil’s martial law by preparing for a direct assault from his former allies. Throughout these actions, she remained a dormant sleeper agent, unaware that her proximity to the Beast of the Hand was beginning to strain the post-hypnotic mental blocks placed on her by the Kingpin. (Daredevil v1 #509)

Eventually, the Kingpin's Shadowland empire was brought down by the Superior Spider-Man. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #14)

Devil's Reign

At some point, Typhoid Mary became an employee for the drug lord Ana Cortés. Obsessed with using technology to improve herself and her organization, Cortés merged her consciousness with that of Lady Deathstrike. Following a confrontation with the X-Men, the all-new Deathstrike became aware of the technological intelligence known as Arkea. In order to weaponize Arkea against her enemies, Typhoid Mary was tasked with retrieving the entity. (X-Men v4 #7) This saw Mary invade the Jean Grey School in order to gather the samples of Arkea. Although the X-Man Psylocke identified her presence, she was able to escape with the item. However, the piece was found to be inert. Typhoid Mary accessed John Sublime's mind to acquire other pieces of Arkea. In the process, they recruited the witch Amora the Enchantress. As Typhoid Mary wished for gratification due to her assistance, Deathstrike promised to use Arkea to heal her mental instability and decided to create a Sisterhood of Mutants to fight the X-Men. (X-Men v4 #8)

She was among a group of supervillains hired by Turk Barrett after he gained the Mind Stone and served as his bodyguard as he met the Infinity Watch in Central Park. (Infinity Wars #1)

Fisk came to find Mary where she was unwell and had doctors help her where with his money he had her placed in a church at Hell's Kitchen. Once there, she was taken in by Father McMillan and served as a sister in the church. (Daredevil v6 #22)

When the Stromwyns laid siege to the city, a team of supervillains were hired to bring mayhem to the area with the Rhino attacking a church in Hell's Kitchen. It was then that Typhoid Mary's other persona manifested with her looking to protect the site as Daredevil came to make sure she was not harmed in the fighting. Daredevil convinced her to help in luring Rhino away from the area where she drew him elsewhere into the city so that the Man Without Fear could deal with all the supervillains. (Daredevil v6 #20)

She later broke her way into Mayor Fisk's home and knocked out his guard in order to have a private meeting with him. Mary suggested that they form an alliance where she would serve as his bodyguard after proving his existing one failed in their task. Thus, together they could take over the city with Fisk seemingly agreeing to the terms. This saw her appearing alongside him at court in order to witness the outcome of the Daredevil trial where the Devil of Hell's Kitchen made a guilty plea and wanted to go to prison for his vigilante life. (Daredevil v6 #24)

Overview

Personality and attributes

Mary in Daredevil v1 #255.

Whilst at a church in Hell's Kitchen, she came to disassociate with her other personalities and went by the name of a nun named Sister Elizabeth. (Daredevil v6 20) When operating as the gentle, sweet-natured "Mary," she dressed in modest, un-styled civilian clothing, carried herself with a timid, non-threatening posture, and wore minimal makeup to project the image of a vulnerable, ordinary woman. However, the moment her dominant, hyper-aggressive 'Typhoid Mary' persona took control, her physical presentation shifted into a wildly flamboyant, punk-rock-inspired aesthetic. She heavily painted one half of her face in stark, white theatrical makeup paired with dark, aggressive eyeshadow and blood-red lipstick. Her custom battle wardrobe consisted of an asymmetrical, form-fitting black leather corset bodysuit accented by fishnet stockings, loose straps, and a short, tattered dark jacket. She left her long hair wildly teased, completed her look with heavy leather combat boots, and carried a pair of unsheathed machete swords, presenting a bright, wildly ostentatious, and terrifying silhouette on the battlefield. (Daredevil v1 #254)

She had said that she had liked control. (Daredevil v6 #22)

Mary had said that she knew too well the effects of trauma on the mind of a child. (Marvel Comics Presents v1 #151)

The Mary alter was a timid, quiet, pacifist while her "Typhoid Mary" persona is adventurous, lustful, and violent. (Daredevil v1 #254) In later years she would manifest other identities -- her Bloody Mary alter was sadistic, brutal, and misandrist, and her Walker alter was focused, detached, and stable. (Marvel Comics Presents v1 #151) Finally, she demonstrated a fifth alter as Mutant Zero, a no-nonsense, efficient, military-type. (Avengers: The Initiative v1 #17) The Kingpin was later responsible for helping integrate the divergent personalities. (Daredevil v6 #22)

As such, she could not merge or block out her four personalities with her long desiring to achieve this goal. This was one of the reasons for why she ended up working for the Shadow Initiative as she requested their aid to help treat her. (Avengers: The Initiative v1 #21)

Per Mary's account, her father was said to had been blind which led her to work with blind children in her adult years. (Daredevil v1 #254)

Powers and abilities

Mary Walker possessed a formidable, multi-faceted array of low-level psionic mutant attributes that were directly tethered to her shifting psychological states. While her gentle 'Mary' persona possessed no supernatural capabilities, her aggressive 'Typhoid' identity could tap into advanced telekinesis and pyrokinesis at will. She could instantaneously ignite small fires or superheat localized objects through sheer mental focus, utilizing her unique 'fever kiss' to induce debilitating, high-temperature thermal trauma upon direct physical contact with an adversary. Her mind-altering capabilities extended to a subtle form of short-term psionic mind control and emotional fascination, allowing her to project overwhelming lust or disorientation to effortlessly disrupt the strategic focus of nearby men and override their compliance. This supernatural versatility was seamlessly integrated with peak-human physical agility and master-class swordsmanship, enabling her to fluidly weave through complex attack vectors and deliver devastating, dual-bladed slicing combinations that could bypass an opponent's defensive guard. (Daredevil v1 #254)

She was very skilled in martial arts and in the use of edged weapons. (Daredevil v1 #254)

She became a subject in the Weapon Plus program where experiments were conducted on her as part of Project Psyche that was part of Weapon IX. (Wolverine & Captain America: Weapon Plus v1 #1)

She tended to employ her telekinetic abilities by making a knife spin in place or retrieving her weapons if they were dropped. (Daredevil v1 #254) Her 'Bloody Mary' persona often gathered and assembled small metal objects into an improvised battle-armor. (Spectacular Spider-Man v1 #213)

Typhoid Mary can ignite small fires in her vicinity. (Daredevil v1 #254)

Notes

• Typhoid Mary was created by Ann Nocenti and John Romita, Jr. where she made her first appearance in Daredevil v1 #254 (May, 1988).
• She briefly appeared as Mutant Zero in Avengers: The Initiative v1 #4 (September, 2007).

Alternate Versions

• In Mutant X v1 #30 (2001), an alternate version of Typhoid Mary appeared in the Mutant X reality that was designated as Earth-1298 in the Multiverse.

In other media

Television

• In the Avengers Assemble, Typhoid Mary appeared in the animated television series where she was voiced by actress Tara Strong.
• In Iron Fist, Typhoid Mary appeared in the setting of the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe series where she was portrayed by actress Alice Eve.

Films

• In Elektra, an adaptation of Typhoid Mary appeared in the 2005 live-action film where she was portrayed by actress Natassia Malthe.

Video games

• In The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin, Typhoid Mary appeared in the setting of the video game.

Appearances

• Daredevil v1: (1988)
• Marvel Comics Presents v1:
• Typhoid v1:
• Daredevil v2:
• New Avengers v1:
• Avengers: The Initiative v1: (2007)
• Shadowland v1:
• Daredevil v6: (2020)

External Links

• Marvel Database
• Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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