Typhoid Mary (character)

Typhoid Mary
Typhoid Mary, on the cover for Daredevil Vol. 2 #46. Art by Alex Maleev.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Daredevil #254 (May 1988)
Created by	Ann Nocenti John Romita, Jr.
In-story information
Alter ego	Mary Alice Walker
Species	Unknown
Team affiliations	Hood Army Kingpin
Notable aliases	Mary, Bloody Mary
Abilities	Pyrokinesis, telekinesis, Limited Mind Control

Typhoid Mary (Mary Walker), also known as Typhoid and Bloody Mary, is a fictional supervillainess in the Marvel Comics universe, most commonly associated with Daredevil. She first appeared in Daredevil #254, and was created by Ann Nocenti and John Romita, Jr. Her name comes from early 20th century Irish-American cook and typhoid fever carrier "Typhoid Mary" Mallon.

Fictional character biography

Typhoid Mary is an enemy and former lover of Daredevil with low level psionic powers, including telekinesis. She has been employed by organized crime syndicates as an assassin in the past. She is also truly and gravely mentally ill.

Her condition was revealed to have been accidentally caused by a pre-Daredevil Matt Murdock. He had tracked a villain down to the brothel where Mary worked. He attacked the man, but to his surprise, the girls working there came at him. Panicking, he lashed out, knocking Mary out the window. It was at this moment Mary became Typhoid Mary, vowing no man would ever hurt her again. In later appearances, however, she would imply that she was a victim of child abuse.

Suffering from dissociative identity disorder, Mary Walker has two other abnormal personalities in addition to her seemingly healthy one. Her "Mary" personality is a timid, quiet, pacifist; her "Typhoid" personality is adventurous, lustful, and violent; and her "Bloody Mary" persona is brutal, sadistic, and hates all men. Mary once claimed that there was a fourth personality, who is 'lost,' but it has not since been mentioned. Aside from highly developed martial arts skills, Walker also possesses telekinetic powers and, more dangerously, pyrokinesis, the ability to set people or objects in her immediate vicinity aflame.

A favorite pawn of the Kingpin, Typhoid frequently battled and had a love-hate relationship with Daredevil before disappearing. Through hypnosis, the abnormal and psychotic personalities (Mary: the pathological victim, Typhoid: the adventurous sociopath, and Bloody Mary: the homicidal psychopath) were suppressed from Mary Walker's consciousness, and she began to lead a normal life, becoming a soap opera star. The Kingpin sent her to defeat Power Pack during the Acts of Vengeance. At one point, as she struggled to keep her multiple personalities under control, she befriended Mary Jane Watson and battled Spider-Man when Bloody Mary resurfaced and she began killing men who committed domestic abuse. With the web-slinger's help, Mary regained control and voluntarily turned herself in to the police for treatment.

At one point, Mary was confined to a mental institution where each personality hired a mercenary. Mary Walker hired Deadpool to kill her, Typhoid Mary hired Deadpool to break her out, and Bloody Mary hired The Vamp/Animus to break her out to resume a killing spree. Deadpool defeated the Vamp/Animus but refused to kill Mary Walker, allowing the Typhoid personality to become dominant. Typhoid and Deadpool had a few adventures together, including traveling to New York City to confront Daredevil for accidentally kicking her out of the brothel some years ago (Typhoid regained the memories of this incident when Deadpool pushed her out of a window), before Deadpool attempted to reform Typhoid. This did not go well and the two eventually separated.

However, following the Kingpin's fall from power and being left in a coma near death, he recovered and started rising back to power, taking out his enemies. To distract Daredevil while he retook his criminal empire, the Kingpin paid a visit to Walker at her show and with a blunt slap released the abnormal personalities. After confronting Daredevil in his secret identity (Matt Murdock) and setting him on fire, his bodyguards Luke Cage and Jessica Jones managed to take her down. Mary was imprisoned on 'The Raft', a maximum security prison for superpowered criminals.

Electro later led an attack on the Raft, helping the prisoners break out. While the Avengers arrived and managed to stop some of the prisoners, Mary managed to escape and was briefly mentioned as once more working for the Kingpin. She was later left the Kingpin's employ to join the Hood's criminal empire.

Powers and abilities

Typhoid Mary possesses a number of limited psionic powers. She can levitate small objects over short distances (such as weapons of under 10 pounds; knives, razors, etc.), which her Bloody Mary often gathered and assembled into improvised battle-armor. She is a powerful pyrokinetic, meaning she can set objects in her immediate vicinity aflame. She can implant mental suggestions in the minds of others. She can induce sleep in weak-minded individuals and most animals.

However, she has three separate personalities as a result of her mental illness. The timid, pacifist "Mary" personality has no psionic abilities. The "Typhoid" and "Bloody Mary" personalities have the full range of these psionic powers and they are strongest in "Bloody Mary". Her original "Mary Walker" personality is supposed to be a balanced amalgam of all of these, but is seldom dominant. Because of the different heartrates and voice patterns of her different personas, not to mention the different ways of dress, even Daredevil's super-senses were long unable to tell the different personas all belonged to the same woman, and Typhoid Mary took advantage of this situation to hide from Daredevil/Matt Murdock "in plain sight" (she was aware of Daredevil's secret identity almost from the first time she encountered him).

Typhoid Mary is in excellent physical condition. She has peak human reflexes and agility, and is highly athletic. She is also trained in the martial arts, particularly Judo and Zen-Sword. She is a master in the use of edged weapons.

Other versions

House of M

Main article: House of M

Typhoid Mary appears as an assassin of Wilson Fisk.

In other media

Films

A villain named Typhoid (portrayed by Natassia Malthe) appeared in the Elektra film, but the only real similarity she had to the comic book character was the name. In the movie, she was an assassin for the Hand whose breath or touch could kill whatever they came into contact with. Her poison touch would spread vastly throughout an area at will, killing life, and she could poison her weapons by breathing on them. The precise limitations to the poison that leaves her body is unknown, nor to how quickly and wide she can spread it. She was once a skilled ninja called the Treasure, but that position was taken from her and given to a little girl named Abby. Typhoid gives Elektra a poisonous kiss, which almost kills her. She succeeded in killing Abby with her breath-poisoned weapons, although Elektra later resurrected Abby with the same method that her master, Stick, had used to revive her after she was killed by Bullseye in the Daredevil movie. After Elektra killed Kirigi in a final battle, Elektra threw a sai through the hedges of a maze and straight into Typhoid's face. Typhoid fell to the ground on her back and disintegrated. The character is specifically named as "Typhoid Mary" rather than just Typhoid by both the producers and Jennifer Garner during the "Making of Elektra" feature on the DVD.

External links

• Twisted Love - Typhoid Mary
• Typhoid Mary’s Dojo