TYPHOID MARY versus DAREDEVIL
Temptation! (Marvel)
Where: Daredevil #255 When: June 1988
Why: Ann Nocenti How: John Romita Jr
The Story So Far...
Unable to prove the culpability of Kelco Industrials in the blinding of a young boy - lawyer Matt Murdock wrestles with guilt in his nightmares. Meanwhile, he's conducting an affair with the boy's nurse -- unaware that all of these elements are brought forth by The Kingpin of Crime!
Wilson Fisk is behind the chemical company, and plans to use high-powered lawyers to flaunt their guilt and crush Murdock's belief in true justice. Likewise, the kindly Mary with whom Matt shares a kiss is in actual fact The Kingpin's latest assassin killing his rivals!
Unaware that he's being targeted in both his lives, Murdock makes the change to Daredevil when he senses danger on the streets. A decision that will at last bring him face-to-face with the deadly Typhoid Mary!
Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Daredevil 3 (Athlete)
Intelligence: Daredevil 3 (Straight A)
Speed: Daredevil 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Daredevil 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Daredevil 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting: Daredevil 5 (Martial Artist)
Energy: Typhoid Mary 4 (Arsenal)
Total: Daredevil 26 (Champion)
When it comes to The Kingpin's personal bodyguards: the gold standard has always been Bullseye and Elektra - but in 1988, he found himself an assassin that took the danger to a wild and unpredictable new level!
Typhoid Mary is a stone cold killer whose dissociative multiple-personality disorder manifests between three main identities. Each possesses her innate mutant abilities, but wields them to a distinct degree.
The timid personality of Mary Walker would never be so callous, but when Typhoid Mary is unleashed - she uses her psionic, telekinetic, and pyrokinetic powers tactically against her opponents! That means she can spontaneously start fires, move light objects, and even mentally manipulate some opponents!
Typhoid Mary has also developed her fighting skills to be a high quality martial artist, known to wield dual katana swords. She was part of the Shadow Initiative when we saw her combining sword, fire, and telekinesis to decapitate Bloodscream, in Avengers: The Initiative #24!
She's had memorable run-ins with Deadpool, Spider-man, Wolverine, and Ghost Rider, sometimes in the guise of her destructive Bloody Mary personality, but her greatest opponent will always be Daredevil!
The man without fear has a history of facing deadly assassins, but our record only contains two examples with mutant powers! He narrowly turned the tables on a Hand possessed Wolverine in Wolverine #24. No such luck when Deadpool used DD's own good nature to outwit him in Contest of Champions II #4.
A weakness for the ladies allows Typhoid Mary to get close to DD in his civilian identity, and with her psionic abilities there may be no opponent more equipped to get into his mind! He's a strong-willed individual, fighting on his home turf, but will superior hand-to-hand skills overcome fire and the mind? Let's find out!
The Tape: Daredevil Ranking: Daredevil (#13)
What Went Down...
Matt Murdock senses smoke and disturbance as he walks the streets of Hell's Kitchen. When his alter-ego of Daredevil returns in moments -- all seems eerily well. That is, until a flaming shirt precedes the violent crash of a church cross!
The hero effortlessly backflips clear of the falling crucifix, detecting danger with radar-like senses. They reach out to the rooftops, following a trail of laughter that leads to the source of the unexpected attack: Typhoid Mary!
Something familiar nags at the blind hero, but he cannot detect the altered rhythms of a Mary he knows in ordinary life. Just the streaking blur of a wild heart tearing the streets apart to lure its "Guardian Devil".
Typhoid drops from the rooftops, kicking up garbage that breaks her fall! The airborne wave of trash and refuse creates a fog of distraction. He doesn't sense Typhoid Mary until she's upon him - riding his shoulders to the ground!
He rolls with the tackle -- redirecting Mary to tumble through garbage across an empty lot. She lies amidst the smoldering trash, while DD continues trying to focus his radar senses. Her mental powers deny him a clear image!
She further attacks his mind, drawing convenient parallels between contract killing criminals, and a non-lethal brand of judicial justice. Temptations of violent solutions learned in daylight by her placid other self. Nagging familiarity.
She mocks his religion, and sends a wall of literal hot garbage with a flick of mutant telekinesis. A demonstration of power that annoys more than it hurts. An act of good faith to prove she could destroy Daredevil if she really wanted.
He pulls her out of the garbage and onto her feet, challenging rhetoric of Nietzsche and good & evil. She's unmoved by the contradiction of it all.
Face to face, their philosophies intertwine with concepts of justice and religion, while Mary's leg hooks around DD's. With fire at their feet she compares herself to the devil conversing with a priest. An opposite too exciting to resist! She pulls her heel back and betrays both their balance. They fall!
This time Daredevil lands hard on his back after the tumble. Mary's very presence burns and disorients. He's confused. She steals a kiss. He hates her.
Somehow Daredevil gets his legs up and drives his feet deep into Typhoid's gut!
The vicious kick launches Mary from his body. Sweat pours from beneath his red mask as Daredevil dwells on his disgust. He can't stand the heat and at last he's ready for a fight. If only there were anyone there to accommodate him.
By the time he's back on his feet Typhoid Mary is already gone!
The Hammer...
By the time Daredevil is back on his feet; Mary is already somewhere on the rooftops contemplating her prey. The fight may've been a dead rubber, but her split personality beat the man with dual identities (and a built-in lie detector).
She plans to "allow" her alter-ego of Mary Walker to continue falling in love with Murdock. Such vulnerability is sickening to Typhoid, but it all plays into her million dollar contract, and the Kingpin's advice to get him "through the heart". It's certainly a proven method for disrupting Daredevil's life - before and since!
We're kinda getting to my heart, too. Albeit, with much more positive results!
I've been hoping to get to back to more of Ann Nocenti's run on Daredevil for quite some time. It's a period I've come to regard with a great deal of fondness. I even called my shot a couple of years ago, specifically citing these early appearances of Typhoid Mary! She ranks with Lady Deathstrike as one of my favourite Marvel creations of the eighties. It's been a long time coming!
Where: Daredevil #255 When: June 1988
Why: Ann Nocenti How: John Romita Jr
The Story So Far...
Unable to prove the culpability of Kelco Industrials in the blinding of a young boy - lawyer Matt Murdock wrestles with guilt in his nightmares. Meanwhile, he's conducting an affair with the boy's nurse -- unaware that all of these elements are brought forth by The Kingpin of Crime!
Wilson Fisk is behind the chemical company, and plans to use high-powered lawyers to flaunt their guilt and crush Murdock's belief in true justice. Likewise, the kindly Mary with whom Matt shares a kiss is in actual fact The Kingpin's latest assassin killing his rivals!
Unaware that he's being targeted in both his lives, Murdock makes the change to Daredevil when he senses danger on the streets. A decision that will at last bring him face-to-face with the deadly Typhoid Mary!
Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Daredevil 3 (Athlete)Intelligence: Daredevil 3 (Straight A)
Speed: Daredevil 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Daredevil 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Daredevil 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting: Daredevil 5 (Martial Artist)
Energy: Typhoid Mary 4 (Arsenal)
Total: Daredevil 26 (Champion)
When it comes to The Kingpin's personal bodyguards: the gold standard has always been Bullseye and Elektra - but in 1988, he found himself an assassin that took the danger to a wild and unpredictable new level!
Typhoid Mary is a stone cold killer whose dissociative multiple-personality disorder manifests between three main identities. Each possesses her innate mutant abilities, but wields them to a distinct degree.
The timid personality of Mary Walker would never be so callous, but when Typhoid Mary is unleashed - she uses her psionic, telekinetic, and pyrokinetic powers tactically against her opponents! That means she can spontaneously start fires, move light objects, and even mentally manipulate some opponents!
Typhoid Mary has also developed her fighting skills to be a high quality martial artist, known to wield dual katana swords. She was part of the Shadow Initiative when we saw her combining sword, fire, and telekinesis to decapitate Bloodscream, in Avengers: The Initiative #24!
She's had memorable run-ins with Deadpool, Spider-man, Wolverine, and Ghost Rider, sometimes in the guise of her destructive Bloody Mary personality, but her greatest opponent will always be Daredevil!
The man without fear has a history of facing deadly assassins, but our record only contains two examples with mutant powers! He narrowly turned the tables on a Hand possessed Wolverine in Wolverine #24. No such luck when Deadpool used DD's own good nature to outwit him in Contest of Champions II #4.
A weakness for the ladies allows Typhoid Mary to get close to DD in his civilian identity, and with her psionic abilities there may be no opponent more equipped to get into his mind! He's a strong-willed individual, fighting on his home turf, but will superior hand-to-hand skills overcome fire and the mind? Let's find out!
The Tape: Daredevil Ranking: Daredevil (#13)
What Went Down...
Matt Murdock senses smoke and disturbance as he walks the streets of Hell's Kitchen. When his alter-ego of Daredevil returns in moments -- all seems eerily well. That is, until a flaming shirt precedes the violent crash of a church cross!
The hero effortlessly backflips clear of the falling crucifix, detecting danger with radar-like senses. They reach out to the rooftops, following a trail of laughter that leads to the source of the unexpected attack: Typhoid Mary!
Something familiar nags at the blind hero, but he cannot detect the altered rhythms of a Mary he knows in ordinary life. Just the streaking blur of a wild heart tearing the streets apart to lure its "Guardian Devil".
Typhoid drops from the rooftops, kicking up garbage that breaks her fall! The airborne wave of trash and refuse creates a fog of distraction. He doesn't sense Typhoid Mary until she's upon him - riding his shoulders to the ground!
He rolls with the tackle -- redirecting Mary to tumble through garbage across an empty lot. She lies amidst the smoldering trash, while DD continues trying to focus his radar senses. Her mental powers deny him a clear image!
She further attacks his mind, drawing convenient parallels between contract killing criminals, and a non-lethal brand of judicial justice. Temptations of violent solutions learned in daylight by her placid other self. Nagging familiarity.
She mocks his religion, and sends a wall of literal hot garbage with a flick of mutant telekinesis. A demonstration of power that annoys more than it hurts. An act of good faith to prove she could destroy Daredevil if she really wanted.
He pulls her out of the garbage and onto her feet, challenging rhetoric of Nietzsche and good & evil. She's unmoved by the contradiction of it all.
Face to face, their philosophies intertwine with concepts of justice and religion, while Mary's leg hooks around DD's. With fire at their feet she compares herself to the devil conversing with a priest. An opposite too exciting to resist! She pulls her heel back and betrays both their balance. They fall!
This time Daredevil lands hard on his back after the tumble. Mary's very presence burns and disorients. He's confused. She steals a kiss. He hates her.
Somehow Daredevil gets his legs up and drives his feet deep into Typhoid's gut!
The vicious kick launches Mary from his body. Sweat pours from beneath his red mask as Daredevil dwells on his disgust. He can't stand the heat and at last he's ready for a fight. If only there were anyone there to accommodate him.
By the time he's back on his feet Typhoid Mary is already gone!
The Hammer...
By the time Daredevil is back on his feet; Mary is already somewhere on the rooftops contemplating her prey. The fight may've been a dead rubber, but her split personality beat the man with dual identities (and a built-in lie detector).
She plans to "allow" her alter-ego of Mary Walker to continue falling in love with Murdock. Such vulnerability is sickening to Typhoid, but it all plays into her million dollar contract, and the Kingpin's advice to get him "through the heart". It's certainly a proven method for disrupting Daredevil's life - before and since!
We're kinda getting to my heart, too. Albeit, with much more positive results!
I've been hoping to get to back to more of Ann Nocenti's run on Daredevil for quite some time. It's a period I've come to regard with a great deal of fondness. I even called my shot a couple of years ago, specifically citing these early appearances of Typhoid Mary! She ranks with Lady Deathstrike as one of my favourite Marvel creations of the eighties. It's been a long time coming!
By now you probably know the story: Nocenti had the seemingly unenviable task of following Frank Miller's legendary association with Daredevil [in 1986].
Miller's last gasp came with Daredevil #233, concluding the short saga of a maniac super-solder named Nuke. There were a curious couple of issues drawn by Steve Ditko after that, possibly material already on file. Nocenti picks up threads from the Nuke plot to initiate her time as writer with Daredevil #236.
It's difficult to talk about Nocenti's work without comparing it to Miller, and I get the sense she kinda knew that. Her first issue features art by Barry Windsor-Smith, with a plain clothes Black Widow, and crew cut soldier-types, that feels a deliberately sympathetic transition from the Miller era.
Of course, it's easy to forget Miller peppered his issues with the colours of Captain America and the Heroes for Hire! He's probably best remembered for the costume-less deconstruction of Born Again, and the red fever of Elektra and The Hand, but those splashes of superheroics blend well with Nocenti's future.
By the end of her first year, she had Daredevil teaming with the likes of Black Panther and Wolverine! The spirit of Daredevil remained consistent with Miller, but she had a sense of cool that not only welcomed the colourful rabble of the outside Marvel Universe -- but aggressively embraced it!
Typhoid Mary feels inevitably cast in the mold of Elektra, but is also a bubblegum post-punk reflection of the world outside.
If Miller had drawn on cinematic seventies grit and noir fatalism to redefine Daredevil for the early eighties; Nocenti ripped the blinds off the window and showed that character the neon world around him.
The great John Romita Jr is probably owed a hefty debt for crafting a look that sings all the right notes. The big spikey hair, bulky neon pink top, Mad Max metal shoulder pads, and fishnets with swimsuit and boots are a masterpiece! It tells you everything you need to know about the threat and attitude of this wild character. She has only degraded with later re-designs.
As if all that wasn't eighties enough - she's also a pyrokinetic mutant wildchild in the vein of Carrie and dozens of other icons from the age. This was right around the time Jason Voorhees was coming up against a telekinetic troubled teen. It's thoroughly cliché, but in this package, going up against Daredevil - it works!
I've heard Mary is in the new series of Iron Fist on Netflix, but I'm not even going to pretend it will be anything but a waste of your time. These shows love to be boring and Typhoid Mary is a character who is anything but! You'd think a Pink Ladies leather jacket and some high heels would fit the budget, but this world of chumps just isn't ready for the real Typhoid Mary!
If you're ready for the real Typhoid Mary, you can always find refuge in the comics!
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Winner: Inconclusive (Draw)
#13 (--) Daredevil
#141 (+149) Typhoid Mary
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