The upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) original series, Daredevil: Born Again, has opened the door to introduce a slew of potential characters who had connections to Daredevil (a.k.a. Matt Murdock) in the comics. Given the official introduction of Mutants in the MCU after Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, one character that viewers would especially like to see in the series is Typhoid Mary. Typhoid Mary is an alter ego used by the mutant woman Mary Walker, who later married Kingpin and became Mary Fisk.
Similar to Legion, though not nearly as powerful, Typhoid Mary was a mutant who suffered from dissociative identity disorder (DID). As a result, the nature of her powers often depended on which personality was in control. The character had a pretty tragic backstory and spent much of her life suffering from abuse, misunderstanding, and mental illness. She was a lover/enemy of Daredevil, as well as the second wife of Wilson Fisk. Adding her to Daredevil: Born Again, which is set to star Daredevil (Charlie Cox) and Kingpin (Victor D’Onofrio), could create some interesting dynamics.
Typhoid Mary has appeared in Marvel adaptions before. First, she was portrayed by Natassia Malthe in the 2005 film Elektra. In 2018, she appeared in the Netflix Marvel series Iron Fist, which has since moved under the umbrella of Disney+. She was portrayed by Alice Eve in the series, though she only had one season to explore Walker’s story arc before the show was canceled. With Daredevil: Born Again becoming a reality, they could start fresh with a new Typhoid Mary, or they could opt to bring Eve back along with Cox and D’Onofrio. If the show does happen to add Typhoid Mary to its lineup, here’s everything you need to know about her.
Who is Typhoid Mary in Marvel?
Mary Walker’s tragic life started when she was a young child in an abusive home. As a response to the abuse, she developed a second personality as a coping mechanism. This dual personality manifested her mutant powers, including telepathy, telekinesis, and pyrokinesis. The dual personality was dubbed “Typhoid,” because she often developed a fever when Typhoid was in control. However, initially, she was unaware of her alternate personality.
It was actually Daredevil who unwittingly caused her to embrace her Typhoid personality. A mission gone wrong at a brothel resulted in Daredevil accidentally striking Mary and knocking her out of a window. At that moment, she embraced her supervillain persona as Typhoid Mary and vowed no man would ever hurt her again. As a supervillain, she frequently worked under Wilson Fisk and became his pawn. She faced many heroes over her villain career, but Daredevil was one of her most frequent foes. However, at the same time she opposed Daredevil as Typhoid Mary, she dated Matt Murdock in her Mary persona.
Mary Walker ended up having three alternate personalities in addition to her original, balanced Mary Walker identity. They were Mary, Typhoid Mary, and Bloody Mary. Mary was timid and quiet and had no access to her psionic mutant abilities, while Typhoid Mary was violent, bold, brash, and seductive and had access to all her powers. Bloody Mary was the most powerful of the three personalities, boasting a full range of her powers along with heightened strength. Bloody Mary was also the most brutal of the personalities and was a remorseless, sadistic killer. In some iterations, Typhoid Mary had a fourth personality, Mutant X, which was a skilled, no-nonsense, militant persona.
Marvel’s Typhoid Mary explained
During her adventures, she fostered a relationship with Daredevil, married Kingpin, figured out Daredevil’s true identity (and set him on fire!), and had a few stints in and out of high-security prisons. She even had a brief relationship with Deadpool after one of her personalities hired the mercenary to kill her while another personality hired him to free her from prison. Sadly, Typhoid Mary never really had a happy ending. While there were certain temporary solutions, such as hypnotism, to help her DID, her alternates always eventually reared their heads again.
She became quite a notorious supervillain, but her DID and past experiences with abuse were more responsible for her actions than Mary Walker was. If Daredevil: Born Again wants to follow the path of Netflix’s Daredevil with a darker, grittier premise, then bringing in the chaotic villain Typhoid Mary would be a good place to start.
(Featured image: Marvel Comics)
Published: Jan 8, 2023 12:30 pm