Latest / Vigilante Vibes Podcast / Ep. 229. Who is Typhoid Mary in Marvel Comics?!

Transcript

Ep. 229. Who is Typhoid Mary in Marvel Comics?! · Vigilante Vibes Podcast

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  Hello Marvel fans, comic geeks, and all nerds in between.
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  My name is Megan with vigilante vibes, and today I'm here to
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  talk about another character. And her name has been thrown
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  around a lot recently due to the speculation of Sadie Sync
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  possibly playing her in Spider Man Brand New Day.
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  Let me be very clear, as much as I would love that Mary's already
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  been done in Iron Fist. Now if Marvel decides to pretend
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  that didn't happen, which I highly doubt, then Typhoid Mary
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  would make a lot of sense given what we've seen in the Spider
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  Man trailer. So what better time is there to
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  discuss Typhoid Mary than now? She first showed up in daredevil
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  #254 in January of 1988 and was created by Ann Nosenti and John
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  Romita Junior. Mary Walker's life started off
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  pretty horrendously. She was born into a really
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  unstable home, with her parents constantly fighting even before
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  she was born. After she came into the world,
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  things got so much worse. Her father began abusing her
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  while she was still an infant. One night when he came into her
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  room again, something and Mary snapped.
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  She mentally retreated deep inside of herself and a
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  secondary personality emerged that violently attacked him,
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  rightfully so. After that, her father never
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  touched her again. So in a twisted, really twisted
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  way, that alter ego became her protection.
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  Over time, that need to protect herself 'cause this second
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  personality to develop powers. Subtle mind control, telekinesis
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  and even pyrokinesis. These abilities were actually
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  mutant in nature, and they first showed up when Mary found a dead
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  pigeon and accidentally burned it and then brought it to life.
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  The fires at home she unintentionally started around
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  the house only made the hostile environment even worse.
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  Around this time, she also developed a very intense
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  attachment to Catholic imagery. Because of her unusual mental
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  state, Mary became a subject of interest for researchers and
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  spent most of her life in institutions.
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  Her main personality? Mary.
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  Who's Mary Walker was gentle and cooperative, but also physically
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  weak, sickly, and prone to seizures.
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  She had no idea her other personality even existed.
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  But that second personality, though?
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  That second identity was a whole problem.
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  It was the complete opposite of Mary Walker.
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  Violent, unstable, and constantly feverish.
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  It became known as Typhoid Mary. While institutionalized, that
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  alter ego was mostly focused on developing her psychic powers.
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  Unfortunately, Mary's condition made her an easy target.
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  A group of researchers got hold of her and subjected her to
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  intense psychic brainwashing as part of a Weapon Plus program
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  called Project Psyche, trying to turn people like her and do
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  sleeper agents. At one point, while she was in a
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  psychiatric hospital, she met Elektra, who helped her escape.
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  So Elektra's a girl's girl. After getting out, Mary actually
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  managed to build a pretty normal life for a while and became a
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  very successful stage actress. But she disappeared again, not
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  surprisingly, likely because of her other personality.
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  Eventually, she ended up working in a brothel.
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  That's where she first met Matt Murdock, before he even became
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  Daredevil. He showed up to attack someone
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  there and things went very sideways.
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  And during the chaos, he accidentally knocked Mary out of
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  a window. That moment stuck with her.
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  She swore she'd never let a man hurt her again.
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  And from then on, Typhoid Mary really took over.
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  And to put it in perspective, that moment also stuck with
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  Daredevil as well. Matt was haunted by her falling
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  out of the window, and it shows in his comics.
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  Later in Chicago, she built a reputation as a criminal,
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  getting into robbery and blackmail before moving to New
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  York City, where she became both a vigilante and a murderer.
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  That caught the attention of Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin.
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  Impressed by her abilities, he hired her to emotionally destroy
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  his enemy Daredevil. That Daredevil lives in
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  Kingpin's head rent free and I find it hilarious.
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  She approached Matt Murdock in his civilian life, pretending to
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  be kind and trustworthy, even making up a story about caring
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  for her blind father who was not blind and wasn't cared for by
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  Mary because he was a piece of garbage.
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  She quickly gained his trust and got close to him, even helping a
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  blind child recover to strengthen that bond.
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  Before long, she had Matt completely focused on her,
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  pulling him away from Karen Page, which Mary loved.
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  At that time, she was secretly attacking him as Typhoid Mary,
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  keeping him confused and off balance.
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  Ironically, her Mary side started to genuinely fall for
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  him. She kept working for the
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  Kingpin, manipulating people and carrying out his plans, but her
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  mental state kept getting worse. Eventually, her personalities
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  clashed hard enough that she broke down mid fight with
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  Daredevil and she had to flee. Realizing her softer side was
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  becoming a problem, Typhoid Mary recruited a group of assassins
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  to help her take Daredevil down. They brutally attacked him and
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  she ultimately tried to kill him by throwing him off a bridge.
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  That act caused even more fallout, especially with
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  Kingpin. Kingpin was actually infuriated
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  that Mary tried to off Daredevil and that pushed Mary to finally
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  realize she had multiple personalities, which caused Mary
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  to become suicidal. When she later found Daredevil
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  alive, she actually saved him and got him to a hospital while
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  also revealing the truth to Karen Page, but not in a
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  friendly way. She was absolutely tormenting
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  Karen Page, which is, you know, it happens to the best of us,
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  you know. Things escalated even further
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  when she teamed up with a demon, Mephisto, during a chaotic
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  crisis in the city, trying to exert her control over the
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  Kingpin and fight Daredevil before disappearing again, as
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  she tends to do. From there, her life kept
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  spiraling. Mary worked for different
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  villains, manipulated heroes, went through more experiments,
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  and kept switching between identities.
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  She crossed paths with people like Wolverine, Ghost Rider,
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  Spider Man, and the X-Men, sometimes as an ally, but a lot
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  of the times as a threat. At one point, Typhoid Mary even
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  developed a third personality, Bloody Mary, which was even more
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  violent and targeted abusive men specifically.
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  There were moments where she tried to get better, using
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  medication, joining communities, even attempting to live a normal
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  life, but something would always push her back.
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  She was repeatedly captured, experimented on, or manipulated
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  by powerful figures like the Kingpin, government programs, or
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  other villains. She even teamed up with Deadpool
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  at one point, who had actually tried to rehabilitate her, but
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  gave up helping her when Mary used manipulation on Deadpool
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  himself. Do you know how wildly unhinged
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  you have to be that Deadpool tries to calm you down?
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  That, that should tell you a lot.
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  Eventually, after a lot of chaos, she managed to integrate
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  her personalities more fully for a time, and even worked
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  alongside Daredevil when he took over the Hand so he could put a
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  stop to their violence. She later reunited with the
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  Kingpin and their relationship evolved in a surprisingly
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  emotional way. Over time, they grew close
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  enough that he proposed to her and she accepted.
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  Mary Walker became his wife, effectively the First Lady of
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  New York, during his time as mayor.
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  Even then, things were not stable.
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  There were invasions, betrayals, and even more battles.
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  At one point, she bonded with a symbiote, further fracturing her
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  mind. Still, she and Fisk remained
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  connected and even escaping together after his fall from
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  power. Later, as a mutant, Mary claimed
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  citizenship in Krakowa and lived there with Fisk during a major
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  mutant crisis, which was the 3rd Hellfire Gala if you guys know,
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  and they were separated. Mary ended up in another realm
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  called Vanaheim alongside a few other mutants including Marrow
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  Magic, Mirage and Dust, and even as Guardian allies, before
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  eventually making her way back. Most recently, we saw Typhoid
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  Mary in the new Alias comic, which was released on the 25th
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  anniversary of Jessica Jones, and now she's teaming up with
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  Jessica, but I'm awaiting the second issue, so I have no idea
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  what's going to happen next. And I'm very, very interested to
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  find out. She's still very much with
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  Wilson Fisk. She's still very much unhinged,
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  and we love her for it. In the end, despite everything.
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  Abuse, experimentation, fractured identities, a long
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  history of violence. Mary Walker AKA Typhoid Mary AKA
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  Bloody Mary AKA at one point Mutant 0 remains A deeply
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  complicated figure, constantly caught between her different
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  selves, her past trauma, and her attempts to find some kind of
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  control or peace. So that is Mary Walker, that is
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  Typhoid Mary. I am very interested to see if
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  Sadie Sync is actually playing her because we got to be honest
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  guys, she'd we she can't play Jean Grey.
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  You just it. It makes no sense to me and I, I
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  don't get it. So yeah, that's Typhoid Mary.
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  I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope you learned something and
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  I hope you will like and subscribe.
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  So with that being said, have a marvelous day.