Contributed by Michael McDermott
Ever since she was young, Marlo has always been a thrill-seeker, who has had a knack for getting herself into dangerous situations.
She first got pulled into the world of super heroics when she dated the Hulk, in his Joe Fixit persona. Their relationship didn’t last long, but she soon met and fell in love with the Hulk’s friend Rick Jones. They eventually got married, although their marriage was sometimes troubled due to the craziness in their lives.
Marlo was attacked and murdered by a psychotic woman who claimed to be Rick’s mother. Rick and the Hulk managed to bring Marlo back to life using advanced technology, but what none of them realized at the time was that Mistress Death (the living embodiment of death) took up residence inside Marlo’s body at the same time. Mistress Death was using Marlo as a camouflage to hide from an enemy.
Eventually, Rick and Marlo separated, since Marlo couldn’t cope with all the craziness and danger in her life with Rick and his superhero friends. However, she eventually changed her mind and they started to work on repairing their relationship, although they still lived in separate apartments.
The merging between Marlo and Mistress Death had the side-effect of having the spirits of people who died near Marlo be drawn to her. As a result, Marlo wound up with her own personal ghost friend, Lorraine, who was stuck haunting her after she was murdered. Marlo originally feared she was going insane, since she was the only one who could see or hear Lorraine. It came as something of a relief once she learned the truth.
Eventually, Mistress Death’s enemy, a deathgod from another universe named Walker, discovered her hiding in Marlo’s body. Marlo was protected by Rick’s partner Captain Marvel, as well as Thor and Thanos. Eventually Mistress Death left Marlo’s body and defeated Walker herself.
Marlo soon wound up with a new roommate—the telepathic Avenger, Moondragon (Heather Douglas). She needed a place to live in L.A. to be close to Captain Marvel, whom she was training to control his cosmic awareness, so she moved in with Marlo. The different personalities of the two women clashed at first, but they soon bonded and became friends.
However, Marlo’s experience with Mistress Death had not left her unaffected. She now developed a power called the Death Wish, which allowed her to alter reality with her spoken desires. Marlo was unaware that she even possessed this ability, and simply caused things to happen accidentally by wishing for them out loud. She was finally confronted with her power when she wished herself dead during a bad day, and immediately dropped dead!
Moondragon managed to revive her using her psionic powers, and began training Marlo how to control the Death Wish. During this process, the two women became even closer, and shared a passionate kiss, which came as a surprise to both of them. Shortly afterward, Marlo went away on a romantic vacation with Rick, but was unable to stop thinking about Moondragon. Eventually, Marlo confessed to Rick her attraction to Moondragon. Marlo said that she didn’t believe she was gay, but that she felt an attraction to Moondragon that she couldn’t deny and needed to explore. Rick reluctantly agreed to let her go, and said he’d be waiting for her when and if she changed her mind.
Marlo and Moondragon spent a few months living happily together, but eventually Marlo started to miss Rick and had her old feelings for him start to come back. Moondragon understood, and although they broke up, they agreed to remain friends.
When Marlo finally did return to Rick, Moondragon told them both that Marlo’s attraction to her was artifical, an accidental effect of her telepathic powers being affected by a supervillain called the Magus. This, however, was a lie that Moondragon came up with in order to allow Marlo and Rick to resume their relationship, without doubt hanging over their heads about Marlo’s feelings for Moondragon. Whether or not Marlo believed this story is unknown.
Rick and Marlo were last seen heading off to resume their lives together, after Marlo managed to get rid of her Death Wish power accidentally, by wishing she didn’t have it.
Marlo had a power called the Death Wish, which allowed her to alter reality with her spoken wishes. However, the power only worked unconsciously–the wishes were only granted if Marlo was not trying to use the power.
This made the power extremely dangerous, since it only worked by accident, and could turn casual comments into reality.
While she had the power, Marlo managed to teleport people, bring someone back from the dead, and even kill herself. She lost the power when she accidentally wished it away.
Marlo also possessed the ability to see ghosts, but it is unknown if she still has this power. Her personal ghost, Lorraine, has vanished without explanation.
Marlo’s first appearance was in Incredible Hulk #347 and was confirmed bisexual in Captain Marvel #32, volume 3. Over the span of her appearances she has been a comic shop owner, actor, and aerobics instructor.
Art by J Calafiore, Mark McKenna, and Chris Sotomayor from Captain Marvel #32.
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