Daredevil Called Out Spider-Man’s Girlfriend Problem With One Villain
The Marvel Comics debut of the Daredevil villain Typhoid Mary dramatically called into question the ways that female villains like Black Cat from Spider-Man had been deemed «villains» in the first place. Contrasting the female villains of her day, Typhoid Mary literally weaponized her own sex appeal by wielding swords and wearing a costume with razor blade-like shoulder pads. Sent on a mission by Kingpin to seduce and eventually destroy Daredevil, Typhoid Mary's introduction in the Marvel Universe shattered the fantasy of the male-gaze that dominated the characterizations of female villains for decades. In doing so Typhoid Mary remains not only one of Marvel's best villains, but also one of its most important in deconstructing the problematic dynamic at the heart of Spider-Man's love life.
Black Cat, also known as Felicia Hardy, was created in 1979 by Marv Wolfman, Keith Pollard, and Dave Cockrum, while Typhoid Mary (Mary Walker) was created in 1988 by Ann Nocenti and John Romita Jr. As her name suggests, Black Cat is a burglar, who enjoys the thrill of risky heists, contrasting the relative safety that Mary Jane Watson poses as a partner for Peter Parker. Typhoid Mary is a mutant with powers including telekinesis, mind control, and pyrokinesis. Mary has dissociative identity disorder, and her Mary Walker persona is gentle in contrast to her Typhoid alter, which violently seeks vengeance and often manipulates men for her own gain and enjoyment. This change between Mary's two personalities are marked by stark differences in her physical appearance, with Typhoid having curly hair and dramatic face paint.
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While it would seem to many fans that
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