How Iron Fist Changes Typhoid Mary From the Comics for the MCU

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Marvel's Iron Fist Season 2, streaming now on Netflix.

One of the biggest additions to the second season of Marvel's Iron Fist is Alice Eve as Mary Walker, who emerges as both an enemy and an ally for Danny Rand.

Better known to Marvel fans as Typhoid Mary, the Daredevil foe was introduced 30 years years ago, so it's interesting to see how much her television depiction differs from her comic book counterpart.

The biggest difference, of course, is that she makes her live-cation debut as an Iron Fist character rather than a Daredevil antagonist.

Typhoid Mary was introduced in 1988 during the acclaimed Daredevil comics run of Ann Nocenti, John Romita Jr. and Al Williamson.

On both Iron Fist and in the pages of Daredevil, Typhoid Mary has dissociative personality disorder, a mental disorder in which she possesses multiple personality states. In Iron Fist's second season, her "Mary" persona reached out to Danny Rand, similar to how she initially made contact with Matt Murdock in the pages of Daredevil.

However, there is a difference between the first meetings, in that the comic book "Mary" seemed to be working alongside the more dominant "Typhoid" personality, who was a killer. On Iron Fist, the dominant personality is called "Walker" and she actively doesn't want "Mary" to contact Danny. She even warns her with a series of Post-It notes placed around the apartment.

Perhaps the biggest difference between the two is that while both versions are skilled fighters, the Iron Fist version is "just" an extremely skilled fighter.

While the comic book version has telekinetic powers, which she exhibited early in her first appearance.

As well as pyrokinesis. While alluded to early in her first appearance in Daredevil #254, it was outright demonstrated when she broke into the office of Wilson Fisk (the Kingpin of Crime) as a sort of audition to work for him as his main assassin.

In the comics, she is mostly known for her steady gig working for the Kingpin. She even sub-contracted out other killers to attack Daredevil. However, she was always restrained by her "Mary" persona, which held her back in her various battles against ol' Hornhead.

On Iron Fist, "Walker" has been hired by Joy Meachum and Davos to capture Danny Rand as part of a plot to steal the Iron First from Danny through an ancient ritual. However, as opposed to the comic book version of Typhoid Mary, she is easily wooed to the other side by Danny and Ward Meachum offering her a half a million dollars to work for them instead.

When we learn about Mary's background on Iron Fist, we discover that there quite possibly is a third personality far more dangerous than "Walker." This holds true to the comics, where the third personality is known as "Bloody Mary," and she holds true to that name as she just slaughters people, although typically with a bit of purpose. For instance, she once fought against Spider-Man while she was trying to eliminate men who were domestic abusers.

Speaking of Mary's background, that's another area that differed greatly from the comics...

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On Iron Fist, Mary is an ex-military operative who received a medical discharge due to her mental issues, at which point she became a private investigator/mercenary.

We learn that her time in the military is what directly led to her personality disorder. She and her team were captured on a mission in Sokovia, where she was interrogated and tortured for nearly two years. In that time, all of the other members of her squad were murdered by their captors, often in front of her.

Mary was then somehow freed. She was discovered by U.S. troops, who then tracked back to the location where she was held. There they discovered that all of her captors had been slaughtered in what was characterized as a "bloody mess." The implication is that the "Bloody Mary" personality manifested to commit the acts, leaving both "Mary" and "Walker" unaware of how they were freed. It's possible that "Bloody Mary" possesses powers that we don't otherwise see on the show.

In the comic books, Typhoid Mary's origin was developed over the years. When she was introduced in Daredevil, it appears as though her development was fairly well-established. She dealt with her other personalities since she was a child...

However, that was eventually revealed to not be the case. In the pages of the original Deadpool ongoing series by Joe Kelly and Ed McGuinness, Deadpool was hired to kill a woman in a mental institution. It turned out that Mary had hired him to kill her. But her "Typhoid" personality took control and ultimately she and Deadpool teamed up instead. He agreed to travel to New York with her to gain revenge on Daredevil. This took place in the shared Daredevil/Deadpool Annual in 1997 (Kelly was writing both books at the time).

He was shocked, though, to learn that her revenge was intended for more than just Daredevil...

During the classic miniseries, Daredevil: Man Without Fear, Frank Miller, John Romita Jr. and Al Williamson depicted Matt Murdock's early years as a vigilante before becoming Daredevil. These stories were a major influence on the first season of Daredevil, right down to his makeshift early "costume." During one of his first attempts at fighting crime, Murdock ended up in a brothel where he accidentally knocked a prostitute out of a window, seemingly killing her.

A few writers took issue with the idea that Daredevil had killed someone like that, so Kelly cleverly explained away that prostitute's death by revealing that that woman was actually a young Mary and that her near-death experience had been the trigger of her personality disorder in the comics...

Typhoid Mary has made a number of other appearances (including a stint as a member of the superhero Initiative following Civil War), but those are the basics of her comic book depiction so that you can see how she stacks up to her Iron Fist depiction.

Available now on Netflix, Marvel’s Iron Fist Season 2 stars Finn Jones as Danny Rand, Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing, Sacha Dhawan as Davos, Tom Pelphrey as Ward Meachum, Jessica Stroup as Joy Meachum, Simone Missick as Misty Knight and Alice Eve as Mary Walker.