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History

Origin[]

As a young woman, Marlo Chandler was often looking for an adrenaline rush, which often included a questionable choice of boyfriends; one such case being the casino security enforcer "Mr. Fixit".[3]

Marlo Chandler (Earth-616) from Captain Marvel Vol 4 31 002

In her youth

Fixit was in reality the Hulk, believed dead, and then living incognito, his true identity unknown to Marlo. She ended their relationship after seeing him brutally kill an enemy. They later reconciled after Hulk reached out to her in a rare display of emotion, and their relationship was able to end in a more amicable way.[citation needed]

Happy with Rick Jones[]

She later became Rick Jones' girlfriend, the Hulk's perennial sidekick, and best friend to his alter ego, Bruce Banner. She met Rick while he was on a book tour promoting his memoir, Sidekick.[citation needed]

It was only when Rick, not knowing of Marlo's previous relationship with the Hulk, introduced her to Bruce and his wife, Betty, that Marlo discovered that Mr. Fixit was really the Hulk, and that Bruce was not merely his friend, but his alter ego.[citation needed]

Shortly after this introduction, Marlo assured Betty that she had nothing to be jealous about, as Bruce and Joe were two distinct people, and Bruce had been unswervingly loyal to Betty. Later, the psychiatrist Doc Samson managed to integrate the various personalities of the Hulk, resulting in a being that now possessed a permanent Hulk body with Bruce's face and intelligence. When Betty expressed skepticism of a continued relationship with this new version of her husband, she moved in with Marlo, with whom she became best friends.[citation needed]

Once, Marlo was stabbed to death by Jackie Shorr,[4] a deranged woman who believed herself to be Rick's biological mother.[5] Desperate, Rick employed the technology of the Hulk villain known as the Leader, successfully managing to revive Marlo.[5] However, she did not come back all the way at first and spent some time in a near vegetative state.[6] In reality, at the time, the entity Death was being hunted by a god named Walker and, for the sanctity of the Universe, she had to hide, so she helped Marlo's revival and merged with her. Her catatonic state was in fact Marlo's mind reacting to her presence.[7]

Incredible Hulk Vol 1 418 Remastered Textless

Wedding

Rick and Marlo eventually married, although the wedding was nearly called off, as Rick discovered a soft porn film that featured Marlo stripping nude at the beach, one of several such films she appeared in just after she had finished high school. The couple reconciled thanks to the Hulk's intervention, however, and they went on with the wedding, which had the guest appearance of several supervillains, from Kree to Mephisto, due to the machinations of the Impossible Man.[8] Shortly after, the couple became famous while hosting a successful talk show called "Keeping up with the Joneses".[9][10]

Dealings with Captain Marvel[]

Marlo and Rick separated for a time, and she occupied herself with running a comic book store called Golden Orange Comics. While working there, she was was invited by a guy named Larry to be part of a mockumentary filmed in Canada, but his true goal was to seize the power of the Wendigo, which he accomplished after killing Marlo's co-star Lorraine. Rick, who at the time was secretly bonded with the alien Genis-Vell, heard of Marlo's trip to Canada and feared the worse, therefore Larry saw himself facing both Genis (the new Captain Marvel) and the Hulk, who also happened to be in Canada. Curiously, Larry's defeat didn't happen at the hands of either hero, as it was Marlo who ripped off the earring Larry had used in the ritual to seize the Wendigo's power, making his body revert to human form, while his mind was transferred into a fish who ate the earring.[11]

As the dust was settling, Marlo began seeing the ghost of Lorraine, who would taunt her and criticize her actions all the time.[12] Nevertheless, she finally felt ready to give Rick another chance and suggested to him that the two had dinner together.[13]

At dinner, despite the recurring comments by Lorraine (on Marlo's side) and Genis (on Rick's side), the two just clicked. Rick spent all night ignoring Genis' urges to save a young girl from being taken by the Super-Skrull and, eventually, relented, apologizing to Marlo for having to leave with no explanation, but Marlo just couldn't take the secrecy anymore and demanded to know why. To avoid further damages to their relationship, Rick swapped places with Genis in front of her and came clean about the whole thing. To his surprise, Marlo took it extremely well and gave Genis a kiss "for Rick", proudly rushing him to go and save the girl.[14]

A while later, Walker finally caught up with Death, and Marlo learned of her uninvited guest. In order to lure Death out of Marlo, Walker began torturing Rick, by chopping one of his arms off and ageing him till old age. As he prepared for the final strike, however, Death relented and faced Walker, revealing that she wasn't hiding out of fear, but out of mercy for Walker. As he begged to be spared, Death released unto him the agony of the billions of lives he had taken.[7]

Marlo Chandler (Earth-616) and Heather Douglas (Earth-616) from Captain Marvel Vol 4 32 001

Kissing Moondragon

Rick was left stuck in his one-arm old body and became very depressed, something which put a strain on his relationship with Marlo.[15] In the meantime, the super-heroine Moondragon showed up at Marlo's doorstep claiming she had nowhere else to go and asking if she could stay with her.[16] Marlo let her stay, and the two started spending some time together.[17] In reality, however, Moondragon had only asked to stay with her to monitor any effects of her time merged with Death, which as she expected eventually caused trouble that forced her to intervene.[3] What Moondragon didn't expect was that the two would grow emotionally close, something that resulted in the two sharing a passionate kiss.[18]

In time, Rick (now young and joyful once more) found out about it and the couple decided to take a break as Marlo and Moondragon left together to try and figure out their feelings for one another.[19]

Marlo slowly realized that Rick was still the first person she thought of in times of need,[20] and eventually she and Moondragon broke up.[21] Heartbroken, Moondragon lied to her and Rick by telling them she had subconsciously used her telepathy to enamor Marlo, hoping that this would make it easier for them to patch things up.[22]

Harpy and the Incredible Hulks[]

Marlo later went missing for some time and was revealed to have been kidnapped by the Leader. She was turned into a new version of the Harpy by the Leader. After telepathically manipulating her, Leader sent her to battle Bruce Banner and Skaar. Afterwards, when she recognized Rick she returned to normal and reunited with him and his new identity as A-Bomb.[1]

Marlo Chandler (Earth-616) from Incredible Hulk Vol 1 604 001

Harpy

When the Rock Troll Ulik resurfaced and went on a multi-state drinking binge, Harpy helped A-Bomb put an end to the Rock Troll's chaos. After Ulik started choking Marlo, she was saved by A-Bomb, who proceeded to defeat Ulik.[2]

After the souls of the deceased were unleashed on Earth as a consequence of the Chaos King's actions, Doctor Strange revealed to the Hulk and his allies that Marlo was a crucial factor in the war against the Chaos King. Due to her time as a host of Death, Marlo could serve as a 'Death substitute' if she was discovered, which would result in everyone currently immobilized by Hell being killed by the hellfire.[23]

Marlo used her connection to Death to return Doc Samson, Jarella, and Hiroim from the dead to help the Hulks in their fight against a resurrected Abomination, a Zom-possessed Doctor Strange, and the forces of Amatsu-Mikaboshi.[24] Zom and Abomination storm the bunker Marlo was hiding in and attempt to remove Death from her body. Marlo released Death, but she was able to free Dr. Strange from Zom's possession and to send Abomination back to the afterlife. This also sent the allies Marlo brought back to life to return to the afterlife as well.[25]

New Job[]

At some point, Vox Supreme and his head scientist Ren-Varr realized that Marlo had Genis-Vell's molecules mingled with hers, after once teleporting alongside Rick with the Nega-Bands. Determined to recreate Genis after his demise, they captured Marlo and subjected her to experiments that allowed them to succeed in their plans. What they didn't expect was that Marlo was bonded with Lady Death at the time and thus they found themselves in the possession of a powerful cosmic entity.[26]

Marlo Chandler (Earth-616) from Genis-Vell Captain Marvel Vol 1 5 001

Taking Death's place

Thanks to Jazinda Kl'rt-Spawn's special connection with Death, she was able to warn her that she was in danger, and so Jazinda enlisted the help of Genis to rescue Marlo and Death.[27] When they finally got them free, Rick noticed a deep sorrow in Death and came to the conclusion she was tired of her job. Feeling she had been living on borrowed time since her assassination all those years before, Marlo decided to take over Death's job.[28]

Attributes

Powers

As the host of Death, her most commonly displayed power was the ability to communicate with the dead.[29] During the Chaos War, she was able to use her connection to Death to briefly raise the dead, free Dr. Strange from Zom's possession, and send Abomination back to the afterlife with just a touch.[citation needed]

As the Harpy, she had super strength and wings which enabled her to fly. She also had talons and could fire some form of energy from her hands. However, the Harpy mutation by the Intelligencia was only temporary and she can no longer transform into the Harpy.[citation needed]

See Also

Links and References

References

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