History
Mary Varnhiem was married to the wealthy Wyatt Varnheim and lived in luxury in the 1940s. In 1946, she came to know escaped Nazi scientist Dr. Hans Ludwig who managed to flee to New York City after the Nazis lost World War II. Having developed a sun-ray, Ludwig arranged to have Mary smuggle it into Brazil to hand off to his ally Rex Herr.[1] However, Varnheim instead intended to sell it to the highest bidder and arranged for her sister to go to Buenos Aires to act as a go between promising her a 50% cut of the profit they make from selling the formula. However, Mary had no intention of doing so and prepared a fake microfilm of the sun ray formula instead.[2] Seeking someone to smuggle the phony formula into Brazil, Mary overheard Madeline Joyce talking about travelling to Brazil while shopping, Varnheim convinced her to bring the bracelet as a "gift" to her sister. Mary was unaware that Madeline, in her alter-ego of Miss America, was assigned by the government to seek out missing government agent Ted Banning who happened to be captured by Rex Herr.[3]
A short time afterword, Mary was convinced that the double cross against her sister was complete and made arrangements to travel to Buenos Aires herself to sell the formula to a crime boss named Velasquesa. Arriving in Brazil, Mary placed the formula in a safety deposit box at the Nacionalio Bank,[1] and then checked into the Casa De Lutrio under the alias Jane Rutgers. After doing so, she dropped her personally monogrammed pencil which was picked up by Belgium freedom fighter Louis Remiens just before he was captured by men working for a spy named James Ilse.[2] She then called Velasquesa to make a deal for the film, unaware that her sister Elise was overhearing the conversation and later killed Velasquesa and was heading to her hotel to get revenge for her double-cross.[4] Elise then confronted her sister in the hotel room demanding that she hand over the formula. However, Rex Herr had traced the formula to the hotel and shot Elise dead. Rex then offered Mary the chance to hand over the formula, but they were then attacked by Miss America, allowing Mary to flee.[5] Rushing to the Nacionalio Bank, Mary went to the safety deposit box only to learn that the formula had been stolen by James Ilse. Before she could go to recover it, she was captured by Miss America who turned her over to the Brazilian authorities. Miss America later recovered the formula before it could fall into the wrong hands.[1]
Mary's subsequent fate is unknown.