DR. MARY ALICE BURKE
Real Name: Mary Alice Anders Burke
Identity/Class: Normal human
Occupation: Nuclear researcher
Group Membership: U.S. Atomic Research Center
Affiliations: Randall Andros, Dr. Burdick, Dale, Dr. Octopus (Otto Octavius), Dr. Strange (Stephen Strange), Clarice Levon, Mary Octavius, Sean, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Carolyn Trainer (aka Dr. Octopus/Lady Octopus)
Enemies: Green Goblin (Norman Osborn)
Known Relatives: Ronald Burke (husband, deceased)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: New York City, New York
First Appearance: Spider-Man Unlimited I#3 (November, 1993)
Powers/Abilities: Mary Alice Anders is a talented nuclear physicist.
Height:
5’5’’ (by approximation)
Weight:
120 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes:
Blue
Hair:
Black; sometimes blonde
History:
(Spider-Man
Unlimited I#3 (fb) - BTS) – Working at the U.S. Atomic Research Center, nuclear physicist Mary Alice Anders knew co-worker Otto Octavius by reputation and
was impressed by his mechanical arms that he had invented to handle dangerous
chemicals.
(Spider-Man Unlimited I#3 (fb) ) - Mary Alice Anders was introduced to
Otto Octavius by a co-worker.
(Spider-Man/Dr. Octopus: Year One#2) – Mary Alice watched Otto Octavius while he was experimenting with radiation and she found herself distressed and confused about his work. Later, she reintroduced herself to Otto and apologized for her small outburst. Later, Otto was in his lab, in his underwear, working with mechanical arms that allowed him to pick up radioactive materials, but Mary Alice and Dr. Burdick interrupted him, causing the experiment to go awry. Mary Alice rushed over to Otto, handing him his broken glasses. Otto initially asked Mary Alice to leave, then he opened up to her about his plans to connect his mechanical arms to his spine so he could have better control of them. Otto opened up as he talked about his research, but he fled from the room when Mary Alice embraced him.
(Superior Spider-Man Team-Up I#12 (fb)) – Otto and Mary Alice they became fast friends, bantering about science, such as the application of memory in the brain.
(Spider-Man Unlimited I#3 (fb) – BTS) – Mary Alice was impressed by the mechanical arms that Otto had created, and they began growing closer.
(Superior Spider-Man Team-Up I#12 (fb)) – While on a date with Otto, Mary Alice wondered if they could see something silly, and Otto consented.
(Spider-Man Unlimited I#18 (fb) – BTS) – When Otto courted Mary Alice, Carolyn Trainer looked on in jealousy and frustration.
(spider-Man Unlimited I#3 (fb)) – When Otto proposed, Mary Alice agreed to marry him.
(Superior Spider-Man II#6 (fb) ) – Otto and Mary Alice saw a homeless man, Stephen Strange, outside, drunk and destitute. Otto tossed the man a dollar, remembering Strange’s former arrogance.
(Spider-Man Unlimited I#3 (fb)) – Overjoyed, Otto told his mother, who responded by being very angered that her son would abandon her like that after she raised him.
(Web of Spider-Man II#12 (fb) – BTS) – Overhearing Mary Octavius tell her son Otto that he’d be happier without a fiancée, Mary Alice rushed away in tears.
(Spider-Man Unlimited I#3 (fb)) – Influenced by his mother’s doubts, Otto broke the engagement with Mary Alice.
(Superior Spider-Man Team-Up I#12 (fb) ) – Mary Alice she asked Otto, in tears, if they could try again, but he refused.
(Spider-Man/Dr. Octopus: Year One#2) –Days later, Otto informed Mary Alice that he was transferring her to do maintenance at a different facility, stating that her ‘loose morals’ should be utilized somewhere else.
(Spider-Man Unlimited I#3 (fb) – BTS) – It was speculated, but never confirmed, that he used his influence with his cousin to get Mary Alice Anders dismissed from the U.S. Atomic Research Center.
(Spider-Man Unlimited I#3 (fb) – BTS) – His heart broken, Octavius was careless and cold, and three weeks later, he was involved in an accident that turned him into Dr. Octopus.
(Spider-Man/Dr. Octopus: Year One#3) – Hearing about Otto having an accident, Mary Alice rushed to check on him, learning that his mechanical arms had been fused to his form. As she worried over him, doctors informed her that his mother had died of a heart attack after a scuffle with Otto. The authorities brought Mary Alice in to see Otto, but he was cruel to her, and she fled as Otto lashed out, killing security agents. Spider-Man attacked and battled Otto, and Mary-Alice begged him to stop. As a tentacle closed around her neck, Mary Alice heard Otto say he was no longer the same, and he advised her to run before he killed her. Mary Alice ran.
(Spider-Man/Dr.
Octopus: Year One#4) – Mary Alice returned to work and found her fellow
scientists, including Sean and Dale, panicking over the Dr. Octopus news.
(Spider-Man/Dr. Octopus: Year One#5) – Dr. Octopus attacked the nuclear reactor where Mary Alice worked, harming some of her coworkers. After seeing Otto defeated at the hands of Spider-Man, Mary Alice tried rushing to Otto’s defense, but he angrily dismissed her and sent her away.
(Spider-Man Unlimited I#3 (fb) – BTS) – In time, Mary Alice married Ronald Burke.
(Untold Tales of Spider-Man: Arms and the Man (fb) – BTS / Superior Spider-Man Team-Up#11 (fb) – BTS) – Mary Alice was driving with her husband on the West Side Highway when the Green Goblin caused her car run off the road.
(Spider-Man Unlimited I#3 (fb) – BTS) – Ronald was killed in the accident.
(Untold Tales of Spider-Man: Arms and the Man (fb) – BTS / Superior Spider-Man Team-Up I#11 (fb) – BTS) – Injured, Mary Alice was taken to Mary Alice was taken to St. Luke's near Columbia University. She needed a blood transfusion, and the Goblin arranged for her to have HIV-infected blood.
(Superior Spider-Man II#11 (fb)) – Green Goblin took Dr. Octopus in to see Mary Alice during the transfusion, revealing its tainted nature.
(Superior Spider-Man Team-Up I#12 (fb) ) – Mary Alice woke in the hospital and saw Dr. Octopus fighting the Green Goblin, but she soon passed out.
(Untold Tales of Spider-Man: Arms and the Man – BTS) – Mary Alice contracted AIDS from the transfusion, and received treatment at St. Luke’s. Mary Alice launched a lawsuit against Otto, Thomas Hargrove, and the U.S. Atomic Research Center. Reporter Randall Andros contacted Mary Alice, wanting to interview her about Octavius, but attorney Clarice Levin advised Mary Alice not to speak to him.
(Spider-Man Unlimited I#3 (fb) - BTS) - She was one of several individuals with AIDS featured in the Daily Bugle in an article about the success of the Robeaux Research Center in its AIDS research.
(Spider-Man
Unlimited I#3 (fb), Superior Spider-Man Team-Up I#12 (fb)) – Learning of Mary
Alice’s diagnosis, Otto worked for weeks to try and cure Mary Alice, but the disease
killed her.
(Superior Spider-Man Team-Up I#12 (fb)) – Otto visited Mary Alice’s grave.
Comments: Created by Tom DeFalco and Ron Lim
I noticed something about Tom DeFalco's writing while reading
this story. I'm not sure if this is common knowledge or not, but he used a TON
of exclamation points in his dialogue between characters. I was really bored and
counted the sentences of dialogue (excluding the narration) and counted
literally 16 times more sentences with exclamation points than with periods. I
don't know if he always does this or what...
That style has been around for a long time. Read some of
Stan and Jack's Fantastic Four!
Big thanks to CHANGELING for supplying the image
Profile by Stunner. Update/expansion by Chadman
CLARIFICATIONS: No connection to:
images
Spider-Man
Unlimited I#3, p9, pan2 (main)
Spider-Man/Doctor
Octopus: Year One#2, p9, pan3 (blonde)
Superior
Spider-Man II#11, p20, pan1 (with Green Goblin in hospital)
Superior
Spider-Man II#12, p8, pan1 (Mary Alice at her grave)
Appearances:
Spider-Man
Unlimited I#3 (November, 1993) - Tom DeFalco (writer), Ron Lim
(pencils), Jim Sanders III (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Untold
Tales of Spider-Man: Arms and the Man (October, 1997) – Keith R.A. DeCandido
(writer), Stan Lee, Kurt Busiek (editors)
Spider-Man-Doctor
Octopus: Year One#2-5 (August-December, 2004) – Zeb Wells (writer), Kaare
Andrews (artist), Warren Simons (editor)
Web
of Spider-Man II#12/2 (November, 2010) – Roger Stern (writer), Phil Briones
(artist), Tom Brennan (editor)
Superior
Spider-Man Team-Up I#11-12 (May,-June 2014) – Kevin Shinick (writer), Marco
Checchetto, Ron Frenz (pencilers), Sal Buscema (inker), Ellie Pyle (editor)
Superior
Spider-Man II#6 (July, 2019) – Christos N. Gage (writer), Mike Hawthorne
(penciler), Wade Von Grawbadger (inker), Nick Lowe (editor)
First posted 12/07/2003
Last updated: 04/29/2020
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
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like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
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