MERCURIAL VIRUS
Classification: Sentient toxic waste
Creator: Scarmore Inc. (Mr. Darby, Charles Evans, others)
User/Possessors: Venom (Eddie Brock), Abby Rubin and other workers at Scarmore Inc.
First Appearance: Venom: The Madness#1 (November, 1993)
Powers/Abilities/Functions: It causes madness after infection. In the case of Venom it enabled the victim to further mutate. Venom gained extra arms, heads and claws.
History:
(Venom: The Madness3 (fb) ) - The Mercurial Virus came to existence in illegal mercury testing at Scarmore. Some of the workers at Scarmore went insane when they infected themselves by accident with the viral mercury.
(Venom: The Madness2 (fb) ) - Scarmore Inc dumped the project when their former employees tried to sue them and got rid of all evidence including the Mercury Virus.
(Venom: The Madness1) - The toxic waste barrels of Scarmore Inc were emptied into the sea in San Francisco. The Mercurial Virus then flowed into the sewers. It felt that someone was near when Venom and Juggernaut were fighting in the sewers and the Mercurial Virus thought that Venom was alike it. It wanted to survive and leave the sewers by bonding with something or someone. Venom was dropped into the pool with the Mercurial Virus by Juggernaut and drowned in it. The Mercurial Virus then bonded with Venom.
(Venom: The Madness2) - The symbiote didn't resist the bonding process and the Mercurial Virus became a part of Venom. New heads and arms grew out of the symbiote as a result of the bonding. The virus wanted to help Venom to protect the innocent, but it also drove him slowly (more) insane. Under the influence of the virus, Venom killed a cleaning woman at Scarmore Inc. whom he mistook for the president of the company. The next day he met with the female lawyer Beck again. Eddie suffered under a fever caused by the virus and lost control of the symbiote. The symbiote tried to bond with Beck, but she was saved by an attack of Juggernaut who had been hired to eliminate her. The insanity caused by the virus was finally too much and Venom disappeared in a portal to the Realm of Madness.
(Venom: The Madness3) - In the Realm of Madness Venom defeated Paranoia with additional claws the virus grew for him. The fever caused by the virus dropped while Venom was fighting Necromancer and Dusk and he returned to Earth because the madness in him was not enough to hold him in the Realm of Madness anymore. Venom later brought the remains of the Mercurial Virus back to the sewers to the pool where it first bonded with him.
Comments: Created by Ann Nocenti, Kelley Jones and John Beatty
It was not mentioned when the virus became sentient. It could've been that the virus was sentient from the beginning or that it became sentient after it was mixed up with all the other waste flowing around in the sewers.
Mercury? Driving people insane for centuries would be a nice slogan for the
product Scarmore tried to produce with it. What business was Scarmore Inc.
in anyway? Get me the Mad Hatter!
--In case you don't get that reference: They used to use
mercury in making hats. Mercury toxicity causes insanity (or other neurological
disease), hence the term "Mad as a Hatter," from which was derived the Mad
Hatter character...
Could it have obtained sentience from That Which Endures?
--Carycomic
Clarifications:
The Mercurial Virus has no known connection to
Mr. Darby has no known connections to
Charles and Mrs. Evans have no known connection to
Abby Rubin has no known connection to
Mr. Darby
He was the vice president of Scarmore Inc. and the loyal right hand of Charles Evans. He got the order to take care of the people involved in the lawsuits against Scarmore. Darby hired Black Tom and the Juggernaut to get the job done. Mr. Evans got angry with him when he was summoned to the court by Beck Underwood. Darby continued to follow the orders of Mr. Evans and got the records for the Mercury Project for a cover-up. The guy who had the records wondered why Darby was participating in this. Darby once again called Black Tom and agreed to his price for another attack on Beck Underwood. Shortly after that he was ordered by Evans to finally stop Beck. When Juggernaut had Beck he was called by Darby who told him to just guard her for awhile. Darby then gave the evidence against Scarmore Inc. about participating in illegal mercury testing, the following cover-up and the kidnapping of Beck Underwood to the law and media.
--Venom: The Madness#1 (Venom: The Madness2-3
Charles Evans
He was the CEO of Scarmore Inc. and ordered the disposal of the toxic waste. He also ordered his vice president Darby to hire somebody to get rid of the people who were suing Scarmore for driving several of their employees insane. He was at home giving a party when he got his court summons. He got angry with Darby because the lawyer was still around. Once again he ordered his lackey Darby to get rid of the lawyer, but he didn't want to know anything about how Darby would do it. After the cleaning woman was killed in his chair he knew that somebody wanted him to be dead. He didn't want the police around the place and told Darby once again to stop the lawyer. He worked together with the media to denounce Beck, but when Darby came forward with damaging evidence Evans was done. Indictments against Charles Evans were issued and his wife requested a divorce.
--Venom: The Madness#1 (Venom: The Madness2-3
Mrs. Evans
She was the wife of Mrs. Evans and liked to be a part of high society. Her father was the original owner of Scarmore Inc. and never trusted Charles with the family fortune, something she liked to bring up. Her dog was her true love and like her son to her. Besides that she was angry that her husband had financial problems and that he couldn't handle the firm. She applied for divorce when Charles was indicted.
--Venom: The Madness#1 (Venom: The Madness3-BTS
Abby Rubin
Abby Rubin was an employee at Scarmore Inc. and worked on the Mercury Project until he became crazy through the Mercurial Virus. When he was cured again he lived in the underground of San Francisco. He was saved by Venom when he was beaten up by some thugs in an alley. Beck Underwood asked him to help her in a case against Scarmore and Abby told her everything he knew about the Mercury Project. Some time later he ran to Beck and Brock in the underground city and told them that Beck's lone testifier pulled out of the lawsuit after he was beaten up by the Juggernaut. He screamed at Brock because his answer to violence was more violence. When he met again with Beck to go through their papers they talked about the fight between Juggernaut and Venom. Abby told Beck that Venom was tough enough to survive such a fight. Abby talked more about the evil corporations that get away all the time and wanted to get Venom to fight these big evils too. At night he met Venom in the streets and Abby told him that the president would never be caught and that he was the real evil to fight. Venom decided to kill the president of Scarmore after he heard these words. When Abby heard about the murdered cleaning woman at Scarmore he felt guilty and thought over all his harmful words and actions.
--Venom: The Madness#1 (Venom: The Madness2-3
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Appearances:
First Posted: 09/24/2004
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Venom: The Madness#1, p19, pan4 (main image)
Venom: The Madness#2, p3, pan1 (virus empowered Venom)
Venom: The Madness#1, p13, pan7 (Mr. Darby)
Venom: The Madness#1, p12, pan5 (Charles Evans)
Venom: The Madness#1, p12, pan6 (Mrs. Evans)
Venom: The Madness#3, p14, pan3 (Abby Rubin)
Venom: The Madness#1 (November, 1993) - Ann Nocenti (writer), Kelley Jones (pencils), John Beatty (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Venom: The Madness#2 (December, 1993) - Ann Nocenti (writer), Kelley Jones (pencils), John Beatty, Kelley Jones, Al Milgrom & Keith Williams (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Venom: The Madness#3 (January, 1994) - Ann Nocenti (writer), Kelley Jones (pencils), John Beatty, Al Milgrom & Keith Wilson (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Last updated: 09/19/2018
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