MERCY

Real Name: Abigail Mercy Wright

Identity/Class: Human mutate

Occupation: Suicide assistant;
    former warrior, intelligence coordinator at Gamma Base

Group Membership: None; formerly Red Hulk's Thunderbolts (Agent Venom/Eugene Thompson, Deadpool/"Wade Wilson", Elektra Natchios, Punisher/Frank Castle, Red Hulk/Thaddeus Ross, Red Leader/Samuel Sterns), Desert Base

Affiliations: She sees herself as an ally of those she slays (all listed under enemies);
    formerly the Abomination, Doc Samson, Gamma Base, Lifeform, Mister Hyde

Enemies: Abomination (Emil Blonsky), Alfred, Arnold, Betty Banner, Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), Hulk (Bruce Banner), Kata Jayan Peoples Army, Mephisto, Ernie Rice, Supergiant, Thanos' forces, Thunderbolts (Agent Venom/Eugene Thompson, Deadpool/"Wade Wilson", Elektra Natchios, Punisher/Frank Castle, Red Hulk/Thaddeus Ross, Red Leader/Samuel Sterns)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Angel of Mercy, Kâli

Place of Birth: Toledo, Ohio

Base of Operations: Mobile;
    formerly Gamma Base

Education: Masters in Philosophy from Barnard University

First Appearance: Incredible Hulk II#338 (December, 1987)

 

 

Powers/Abilities: Mercy can change into various forms, human and nonhuman, and can even demonstrate superhuman strength, etc. in those forms. She can scan the minds of others, taking on forms pleasurable or painful to them. She can also levitate, teleport, become immaterial, invisible (completely or selectively, only allowing those she wants to see her), fire destructive energy blasts, and fire life-draining energy javelins. She is able to re-form from most forms of destruction.

    Mercy seeks out those she sees as wishing or deserving death, pushing them over the line into death.

 

 

 

Height: 5'9" (variable)
Weight: 135 lbs. (variable)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Varying shades of purple; originally brown (dyed magenta)

 

 

 

History:
(Incredible Hulk: Destruction#3 (fb) - BTS) - Abigail Mercy Wright was employed running the intelligence unit at Gamma Base for a period of time (perhaps as long as two years), performing admirably. She was promoted to director at a research division, but shortly thereafter she began having headaches and vision problems, and she was diagnosed with a brain tumor that would destroy her brain within six months to a year.

(Incredible Hulk: Destruction#3 (fb)) - Mercy met with her supervisor to tender her resignation, intending to spend her remaining time to travel. Her superior convinced her not to quit, but instead to undergo experimental therapy using his radical radiation treatments (which would take only a week to perform).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Incredible Hulk: Destruction#3 (fb)) - Mercy's supervisor expressed his satisfaction with the results, but Mercy was less than happy at being turned into a superhuman being. She struck out at her supervisor, but she was forced to accept that her body was now dependent on her supervisor's radiation treatment to survive. She could live at Gamma Base indefinitely, but her body would shut down in a day without treatment. Her supervisor then demanded her obedience to continue the treatments, and instructed her to retrieve Bruce Banner.
    Mercy confronted the Hulk as he was preparing to steal some fuel rods for an intended curative procedure Banner was working with Samson on. She commented on their similarities and differences, and she then scanned his mind and took the form of that which he feared most: the devil-Hulk within him, his darkest and most destructive aspect. The Hulk initially fled, but he eventually rallied himself and fought back, grabbing its tail and smashing it to the floor. The Hulk then leapt atop the creature and punched it in the back of the head, shattering its skull and killing it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Thunderbolts III#13 (fb)) - Mercy went into a dormant state like a coma after her battle with the Hulk. The military was unable to wake her up and all scans came back as static so she was left in a locked room at the Gypsum Flats Testing Facility because she was dangerous. The base was decommissioned at some point.

   General Ross acquired the key to Mercy's room and went to Gypsum Flats Testing Facility with two soldiers, Campbell and Hernandez. Ross was unaware that Campbell's wife had left him the day before taking their children with her, but he knew that they meant everything to him. When Mercy felt Campbell's anguish she awakened and granted him his death wish by absorbing his life force to restore her shriveled form. Moments later she teleported away.

(Incredible Hulk II#338) - Mercy appeared to Alfred, a man who owed the I.R.S. $20, 000 and had briefly contemplated suicide while sitting in his bathtub. She claimed to be his angel of mercy, and then dropped his stereo into the tub, fatally electrocuting him. Soon after, she appeared on the dreamscape before Bruce Banner and the grey Hulk, making the Hulk appear to die as a gift to Banner. Minutes after that she activated Clay Quartermain's van while Banner was standing behind it, attempting to run him over. Banner dropped below its axels and held onto its frame, escaping death though receiving some nasty abrasions. Rick rushed into the now-empty van and shut it down. She continued to follow Banner, appearing before him at a hospital as he was trying to track down Betty Banner. She told Banner to let her send him on to the next life as she hurled scalpels at him, but she teleported away after Banner ducked and she hit an innocent man
    After Banner became the Hulk at sundown, Mercy appeared again, phasing through his attack and then blasting him with an energy javelin that became lodged in his sternum. At the same time, Mercy appeared to Banner on the dreamscape, injuring him in the same fashion. She told Bruce that she was an alien mercenary, helping those who were unhappy with their lives, but lacked the strength to move on to their next lives. She told him that she had been to many planets, but that Earth was filled with so many poor souls that she would make it her home, adapting her form to match humanity. While the Hulk continued to fight her, Banner nearly succumbed to the pain and allowed her to end his life, but at the last minute he decided that he couldn't die with all of the damage he had caused unatoned for. The Hulk then tore the javelin out from his chest and hurled it into Mercy, who changed into what seemed to be her true, alien form. Banner then attacked this amorphous creature, which fought back, trying to suffocate him. The Hulk leapt into a gas station, tore open a tank, and then lit a magnesium flare, causing a fiery explosion.
    It appeared that Mercy had been consumed in the flames, but shortly thereafter she appeared on a nearby highway, posing as a hitchhiker to a down-on-his luck trucker, Ernie Rice.

 

 

 

 

(Incredible Hulk Annual I#16) - Mercy appeared to Arnold, a homeless man who considered that he no longer deserved to live, pushing him in front of a moving truck. Another homeless person, a friend of Arnold's, then explained that people could be depressed without really wanting to die. Mercy realized that she had killed a lot of people who might not have wanted to die and decided she would have to re-think her plan.
    Mercy later confronted Lifeform, who possessed two separate personae: his original human self who wished to die, and his monstrous Lifeform self who wished to eat everyone else. Mercy was not sure how to handle the two different aspects, and then she remembered the two personae of the Hulk. Mercy transported Lifeform to meet the Hulk, and the two fought savagely. Mercy told the Hulk that she wanted him to talk to Lifeform, and the Hulk told her that talking was Banner's department. She then transformed into liquid form and jumped down the Hulk's throat, knocking him out. When he awoke, both the Hulk and Banner were present; one of them was Lifeform, but each believed himself to be the real deal. The Hulk and Banner debated over right and wrong and shades of gray, which of them was the real one, etc. When Lifeform threatened to attack Banner, Banner convinced the Hulk that the Hulk might be Lifeform, and if Banner died, the Hulk would die, too. The Hulk fought Lifeform, but Banner was killed in the process. As the Hulk waited for sunrise to see whether he was real or not, Mercy appeared, revealing that she had taken Banner's form. She further told him that he should believe in perseverance in the face of hopelessness, because if Banner didn't believe in it, he would have killed himself (and the Hulk) long ago.

(Incredible Hulk II#426) - The "Professor Hulk," having activated a failsafe to protect himself from getting too mad and causing too much damage, was stuck in the form of Banner with the mind of the savage Hulk. Mercy appeared to the savage Banner, noting that he had seemed happy in recent months. When she found that he was worked up over Betty, Mercy decided to go visit Betty. She visited the childlike Betty in her mindscape, suggesting that she might want to go visit her mother (who had died years before). The childlike Betty accepted the offer, and her body flatlined on the operating table (she had been injured in the final battle with the Pantheon). However, as they flew up into the sky, the childlike Betty sensed the savage Bruce raging in a plane as it passed above them. Despite Mercy's insistence to the contrary, Betty decided that Bruce needed her, and her spirit returned to her body, allowing the doctors to resuscitate her. In addition, her spirit touched Bruce, calming him and allowing him to return to Hulk form (in time to save him from a fall from the airplane). Mercy then appeared before the Hulk, telling her that Betty would have been happier where she was going, but that Betty had loved him more than she loved herself. When the Hulk said he felt the same way, Mercy said, "You hope." before vanishing.

(Incredible Hulk II#458) - The Hulk--at the time divided into two beings with half existing as a separate Hulk on Franklin Richard's Counter-Earth--suffered great rage over his recent experiences as War, a pawn of Apocalypse, during which time he had seriously injured Rick Jones. Mercy found him fuming within the luggage bay of a plane, and she forced his mind inside himself, knowing that Mister Hyde was on the same flight. She then presented his inert form to Hyde, offering to let him put the Hulk out of his misery, but Hyde refused to slay him in such a form. Hyde's mind brushed the Hulk's on his mindscape (presumably Mercy's doing), taunting him and threatening his loved ones, goading the Hulk to fight back on both the psychic and physical planes (and the airplane, too). Still, the Hulk's mind was dulled by her influence, but when Hyde attempted to break his neck and the Hulk refused to give in, Mercy assumed that he refused to die at Hyde's hands only because of his pride and his belief that Hyde was not a worthy foe. She apparently withdrew all of her influence from the Hulk, who struck back at Hyde with his full power. Outmatched, Hyde tore a wing off the plane and rode it down to Earth, leaving the Hulk to climb under the rapidly descending airplane and try to cushion its fall.

(Incredible Hulk II#459) - The Hulk saved the plane's passengers, but Mercy still felt that the Hulk wanted/needed to die, so she guided him to the Abomination. A fierce struggle ensued, but the Hulk eventually overcame the Abomination with his relentless onslaught. The tunnel they had been fighting in then broke, causing a flash flood that swept the Hulk out into the city. When Mercy appeared to him, he was too exhausted to fight back, but she told him she didn't think he wanted to die again. However, she then showed him shadows of the Celestials (heralding the return of his other half and the rest of the heroes on Counter-Earth), telling him that when "they" arrived, he was going to wish that she had finished him.

(Incredible Hulk: Destruction#4 (fb) - BTS) - Mercy summoned Bruce Banner, apparently intending for the Hulk to slay the Abomination.

(Incredible Hulk: Destruction#3) - As Doc Samson and General Ross tested the Abomination's suitability as a government agent for violent operations, Mercy appeared, allowing only the Abomination to see and hear her as she taunted him. Samson and Ross thought the Abomination mad as he ranted at empty space. Ultimately the Abomination broke free, just as Bruce Banner arrived to stop him.

(Incredible Hulk: Destruction#4) - While the Hulk and the Abomination battled, Mercy allowed Samson to sense her presence, telling him that the Abomination needed to die and that she had brought the Hulk there to kill him. When the Hulk got the better of the Abomination and began holding his head underwater, Mercy spoke to the Hulk, telling him that the Abomination really wanted to die, but just lacked the strength. Despite this--or in spite of this--the Hulk pulled the Abomination out of the water after he had passed out. Mercy was disappointed, but figured there would be another chance.

(Thunderbolts III#13 (fb) - BTS) - Mercy found a new home in a Hindu temple dedicated to Kâli in the Himalayas. She changed her appearance to look like the goddess and many poor souls pilgrimage to her to die by her hands.

(Thunderbolts III#13 (fb)) - Red Hulk (Ross) heard rumors about the temple and followed the lead. He witnessed Mercy, posing as Kâli, slay a poor man and confronted her. Mercy recognized Ross despite his new looks and got into a fight because Ross thought she had no right to decide when people died. Mercy was not willing to give up what she had, but after Ross destroyed the temple by causing an avalanche. Mercy survived to Ross' surprise, but was now willing to listen to him. Ross revealed that he had a plan that would bring all the death Mercy needed to her and she agreed to join him until she was no longer interested.

(Thunderbolts III#1 (fb)) - After she was hit with an energy beam during a battle with the Hulk Mercy stumbled to a truck stop and was picked up by a truck driver. A short time later the truck was stopped and Mercy was taken away by soldiers and put into a special cell where she chained to the ceiling. Thunderbolt Ross kept the key to her cell.

(Thunderbolts III#1) - Some time later Ross returned to the cell with the key to release Mercy and add her to his team of Thunderbolts.

(Thunderbolts III#3 (fb) - BTS) - Ross had Mercy brought to Madripoor in a green shipping container.

(Thunderbolts III#3) - Mercy opened the container's door just a bit so she could speak out at Red Hulk (Ross) and Deadpool while they were talking. Red Hulk was surprised Mercy didn't open the door for Deadpool.

(Thunderbolts III#5) - Mercy floated towards Red Leader and Ross on Kata Jaya. Ross was in the process of dying from thirst after saving the Red Leader from a headshot wound. Mercy felt his pain coursing through her, but couldn't help him. She told Red Leader, who could still not access all his knowledge, how she was fascinated by the power within him and Ross (gamma radiation) and that Ross' pain was hurting her. Red Leader offered to help her and she explained to him that he had foreseen her arrival, even though he couldn't remember it now, that he had hidden bits of all his memory all over (the internet) because others had tried to access it and that nobody but him could understand his limitless knowledge.

(Thunderbolts III#6) - When Ross regained consciousness he immediately transformed into Red Hulk and was shocked that Red Leader was still alive (not remembering that he had saved him) and that Mercy was present. Mercy was glad that Ross still remembered her then reminded him that he had brought Red Leader to Kata Jaya for a purpose. She then left because her power to bring death to those that seek oblivion was needed elsewhere on the island. Agent Venom demanded from the Kata Jayan Peoples Army to hand over Madman to him, but they were willing to fight Agent Venom and die to get their revenge on Madman. Mercy arrived and granted the revolutionaries' death wish, incinerating them with her powers.

(Thunderbolts III#11) - Mercy floated in front of Red Leader and told him that his purpose was to lead.

(Thunderbolts III#13) - Agent Venom was doing supply inventory when he found the cabin where Mercy was kept on the submarine. He wanted to know what she was and why she was on the sub, but Mercy merely told him that she wasn't interested in him anymore because since he got bonded to the symbiote he was not wishing for his die anymore. She wondered if removing the symbiote would bring that feeling back in him and ripped off the symbiote with ease, but alas it didn't. She released the symbiote to bond with Thompson again and reiterated that he didn't interest her anymore. Agent Venom left to confront Ross about Mercy. Though Ross believed he had her under control he was shocked to learn from Agent Venom that Mercy had killed innocent people on Kata Jaya without his knowledge. After learning what Mercy did to Agent Venom moments earlier Ross was willing to tell him how she became part of the team. While Ross discussed Mercy with Thompson Mercy floated in her room.

(Thunderbolts III#15) - Floating in her room in the Thunderbolts' submarine base Mercy suddenly felt millions of people thinking about death close by and it gained her interest. (Thanos' forces were attacking New York City)

(Thunderbolts III#16) - When the Black Order's Supergiant broke into the Thunderbolts' submarine and tried to absorb Red Leader's mind Mercy attacked him because Red Leader was surrounded by death and interested her. Mercy punched Supergiant so hard she flew out of the submarine. Mercy told Red Hulk to get Red Leader to safety while she flew off into the city to deal with all the death there. Red Leader was sure she didn't care whether the aliens or humans died.

(Thunderbolts III#17) - Floating above Madison Square Park Mercy rained down deadly energy beams on all the aliens and humans below, killing many. When Red Hulk attacked the alien flagship it caused the distraction needed to pull Mercy away from innocent people. Mercy felt the fear of death at the hands of Red Hulk emanating from the flagship and flew towards it.

(Thunderbolts III#18) - Mercy destroyed the flagship and was then confronted by Red Hulk, who made a deal with her. He offered her get her as much death as she needed and Mercy agreed to destroy as many alien ships as she could and not kill one more human because she felt he was telling the truth. Mercy rained death upon Thanos' followers, destroying numerous ships.

(Thunderbolts III#20) - After what had transpired in New York City Ross had a meeting with the rest of the team to form a plan to deal with Mercy because his promise to bring her all the death he needed wasn't much of a plan as he had no clue to accomplish it. Red Leader came up with the idea to send her to Hell because it was the place with the highest concentration of people praying for oblivion. The Thunderbolts found Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), who used a ritual to summon Mercy and then send her straight to Hell. Mercy felt the summon, but instead of her Ghost Rider accidentally sent himself, Red Hulk, Red Leader, Agent Venom and Deadpool to Hell. (It had something to with another storyline that made Red Hulk and Agent Venom possible successors to the throne of Hell.)

(Thunderbolts III#21) - Red Hulk and Red Leader signed a contract with Mephisto to take out Strong Guy, the current ruler of Hell, in exchange for Mephisto taking Mercy to Hell. On Earth Mercy destroyed a whole mansion filled with criminals to appease Elektra and Punisher, who were there to kill them. In return she wanted to know where Red Hulk and Red Leader had gone because she couldn't feel them anymore.

(Thunderbolts III#22) - Mercy threatened to kill Elektra if she didn't tell her where Red Leader and Red Hulk were. Punisher shot Mercy in the back several times without effect. Mercy crushed his hand while Elektra stabbed her in the back with Sais. Mercy carried both into the sky and told them to beg for mercy until she suddenly felt a strange pull. Mercy was teleported to Hell and incidentally dropped Elektra and Punisher from a few hundred feet in the sky. Arriving in Hell Mercy felt all the desperate beings and it was like Heaven to her. She immediately started to attack with her powers. Mephisto was angered that the Thunderbolts brought a soul-vacuum like Mercy to his realm, but it was part of the deal and they had taken care of Strong Guy, so that was it and the Thunderbolts were sent back to Earth while Mercy was left behind in Hell to feast.

Comments: Created by Peter David, Todd McFarlane, and Jim Sanders III.

    I really don't know what to make of Hulk: Destruction. It can't fit into continuity if you accept everything. I'd buy Blonsky having a bigger role at Gamma Base, perhaps even running things for awhile. However, we can't make Doc Samson active before the Abomination (that's like 50 issues (4 years) revision), and after his appearance/mutation, the Abomination was taken by the Stranger to his Lab world, so he can't have gone back to work at Gamma Base. I have to file this under House of M related reality warps, with some overlapping with Earth-616 reality. I'm inclined to take what fits and fudge the rest. There seems to be a LOT more of that lately.

   Hulk: Destruction was eventually designated to be Reality-5901 (with some events of the series being mirrored in 616).
--David A. Zuckerman

Agent Venom was really cranky about Mercy killing innocents on Kata Jaya. Not only did he have a nightmare with her in Thunderbolts III#9, he also tried to talk Deadpool into turning on Red Hulk in Thunderbolts III#11 as a result of the Mercy incident on Kata Jaya.
--Markus Raymond

Mercy's flashback in Thunderbolts are a problem! Thunderbolts III#1 appears to be after or rather during her appearance in Incredible Hulk II#338 where she was picked up by a truck driver in the end. There are two problems with this. The smaller problem is that in #338 it was during the night and it was clearly day during the flashback in Thunderbolts III#1. A slightly bigger problem is that she has appeared several times since then and according to Thunderbolts III#1 she was in a cell since she was caught in the flashback. The flashback in #1 becomes an even bigger problem with the Mercy flashbacks in #13. Her time in India can easily take place after whatever is considered her most recent appearance before that but her incarceration seen in #1, if it was meant to be a flashback to Incredible Hulk II#338 is even less possible because it directly contradicts the events in #13. The Marvel Chronology Project's solution was to place the Thunderbolts III#1 flashback after the India flashback in #13. Does it make sense? If you squint and ignore that the India flashback was apparently meant to be her joining the Thunderbolts, sure. Now we have her joining forces with Ross, a fight against the Hulk we had never seen before, a "lengthy" (lengthy in quotes because it could've only been weeks at best) stay in a cell and her release at the hands of Ross to finally join the Thunderbolts for real this time around even though she had seen them already in a vision or something during her confrontation with Ross, who was already the Red Hulk at the time, in India. BTW the MCP considers Hulk: Destruction non-canon (which we kind of do as well, but not to 100%), but that doesn't help much with the sheer impossibility of the contradicting Thunderbolts flashbacks.
--Markus Raymond

Profile by Snood. Update by Markus Raymond (Thunderbolts).

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:

images: (not including ads)
Thunderbolts III#22, p15, pan1 (main)
Incredible Hulk II#338, p1, pan6 (face)
Incredible Hulk: Destruction#3, p5, pan2 (pre-mutation body)
Incredible Hulk: Destruction#3, p16, pan1 (initial mutation form)
Thunderbolts III#13, p12, pan3 (posing as Kâli)
Incredible Hulk II#338, p18, pan6 (alien form)
Incredible Hulk Annual I#16, story p7, pan1 (original appearance)
Incredible Hulk II#426, p4, pan4 (alternate full body)
Thunderbolts III#6, p5, pan2 (flying, blue flames of death)
Thunderbolts III#17, p2, pan4 (flying, energy blasts of death and destruction)

Appearances:
Incredible Hulk II#338 (December, 1987) - Peter David (writer), Todd McFarlane (pencils), Jim Sanders III (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Incredible Hulk Annual I#16 (1990) - Peter David (writer), Angel Medina (pencils), Larry Mahlstead (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#426 (February, 1995) - Peter David (writer), Liam Sharp (pencils), Robin Riggs (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#458-459 (November-December, 1997) - Peter David (writer), Adam Kubert (pencils), Mark Farmer (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Incredible Hulk: Destruction#3-4 (November-December, 2005) - Peter David (writer), Jim Muniz & James Raiz (pencils), Kevin Conrad & Mark McKenna (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Thunderbolts III#1 (February, 2013) - Daniel Way (writer), Steve Dillon (artist), Jordan D. White (editor)
Thunderbolts III#3 (March, 2013) - Daniel Way (writer), Steve Dillon (artist), Jordan D. White (editor)
Thunderbolts III#5-6 (April-May, 2013) - Daniel Way (writer), Steve Dillon (artist), Jordan D. White (editor)
Thunderbolts III#11 (August, 2013) - Daniel Way (writer), Phil Noto (artist), Jordan D. White (editor)
Thunderbolts III#13 (September, 2013) - Charles Soule (writer), Phil Noto (artist), Jordan D. White (editor)
Thunderbolts III#15 (November, 2013) - Charles Soule (writer), Jefte Palo (pencils), Terry Pallot (inks), Jordan D. White (editor)
Thunderbolts III#16-17 (December, 2013) - Charles Soule (writer), Jefte Palo (pencils), Terry Pallot (inks), Jordan D. White (editor)
Thunderbolts III#18 (Janaury, 2014) - Charles Soule (writer), Jefte Palo (pencils), Terry Pallot (inks), Jordan D. White (editor)
Thunderbolts III#20-21 (March, 2014) - Charles Soule (writer), Carlo Barberi (artist), Jordan D. White (editor)
Thunderbolts III#22 (April, 2014) - Charles Soule (writer), Carlo Barberi (artist), Jordan D. White (editor)

First Posted: 01/10/2006
Last updated: 05/07/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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