Merciful McFarlane!

Being a super-villain is like being a blogger. The most important thing you need to have is motivation. Whether it be money, notoriety, discussion, or to appease others. Some writers write to hurt people, these writers are called "A-holes". Most villains commit crimes to hurt people, they are called, well, "villains". But today we have a super-villain who thinks her method of hurting people is actually helpful. Today's Z-Lister is Mercy from Marvel Comics.

Mercy was created by Peter David and Todd "I Did Dah Spawn" McFarlane in 1987's "The Incredible Hulk #338". Originally known as Abigail Mercy Wright, Mercy follows The Joker method of origin stories. "If I'm going to have an origin story, I prefer it to be multiple choice". Mercy has claimed to be given superpowers through radiation treatments for brain cancer, but she has also claimed to be a biblical angel and/or an alien descendant. While she may not be open about her past she is very open about her goals. Mercy is on a mission to help people die. Allow me to elaborate. You see, Mercy believes she has her powers to help people in despair kill themselves because they are not brave enough to do it themselves. Sometimes this means using her ridiculous array of powers like flight, invisibility, intangibility, teleportation, shapeshifting, and telepathy, or it may just mean giving that extra push to some depressed person on a ledge or dropping that toaster in the bathtub or psychically guiding a comatosed person to the afterlife.

Naturally she became a foe for The Incredible Hulk. I mean, along with being the angriest person on Earth you gotta figure Bruce Banner isn't very happy. He can't get angry, he can't get injured, he can't go on roller coasters or see a scary movie, he can't eat spicy foods, he can't rub one out in the shower, and the poor bastard can't have sex! All because in the instant of a heart spike he goes from drip-of-water to a freaking tsunami in purple shorts. For all her powers, Mercy still could not kill-I'm sorry, I mean "help"-The Hulk. Yes, Bruce is miserable, but he isn't going to stop fighting. Bruce would rather be miserable and cursed by The Hulk for the rest of his life than be mercy killed. Pun intended.

Mercy's backstory and power-set don't exactly interest me, but her mission definitely caught my attention. Killing miserable people because they aren't brave enough to commit suicide. That's heavy. That's complex. That's evil, but in a condescending way. "Oh, you poor soul. I will help you pass on". It's very creepy especially when you consider how right she is. Not literally! If you're sad enough to die don't ask someone to kill you. Talk to your parents or a therapist or something. No, I mean how often the people she kills want to die. Like, either way it's bad, but imagine you're just in a bad mood and this chick just shows up and tries to kill you because she thinks you want to die. I guarantee you'd have a new lease on life and dial it back on complaining out loud. Overall, Mercy is a neat villain and her whole message really makes Hulk a better character too. Again, you figure how awful Bruce feels all the time, but he's still strong enough of a person to know suicide isn't the answer. Hulk isn't a very inspiring character, but the kind of message he sends by battling Mercy and her cause really sends a good moral to readers out there!

Thanks for reading!