Mary Bromfield hones her use of magic.
Black Mary is Mary Bromfield, a former member of the Team[2] whose codename was Sergeant Marvel.[8] She was one of Zatanna's students until a fallout over her lust for power prompted her to leave.[9]
Physical appearance[]
Sergeant Marvel perpetually appears as biologically 18 years old.[10] She has Caucasian skin and long brown hair tied in a ponytail and her battle suit mirrors that of Captain Marvel's, albeit in white. When she returns as Black Mary, all the white on her suit is black and she wears a skirt, rather than pants. She also now wears her hair down.
History[]
Early life[]
Mary is an orphan.[4] Billy Batson is her brother.[5] They were twins, separated at birth.[11] Mary was adopted very quickly by the Bromfields, but Billy spent years at an orphanage before being fostered by "Uncle" Dudley.[7] The Bromfields were a relatively well off, upper middle class family.[12]
She was one of Billy's best school friends, along with Freddy Freeman and Kit Freeman.[13] At some point, they discovered their genetic connection,[11] and emotionally bonded as siblings, though their relationship is not legally recognised.[6]
Some time between 2011 and 2012,[7][1] Shazam freely and irreversibly gave[14] Mary one-third of his power. She took the name Sergeant Marvel,[8] and joined the Team[15] in 2013.[16]
Starting as early as when she was 11-years-old, Mary became besotted with her powers, doing things more appropriate to Sergeant's 18-year-old body than Mary's true age,[7] and eventually spending more and more time in her transformed state, virtually abandoning her life as Mary in the process.[5] Mary's friends and family became concerned, and she promised to pull back, but always relapsed.[7] In 2015,[17][2] Billy and Freddy convinced Mary she needed to give up being Sergeant entirely, and she relinquished her powers and superhero career.[5]
2016[]
In late June,[18] Mary attended Wally West's funeral.[19]
2018-2020[]
At some point, Mary became one of the Sentinels of Magic studying under Zatanna. Mary used her connection to her old powers to manifest magical abilities.[5]
2020[]
On February 23, Mary trained with Zatanna and her other protégés.[20]
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Zatanna conducted a training exercise for her students, having them trap a group of Trogowogs she released. The trio succeeded in capturing six, but Zatanna noted that they missed three. After sending the Trogs away, Zatanna critiqued each of her student's performances, noting that Mary needed to stop think like a superhero.[15]
Shortly after, Zatanna and her students all sensed a wave of mystic energy, but had no idea what caused it. Zatanna took her students to a carousel and flew them all on the seats to Harlem to meet a friend. Enroute, Khalid asked Mary what Zatanna had meant about her being a superhero, and Mary briefly explained her history with the Team. They landed outside the entrance to Madame Xanadu's parlor, and narrowly missed being hit by a school bus. They went inside and were welcomed by Madame Xanadu. They soon realized they were no longer in Harlem.[15]
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Mary thought the parlor looked more like a tourist trap. After Xanadu explained some of her backstory to the students, she told them she knew about the mystic pulse, and was able to give them the last known location of its cause, and created a portal to send them there.
Zatanna and her students went through the portal, and emerged at Fine Jewelry, and found a body that had been magically dissected and displayed. Klarion arrived shortly after, and attack the group. Zatanna summoned a magic shield, and had her students pool their power into her, but it was insufficient. Mary was able to knock Klarion back briefly by absorbing some of his power, and Khalid attacked Teekl, but Klarion overcame them. He created clones of himself and they began to strangle Zatanna and her students, but a strange sound called to Klarion, forcing him to leave before killing the group.[15]
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The group recovered after the battle with Klarion. Khalid used his powers to heal their bruised throats. The Stranger appeared and explained that Klarion was facing a battle with another Chaos Lord. Zatanna was incredulous at the suggestion they should help Klarion, thinking that chaos fighting chaos is a good thing. The Stranger sent her to the battle to gain perspective. Mary and the others wanted to help Zatanna, so the Stranger took them away.[21]
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They arrived in the sanctum sanctorum of Jason Blood. Mary was drawn to three objects of power, but was warned off by Blood. The Stranger convinced Blood to transform into Etrigan. The Demon noticed that Mary had another inside her, like himself and Blood, much to Mary's discomfort. The Stranger then sent Etrigan to the battle.[21]
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The Stranger brought the students to the site of the battle, now over. They rescued Zatanna from the water and Khalid healed her injury.[21]
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Zatanna told the Stranger to take Jason Blood and go on a recruiting tour, before summoning an ankh portal and taking her students through it.[5]
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They arrived in the sitting room of the Tower of Fate. Doctor Fate arrived with a bolt of lightning and demanded Zatanna and her students leave. Zatanna refused. Fate told her he knew why she was there and had no intention of helping Klarion. Zatanna explained that she understood his logic, that she had shared it, but that the battle was so destructive that they had to stop it rather than waiting for the outcome. Zatanna wanted Fate confront Child, so that her students could strike from the shadows. Fate was dubious about her students' ability, so decided to test them. He teleported them away and summoned portals that allowed he and Zatanna to watch their progress.
Mary found herself in a subway and was confronted by her younger self. The younger Mary kept getting into danger and being rescued by Mary only to complain that Mary wasn't doing it right. Finally, the younger Mary said "Shazam" and transformed into Sergeant Marvel. Sergeant began to attack Mary, and demanded to know why she refused to use her true power, saying that she was nothing without Sergeant, and that she was not ready for the coming battle. Billy Batson interrupted her, and reminded Mary of the reason she gave Sergeant up, giving Mary the strength to dispel Sergeant, and end the test.
Mary re-emerged in the sitting room alongside her fellow students, who also passed their tests. Zatanna said they had proved themselves, but it didn't matter to Fate; he still had no intention of intervening. Zatanna continued to argue with Fate, but before he could respond, they were interrupted by a doorbell. They watched through one of Fate's portals as Klarion pleaded for help at the front door, only to be confronted by Child and Flaw. Flaw killed Teekl with ease, causing Klarion to leave the mortal plane. Fate, Zatanna and the students looked on in shock.[5]
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Child attacked the Tower, easily destroying it, but Zatanna cast a spell of protection just in time to prevent Fate, the students or herself from taking any serious harm. Mary woke first and, unable to use the disrupted ley lines, drew power from the other students and used it in a failed attack against Child. Child then left to continue her mission. Khalid and Traci were upset with Mary for taking their power, but she argued she was the only one able to try to stop Child before she moved on, perhaps to Traci or Khalid's home towns. Mary promised not to do it again without permission.
Zatanna got Fate to concede that Child needed dealing with and that he might possibly need help. He created a portal for them to pursue Child. After taking a moment for Zatanna to magically refresh herself and her students, they followed him through.[22]
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They emerged in Sydney, to find the city devastated by a volcano at the base of a pillar of fire. Child had been and gone. Mary felt drawn to the pillar. The group debated staying and helping, but Fate and a suddenly there Stranger, argued that they needed to prioritize stopping Child. The Stranger had already summoned others to help the disasters created by Child. Zatanna reluctantly agreed, and the group set off through another portal.[22]
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They arrived in Manhattan. Child was already gone, having left a pillar of fire and an area of reversed gravity. Other heroes, and even Wizard to Zatanna's amazement, were helping, so the group moved on.[22]
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The group emerged into a bubble to witness the biggest pillar of fire yet. Mera was dealing with it, and the group moved on.[22]
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The group arrived in Taipei to see demons emerging from the base of another pillar of fire. Etrigan and Blue Devil were fighting them, and the group moved on.[22]
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The group arrived in Agra to find another pillar and a blizzard freezing the city. No one was there to help yet, prompting Traci to want to stay, but Zatanna insisted they stick with the plan and move on in pursuit of Child.[22]
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The group arrived at the North Pole, but found no pillar; they had finally caught up with Child. Zatanna and her students pooled all their power into Fate, who unleashed an almighty attack on Child, to no effect. Child summoned a pillar of fire, easily disrupting the heroes' efforts, then trapped Fate in a fist of ice, before leaving. A school bus then teleported in.[22]
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Klarion, who had possessed the school bus to anchor himself to the mortal plane, attracted the attention of the heroes, as Fate freed himself. Zatanna got Fate to, reluctantly, agree to help Klarion, and the group boarded the bus.
As the bus flew through time and space, Klarion insisted he needed a new familiar before they could do anything else. Mary wondered how they could trust Klarion, and Zatanna admitted they could not, but had no choice.[9]
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They arrived at the Old Salem Animal Shelter. Zatanna and her students brought out several cats to Klarion, but he eventually chose a stray from off the street as his new familiar, allowing him to take human form once more. The group then went on to fight Child.
Fate, Zatanna, Klarion and the Sentinels emerged at the ruins of the Tower of Fate. Zatanna immediately cast a glamour to make her and her students invisible, before Fate conjured a summoning circle. Child and Flaw appeared, and soon attacked Fate and Klarion, who initially had no trouble deflecting her attacks. Child used Fate and Klarion's attacks to power a pillar of fire, but Mary drew power from it, distracting Child which left her open to an attack from Khalid. But she easily overcame it and revealed Zatanna and the students, before knocking them down with an energy blast.
Suddenly Child's pillar went out; she had lost the backing of the other Chaos Lords. She was still a great threat, however, and summoned fire rain, which Zatanna blocked with a magic shield. Child ordered Flaw to kill the mortals as she dealt with Fate and Klarion. With Zatanna maintaining the shield, it was up to Mary to hold off Flaw, but she required more power, and began to draw it from her companions and everything else around her. Flaw threw a rock and knocked Mary out, but before he could do more, Leroy and Traci noticed Flaw's flaw, and Traci targeted it, destroying him and banishing Child from the mortal plane. Klarion quickly departed, and the others all congratulated Traci. Fate admitted the students had impressed him, and Zatanna agreed they had showed great potential.[9]
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Zatanna finished explaining her plan to have rotating hosts for Doctor Fate to Khalid and Traci, before turning to talk to Mary. Mary was very upset not to be included in the plan, viewing it as a punishment. Zatanna explained that Mary was too drawn to power and thought too much like Nabu. Fate was drawn to the argument, forcing Zatanna to explain her proposal to him. Fate was open to the idea, but Mary was furious. Zatanna offered to work with her more, but Mary demanded to be sent home.[9]
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Mary cried outside a phone booth as she heard the voice of Granny Goodness. Goodness told her that her friends were jealous of her and denied her power to make themselves appear greater. She tempted Mary to say "the word", and Mary whispered "Shazam".[9]
Mary was among those considered as a possible Justice League reservist.[23]
After succumbing to her temptation, Mary joined Granny's Furies, taking the name Black Mary.[24]
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Black Mary and Supergirl were introduced to Darkseid as the next generation of Furies, set to take the fight to the heroes who "betrayed" them.[24]
Powers and abilities[]
Mary possesses one third of Shazam's power:[15]
- Strength of Hercules[15]
- Stamina of Atlas[5]
- Power of Zeus[15]
- Courage of Achilles[5]
- Speed of Mercury[15]
She can access her powers by uttering "SHAZAM!" as Billy does, but chooses to access them by tapping into the magic in the Earth's ley lines. Consequently, that limits the use of her powers, forcing her to tap other sources of mystic power when necessary. Notably, she absorbed Klarion's[15] and her teammates, Thirteen and Khalid's power when the Earth's ley lines got disrupted.[22]
Appearances[]
- Season 4
- 09. "Odnu!"
- 10. "Nomed Esir!"
- 11. "Teg Ydaer!"
- 12. "Og Htrof Dna Reuqnoc!"
- 13. "Kaerb Ym Traeh!"
- 15. "Ebb Tide" (no lines)
- 18. "Beyond the Grip of the Gods!" (picture)
- 26. "Death and Rebirth" (no lines)
- Companion comics
- YJT 06. "Last Rights" (flashback, no lines)
Background information[]
- Mary Marvel was the female sidekick of Captain Marvel, introduced to appeal to young girls two decades before Supergirl. When introduced, Mary Bromfield was the twin sister of Billy Batson. Whereas Billy lived in poverty in orphanages and by himself, Mary had been adopted by the wealthy Bromfield family. Following the Flashpoint reboot in 2011, any familial connection between the two has apparently been erased, and Bromfield is her birth name. Rather than her original name, she now goes by Lady Shazam.
- Mary Bromfield was planned to appear in a story centred on the Marvel family in the companion comic.[13] She was also planned to appear at Raquel Ervin's bridal shower in "Satisfaction" and the gathering of heroes in "Endgame", but there was not sufficient time to design the character.[25]
- This is her fourth animated appearance. She appeared in The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! and Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and two separate evil versions of her, named Superwoman and Mary Mayhem, appeared in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.
References[]
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