Black Supervillain: Marie LaVeau

byDarrell S.

2

"I am Marie LaVeau, sorceress, called by those who know me well...The Witch Queen of New Orleans"

Marie LaVeau

Saint Domingue, Haiti 1974 marked the birth of Marie LaVeau. She was born when her mother and Darcantel Marguerite, a slave and her father Charles LaVeau had an "intimate embrace." But, we all know that's code for rape 98% of the time when it comes to slaves and slave owners. Like her mother Marie became a slave who practiced the Catholic faith and was shockingly ignored by her father. During 1809 there was a slave revolt in Haiti. During this time Marie fled to New Orleans and became a hairdresser.

In 1819 she married Jacques Paris but he died almost immediately after their wedding. She lived quietly for a while. In 1830 she gained some local fame when she began selling voodoo charms. In 1835 she got married again. This time to a man named Louis Glapion. Unlike her first husband, Louis lasted. Together they had 15 children before Louis died of natural causes. In 1855 she moved into a mansion at 1020 St. Ann Street where she held voodoo rituals to control the police and judges attempting to make New Orleans a safe place for black people. It is said that she saved hundreds of people from lynchings.

In 1881 it was reported that Marie died. Some believe she returned from the dead. Some believe her daughter impersonated her. In reality, eternal youth is pretty amazing. This stunt of faking her death helped to develop her a cult following. A hurricane struck New Orleans in 1985 and she was seen lying on a log floating through the city singing voodoo songs. In the early 1900s it was said she danced naked on the shores of Lake Ponchartrain while the snake god Damballah coiled around her. But during the day she still braided hair and sold love potions helping people to fulfill their deepest passions and desires.

Soon the sorcerer Cagliostro arrived in Haiti hoping to learn Marie's secret to eternal youth and immortality. However he fell in love with Marie. Sharing his secret for immortality with her. At this point she aged even slower, some say she actually appeared younger. However it soon became clear that Cagliostro's potion was not complete and she began aging, losing her eternal youth while remaining immortal. Eventually she could no longer care for herself. Over a century later a man name Gaston was caring for her, as the men of his family had done for generations.

Gaston traveled across the country looking for a man who claimed to be the reincarnation of Cagliostro. What he really found was the vampire Dracula. He managed to capture Dracula and transport him back to New Orleans. There they held him captive using crosses and garlic. Eventually they took a sample of his blood and used it to complete Cagliostro's potion of immortality. Gaston gave the potion to Marie who drank, however it unknowingly placed all of Marie's age on Gaston who did not have the voodoo protection she did. Gaston died in that moment leaving Marie temporarily shocked. But life goes on. She offered Dracula an alliance and sex because she had been stuck in bed for a century and wanted to have some sex. Dracula however refused both because he feared that she would tie him up again.

Somehow Marie fell under the control of a sorcerer named Silver Dagger. She was forced to lead Dr. Strange, Carol Danvers and Spider-Man to her mansion where she would kill Dr. Strange's physical body and Silver would kill his magical body. However Silver's control slipped and Marie stabbed him in the back with the dagger he gave her to kill Strange with. Dr. Strange stated he would be in her debt for this. She however stated that "the debt is already paid, and soon enough you will know the coinage."

Off Topic: I'd like to point out, that for some reason around this time Marie's appearance started varying greatly by artist. Some continued drawing her as a dark skinned woman. Some drew her as completely white. This could be due to a different printing technique where artist used different mediums to color and not all transferred to the copies the same way.

When all of the vampires were destroyed by the Montesi Formula, Marie saw that she would no longer have the vampire blood ingredient necessary to create her eternal youth potion. She actually called Monica Rambeau back to New Orleans to help her, because everyone from New Orleans owes Marie a favor or two. She convinced Monica to help her gather vampire blood from the past. She sent Monica back to 1784 France before the revolution, which wasn't a great time for black people. In 1784 Monica met Cagliostro who introduced Monica to Dracula. Monica managed to get a sample of his blood...by beating him. However in the process Monica was bitten by Dracula. When Monica returned the blood boiled ruining the plan. However, Marie helped Monica prevent the effects of vampirism.

Next Marie found Michael Morbius. She seduced him, then drugged him during sex and dragged him back to New Orleans. There she attempted to turn him back into a vampire. She took a sample of his blood but it wasn't strong enough. Next she attempted several rituals searching the eart for any vampires remaining. There she found Victor Strange, brother of Dr. Strange, who had been turned into a vampire after he died by Dr. Strange who attempted to bring him back to life. Marie tracked victor down and used magic to bring him to her since seduction didn't work. Back in New Orleans she allowed Victor to drink Morbius blood but Victor realized he was only there because he was a vampire. So he set Marie's home on fire and ran away.

Marie then tracked Victor down and shot him with The Golden Arrow of Eros, which brought him under her control. When heading back to New Orleans they were stopped by Dr. Strange, Morbius, Rintrah and Clea. Marie shot Clea with an arrow causing her to attack Dr. Strange and wllowing Marie to flee using a teleportation spell. They land in the New York Harbor. There Marie has a ship captain take them to Haiti. By the time they arrive she's had Victor turn the ship's entire crew into vampires. She takes her followers to Christophe's Cathedral.

Before she could create the potions she's stopped Dr. Strange, Brother Voodoo and Strange's sidekicks from earlier. Brother Voodoo used the souls of the people who had died in the cathedral to create a zombie army to battle Marie's vampires. He made quick work of her vampire army. Having them greatly outnumbered. Dr. Strange however felt the zombies were getting out of control because he thought Brother Voodoo lost control and destroyed them. This allowed Marie to escape however Dr. Strange captured Victor.

Later she attempted to resurrect the vampire king Varnae. She succeeded but he threw her aside because he felt humans were only food. However when Varnae's body began to break apart he called on her for help. She had Blade and Bible John captured. She began performing a ritual on Blade that would allow Varnae to take control of Blade's body but Blade woke up and knocked her out. She later sent some vampires to attack Blade so she could find information on Bible John. She stated that he was her "preordained as my personal adversary." She admitted she had fallen in love but stayed back because he was the target of so much black magic.

Later she joined forces with the vampire Deacon Frost. She used the power of Loa to unite her new army of zombies with Frost's vampires so they could take over New Orleans. However, Brother Voodoo was not a fan of this plan. They managed to temporarily defeat him and gain control of New Orleans. When Voodoo recovered he used his power over the Loa to turn them against Marie saying she had no real respect for voodoo, causing her to be crushed in the snake-god Damballah's coils.

She didn't die. Only her relevance did. She was seen surviving later and didn't show up again in many major arcs.

Abilities and Equipment