Black Mariah

Black Mariah is the name of a supervillain in Marvel Comics. She is primarily featured in stories of Luke Cage.

Publication history

Black Mariah first appeared in Luke Cage: Hero for Hire #5 (January 1973) and was created by George Tuska and Steve Englehart.

Fictional character biography

Black Mariah was the leader of a gang of New York criminals called the Rat Pack. Their primary source of criminal activity would be using a stolen ambulance to pick up the bodies of the recently deceased, and then stealing whatever valuables they had on their person. When a man named Frank Jenks was murdered in the Gem Theater, it would be Black Mariah's gang that would pick up the body. When Jenks' widow learned the truth, she would hire Luke Cage (who was at the scene of the murder) to find her husband's body, the sympathetic Cage would take the job free of charge. In spite of the bad information given to him by his informant, Flea, Luke Cage manages to find the hideout of Black Mariah. This would lead to a clash between Mariah and her men against Cage. Luke would ultimately defeat Mariah and her cohorts and turn them over to the police. However, it would prove to be a bitter victory, when Flea's insistence for payment (in spite of giving the wrong info) in front of Jenks' widow prompts her to get angry, thinking that Luke was going back on his offer to do the job for free.