Mercy Graves

Mercy Graves
Mercy Graves from Superman: The Animated Series.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Superman: The Animated Series "A Little Piece of Home"
First comic appearance	Detective Comics #735 (August 1999)
Created by	Bruce Timm Paul Dini
Voiced by	Lisa Edelstein Tara Strong Cree Summer
In-story information
Team affiliations	LexCorp
Abilities	High intelligence Experience in hand to hand combat (in comics) Amazon superhuman strength, speed, agility, etc

Mercedes "Mercy" Graves is a fictional supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. She debuted on Superman: The Animated Series as the bodyguard/personal assistant of Superman's archenemy, Lex Luthor. Like the Batman villain Harley Quinn, she has since crossed over from the DC animated universe into the comics.

Animation

Superman: The Animated Series

Voiced by Lisa Edelstein, Mercy was created for Superman: The Animated Series as a tough young woman with a checkered past. Mercy serves as Lex Luthor's personal bodyguard and chauffeur. Originally the leader of a gang of female thieves, Mercy once daringly swiped Luthor's briefcase from under the billionaire's nose. She did not get far before Luthor's men hunted her down. However, rather than take revenge, Luthor, impressed by her mixture of ruthlessness and street savvy, offered her a job. He took her in, cleaned her up, and made her his right-hand woman, entrusting her with his personal security and also to carry out his dirty work.

Though she usually relies on cool and sardonic wit as her first form of defense, Mercy is an excellent hand-to-hand combatant, using a rough, street-form of kickboxing as her preferred form of attack. She is also an expert with most forms of handheld weapons. Her habitual dress is a chauffeur's uniform with a very short skirt, a chauffeur's cap, and high heeled boots.

Mercy is loyal and respectful to Luthor, but never servile. She claims to be "the only one in Luthor's entire company who can get away with calling him Lex". In the episode "Ghost in the Machine," Mercy teams up with Superman to find a missing Lex Luthor. Superman tries to convince Mercy that Luthor does not actually care for her; Mercy tries to prove him wrong. However, after a battle with Brainiac, Mercy is pinned under a pile of fallen machinery while the room caves in. Although Luthor could have saved her, he flees instead, leaving her to die. This is the only episode of Superman: The Animated Series to prominently feature the character.

During the "World's Finest" crossover arc, Mercy develops an intense rivalry with Harley Quinn, the Joker's hench-girl and on/off girlfriend. During the arc's climactic episode, Harley duct-tapes Mercy's mouth shut and ties her to a killer android that attacks Batman and Superman. She is saved by the two, and is later seen watching television and laughing as Harley is publicly arrested.

Justice League

When Mercy reappears later in Justice League ("Tabula Rasa"), the nature of her relationship with Luthor becomes more clear. Mercy has agreed to take over LexCorp while Luthor is in prison (which was apparently a promotion from bodyguard to executive), and is hesitant to return it to him because she feels their former relationship was not an equal one. She also states that while she was the CEO of LexCorp she brought the stock up 38% and removed certain departments in the science division finding them useless or in order to save money. Luthor exacerbates the situation by verbally and physically abusing her. It is repeatedly implied that their relationship was not solely platonic. Mercy assists Luthor's escape from the Justice League. However, after his capture she hangs up on him during his single phone call when he requests help in obtaining a lawyer and doctors to treat his kryptonite cancer.

Justice League Unlimited

Mercy reappears in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Clash".

Superman: Brainiac Attacks

Mercy, sporting her DCAU design, is voiced by Tara Strong in Superman: Brainiac Attacks.

Superman: Doomsday

Mercy appears in Superman: Doomsday voiced by Cree Summer, sporting a design based on her comic book incarnation rather than her DCAU appearance. In the movie, she watches a project with Luthor that involves LexCorp secretly, and illegally, digging deep underground, where they accidentally unearth the villain Doomsday. Lex tells Mercy to make sure that all evidence of LexCorp's involvement never existed. When Doomsday and Superman kill each other in an epic battle, Lex loses his chance to be responsible for Superman's death, both directly and indirectly through Mercy's destruction of the evidence. Once Mercy informs him that there's no link back to LexCorp, he shoots her in the head to make sure absolutely nothing can be traced back to him.

The Batman

In the The Batman episode "The Batman/Superman Story, Part One", Mercy appears again as Lex's right hand, only this time she appears to be of Eurasian descent, and is voiced by actress/musician Gwendoline Yeo. She has gunslinging skills, possessing a pair of twin laser guns.

Young Justice

Mercy Graves appears in Young Justice episode "Targets" as Luthor's main bodyguard. When assassins Cheshire and Sportsmaster attempt to kill him and two Asian diplomats, Mercy uses her robotic arm to stop them. The diplomats, grateful and impressed by the weaponry within Mercy's arm, make a deal with Luthor.

Live action

Superman Lives

A Mercy Graves-like character named Misty was to appear in the unfinished film Superman Lives. Not unlike her counterparts from the DC animated universe and comics, she is the valet/bodyguard/lover of Lex Luthor, who himself is similar to his Post-Crisis/Man of Steel version. She is by Luthor's side all through the film during his alliance with Brainiac. Interestingly, in several drafts of the script, she does not appear to say a single word (she may prefer to be silent in a way to intimidate her enemies).

Smallville

The character Tess Mercer, called "Mercy" by Oliver Queen, is partially based on Mercy Graves and Eve Teschmacher from the Superman movie. Later developments in the character also reveal her to be a composite character with Lena Luthor, as she was born Lutessa Lena Luthor.

Comics

Mercy as a member of Infinity Inc. Art by Pete Woods.

Mercy first appears in the DC Universe in Detective Comics #735 (August 1999), during the "No Man's Land" storyline in the Batman titles. She is later joined by another female bodyguard in Luthor's employ: Hope. It is suggested that the two may be Amazons, as they have exchanged blows with Superman. This possibility is referenced in the Secret Files: President Luthor comic when the sorceress Circe appears at the White House demanding to meet with Lex. Hope and Mercy inform Circe that they can always recognize her, no matter what disguise or form she might take, suggesting the kind of previous familiarity which Amazons might possess. After temporarily changing them into birds Circe tells Lex that he will need to rehire new Amazon bodyguards.

Unlike the animated series, this version of Mercy has blonde hair and does not wear a chauffeur's uniform. Although Hope's time as a LexCorp employee has passed, Mercy can still be seen with the fugitive Lex Luthor after he is driven from the Presidency.

In the series 52, Mercy is seen alongside Luthor at the unveiling of his "Be Your Own Hero" program, and is injured when she fires several gunshots at Steel, which he deflects and sends back at her, hitting her in the right hand. She is later shown in Luthor's employ in 52 Week 40.

First introduced in the Superman: The Animated Series, Mercy's transition to comic books is similar to Harley Quinn's. Harley, the Joker's sidekick from Batman: The Animated Series, later appeared in comics. A Mercy-Harley fight is featured in Action Comics #765 (May 2000).

Mercy has recently appeared in the Infinity, Inc. series, apparently wanting to atone for her past deeds. In #8, she takes on the moniker "Vanilla", and wears a costume equipped with a special mask, that will keep her identity hidden from the likes of Superman and Lex Luthor. In #10, she almost beats a man to death. She leaves the team soon after, accepting the fact that she is not "hero" material.

Mercy's status as an Amazon is confirmed in Justice League: Cry for Justice, when the supervillain Prometheus nearly kills Supergirl with god-forged bullets he claimed he bought from her.

Video Games

Mercy Graves appeared in Superman: Shadow of Apokolips voiced by Lauren Tom.

References

External links

• Mercy Graves bio on on the official Superman Batman Adventures homepage
• Mercy Graves on the DC Animated Universe Wiki, an external wiki