black mamba

Black Mamba (comics)

Black Mamba (Tanya Sealy) is a supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe, most notably a member of the Serpent Society and B.A.D. Girls, Inc.

Publication history

Black Mamba first appeared in Marvel Two-in-One #64-65 (June-July 1980), and was created by Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio.

The character subsequently appeared in Iron Man #160 (July 1982), Captain America #307-308 (July-August 1985), #310-311 (October-November 1985), #313 (January 1986), #315 (March 1986), #319 (July 1986), The Avengers #274 (December 1986), Captain America #341-342 (May-June 1988), #365 (December 1989), The Uncanny X-Men Annual #13 (1989), Captain America #367 (February 1990), #371-372 (June-July 1990), Captain America (1968) #380-382 (December 1990-February 1991), #385-397 (May 1991-February 1992), #411-412 (January-February 1993), The New Warriors #33-34 (March-April 1993), Deathlok #7 (February 2000), Thunderbolts #64 (July 2002), #67 (September 2002), #69 (October 2002), Captain America #30-31 (October-November 2004), Cable & Deadpool #20-23 (November 2005-February 2006), Civil War #5 (November 2006), Civil War Chronicles #8 (January 2007), Giant-Size Avengers #1 (February 2008), and The Amazing Spider-Man #552 (April 2008).

Black Mamba received an entry in the original Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #2, and The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #2.

Fictional character biography

Tanya Sealy was born in Chicago. She was an ex-call girl, chosen by Roxxon Oil Company to partake in a covert operation to retrieve the mystical Serpent Crown, working together with other snake-themed villains Sidewinder, Anaconda, and Death Adder. The executives at Roxxon decided to surgically implant a special component in her brain which enables her slight telepathic abilities. She also projects a cloud of energy known as darkforce. Using her combined powers to pluck the image of her opponent's loved one out of their mind and then suffocating them with the disguised darkforce, defeating Black Mamba was a definite struggle for the Fantastic Four's Thing during their first mission. She also battled Iron Man while searching for a powerful weapon known as the microscanner.

Invited by Sidewinder to join his criminal organization, the Serpent Society, Black Mamba accepted. Before working with Roxxon, she was a call-girl, and while the money was satisfying, it was not a steady income, so she jumped at the opportunity to earn vast amounts of money with Sidewinder. While in the Serpent Society, Black Mamba gained great friendships in Diamondback and the Asp, and also became romantically involved with Sidewinder. During Viper's infiltration of the group, Black Mamba stood loyally with Sidewinder, which Viper was ready to kill her for. When Diamondback turned over a new leaf, it sparked something in Black Mamba. She joined her friends Diamondback and Asp in forming B.A.D. Girls, Inc. and worked several mercenary-for-hire missions. She also briefly served in Superia's all-female group, the Femizons, but betrayed the group to aid Captain America and Paladin. Regardless, she was a villainess and was not above committing evil acts, such as when she led a drugged Hercules to be ambushed by the Masters of Evil.

For some time, Black Mamba served in Crimson Cowl's Masters of Evil in hopes of a large profit, battling the Thunderbolts. She eventually went back to the Serpent Society for a very short time, and then left to be with Diamondback and Asp and continue to do missions as the B.A.D. Girls. During one mission, to find the "Dominus Objective," Black Mamba severely embarrassed Deadpool when she revealed his darkest fantasy -- to be given a back massage by his partner in crime, Cable (although her power similarly affected everyone she used it on in this appearance). She also fought Luke Cage and Iron Fist, and was shocked to realize her group had been hired by Cable himself.

Civil War

Black Mamba appears along with her friends Diamondback and Asp as a member of Captain America's anti-registration group. She took part in the final battle of the "war", but did not accept the offer of amnesty that came with Captain America's surrender.

Later Black Mamba and the other BAD Girls were captured by the Mighty Avengers in a New York City street mall. She escaped captivity and was later seen with several other villains in "The Bar With No Name".

Powers and abilities

Black Mamba has the ability to project a cloud of extra-dimensional energy known as the Darkforce. She can telepathically scan the mind of someone within her vicinity for a single image: the image of some trusted friend of companion, usually of the opposite sex. She then projects an inky cloud of Darkforce as an illusion of that friend or companion and directs the illusion to embrace the target, constricting and/or suffocating them without their realizing it.

Other versions

Ultimate Black Mamba

Black Mamba appears in the Ultimate Universe as a member of the Serpent Squad, a group of female mercenaries. After having the Serpent Crown stolen from them, they battle the Fantastic Four. Black Mamba was knocked out of the fight by the Thing early on, and was taken into custody. After the Thing called the Serpent Squad "freaks" in passing, Black Mamba retaliated in anger by saying he would die alone because he is so sickening. Black Mamba's Ultimate design closely resembles her Earth-616 design, but it is unknown if she commands the darkforce in this alternate universe. Oddly enough, her real name seems to have been changed to "Janis."

Related Studies

R. Alberich, J. Miro-Julia, and F. Rossello, 2002. “Marvel Universe Looks Almost Like a Real Social Network,” arXiv.org, volume 1 (February): Open Access Copy