MARY SHELLEY

Real Name: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, nee Godwin

Identity/Class: Human;
   late 18th-mid-19th Century;
   British citizen

Occupation: Writer

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: John William Polidori, Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron), Washington Irving, Ernst Frankenstein

Enemies: None

Known Relatives: Percy Bysshe Shelley (husband), William Godwin (father), Mary Wollstonecraft (mother, deceased), Mary Jane Clairmont Godwin (stepmother), Clara Mary Jane "Claire" Clairmont (stepsister), Frances "Fanny" Imlay (half-sister, deceased), Charles Clairmont (step-brother), William Godwin the Younger (half-brother), unnamed daughter (deceased), William "Willmouse" Shelley (son, deceased), Clara Everina Shelley (daughter, deceased), Sir Percy Florence Shelley, 3rd Baronet (son), Jane Gibson (daughter-in-law), Bessie Florence Gibson (adoptive granddaughter), Clara Allegra Byron (step-niece), Sir Timothy Shelley, 2nd Baronet of Castle Goring (father-in-law), extended in-laws via Percy

Aliases: Mary Shelley (later became her real name)

Base of Operations: Various homes throughout her life, mostly in and around London, England

First Appearance: (mentioned, Marvel) Marvel Tales I#96 (June 1950); (seen, Marvel) Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#37 (January 1992) 

Powers/Abilities: Mary Shelley was of above average intelligence and an excellent writer with a vivid imagination.

Height: 5'6"
Weight: Unrevealed; her build seems to have been about average, neither excessively slim nor bulky/overweight
Eyes: Grey-green
Hair: Dark brown

History:
(Marvel Classic Comics#20/historical record) - Born in London on August 30th 1797, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was the daughter (see comments) of political philosopher William Godwin.

(historical record) - She had an older half-sister Frances ("Fanny") via her mother, philosopher and women's rights campaigner Mary Wollstonecraft. Eleven days after giving birth to Mary, her mother died of septicaemia caused by complications related to the birth; Fanny was raised alongside Mary by her stepfather William rather than her biological father, American diplomat Gilbert Imlay. When Mary was four her father remarried to Mary Jane Clairmont, giving Mary two step-siblings, Charles (two years Mary's senior) and Claire(eight months younger than Mary). Though Mary and Fanny did not get on with their new step-mother, the three girls became close to one another.

(Marvel Classic Comics#20/historical record) - In May of 1814 the sixteen year old Mary came to the attention of twenty-one year old Percy Bysshe Shelley, already a famous poet and one of her father's political followers. Percy became infatuated with Mary, and despite already being married with his wife Harriet expecting their second child, he and Mary began a relationship. Facing disapproval from her father over the romance and ongoing tensions with her step-mother, in July of 1814 Mary and Percy eloped to Europe,

(historical record) - taking Claire with them. They traveled through a France recently ravaged by war, then Switzerland before lack of funds forced them to return to England. By the time they got back in September 1814 Mary was pregnant. The pregnancy was difficult, and Mary's mood was not improved by Percy's wife giving birth or Percy also sleeping with Claire. In February 1815 Mary gave birth to a two-month premature daughter, who died ten days later without ever being given a name. Despite all this tumult in her life, Mary was soon pregnant again, and gave birth to a son, William, in January 1816. In April 1816 Claire pursued a relationship with the poet Lord Byron and a month later, already pregnant with Byron's child, she invited Mary, Percy and young William to accompany her on a trip to stay with Byron in Geneva, Switzerland. Though Percy was still married to Harriet, Mary used his surname during this trip (presumably so that the places they stayed at would assume them a married couple and let them share rooms). They reached Geneva on 14th May 1816, eleven days ahead of Byron, who joined then on the 25th, accompanied by his physician, John Polidori. Byron rented the Villa Diodata, close to Lake Geneva, while Percy rented the nearby Maison Chapuis, and they spent their time writing, boating and talking through the night.

(Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#37 (fb)) - During her journey to Switzerland in 1816 Mary Godwin met Ernst Frankenstein, the younger (and last surviving) brother of Victor Frankenstein, creator the the Frankenstein Monster. In hushed whispers Ernst told Mary of this ghastly secret and of the Monster' actions while pursuing its vendetta against its creator; since Ernst incorrectly believed the creature was now dead, he relayed that impression to Mary.

(historical record) - After several days of heavy rain effectively trapped the group indoors, and having regaled themselves reading German ghost stories to one another...

(Marvel Classic Comics#20/historical record) - Mary, Byron and Polidori challenged each other to write the most frightening story they could conceive. For her part, Mary produced the start of what would become the novel Frankenstein, which she claimed had been inspired by a waking nightmare she had experienced.

(historical record) - Things soured between Byron and Claire when he learned of her pregnancy, and Mary, Shelley and Claire returned to England in September. October and November were marred by the deaths by suicide of Mary's half-sister Fanny and Shelley's estranged wife Harriet. Informed by his lawyers that his chances of getting custody of his two children with Harriet would be improved if he was married, and with Mary again pregnant, Percy and Mary married on December 30th 1816. The couple moved to Buckinghamshire, where they shared a house with Claire and her newborn daughter, Allegra. Despite his marriage, in March Percy was ruled to be morally unfit to be given custody of his two children by Harriet. Meanwhile, encouraged by Percy to expand her short story into a full novel, Mary completed Frankenstein in April or May of 1817, before giving birth to a daughter, Clara, in September that year. On the 1st January 1818 Mary's novel Frankenstein was published, though writing was not considered to be a fit profession for a woman at the time, the author remained anonymous; Percy's foreword led many to wrongly assume he had written it.

   In March 1818 Mary, Percy and Claire left England partly to avoid Percy being sent to debtors' prison and partially out of fear of losing custody of their children. They traveled to Italy to give Allegra to her father, but in September 1818 one year old Clara died of dysentery while the were in Venice, and in June 1819 four year old William succumbed to malaria in Rome. Understandably devastated, Mary rallied somewhat with the birth of another son, named Percy after his father, in November 1919, but she would mourn her other children to the end of her days.

   In January 1822 her husband Percy died in a boating accident, and in July 1823 she returned to England, in time to attend the first stage play adaptation of her novel Frankenstein, Presumption; or, the Fate of Frankenstein by Richard Brinsley Peake. The play's success prompted a second printing of the novel in August 1823, this time with Mary credited as the author. Mary wrote several additional novels through the rest of her lifetime, but none were as successful as Frankenstein. She passed away on 1st February 1851 at the age of fifty-three.

(Avengers I#132 (fb) - BTS) - Baron (Heinrich) Zemo was familiar with Shelley's story, to the point that he thought of the creature as Shelley's rather than Frankenstein's.

(Marvel Tales I#96) - Intrigued by Mary Shelley's preface to her novel that stated the events within "as not of impossible occurrence" American journalist Clifford Armstrong traveled to Bavaria intending to discover whether the story was based on true events or not.

(X-Men I#40 (fb) - BTS) - From the first time Charles Xavier read Shelley's novel he believed the story to be based on actual events. When he became a teacher to the X-Men he included the book among their reading assignments.

(Hulk IV#10 (fb) - BTS) - Jennifer Walters first read Shelley's book when she was in high school.

(Fantastic Four VI#47) - Despite presumably knowing the story was based on true events (see comments), Reed Richards considered Shelley's tale to have been inspired by the author's darkest nightmares.

(Hulk IV#10 (fb) - BTS) - Because of a proliferation of monsters in her life, Jennifer Walters re-read Shelley's novel shortly after her cousin Bruce was slain.

Comments: A real world individual, first depicted in Marvel by Roy and Dann Thomas, R.J.M. Lofficier and Geof Isherwood.

   The short biography of Mary Shelley at the front of Marvel Classic Comic#20 states that she was "born the only daughter of William Godwin"; while it is true that when she was born she was William's only daughter, the phrasing is slightly misleading, as Mary had an older half-sister on her mother's side, and a stepsister via her father's second marriage.

  Polidori's story at Villa Diodati was The Vampyre, whose titular character was Lord Ruthven. Of course, in the Marvel universe Ruthven is just as real as Frankenstein's Monster, so presumably Polidori heard tales of the real Ruthven just as Mary did of Frankenstein, though not necessarily during the trip to Geneva.

   When I read Fantastic Four VI#47 I noted that Reed Richards apparently seemed to think the novel Frankenstein was fictional, since he believed it was inspired by Mary Shelley's nightmares. At first I thought this was somewhat of an error on the issue's writer's part, since I ASSumed that Reed must surely have encountered the Monster at some point over the years - but upon checking, apparently he never has; nor have the Human Torch or Invisible Woman. Even more surprising, given his long running team-up book Marvel Two-In-One, it seems neither has the Thing. Now, I'd also assume that even if he's never personally met the Monster, Reed should at minimum have heard that the creature was real from the Avengers, or X-Men, or Spider-Man, or the Illumanti, etc. However, they can't share every encounter they've ever had, and on the grand scheme of the Marvel universe running into the inspiration for Mary Shelley's tale isn't as notable as you might think, so it's actually surprisingly feasible that Reed might actually not know that the novel Frankenstein was based on real events.

Profile by Loki.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Mary Shelley has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#37, p11, pan5 (main image)
Marvel Classic Comics#20, p49, pan1 (headshot)

Appearances:
Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#37 (January 1992) - Roy and Dann Thomas (writers), R.J.M. Lofficier (co-plotter), Geof Isherwood (art), Mike Rockwitz (editor)

First Posted: 08/28/2025
Last updated: 08/28/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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