Melinda Morrison

MELINDA MORRISON

Real Name: Melinda Morrison

Identity/Class: Human undead magic user

Occupation: Queen of the Death Dimension

Group Membership:  None

Affiliations: Demons of the Death Dimension (minions), Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange), John Kowalski, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man (Peter Parker);
formerly Xandu (lover)

Enemies: Death, Xandu

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Death dimension;
    formerly New York City

First Appearance: (BTS) Amazing Spider-Man Annual I#2 (1965); (seen) Marvel Team-Up I#21 (May, 1974)

Powers/Abilities: Melinda's spirit inhabits her dead body, which was mystically preserved by Xandu. Due to Xandu's magic her body is unaffected by decomposition. She had some magic abilities which enabled her to use the Wand of Watoomb. Her soul is linked to the Death Dimension. She is able to return to the living people but the longer she is away from the Death Dimension, the danger that the barriers between the two dimensions broke down increased. She eluded Death, and her primal scream could cure the Death Dimension. These powers gave her a good degree of authority over the demon-lords and the inhabitants of the Death Dimension. After the merging with the demon-lords her magic powers became the greatest of the Death Dimension, greater than Xandu's powers enhanced by the Wand of Watoomb, who was a match for Doctor Strange.

Weaknesses: Melinda can't stay very far from the Death Dimension, otherwise she becomes unstable, depressed and obsessed with death.

Head shot

History:

(Spider-Man/Doctor Strange: The Way To Dusty Death GN (fb)) - Melinda Morrison lived her first years of life in the Midwest, with her parents.

    When the Kennedys were alive and on the political scene, Melinda wanted to vote for them, but she was too young.

    Shortly after, Melinda went to New York and attended a conference about occultism held by Xandu. Melinda was charmed by the mystic; that same night the two became lovers.

    Melinda became Xandu's assistant. Unfortunately, during one of his experiments, the arcane energies released by Xandu unwittingly hit Melinda with as a deadly bolt. Melinda fell and Xandu couldn't revive her. She apparently slept in a state similar to death, but Xandu didn't understand that she was actually dead and she only seemed sleeping.

(Marvel Team-Up I#21 (fb)) - Xandu discovered that an object of incomparable power could help him to revive Melinda: the Wand of Watoomb.

(Amazing Spider-Man Annual I#2 - BTS) - Many years had passed since Melinda's death, but Xandu finally managed to steal the Wand from Doctor Strange. His plan was thwarted by Strange and Spider-Man before he could use it on Melinda.

(Marvel Team-Up I#21) - Xandu had Spider-Man steal the Crystal of Kadavus, and restored the Wand of Watoomb's power, but he was once again defeated by Doctor Strange and Spider-Man. Inside Xandu's stronghold, Strange offered his help, but Xandu's illusion was broken: Melinda was actually dead and even the Sorcerer Supreme couldn't restore life to a corpse. Xandu's delusion was enormous and he apparently went insane.

(Marvel Fanfare I#6 (fb)) - After searching for it all his waking hours Xandu found the Wand within his dimension once again, and it was used to restore the body of Melissa Morrison at full health. The Wand could however not awake her mind and soul, because Melinda was actually dead.

(Marvel Fanfare I#6 (fb) - BTS) - Xandu created a planet in another dimension and placed his Castle there, scheming for the resurrection of Melinda.

(Marvel Fanfare I#6 (fb)) - Wielding the Wand, Xandu captured Wanda Maximoff and transferred her soul into the empty body of Melissa.

Melinda Morrison's soul (Marvel Fanfare I#6) - The spirit of Melinda came back from the realm of Death, and reached Xandu's realm in the form of a floating, glowing sphere. Finally it switched places with Wanda's soul and appeared before Xandu in human, ethereal shape, offering the sorcerer to join her in the afterlife. Xandu was terrified, believing that she only wanted revenge, and he shot some magic blasts at her, to no avail. Spider-Man, who had been captured before, knocked Xandu down and Melinda brought Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man and the Wand back to Earth. In an attempt to kill them Xandu destroyed his world and died himself. His soul went to the Death Dimension, taking Melinda's place there.

(Spider-Man/Doctor Strange: The Way To Dusty Death GN (fb) - BTS) - The passing of living beings from the Realm of Death and of the dead on Earth, had started to break down the dimensional wall between the two dimensions.

    Spider-Man gave the Wand back to Doctor Strange, who placed it near the Crystal of Kadavus, safe under a protection spell.

(Solo Avengers#5/2 (fb) ) - Melinda returned to California and fell in love with John Kowalski, an avatar of death. She realized what he was when he one day claimed the souls from the victims of a terrible car accident. . Melinda fled from him in horror.

(Solo Avengers#5/2) - Melinda went to the Scarlet Witch to ask her for help from Kowalsi, who didn't stop to hunt Melinda. Kowalski confronted them, but the Scarlet Witch channeled Death, which stated that it had no further use for Kowalski. Melinda asked Death to show mercy on Kowalski because she loved him and Death decided to spared his life and gave him three more years to be with Melinda and train his successor.

(Spider-Man/Doctor Strange: The Way To Dusty Death GN (fb) - BTS) - In the Death Dimension, Xandu realized that Melinda wasn't actually alive, but that her awakening was a form of death, only similar to life. Seeking to rejoin with her he sent dreams and nightmares to her from the realm of Death, pushing her into suicide.

(Spider-Man/Doctor Strange: The Way To Dusty Death GN) - Spider-Man luckily intervened to save Melinda, but Xandu sent the Death Realm demons to Earth, attracting Doctor Strange's attention. After the fight Xandu managed to possess Spider-Man's body, stole the Wand of Watoomb and kidnapped Melinda. With the Wand's power Xandu opened a dimensional portal under the New York Central Station and gave the Wand to Melinda who went back "home" to the Death Dimension accompanied by Spider-Man's astral form.
The repeated passages of dead and living beings between the two dimensions further weakened the dimensional walls, and some universal earthquakes made the Realm of Death tremble.
   On Earth Xandu meanwhile fought Strange and matched his power. The two sorcerers arrived in the Realm of Death, but the contemporary presence of Melinda and Xandu, broke the thin balance of the two worlds. The dimensional earthquakes started again, and their domino effect threatened to destroy the Death Realm and the Earth as well. Strange warned Xandu but he couldn't accept to be separated from Melinda again. He grabbed the Wand to use it against Strange and released a tremendous amount of eldritch energy, but Spider-Man webbed it up and shattered the Wand on the ground. Melinda screamed and her voice cured the Dimension of Death and and she became Queen of the Realm.
Strange, Spider-Man and Xandu went back to Earth. Xandu's mental sanity was lost.

(Spider-Man/Doctor Strange: The Way To Dusty Death GN (fb) - BTS / Secret Defenders#6 (fb) - BTS) - Strange had Xandu sent to a mental asylum.

(Secret Defenders#6 - BTS) - Xandu, again in possession of the Wand of Watoomb entered the Death Dimension, but his mere presence there drove Melinda into suspended animation.

(Secret Defenders#7 (fb) - BTS) - Through the Wand of Watoomb Xandu learned that once near the end of the millenium the planes of Earth and Death could be merged.

(Secret Defenders#6) - Xandu took the leadership over the demon-lords and started employing the full power of the Wand to merge his plane and Earth to a gigantic dimension of Death. The new world would see Melinda and him be together again. Melinda as ruler over the new dimension and he as ruler over Melinda.
    Spider-Man, Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch reached them in the Death Dimension, but were captured by the demons in front of Melissa's dull eyes.

(Secret Defenders#7) - Xandu promised to the demons that they would be kings of the new, merged world, then released the prisoners and sent his lackeys to hunt them. Doing so, he kept them occupied and less rebellious, while he prepared his final spell.
    The merge continued, but Melinda awakened and when she understood what was happening, she tried to convince Xandu that it was all wrong and that his actions would destroy the two worlds. Just in time the three fugitives invaded the fortress and another mystic battle occurred. Xandu's power was so great and his determination to create a world where Melinda and he could live together so strong that he managed to merge the two dimensions. On Earth the dead rose from their graves.

(Secret Defenders#8) - Melinda tried again to convince Xandu to stop his madness, but the sorcerer entranced her, to not be distracted in his mystic battle. The Wand gave Xandu so much power that Strange and Scarlet Witch couldn't break through his defenses, so Strange transported Melinda to Earth, right into Captain America's arms in Manhattan. A distracted Xandu followed her, while the death-demons battled the heroes. A simple gesture from Melinda was enough to freeze the walking dead but Xandu countered her command. As the dimensions merging wasn't complete yet, painful spasms hit Melinda and Xandu as the world couldn't handle them being in the same dimension. While Xandu enforced his spell, Melinda managed to talk with Captain America, who encouraged her to truly become the Queen Xandu wanted. Melinda convinced Xandu to go back to the Death Dimension until the world-merging was complete, but once there she asked Doctor Strange for help. Strange merged the demon-lords' powers and added them to Melissa's, making her the Supreme ruler of the Death Dimension. With all that power at her disposal, Melinda could oppose Xandu's pretences and she defeated him with a single powerful magic blow. She banished her ex-lover from the Death Dimension to Earth, but she also refused his love, created in brute force and conquest.
    She sent the heroes back home. On Earth Xandu cried and Melinda cried as well in the Death Dimension, knowing that they would never be together again, neither among the living or the dead.

Comments: Created by Len Wein (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Frank Giacoia & Dave Hunt (inks), Roy Thomas(editor).

A link seems to exist between the Wand of Watoomb, Xandu and Melinda, Sandy Plunkett, interdimensional jumps and body switching.

Could there be a connection between the Death Dimension and the Borders of the Land of the Dead?
--Markus Raymond

Thx to Markus Raymond for adding Solo Avengers#5/2.

Profile by Spidermay.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Melinda Morrison has no known connections to

demons in the death dimension

Death Dimension

     The Death Dimension is a place where the spirits of the recently deceased exist if their souls had not passed on to any of the various Afterlives. It was sometimes referred to as the Land of Shades and the Realm of Shadows. Melinda's soul went there when she was killed by Xandu.
    The dimension is a dark place filled with many many planets and masses of stars in a dark sky without a sun. The land is savage, scarred and rocky, with beasts that dwell in swamps.
    Dying isn't the only way to enter this dimension, but other methods usually involved the use of a powerful talisman like the Wand of Watoomb, or the influence of a powerful sorcerer like Doctor Strange.
    The Dimension of Death is inhabited by demons. Humanoid beings with gnarled bodies, fangs, long teeth and ears, enhanced physical strength, and, in some cases, with magic powers. The most powerful of them were the Demon-lords.
    The demons considered dead part of their possessions, so they prevented them from escaping their realm. They didn't like intruders, whom they liked to kill to make them part of their domain.
    There is a balance to respect, between the Dimension of Death and the world of the living. When Melinda's soul left the Death Dimension, Xandu was taken at her place. However, when she returned, Xandu had to leave, in order to keep the balance.
    It is unknown what control the demon-lords exerted over the dead and the other demons. Their joined magic powers were a good match against Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange. Each of them probably ruled some territories within the dimension, alongside a Queen. When their powers were given to Melinda Morrison she became Empress of the Death Dimension, with powers as vast as Xandu with the Wand of Watoomb.

    Skull Castle was built by Xandu as symbol of his power over this dimension. The Castle was later used by Melinda Morrison, Queen of the Death Dimension.

--Marvel Fanfare I#6 (Spider-Man/Doctor Strange: The Way To Dusty Death GN, Marvel Fanfare I#21, Secret Defenders#6-8

images: (without ads)
Secret Defenders#8, p20, pan2 (Melinda as the Queen of the Death Dimension)
Marvel Team-Up I#21, p9, pan2 (head shot)
Marvel Fanfare#6, p14, pan4 (Melinda's soul sphere)
Secret Defenders#7, p15, pan1 (demons in the Death Dimension)

Appearances:
Marvel Team-Up I#21 (May, 1974) - Len Wein (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Frank Giacoia & Dave Hunt (inks), Roy Thomas(editor)
Marvel Fanfare I#6 (January, 1983) - Mike W. Barr (writer), Sandy Plunkett (writer/pencils), P. Craig Russel (inker), Al Milgrom (editor)
Solo Avengers#5/2 (April, 1988) - Dennis Mallonnee (writer), John Ridgway (artist), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Spider-Man/Doctor Strange: The Way To Dusty Death Graphic Novel (1992) - Roy Thomas (writer), Michael Bair (pencils), Mark Texeira, Michael Bair & Mark Beachum (inks), Toka/Fingeroth/DeFalco (editors)
Secret Defenders#6 (August-October, 1993) - Roy Thomas (writer), Andre Coates (pencils), Don Hudson (inks), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Secret Defenders#7 (September, 1993) - Roy Thomas (writer), Andre Coates (pencils), Fred Fredericks (inks), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Secret Defenders#8 (October, 1993) - Roy Thomas (writer), Andre Coates (pencils), Don Hudson (inks), Mike Rockwitz (editor)

Last updated: 02/06/10

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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