Poison (comics)

Poison (616)
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Web of Spider-Man Annual #4 (1988)
Created by	Steve Gerber and Cynthia Martin
In-story information
Alter ego	Cecilia Cardinale

Poison is the name of two fictional comic book characters, owned by Marvel Comics. The first was created by writer Steve Gerber and artist Cynthia Martin and exists in the Marvel Universe while the second lives in an alternate world featured in the one-shot comic What If?: Spider-Man: The Other.

Cecelia Cardinale

Cecelia Cardinale was a first year student at the University of Havana. She was imprisoned in a Cuban prison under charges of being a prostitute by Vassily, a member of the military staff at the Soviet embassy. When she became mysteriously ill, she was transported to America, where she lived in a Florida refugee camp and gave birth to her son, Carlos. A mysterious other-dimensional entity named Ylandris appeared to Cecelia as she lay dying from her illness; Ylandris claimed to be dying as well, and proposed merging her essence with Cecelia to keep both beings alive. She took the name Poison, and became a vigilante, striking out primarily against those who had wronged her before.

Poison encountered Spider-Man, and the two traveled to the Nexus of All Realities in the Florida Everglades, where the Man-Thing lives. Ylandris was able to split herself off from Cecelia and use the Nexus to return to her home dimension. Poison retained her superhuman powers even after the departure of Ylandris.

Poison returned in an eight-part serial in Marvel Comics Presents #60-67, also by Gerber and Martin. In this story, she aided Joe Trinity, who communicates with his mop, which he calls Myrna. In reality, it is a supernatural force called Mrinhä that is seeking to possess him, taking advantage of his breakup with his ex-wife, whose new husband is working for the mobster called Slug, to interface with him, eventually joining with him and destroying the mop. Poison destroys Mrinhä by taking it up herself and having her Ylandris powers destroy it.

The Cardinales moved to New York City and encountered Ben Reilly, not realizing that he was not the same Spider-Man that she had met.

Much later, Poison was one of numerous minor heroes and villains killed and resurrected in the service of the Hand. She took place in a combined assault by the forces of the Hand and HYDRA on the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier. While many of those involved in the assault were killed, Poison's fate remains unknown.

Poison (What If?)

Poison is also the name taken by the creature appearing in What If? Spider-Man: The Other. The creature is a combination of the Venom symbiote and Peter Parker. Diverging from Amazing Spider-Man #527, Spider-Man rejects the rebirth offered to him by the giant spider and attacks it, killing it by ripping off its head. The Venom symbiote sensed what was happening, and left Mac Gargan to seek out Peter Parker under his cocoon in the Brooklyn Bridge. It seeks him out and takes him over, filling the gap left by an incomplete metamorphosis. The new creature breaks into Stark Tower and confronts Aunt May and Mary Jane. His intention is to replicate himself within Mary Jane. After Mary Jane will not call him Peter, he names himself "Poison". Wolverine attempts to fight him but is soon defeated. Luke Cage does the same but Poison produces a spike from his wrist that pierces Luke's skin on his shoulder, rendering him helpless on the floor. After Mary Jane agrees to the replication, Peter has second thoughts and Mary Jane convinces him to leave. Poison eventually unearths the body of Gwen Stacy and replicates himself within her.