Mademoiselle Marie

Mademoiselle Marie was first introduced as a French Resistance Leader who fought the Nazis during World War II. It is now considered a title given to highly trained French intelligence agents who swear to protect their country at all costs.

Name:

Mademoiselle Marie

Publisher:

DC Comics

Real name:

Marie

Aliases:

Mlle. Marie
The Battle Doll
Lady Elisabeth Saint-Marie
Countess Margaux de Mortain
Marie Salomon
Zoe Magnier
Simone Michel-Levy
Anais Guillot
Sabine Roth
Josephine Isabel Tautin

Birth date:

None

Gender:

Female

Powers:

Agility
Escape Artist
Leadership
Marksmanship
Stamina
Stealth
Tracking
Unarmed Combat
Weapon Master

First issue:

Star Spangled War Stories (1952) #84 Battle Doll!

See at ComicVine

Origin

Mademoiselle Marie (Earth One) was a young woman from Paris who joined the French Resistance during World War II. She teamed up with American Sergeant Rock and performed many heroic acts to assist the Allied Forces. During this time she had an affair with a British officer stationed in France by the name of Alfred Pennyworth. This resulted in the birth of a daughter named Julia who would later move to the United States where she discovered her real father. This telling of Mademoiselle Marie was abandoned entirely during New Earth and she was re-introduced as Anais Guillot, a French woman born at the end of the first World War who grew up in the French countryside.

Creation

The character of Mademoiselle Marie is a DC character who first appeared in Star Spangled War Stories #84, and was created by Robert Kanigher and Jerry Grandenetti.

Character Evolution

Anais came from a long line of family members who were considered war heroes. Both her father and grandfather Andre would routinely share their stories of valour and victory with her, instilling an especially strong sense of pride and patriotism in the young farm girl. When the Nazi's of World War II entered France, Anais and her father joined the Resistance after the men in their region were cautioned to surrender. Tragedy struck when a Resistance Fighter office came under attack and her father was killed, dying in the arms of a very distraught Anais. Promising to avenge his death, Anais became known as Mademoiselle Marie, an especially skilled spy and marksman and valuable member of the Resistance.

Sometime during the war, the name Mademoiselle Marie became code for specially chosen female agents of the French Intelligence Agency DGSE. These women committed themselves entirely to the protection of their country, to the exclusion of all else, including personal relationships.

It was revealed in Checkmate Issues #21 and #22 that the title of Mademoiselle Marie pre-dated Anais Guillot, and in fact, began with Lady Elisabeth Saint-Marie who protected nobility during the French Revolution. She was followed by Countess Margaux de Mortain (c. 1830), actress and model Marie Salomon (c.1916), mother of two Zoe Magnier (November, 1940), Simone Michel-Levy (c. late 1940) who was a member of the Brotherhood of Notre Dame. At this point Anais Guillot assumed the role and when she was believed to have been executed, a young school girl by the name of Sabine Roth took over the position.

At present, Josephine Isabel Tautin is the current Mlle. Marie, a member of Checkmate and the Black Queen's Knight.

Major Story Arcs

Mademoiselle Marie partook in many missions, defending Europe during World War II with other Allied Forces. Despite being forbidden from participating in romantic relationships, Anais fell in love with Sergeant Rock of Easy Company . Anais was shown to have been captured by the Nazis in a failed assassination attempt of Colonel Burkel and executed.

Anais did appear at a reunion held in 1976 as an ambassador, alive and accompanied by a man appearing to be in his thirties dressed in uniform. Among the attendees were Jeb Stuart of the Haunted Tank, the Losers, Gravedigger and purportedly the Unknown Soldier, some of whom remarked how much her son resembled Sgt. Rock.