Titania appeared in 1984 Marvel Comics called Marvel Superheroes Secret Wars.
Mary MacPherran was born prematurely in a suburb of Denver, Colorado. Mary was often overlooked as the smallest of her siblings and would immerse herself in fantasy books. She grew little over the years, remaining short and scrawny compared to her peers; a popular girl at school named Vanessa Ashwood gave Mary the nickname "Skeeter" (a slang word for mosquito) because of this. Her only real friend was Marsha Rosenberg, who was similarly unpopular (in her case for being awkward and overweight). Consistently mocked and humiliated since childhood by the wealthy Vanessa and her social clique, Mary (and Marsha) had to take menial jobs to survive. Mary grew bitter over her hard life, and fantasized about something improbable in her favor such as winning the lottery. These fantasies soon turned to gaining superpowers to be admired, and to exact revenge on her tormentors.
When the second Spider-Woman Julia Carpenter began to make appearances in Denver, Rosenberg remarked that her hair was the same color as Mary's. Mary falsely confided in her friend that she was secretly Spider-Woman, and when Rosenberg spread the rumor, Mary saw her popularity grow and was invited to a party by Vanessa and her clique.
In the midst of the party, however, their suburb of Denver was ripped from Earth and used by the alien Beyonder to create the makeshift planet Battleworld. When the real Spider-Woman arrived on the scene and saved the guests from falling debris, Vanessa and her friends realized they'd been duped and chased MacPherran and Rosenberg into the forests of Battleworld. Frightened and exhausted, the two young women were found by the villain Doctor Doom, who was looking for recruits for his army of supervillains; he offered the girls the chance of gaining superhuman powers, and they accepted Doom's offer.
Doom recreated both women using highly advanced alien technologies found in the aptly named "Doombase", which were powered by immense energies from a ferocious alien storm outside. Able to use the technology entirely as he desired, Doom induced high-level metahuman abilities of a specific and particular design. While Rosenberg (now known as Volcana) received a fiery form composed of ionized plasma, MacPherran became far taller, muscular, and more buxom than average. She now had an incredibly high level of superhuman strength and durability, but the change also affected her mentality. Where Mary MacPherran had been small and timid, the newly-named Titania was proud and confident, perhaps to extremes. Soon after, she challenged Carl Creel, the Absorbing Man, to a fight, but he refused, reasoning that he had "nothing to prove...to a dame."
The time did come for her to try her new powers in battle, first against She-Hulk (marking the beginning of a long rivalry between the two), and then against Spider-Man, but during both fights Titania realized that strength wouldn't be enough to defeat her enemies and that her arrogance was getting the best of her.
After her run-in with Spider-Man, she grew close with Absorbing Man, who tried to cheer her up, and, after she decided to deliver payback against Vanessa for the years of abuse, she was talked out of going further by him.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Artificially Enhanced Physiology: Due to undergoing Doctor Doom's mutagenic alteration process, Titania possesses various superhuman physical attributes.
- Superhuman Strength: Titania possesses vast superhuman strength that has increased over the years due to intensive weight training. Titania was originally strong enough to lift about 85 tons and she can now lift about 100 tons.
- Superhuman Stamina: Titania's highly advanced musculature generates considerably less fatigue toxins than ordinary humans. She can physically exert herself at peak capacity for about 24 hours, before the build up of fatigue toxins in her bloodstream begins to impair her.
- Superhuman Durability: Titania's body is highly resistant to physical injury. She is capable of withstanding high caliber bullets, falls from great heights, tremendous impact force, and temperatures as high as 1,500 degrees Celsius and as low as -120 degrees Celsius without sustaining injury. She is also immune to most terrestrial diseases.
- Accelerated Healing Factor: Mary heals twice as fast as a normal human.
- Experienced Fighter: Titania is a formidable hand-to-hand combatant, having undergone training from the Champion of the Universe. She is particularly experienced in using street fighting techniques that allow her to make full use of her great strength.