Mary Walker was born into an abusive home. Her parents would furiously argue with each other, traumatizing her as an infant. Abused as a child, one day when a hand (possibly her father’s) reached into her crib the first of her multiple personalities manifested itself in a wild, clawing rage that lashed out. Mary was found to have telepathic, telekinetic and pyrokinetic abilities and was taken away and institutionalized. Her persona as Mary was gentle and cooperative, but weak and prone to seizures and other disorders. Her second identity was uncontrollable and murderous, and constantly ran a fever, giving rise to her name: Typhoid. While in the institution, she was trained in her telepathy, but also experimented on and abused.Eventually she escaped and woke up one morning to find herself in a hotel room with rope burns and a bruised lip; as Mary, she was totally unaware of what had happened while as her other persona(e). Mary tried to become an actress and was good at it but this was short-lived and she disappeared.Re-emerging as a prostitute working in a brothel and going by the name Lyla, Daredevil (Matt Murdock) came across her while on the hunt for one of the Fixer’s associates. Mary and her fellow prostitutes attacked Matt, fearing a police raid and she was thrown from a window. Recovering from near death after that fall, Typhoid re-took control of Mary, swearing never to be hurt by a man again and beginning her criminal career.
