Throughout the Marvel Universe, the powerhouse Luke Cage has gone toe-to-toe with a variety of supervillains. Some of the more notable miscreants include Shades, Bushmaster, and Mr. Fish. However, one of Cage’s deadliest foes happened to be a 400-pound woman with zero superpowers or advanced technology. Do you know who this is?

Created by Billy Graham, George Tuska, and Steve Englehart, Mariah Dillard a/k/a Black Mariah debuted in Luke Cage, Hero for Hire Vol. 1 #5 in 1973. Dillard ran the streets of New York as the Rat Pack gang leader. Along with drug racketeering, the Rat Pack would regularly use a stolen ambulance to better acquire bodies of the recently deceased. Under the guise of taking these bodies to the morgue, they would steal whatever valuables the bodies had on their person. They would also use the victim’s home and office keys to break in later and rob those places as well. The gangster actually got her nickname, Black Mariah, from the stolen paddy wagon she used for her criminal escapades. During a theft, someone noticed the Rat Pack in action and managed to notify Luke Cage’s Power Man. 

After uncovering the Rat Pack hideout, Power Man confronted the gangsters and easily overpowered all of Black Mariah’s men. Unfortunately, his hesitance at striking a woman led to her landing some devastating blows. As he prepared to resist more attacks, Black Mariah attempted to flee via motor boat. Power Man managed to capsize the boat and turned Black Mariah and her cohorts over to the police. Despite being imprisoned, Black Mariah continued her drug dealing and became the primary distributor of Acid Z. Once she was released from prison, Black Mariah relaunched her operations and continued drug dealing. Teaming with Iron Fist, Power Man sought to find the main distributor of Acid Z and shut them down. Despite having enlisted the help of Iron Fist’s old foe Scimitar, Black Mariah still found herself defeated and imprisoned once more. 

While the comic version of Black Mariah has no powers, her 400-pound weight allows her to strike her enemies with severe force. In the popular Luke Cage series on Netflix, Mariah is a significantly slimmed down version. Portrayed by by Alfre Woodard, Mariah Dillard is reimagined as a New York City councilwoman with a horrible crime streak. As the main antagonist of the series, fans can expect to see more from this drug kingpin in the second season. Fortunately, fans won’t have to wait long! Luke Cage season two begins streaming on Netflix this Friday, June 22, 2018.