A Few Notes on Mary and Walker (Iron Fist)

*Iron Fist season 2 spoilers.*

Long before Marvel gave us Steven and Marc (and Jake,) we got Mary and Walker (and a likely Alter #3, though we never got to meet them.) As I’ve gradually made my way through a rewatch of the Defenders sub-universe, I was curious to revisit this storyline in the second season of Iron Fist and see what I think about it now that I’m more knowledgeable about DID than I was the first time around. Be prepared for some inevitable Moon Knight comparisons here. (Note: I’m still very much a layman, though. What follows is purely my own opinion, and I know that others are more qualified to talk about this character than I am.)

I will say that part of the issue with the show’s portrayal of this system comes from framing their dissociative identity disorder as a reveal. We, like Danny, meet Mary first, the bubbly artist who’s new to the city and looking to make connections. When we follow her home and we see post-it notes around the apartment warning her not to leave, it’s meant to be “creepy.” When we see her responding to those notes by self-soothing and listening to the sound of running water, it’s meant to be “weird.” From the first episode of the season, we’re supposed to be asking, “Whoa, what’s the deal with Mary?”

But of course, it’s not just Mary. Walker is there too, the ex-military mercenary hired to spy on Danny and Colleen. Walker is soft-spoken and eerily calm, dangerously capable with weapons and hand-to-hand combat—she’s able to best the Immortal Iron Fist, after all! She’s laser-focused on doing her job, getting paid, and moving on, and she’s irritated that Mary interferes when she fronts.

Okay, let’s get into it. There’s a lot going on here that isn’t great. The suspenseful “reveal” of Walker and her whole vibe gives off an “evil alter” feel, and if that’s not enough, Walker learns late in the season that there may be a third alter in their system, when she realizes that neither she nor Mary know how they escaped when Walker’s unit was captured in Sokovia. Given that our only hard and fast evidence of this alter is Walker waking up surrounded by the dead bodies of her captors, this also gives off “evil alter” vibes.” When she meets with a therapist to discuss the possibility of a third alter, he seems ready to commit her then and there, on the grounds that this unnamed alter sounds violent and dangerous.

As with Jake Lockley, I don’t want to discount the possibility that this alter is a protector. During their capture, Walker and Mary were in a truly horrific situation—repeatedly tortured, raped, and forced to watch the rest of Walker’s unit killed in front of her—and all of Walker’s skills weren’t enough to get them out of it. This alter rescued their headmates and, understandably, took revenge on the men who tortured them.

Other elements fall into the “not great” category as well. The whole “switch and then immediately change your clothes/hairstyle” thing is kind of trite, an easy shorthand that’s overused in DID stories without much basis in real-life behavior. Also, it’s suggested that prior to her capture, Walker didn’t have DID and Mary only emerged during that ordeal. It’s my understanding that DID is rooted in early childhood trauma, so it doesn’t seem like someone could “become” DID as an adult. Not to mention, atypical timeframe seems to cement that Walker is the “original,” the “real one.” Certainly, that’s how Walker views it. That would’ve been a possible reaction possible anyway—Marc had that attitude toward Steven at first—but the narrative seems to validate that perspective. The therapist that Walker speaks with discusses Mary purely as an alter, never as a person, and he never asks to talk to Mary. And even though Danny and Colleen meet Mary first, once they learn about the DID, they seem to adopt a version of this attitude as well. Danny at least is mostly nice to Mary, but when she fronts at an inopportune moment, he treats her as an impediment, repeatedly asking how to get Walker back. Finally, I know that they get into a knockdown drag-out fight in the finale, but it’s kind of a dick move to Danny to end his fight with Walker by taking advantage of the triggers she disclosed to him, forcibly bringing Mary to the front.

There are some parts of this storyline that work. I like the depiction and the explanation given for the triggers that cause Walker and Mary to switch, with Mary being brought out by blinking lights and the sound of running water. And other people may diminish her personhood, but Mary never sees herself as anything less than real. When she discovers that the retirement plan Walker dreams about involves a cabin in the desert with “no triggers,” somewhere she could keep Mary buried indefinitely, Mary’s not having it, and she retaliates by trying to keep Walker from coming back out front and putting her plan in motion. It’s obvious that Walker and Mary don’t have much of a relationship—it doesn’t look like there’s any co-consciousness between them, and previous communication between them is mostly restricted to Walker’s threatening post-its. But in the second half of the season, Mary makes more of an overture. She realizes that Danny is going to need Walker to defeat Davos, so she allows them to switch, but not until after she’s made a video for Walker trying to appeal to her better nature, hoping Walker will ultimately decide not to suppress her.

So, on the whole, there are a few decent/interesting things here, but this storyline is pretty shaky. While I know that the Defenders universe shows came from different creative teams than the main MCU, it’s still probably a good thing that we didn’t get Moon Knight until last year. As with the Mandarin in Iron Man 3 versus Wenwu in Shang-Chi, it seems pop culture needed time to gain a little more knowledge and cultivate a desire to do things right. Steven, Marc, and Jake aren’t perfect representation, but their story is given way more consideration than Mary, Walker, and the third alter’s is.