Origin
Mary Seward was the personal handmaiden of Queen Elizabeth. Mary was known by some to have an intuition that bordered on the psychic. One day before her lover, Lord Andrew Bennett, left on a journey, Mary warned him not to leave fearing for his safety . He laughed and left anyway. On the road he was attacked by a vampire, devoured, and died. He rose again three days later, undead, but with his mind unaffected by the curse. After nights of having nightmares of the vampire that attacked Bennett, and Bennett avoiding her for days, Mary burst in to Bennettâs chamber to find him drinking blood.
Mary Seward decided to share the fate of her lover and become a vampire. However, unlike Bennett, she succumbed to the temptations of vampirism. She became cunning and evil. Horrified at what she had become, Bennett rejected her and Mary left vowing vengeance on her former lover.
Creation
Mary Seward was created by J.M. DeMatteis as the antagonist of Andrew Bennett in the I… Vampire storyline in House Of Mystery. The destruction of Mary and her vampire terrorist organization called the Blood Red Moon was the focus of Bennett until her destruction at the end of the I… Vampire storyline. She has since been brought back as part of the New 52 universe in I, Vampire.
Character Evolution
Although playing a more prominent role in the rebooted DC Universe, Mary is still playing essentially the same role which she did in the silver age, that of an antagonist who is working in secret out of the public eye, She serves as an antagonist to Andrew in two ways, both as an enemy and as his true love. This has been a constant of the character throughout her publication history.
Major Story Arcs
Bennett chased Mary for centuries crisscrossing the world. During this time Mary built the terrorist vampire organization, The Blood Red Moon. The Moon was able to infiltrate many world governments and even take positions of great power. Yet Bennett was able to thwart them at every turn. It wasnât until Mary had maneuvered Bennett into taking an untested soviet formula that was supposed to confer all the powers of vampirism and negate all the side effects, that Mary seemed to gain the upper hand.
The formula was never meant to be taken by someone who was already a vampire and Bennett’s body began to rapidly decay. As Bennett sat decaying Mary killed Bennettâs latest lover Deborah Dancer right in front of him, and intended for her to rise in three days as her new vampire slave. Dancer, however, had figured out the correct way to use the formula and had taken it herself. When she rose she attacked Mary and, as the sun rose, Dancer drug Mary outside. Mary then died the true death.
Every three years what remains of the Blood Red Moon (now known as the Cult of the Blood Red Moon) performs an ancient ritual in an attempt to return Mary from the dead. And every three years they are stop by the Batman or his associates.
After the reality altering events of Flashpoint Mary and Andrewâs history was altered as well. Mary and Andrew appear to be younger in appearance and have travelled together for the last 400 years. Just recently has Mary decided to raise her army and take over the world in a war of humans versus vampires. This puts her in conflict with Andrew who views human life as valuable but she regards them as nothing more than livestock to be consumed. Although the previous version was not necessarily considered canon in the DC universe, this version is as superheroes (such as the Justice League of America) are occasionally referenced.
Powers & Abilities
Powers (Pre New 52)
Mary has the powers of many vampires. The ability to change into a bat, mist, or a wolf. She can influence humans through the power of hypnosis, and is many times stronger than many humans. She is immortal, but can be destroyed by a stake through the heart, decapitation, or sunlight .
Powers (New 52)
All of the classic vampire powers are still intact with sunlight only weakening vampires not destroying them.