History
Dracula (the original novel by Bram Stoker)
Wilhelmina Murray was born in England sometime in the mid 19th century. As an adult, she lived the life of school teacher, specializing in etiquette and decorum. She met a young barrister named Jonathan Harker and the two fell in love. By 1897 the two were engaged, and they were wed shortly after Jonathan took on a harrowing business trip to the mountains of Transylvania.
Harker’s encounter with a vampire named Dracula proved traumatic for Mina as well. When Dracula relocated to the district of Whitby, he learned of Mina and used his vampiric powers to seduce her. He drank her blood on three separate occasions and forced Mina to drink of his own blood. Mina was destined to become one of his vampire brides, but fortunately for her, Harker, as well as his confederates Arthur Holmwood, Quincy Morris and Abraham van Helsing destroyed Dracula before the changes could take effect. Mina was free of Dracula’s influence, but she still bore the scars of his vampiric bite across her throat.
Derivative Works
League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen
In the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen the experience from the novel haunted Mina and eventually took its toll on their marriage. Jonathan could not bear to look upon his scarred wife, and Mina began wearing a long red scarf across her throat to conceal the wounds. By 1898, the two were divorced. In May of that same year, Mina met a man named Campion Bond. Campion served as the liaison for a member of British Secret Service known as “M”. Mina believed M to be a man named Mycroft Holmes. Through Bond, M recruited Mina into a menagerie of undercover operatives in service the British crown. This group became colloquially known as the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Mina’s first mission as a member of the League was to seek out other extraordinary individuals and enlist their services as well. Within a short period of time, she established correspondences with the elusive science-pirate Captain Nemo and the retired French detective C. Auguste Dupin. In June of 1898, Mina embarked on a voyage to recruit another member into the league – the famed explorer Allan Quatermain. Although it was believed that Quatermain had died in 1886, Mina found him in an opium parlor in Cairo, Egypt. Quatermain, hopelessly addicted to opium, was but a shell of his former self, and Mina looked upon him with great disdain. While trying to shake Quartermain into a state of sobriety, Mina was attacked by several surly Arabs who attempted to violate her. Quatermain regained his senses long enough to drive them off with a well-placed shot from his revolver. After which, Mina helped him out of the opium den and brought him to the docks where they boarded Nemo’s vessel the Nautilus.
Paris
The next leg of her mission brought her to Paris, France. Mina and Quatermain met with C. Auguste Dupin, a former freelance detective noted for his involvement in a case that took place in the Rue Morgue in 1841. Mina told him that she was searching for a physician named Doctor Henry Jekyll who had been reportedly been seen in Paris. She was to recruit Jekyll into the League. In the midst of conversation, Dupin told them that Paris had recently been the tableau for a string of grisly deaths, similar in scope to the 1841 Rue Morgue murders. The victims in this most recent debacle were all prostitutes. Mina was unsure if the murders were connected to Doctor Jekyll or not, but agreed to assist Dupin in investigating the matter.
She disguised herself as a prostitute in order to bait the murderer into a trap. Dupin and Quatermain kept surveillance while Mina established contact with Henry Jekyll. She followed him back to his rented room, but was horrified to see Jekyll physically transform into his monstrous alter ego Edward Hyde. Hyde lunged at Mina, but Dupin drove him back with a shot from his pistol. Quatermain subdued the beast by forcing him to ingest a bottle filled with laudanum. After Hyde was subdued, he reverted to the more manageable form of Henry Jekyll. Mina and the others loaded him into the Nautilus and brought him back to England.
Reform School Blues
On July 3rd of that year, Mina and the others investigated a mystery which took place at Miss Rosa Coote’s Correctional Academy for Wayward Gentlewomen in Edmonton. Mina and Allan posed as husband and wife seeking to gain information about the Academy for the sake of their wayward daughter. Neither Quatermain nor Mina enjoyed the charade and they continued to clash on several issues. Regardless, they worked well together and began investigating a bizarre matter taking place at the school. Three women living at the Academy had found themselves with child, with no evidence of a man ever being present at the Academy. Miss Coote believed these women to be the benefactors of Immaculate Conception. Upon further inspection, Mina discovered that the true perpetrator of these pregnancies was a man named Hawley Griffin.
A year ago, Griffin used a serum to render himself invisible and has been taking advantage of this gift by violating several women at the school. Mina and the others came upon Griffin during one of his sexual excursions. It was Mina who finally exposed Hawley, but tossing a bucket of plaster at him. She then battered him across the head with the bucket, rendering him unconscious. Like Hyde, Hawley Griffin was taken back to the League’s secret annex at the British Museum.
Cavorite
Mina’s next mission with the League involved recovering a stolen supply of an anti-gravity material known as Cavorite. A criminal Chinese doctor absconded the Cavorite to outfit a fleet of vessels, giving them the ability to fly. Mina coordinated the mission to this “Devil Doctor’s” territory in Limehouse. The first leg of the mission brought Mina and Hawley Griffin to Quong Lee’s tea house. Quong Lee was one of Campion Bond’s underworld contacts and the League members attempted to get information from him concerning the crime lord’s whereabouts. Rather than answering their inquiries directly, Quong Lee instead provided them with a cryptic parable. Mina deciphered the mysterious riddle and determined that the Chinese doctor was using a partially constructed tunnel beneath the Rotherhithe Bridge to build his fleet of ships.
Access to the tunnel could only be gained by way of a special homeless shelter owned by the Doctor. Once again, Mina and Quatermain were forced to pose as a married couple – a ruse appreciated by neither of them. Claiming to have come upon hard times, they convinced the shelter proprietor to let them have a room. As night approached, they surveyed the shelter and found the secret entrance to the crime lord’s tunnel.
The Tempest
By 1964, Mina shot the villainous Vull the Invisible and took his helmet to take up his mantle as a heroic successor as a member of the superhero team called the Seven Stars.
Powers & Abilities
Mina possesses main powers and abilities granted over her lifespan. Having bathed in the fountain of immortality Mina no longer ages. Several of her missions with the League required Mina to operate under cover. She has impersonated a prostitute, an expectant mother, and a homeless woman. Prior to her encounter with the vampire Dracula, Mina worked as a school mistress, specializing in the teaching of etiquette and social behavior.
As a member of the League, Mina demonstrated natural leadership capabilities. Even in the midst of great adversity, she always maintained a level head, and was able to make sound decisions under pressure. Even though she didn’t always curry favor with the rest of the League, they always seemed to defer to her wisdom. Mina Murray possessed the strength level of a woman her age, size and weight who engaged in moderate regular exercise.
Other Media
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
In the 2003 film, Wilhelmina was played by Peta Wilson. Unlike her comic book counterpart, the film version of Mina Murray was a supernatural creature, half-human/half-vampire. Although Dracula had been destroyed before she could be turned, enough of the vampire lord’s blood remained in Mina’s body, giving her various vampiric gifts, including hyper-reflexes, fangs and the ability to leap and move swiftly with animalistic grace. An added benefit, is that she is not vulnerable to traditional vampire weaknesses. She can function in daylight, and religious icons do not seem to have any affect on her. In the film, Mina shared a rivalry with fellow League member Dorian Gray (a character who was not originally a member of Moore’s League). Their rivalry however, was predicated upon a pre-existing relationship, of which, little information is provided. In the end, it is Mina who proves to be Dorian’s downfall.