Mercy Graves was the bodyguard and personal assistant of Lex Luthor. However, she ended up becoming a casualty of her boss' schemes to discredit and incriminate Superman.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Mercy Graves was known to have been born of Japanese descent.[1]
Working for Lex[]
- "The collapse of Wayne Tower was a tragedy. I cried when I saw it happen on television, didn't I, Miss Graves?"
"You said it'd be tough for Mister Wayne to recover." - ―Lex Luthor and Mercy Graves[src]
Supposedly, Mercy Graves was with Lex when he first opened the television and witnessed the collapse and destruction of Wayne Tower during the Battle of Metropolis. Less than two weeks after the event, Mercy accompanied Lex to an event at the Hotel Grand Lux where they were holding a charity auction for the victims of the tragedy. Mercy then approached Bruce Wayne. When she asked for a moment of his time, Bruce stated he was next in line to be auctioned before Lex then appeared and stated that they could go together as he was also to be auctioned. Lex then put on a show of supposedly showing concern for Bruce, although his actions were clearly disingenous. According to Lex, he'd 'cried' over the destruction of the Tower, something which Mercy then confirmed by stating that Lex had emphasized it would be tough for Wayne to recover. Disgusted by Lex's barely disguised financial overtures, Bruce quickly walked away from the two.[2]
After Hanford Technologies was successfully exposed by Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane, Mercy Graves accompanied Lex Luthor to a construction site of the company, where he announced that LexCorp was purchasing all of Hanford's holdings (including the site), as well as retaining all of Hanford's employees, as he claimed that the employees should not suffer from the immoral actions of their former CEO. Lex proceeded to admit that despite his failings, Mark Hanford had been a good CEO, whose big mistake was selling illegal Kryptonian technology. Later, in the privacy of his car, only Mercy heard Lex say that there was so many more interesting things that could potentially be done with it.[3]
Mercy later accompanied Lex to the his public groundbreaking ceremony to rebuild LexCorp Tower. When they reached the privacy of their car, Mercy praised the expertise with which Lex handled certain complicated questions from the reporters at the event, notably answering that he doesn't know enough about Superman to make a comment.
Lex, however, claimed that there was nothing to "handle", as he was telling the truth, he didn't know much about Superman. As Lex and Mercy returned to the former's LexCorp facility, he continued, saying that he had been "working on changing that." With those words, Lex entered a private room with CCTV screens (displaying the corpse of General Dru-Zod, the Fortress of Solitude, and a Kryptonian DNA double helix), asking Mercy to make sure he wasn't disturbed, as he planned to spend the rest of the day in there.[4]
Monitoring for Lex[]
Mercy Graves walks the halls of LexCorp
- "May I help you, Mr. Wayne?"
- ―Mercy Graves to Bruce Wayne[src]
Mercy was present at the first US Capitol hearing, in order to monitor that Lex's covert pawn Kahina Ziri carried out her mission. Mercy later escorted June Finch and Barrows to a meeting with Lex. Upon Lex coming to an agreement with Barrows, she delivered the body of the deceased Kryptonian Dru-Zod to Lex.
Mercy was present at the charitable function Lex held at his Metropolis villa. There, she noticed Bruce Wayne sneaking about suspiciously, and decided to follow him. She found him downstairs next to a computer server and inquired as to what he was doing there. Bruce claimed he was looking for the bathroom, which she said was upstairs. Bruce, feigning being drunk, also complimented Mercy on her stylish shoes as she walked off. Mercy later arrived to oversee the arrival of the shipment of Kryptonite that arrived at the LexCorp Research Park. She and Luthor shared a look of collective excitement upon catching their first glimpse of the material in person.
Death[]
Mercy Graves at the United States Capitol shortly before her death
Later, Mercy was present at the US Capitol again, with Lex Luthor and Wallace Keefe to attend the Senate committee hearing for Superman. After Lex had a brief talk with June Finch, he instructed Mercy to enter the committee chamber and reserve him a seat. However, Lex never arrived and when a bomb hidden inside Keefe's wheelchair was detonated, Mercy and all others present perish, bar the invulnerable Superman.[5]
Personality[]
Mercy was fiercely loyal to Lex Luthor, whom she seemed to admire, and Lex, in turn, greatly respected Mercy's efficiency, considering her his closest ally and confidant, and revealing to Mercy most of his grand supervillain plans, to the point that he warned her about the premature capitol bombing but asked her to briefly fill his seat so Senator Finch wouldn't suspect what was coming, which she did efficiently. She was a lady of few words, instead efficiently carrying out her duties and obligations.
Abilities[]
- Gifted intelligence: Mercy Graves appears to be reasonably intelligent, which allows her to efficiently serve her boss and keep tabs on Kahina Ziri with discretion. However, she was notably fooled when Bruce Wayne pretended he was drunk.
Relationships[]
Allies[]
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Enemies[] |
Trivia[]
- Originally, Mercy Graves made her first debut in Superman: The Animated Series. Due to the popularity of her character, she was eventually adapted into the DC Comics universe.
- When first introduced in the comics, Mercy was originally revealed to be an Amazonian in disguise. Her character was then rebooted as the human assistant of Lex Luthor.
Behind the Scenes[]
- When DC and WB originally announced Okamoto's involvement in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, in 2014, they labeled the character she was playing as "created in this fictional universe". However, on July 27, 2015, DC confirmed on their official Comic-Con Trailer Breakdown, that she is, in fact, playing Mercy Graves.[6]
References[]
- ↑ Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: The Art of the Film
- ↑ Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Cross Fire
- ↑ Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Lois Lane
- ↑ Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Lex Luthor
- ↑ Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
- ↑ Trailer Breakdown – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - YouTube
External Links[]
