Marvel Database
Marvel Database

Do not be ashamed, Spider-Man. No mortal can resist the hypnotic effects of the dance of Shiva -- He whose breath made the world... He whose hand shall destroy it!

Dansen Macabre[source]

History

Cult of Kali[]

A member of the Cult of Kali, a Nepalese cult that studied martial arts and mystical disciplines, Dansen Macabre hypnotized Spider-Man into battling the Shroud for her, hoping to kill him as punishment for running away from the cult temple and his devotion to fighting crime. The Shroud managed to shake Spider-Man from his trance, and they defeated her together.[2]

She was later captured by the criminal, Locksmith, who was embarking on a plan to capture superhuman beings and keep them imprisoned so that regular humans could be free to strive and achieve without being overshadowed. The Locksmith had also captured Spider-Woman, who managed to escape, defeat Locksmith, and free the prisoners she trusted. Dansen Macabre (and the other criminal prisoners) were turned over to the police.[3]

Shortly after the Secret Wars, the Venom symbiote made its way to the Club Venom nightclub, where an eyeless Deadpool battled X-51 and a group of cyborg cultists under the thrall of Dansen Macabre, the leader of the Mech-Lords of Hell sect of the Cult of Kali. Despite being blind, Deadpool was able to kill some of the cultists, but was disarmed and restrained by X-51. Deadpool's eyes began to regenerate, but just as he began to succumb to Dansen Macabre's mind-control, the symbiote bonded to him. Sprouting a fanged mouth, Deadpool slammed X-51 to the ground and threatened to eat his brains, which X-51 urged him to do so that he would no longer be a threat. Deadpool regained control of himself, knocked X-51 out, and used the symbiote's tentacles to wield multiple guns and swords simultaniously. Killing several cultists, he discovered that the symbiote could shoot webbing like Spider-Man, and used it to restrain Dansen Macabre and the remaining cultists.[4]

Night Shift[]

At some point, Dansen Macabre was contacted by the Shroud to join his team of criminals called the Night Shift, the circumstances of which remain unrevealed.[5] Macabre was elected as deputy leader of the group and often led the team in criminal endeavors when the Shroud was absent, such as leading an attack on the West Coast Avengers in revenge for capturing the Night Shift member, Digger. In this encounter, Dansen Macabre was defeated by the Scarlet Witch.[1] Eventually, the Night Shift mutinied against the Shroud's leadership, and came under the sway of the Hangman and Satannish.[6]

Dansen Macabre later became a member of Superia's all-female team of supervillains, the Femizons.[7]

Macabre worked with the Night Shift again to join forces with the Hood in a fight against the Midnight Sons. In the fight, she quickly overpowered Jennifer Kale, who called her a skank for dancing and fighting naked. Macabre was briefly out of the fight, however, when Morbius attacked and bit her. When she meant to retaliate, an airborne virus turned her and the rest of Night Shift into zombies. They were then under the control of Dormammu, who ordered them to keep attacking the Midnight Sons. While the Midnight Sons managed to stop Dormammu's plans, the Hood was thankful and teleported away with the Night Shift.[8]

Macabre next appeared in Paris, somehow dezombified, attempting to put the entire city under trance, when she was stopped by the Mighty Avengers.[9]

Night Shift (Earth-616) from Moon Knight Vol 6 3 001

Dansen, as part of Night Shift, was hired by Snapdragon to take down Moon Knight, and failing to, was killed along with most of the rest of the Night Shift by the LA Kingpin.[10]

Superior Spider-Man[]

Macabre was seen alive again with a new Night Shift team in San Francisco. They attempted to rob a bus full of people when they were stopped by the Superior Octopus. He quickly overpowered the team, but instead of arresting them made them the offer to become his henchmen, as he was new to the city. The group accepted and Octavius swung away.[11] Together with Digger and Octavius, who now went by Superior Spider-Man, she stopped a new cult from resurrecting their dead master. After using her hypnotic dance to make them go to the police, Macabre asked Octavius out for dinner, which he rejected on grounds of professionalism.[12] Night Shift later attempted to help Octavius battle Terrax, but quickly disappeared when they realized he was out of their weight-class.[13]

Attributes

Powers

Dance of Hypnosis: Dansen Macabre has the ability to hypnotize those who watch her dance.

Dance of Death: By unknown means, Dansen Macabre can kill a victim who watches her dance.

Veil: Dansen Macabre can also make herself undetectable by another person's senses, even Spider-Man's "spider sense", when she dances.

Abilities

Dansen Macabre is an accomplished and alluring dancer, and has some knowledge of martial arts.

Notes

  • Sometimes she is artistically interpreted as a nude combatant.

Trivia

See Also

Links and References

References