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Melodia Stillwell (Earth-616)

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Melodia Stillwell, known by her alias Madame Monstrosity is a skilled geneticist, specializing in creating Humanimals by splicing Humans with animal DNA. Operating from her stately manor in Westchester County called "the Farm", she has both a steady supply of human subjects and a notable amount of Humanimals functioning as her obedient servants. She is very secretive and deeply protective of the precious technology that is her life's work. She claims to have tampered with attempts to steal her formula, derailing the experiments that led to the monstrous conditions of Curt Connors, Michael Morbius, and the Rhino, among others, without leaving a trace. She has low opinion of her actual children, who at several points have attempted to utilize her breakthrough. Farley managed to give Mac Gargan the powers of the Scorpion but died soon after. His brother Harlan Stillwell was able to create the Human Fly but likewise was killed by Human Fly before long. However, her daughter Shannon fared better, avoiding her mother's wrath by sticking to other areas of research.[2]

History

Melodia Stillwell is the wife of Jeremy Stillwell,[3] with who she had at least three children: Farley, Harlan and Shannon.[2] Inspired by the work of the High Evolutionary, she dedicated her life to genetic research,[4] eventually perfecting the Gene-Splicer technology that could merge a human with any animal to create a Humanimal hybrid. With a laboratory set up at Stately Stillwell Manor, also called Stillwell Farm, which was far removed from anything for miles, the Stillwells began turning unwilling subjects into humanimals and treating them as their personal slaves. The humanimals were deprived of their names and forced into labor by the promise of eventual return to either normal or a different animal form, while those who attempted to leave were disposed of. Jeremy himself was spliced with an owl, but the reverse procedure has gone wrong: their forms were separated, but their minds were switched as well, and Melodia was unable to restore him to normal.[3] Her children Farley and Harlan both attempted to use variations of her technology elsewhere, creating the Spider-Man villains Scorpion and Human Fly respectively, only to both die shortly after. She would later imply to have tampered with their experiments due to her secretive nature.[2]

Melodia Stillwell (Earth-616) from Amazing Spider-Man Vol 6 31 001

Bailey Briggs and his mother Tabitha were among those abducted by the Inner Demons. Mister Negative gave them to Madame Monstrosity in exchange for enhancing some of his Inner Demons. She made use of different regenerative animals and fused some of the Inner Demons with them.[5] Tabitha was spliced with a tabby cat[3] and Bailey with a spider, turning him into a Human-Spider Hybrid. His friend Eli tried to comfort him by cracking jokes, and Bailey in turn joked about a elephant-rhinoceros hybrid called "Hellifino." This caught Madame's ear, and she was delighted about such an experiment, picking Eli as the first subject to be spliced with two animals at once.[6] Madame Monstrosity discovered that Bailey, or "Subject Five," could change his form at will, turning from a monstrous form into a regular human one while maintaining his super-strength and other powers. She invited the High Evolutionary to visit her Farm and observe her achievement.[4] Eventually Bailey was rescued by Spider-Man, who took the boy under his wing.[7] Madame Monstrosity would lose all memories about Bailey after he was erased from existence, along with everyone else on Earth.[6] High Evolutionary still came to visit and saw her Humanimal project in action where she fused a plumber with the crab. Displeased with the demonstration, the High Evolutionary was further displeased about a subject that can evolve and devolve into a spider which he was informed about. He left in disgust of Stillwell and advised her not to contact him again much to her crushing disappointment.[4]

Bailey was eventually restored to life, but the memories of others and physical evidence of his past life was not.[8] His heroics as Spider-Boy caught Madame's attention, as she immediately recognized her creation, yet had no memory of making him.[2] After learning where Spider-Boy would be at a specific date and time from the press, Madame send Hellifino after him. The two fought, and Hellifino removed Spider-Boy's mask enough for Madame to read the barcode on the back of his neck, confirming his origin. Spider-Boy then persuaded Hellifino to let him go, telling Madame Monstrosity that his target escaped by turning into a swarm of spiders.[6]

Melodia Stillwell (Earth-616) from Spider-Boy Vol 2 1 001

Knowing Spider-Boy's batch number, Madame Monstrosity recovered biological remains left over from his creation and used them to create his opposite side: Boy-Spider. She let this new creation into the world, observing it as it encountered Spider-Boy's allies and eventually Spider-Boy himself. Boy-Spider eventually returned by Madame's side, who was confident with the results so far, as she had discovered that Spider-Boy's mother Tabitha was already among her creations.[9] Madame Monstrosity once again send Hellifino to capture the Spider-Boy, this time targeting his friend Christina Xu as bait. Taking advantage of Spider-Boy's morality, Hellifino was able to capture them both and bring them back to the Farm.[4] While Spider-Boy was restrained, Madame Monstrosity pushed Christina into the Gene-Splicer, splicing her with a pigeon and tossing her with her other slave workers. Meanwhile, Spider-Boy managed to overcome his restrains and the strongest Humanimals Stillwell had at her disposal, only to be disarmed when Madame Monstrosity presented Tabitha, revealing her as Spider-Boy's lost mother.[3]

After caging Spider-Boy again, Madame Monstrosity prodded him to learn the secret of his at-will transformation, only for him to reveal to her that she was in imminent danger. Right after that, Stillwell Farm was attacked by the Avengers friends of Spider-Boy: Thor, Captain America, Squirrel Girl, the original Spider-Man, and the newer one. Dr. Stillwell ordered the Humanimals to attack them, while she herself rushed to her lab and initiated the "Doomsday Scenario Omega", splicing herself with multiple animals at once, including a goat, a rooster, a cobra, a fish, a crab, and a bat among others. This transformed her into a horned, dragon-like hybrid creature several stories tall that was able to fend off even Thor himself. In the meantime, Spider-Boy got to her husband Jeremy, still in the body of an owl, and revealed to all Humanials that they were being lied to this entire time about their chance to be restored to normal, thus breaking their loyalty to Madame M. She was unfazed by this due to her new power, but at this moment the High Evolutionary asked her to join him. Seeing a way out of the situation, she accepted and was immediately teleported away to the High Evolutionary's laboratory. She then found out she was there not as a fellow scientist, but as a test subject as the High Evolutionary was pleased with Madame Monstrosity's hybridized state.[1] Some of the Humanimals she created were returned to their human and animal forms, but this couldn't be done with Jeremy Stillwell, Hellifino, and Boy-Spider while some of Madame Monstrosity's servants remained in their Humanimal forms.[10]

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