Madame Fatal - Madame Fatal in Recent Years

Madame Fatal in Recent Years

DC Comics acquired the rights to all the former Quality Comics characters in 1956 along with a bulk buy of them all, but has yet to make use of Madame Fatal beyond a few very brief cameos and a few mere mentions that made light of the character's transvestite M.O.

Outside of regular DC Universe continuity, comix writer Kim Deitch (Hollywoodland) did a story in 1972 that purported to be about Madame Fatale. But inasmuch as she did things in it that it's hard to imagine a mainstream comic book character doing, there could be some question about the character's identity in this incarnation.

James Robinson and Paul Smith featured Madam Fatal in a cameo in 1993's The Golden Age. In The Golden Age #4, Madam Fatal appears in a panel surrounded by the Fiddler, and the Gambler, who all appear to be courting the cross-dressing hero while other villains (including Wildfire, Harlequin, and the Psycho-Pirate) stand around giggling (apparently knowing Madam Fatal's true gender).

Madame Fatal has been mentioned in a homosexual-based joke in 1999, yet the passing reference would seem to imply Madame Fatal's death. In a scene in JSA #1 (August 1999) that depicted the funeral of the first Sandman, Wildcat wonders whether his own funeral will "be like the time they buried Madame Fatal here, and no one turned up for the funeral but the touring cast of La Cage aux Folles?" This would seem to suggest that the character of Madame Fatale is considered deceased in the DC universe, or at least has suffered a comic book death.

James Robinson gives the character a prominent role in The Shade #4 (2012), set in 1944. In this issue Madam Fatal finally learns the location of his daughter.