Erika Manson grew up with her dad in his puppet shop. When she witnessed her dad being murdered by crooked cops, she turned to a life of crime donning the persona of the puppets that her dad devoted his life to. She became the costumed villain known as Marionette, and her husband, Marcos Maez, became Mime.
Featured in these Comics
History
Their last heist was at a bank one mile from Empire State Plaza. Manson and Maez entered the bank early on Wednesday morning, putting on an extravagant display for the cameras while they held up the bank. When Mime noticed a teller, Julia, signal for the police, the duo focused on her. Marionette used a photo of her son on the desk and thinly-veiled threats to intimidate her into revealing the identity of Mr. Mangold, the man who could open the bank's vault. When Mangold tried to bluff, saying that the vault opened on a timer, Julia was once again intimidated into revealing the truth. Mangold declared he would fire her, verbally abusing her and her child. Marionette, disgusted by this, did a display of acrobatics and cut off the man's finger. Ironically, the vault opened on a hand scanner, which they now lacked access too.
They were interrupted by the arrival of Doctor Manhattan, whose appearance left Marionette in awe. When Mime moved into a standoff with the superhuman, Manhattan prepared to kill him. However, Manson put herself in-between them, and declared that Manhattan would have to kill her first. Recognizing she was pregnant, he lowered his hand and withdrew as the authorities surrounded the couple. Police would later confirm that thirty-seven people had been killed in their crime spree prior to their capture. Erika was imprisoned for theft and mass murder until she was freed by Rorshach II. She refused to leave, at first due to her distrust of Rorschach, and then because she would not leave her husband. Rorschach II reluctantly freed Mime before taking the duo into New York City to meet with Ozymandias, who recruited them to help him locate Doctor Manhattan. The two board the Owlship with Rorschach and Ozymandias and depart just as New York City is destroyed in a nuclear blast.