#josephine tautin

[comicsiswild]

Checkmate (2006) #15

[girlsofcomics]

Mademoiselle Marie

-Real name: Marie

-A.k.a.: Mlle. Marie, The Battle Doll, Lady Elisabeth Saint-Marie, Countress Margaux de Mortain, Marie Salomon, Zoe Magnier, Simone Michel-Levy, Anais Guillot, Sabine Roth, Josephine Isabel Tautin

-Publisher: DC Comics

-Type: Human

-Afilliations: Syndicate

-Powers: Agility, escape artist, leadership, marksmanship, stamina, stealth, tracking, unarmed combat, weapon master

[thatsastepladder]

A thought: Miraculous Ladybug, but properly set in the DCU. Not just "Miraculous but they interact with some DC characters" but a version of the show where it's properly grounded in the setting.

A few ideas/headcanons for this AU:

The Miraculous come from Nanda Parbat. Fu and the other Guardians were monks under Rama Kushna.

At some point, multiple Miraculous fell into the hands of the Chinese government, and there were Miraculous holders as members of the Great Ten.

There were a French Ladybug and Chat Noir during World War II who worked alongside the All-Star Squadron. However, Hitler's possession of the Spear of Destiny made them largely ineffective, as using their powers in Axis-occupied territory would cause them to be magically compelled to turn on their people.

Alya's fandom of Majestia is replaced by a similar admiration for Wonder Woman, and one of her most prized possessions is a signed copy of her book, Reflections.

Hawkmoth's activity in Paris attracts the attention of the French government, who deploy their highest-ranking operative, Josephine Tautin, alias Mademoiselle Marie, to investigate. Tautin runs afoul of Ladybug and Chat Noir on multiple occasions - think Argent from Carmen Sandiego.

Aside from making Akumas, Hawkmoth also takes to hiring costumed criminals to steal the Miraculous for him. This goes about as well as you'd expect...

...Especially because his more brazen attempts to get the Miraculous (Syren, in particular) attract the attention of the Justice League.

However, it's the Teen Titans - Tim Drake's team - who are the first American heroes to visit Paris and befriend Ladybug and Chat Noir.

"Rena Rouge" is French for "red fox" and there just happened to be a French DC heroine (well, heroines - they were twins sharing one costumed identity) called the Crimson Fox. In this AU, I doubt Alya would pass up the chance to homage one of Paris's very own heroines with her own costumed identity.

Speaking of which, the Justice League International had an embassy in Paris until it was destroyed by a middle-aged British man dressed in a beefeater outfit. Given the sliding timescale, the idea of superheroes in Paris wouldn't have been too far back in people's memories.

And that's not to mention other French heroes like Fleur-De-Lis of the Global Guardians or Nightrunner of Batman, Inc.

Chloe calling herself Queen Bee would definitely attract the attention of Zazzala, the alien conqueror who also goes by Queen Bee, who'd probably try to kill her out of sheer pettiness.

[multiverseforger]

The original Mademoiselle Marie was introduced in Star Spangled War Stories #84, created by Robert Kanigher and Jerry Grandenetti. Marie (last name unknown) was a French farm girl who joined the French Resistance during World War II.[2] The red beret-wearing character is notable as being the only love interest of Sgt. Rock.

In Pre-Crisis continuity it was revealed that Marie had a daughter named Julia Remarque. The father of her child was Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth, who was an intelligence agent in France during the war. Julia no longer exists in current DC Comics continuity.[3]

LegacyEdit

At some point following World War II the name of Mademoiselle Marie became a code name awarded to agents of the French intelligence agency, the DGSE.[4] Josephine Tautin, introduced in Checkmate Vol. 2 #5, uses the name in her capacity as the member of Checkmate known as the Black Queen's Knight. Relatively little has been revealed of Tautin's background as yet, save that she was the only Knight candidate able to pass Checkmate's admission tests by displaying sufficient cold-bloodedness.

A retcon in Checkmate Vol. 2 #21 reveals that the Madmoiselle Marie codename in fact dates to before World War II. Flashbacks in this story show earlier characters using the name rescuing nobles from the French Revolution in 1791, and defending Louis-Philippe from assassins during the July Revolution of 1830 and that the various Maries were, themselves, assassins. Another flashback reveals that there were a number of Madmoiselle Maries during World War II, one of whom (Sabine Roth) later trained Josephine Tautin.

In Checkmate Vol. 2 #22, Tautin goes on a one-woman mission to rescue Madeleine Desmarais (the daughter of her former supervisor and lover) from a terrorist camp. She shows her cool efficiency and ruthlessness as a killer, poisoning a contact that tries to betray her by dosing him with a neurotoxin, then destroying the antidote after extorting the required information. She also kills everyone in the terrorist camp in the process of rescuing Madeleine. Her actions cause Checkmate to be criticized by the Secretary-General of the United Nations because one killing occurred in front of a news camera. He demands that Tautin be disciplined, but the Black Queen secretly commends her for her actions.

[sockich]

If it’s all the same to you ma’am...I’d prefer Black Queen's Knight...I think I’ve earned it.

Checkmate #5 by Greg Rucka, art by Jesus Saiz

[comicsiswild]

Checkmate (2006) #9

[sockich]

And then there were two.

Checkmate #5 by Greg Rucka, art by Jesus Saiz

[sockich]

Ce qui est nécessaire.

Checkmate #5 by Greg Rucka, art by Jesus Saiz