Pheromones

When the Defenders faced the villain Mandrill, he led an army of women called the Fem-Force (Defenders #90-91). Mandrill's first female ally, however, was Nekra. Born with chalk-white skin and fangs, Nekra's vampire-like appearance made her an outcast since childhood. As a mutant power, Nekra gained invulnerability and superhuman strength when she felt hate—similar to the way the Hulk became more powerful when angry.

Soon after splitting from Mandrill, Nekra found an enemy in Spider-Woman. In contrast to Mandrill, whose mutant pheromones could allure women, Spider-Woman produced alarm pheromones that made others ill at ease. She received this medical diagnosis—a secret side effect of her spider powers—in her civilian identity as Jessica Drew. Ironically, Spider-Woman's pheromones had an inverse effect on Nekra, inducing in Nekra a sense of trust, which reminded her of Mandrill, which thereby intensified her hatred (Spider-Woman #16).

Nekra's original entry from The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe noted that she could lift (press) about 10 tons at peak strength.

The Making of Mandrill

At the time of his debut in Shanna The She-Devil #4 (June 1973), the villain Mandrill worked with an accomplice named Professor Skecher. Mandrill had the superhuman power to compel women to do his bidding, and the heinous Professor Skecher would tattoo Mandrill's facial markings onto the face of each follower. Sketcher himself had no visible tattoos. The adventurer Shanna O'Hara surprised both men with her athleticism and her ability to resist Mandrill's influence.

By the time the Defenders faced Mandrill, Professor Skecher was out of the picture and Mandrill's new female followers (the Fem-Force) were not tattooed in his image.

Distress Call

In an indirect cross-over, Yellowjacket received a call in Avengers #189 that his wife, the Wasp, was stranded in Las Vegas following her adventure in Defenders #76-77.

Borrowing an Avengers Quinjet, Yellowjacket arrived to find that Wasp, Hellcat, and Valkyrie had stumbled into a plot orchestrated by the Mutant Force and a band of warrior women obeying the commands of Mandrill. The predicament drew attention to a seldom-mentioned curse that limited Valkyrie's fighting skills against other women at this point in her crimefighting career.

The villains soon captured Yellowjacket (#78) and then trapped Wasp in a jar like an insect. Fingers covering the air holes in the lid prevented Wasp from succumbing to Mandrill's mutant pheromones, but Hellcat and Valkyrie fell under his power to bend the will of most women (#79).

Wasp managed to escape, and Nighthawk arrived late on the scene to rescue the other heroes (#80).

Ed Hannigan wrote Defenders #78-80.

To Thine Own Self Be True

Of all the evil mutants the Defenders faced, Mandrill seemed the most driven by vengeance. As Mandrill described it, the torment he experienced as a child justified his criminal objectives.

Unusual appearance notwithstanding, Mandrill's mutant pheromones enabled him to enslave a Fem-Force army of women. The women of the Defenders were just as susceptible to the intoxicating effects, turning them against their own teammates (Defenders #90).

Hulk: Why does Valkyrie fight against Hulk? Valkyrie is Hulk's friend!

Valkyrie: Bumbling brute! Such as yourself could never be a friend of the Valkyrie! Stand away, or feel the sting of my blade, Dragonfang!

Hulk: Hulk doesn't understand--but if Valkyrie wants to hurt Hulk … Hulk will have to hurt Valkyrie.

Even with such chaos underfoot, the battle against Mandrill and his Fem-Force revealed how much the Defenders had come together as team.

• Hulk remained calm under pressure. When a mind-controlled Valkyrie drew her sword at the Hulk, he tried to reason with her before fighting.
• Valkyrie outgrew her allegory. Early incarnations of Valkyrie were decidedly feminist clichés (Avengers #83; Incredible Hulk #142). Seeing the character mind-controlled to join the one-dimensional Fem-Force showed how far removed Valkyrie of the Defenders truly was from such caricatures.
• Hellcat honed her psychokinesis. Despite her inability to control her psionic abilities since learning of them in Avengers #151, Hellcat successfully used the paranormal Shadow Cloak she acquired in Defenders #60 when attacking the women under Mandrill's command.
• Nighthawk lived up to his position as leader. After noticing that an electrical shock could free someone from the Mandrill's mental hold, Nighthawk used his resources at Richmond Industries to develop a bracelet that would emit an electrical pulse to protect against the villain's hypnotic power (Defenders #91).
• Daredevil returned! After several guest appearances as attorney Matt Murdock, the man without fear returned in costume to accompany the non-team during this adventure.

Defenders. Vol. 1. No. 90. December 1980. "Mind Over Mandrill!" Ed Hannigan (writer), Don Perlin and Pablo Marcos (artists), Diana Albers (letterer), George Roussos (colorist), Al Milgrom (editor), Jim Shooter (final arbiter).

Defenders. Vol. 1. No. 91. January 1981. "Defiance." Ed Hannigan (story), Don Perlin and Pablo Marcos (art), Diana Albers (lettering), George Roussos (coloring), Al Milgrom (editing), Jim Shooter (ed-in-chief).