Night Nurse
Night Nurse #1 (Nov.1972). Cover art byWin Mortimer.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Genre	Superhero
Publication date	Nov.1972 – May1973
Creative team
Created by	Jean Thomas Win Mortimer
Written by	Jean Thomas Linda Fite(issue 4)
Penciller	Win Mortimer
Inker	Win Mortimer
Colorist	George Roussos
Editor	Roy Thomas

Night Nurse is acomic-book series published byMarvel Comics in the early 1970s.Linda Carter, one of the series' three central characters, previously was the lead of an earlier Marvel series,Linda Carter, Student Nurse, published in 1961. Other central characters includedGeorgia Jenkins andChristine Palmer; both Linda Carter and Christine Palmer would later be explicitly incorporated into the larger616Marvel Universe comics.

Carter later adopted the nameNight Nurse for herself, and in this incarnation, first appeared inDaredevil #58 (May 2004), as a medical professional specializing in helping injuredsuperheroes.

Dr. Strange: The Oath, by writerBrian K. Vaughan and artist Marcos Martín, is a 2007 five part limited series that co-starred Linda Carter as Night Nurse alongsideDr. Strange.

Christine Palmer appears in theMarvel Cinematic Universe filmsDoctor Strange (2016) andDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), portrayed byRachel McAdams. Additionally, McAdams voiced an alternate timeline version in theDisney+ animated seriesWhat If...? (2021).

Linda Carter and her later Night Nurse role as a medical professional for superheroes were alsoamalgamated into the characterClaire Temple (portrayed byRosario Dawson), who appeared in theMarvel's Netflix television series as a combination of Linda Carter (the “Night Nurse”) and the comic characterClaire Temple set in the MCU.

Night Nurse is a Marvel Comics title that lasted four issues (cover-dated Nov. 1972–May 1973).^[1] Themedical drama/romance series focused on the adventures of three female roommates who worked the night shift at the fictional Metropolitan General Hospital inNew York City: Linda Carter, Georgia Jenkins, and Christine Palmer.^[2]

Night Nurse was one of a trio of Marvel Comics of the time that were aimed at a female audience, alongsideThe Claws of the Cat andShanna the She-Devil. Marvel writer-editorRoy Thomas recalled in 2007 that editor-in-chiefStan Lee "had the idea, and I think the names, for all three. He wanted to do some books that would have special appeal to girls. We were always looking for way to expand our franchise. My idea...was to try to get women to write them".^[3]

The series was written by writer Jean Thomas, who was at the time married to Roy Thomas, and by artistWinslow Mortimer.^[4] The stories, unlike most of Marvel's offerings at the time, contain no superheroes or fantastic elements. However, the night nurses encounter "danger, drama and death", as the cover tag proclaims, as they work to foil bomb plots, expose incompetent surgeons, and confront mob hitmen.Night Nurse #4, the final issue, took place away from Metro General and New York City, instead featuring Christine embroiled in agothic adventure, complete with a foreboding mansion, dusty secret passageways, and mysterious lights.

In a 2010 interview, Jean Thomas offered her theory on the series' early cancellation:

Night Nurse was an attempt to create a comics book for the same audience of young girls who read such book series asCherry Ames,Sue Barton, andNancy Drew. Maybe the comic-book format just didn't appeal to that group. It may also have been difficult to distribute or display: too serious to be withromance comics but not male-action oriented enough to be withsuperhero comics, so, regrettably, low sales led to cancellation.^[5]

Linda Carter reappeared as a medical professional specializing in helping injuredsuperheroes inDaredevil vol. 2, #58 (May 2004), written byBrian Michael Bendis and drawn byAlex Maleev. Matt Murdock / Daredevil refers to her then as "the night nurse ... [who is] sympathetic to ... costumed persons who get a little nicked up in ... the call of duty."^[1]

Night Nurse co-star Christine Palmer reappeared inNightcrawler vol. 3, #1 (Sept. 2004). Series writerRoberto Aguirre-Sacasa explained he was "a huge fan" ofNight Nurse, and brought back the character when he realized his firstNightcrawler story would take place in a hospital.^[6]

Aone-shot issue,Night Nurse vol. 2, #1 (July 2015), reprinted the 1970s series' four issues, as well asDaredevil vol. 2, #80 (Feb. 2006).^[7]

Prior toNight Nurse, writer-editorStan Lee and artistAl Hartley had created the seriesLinda Carter, Student Nurse forAtlas Comics, Marvel's 1950s precursor.^[8] It ran nine issues (Sept. 1961–Jan. 1963).^[9]

While the three roommates initially bicker amongst themselves, they soon bond over their shared loneliness, and become best friends. Originally, none of the three nurses then used "night nurse" as a label, though the "Next Issue" box inNight Nurse #1 promises, "More true-to-life adventures of Linda Carter, Night Nurse!"

Linda Carter is the daughter of a doctor inAllentown, New York. After moving to New York City and moving in with roommates Christine Palmer and Georgia Jenkins, she meets and falls in love with Marshall Michaels, a wealthy businessman. When he forces her to choose between marrying him or staying at Metro General as a nurse, she chooses her career.^[10] In the following two issues of the series, Linda demonstrates that her skills are not limited to nursing practice, as she performs detective work to help expose an incompetent surgeon and prevents a hitman from murdering a patient. By the time the series was canceled, she had started a budding romance with Dr. Jack Tryon, a young resident doctor. Palmer is the protagonist ofNight Nurse #4, with Carter making a one-panel cameo and Jenkins not appearing at all.

Carter reappears inDaredevil (vol. 2) #58 (May 2004), takes care of the seriously injured hero following his defeat by theYakuza.^[11][12][13] Having been rescued by a superhero and wanting to pay the superhuman community back by ministering to heroes' health, oftenpro bono, she becomes a character that superheroes—includingLuke Cage andIron Fist—seek out for off the record medical care.^{[12][13][14][15][16]} During the superhero "Civil War" over government registration, the Night Nurse takesCaptain America's side against the registration act, and joins his resistance group. Though she is difficult to recognize inCivil War #2 (August 2006), editorTom Brevoort stated that it was Carter welcoming the superhero team theYoung Avengers at the new headquarters.^[17] Carter teams withDoctor Strange in the five-issueminiseriesDoctor Strange: The Oath (December 2006-April 2007),^[18][19] By the end, Carter and Strange enter into a relationship, which later ends.^[20]

Carter then treated the ninja assassinElektra, who had been severely wounded by the shapeshifting alienSkrulls during theSkrull Invasion. After Elektra's subsequent imprisonment by the newly formedH.A.M.M.E.R., Carter and Elektra form a bond.^[21] Later,Jessica Drew / Spider-Woman, a longtime patient, visits Carter's practice, which by now has access to some Iron Man.^[22]

Georgia Jenkins is anAfrican-American nurse who comes from aninner city neighborhood, blocks away from Metro General Hospital. On her days off from work, she provides free medical care to the people on her old block. She discovers that her older brother Ben was conned into nearly blowing up the hospital generator.^[10] Even though Ben has a change of heart and is shot while trying to protect the nurses, Georgia finds out in issue #3 that Ben has been sentenced to 10-to-20 years in prison. She angrily compares the harshness of his sentence to the fact that powerful mob criminals walk around freely.

Christine Palmer leaves her home in "an exclusive Midwestern suburb" against her father's wishes, intending to "make a new life without her father's money".^[10] In issue #2, her father comes to New York to try to convince her to return to her life as a debutante, threatening that "if you don't come home by Thanksgiving, then don't come home at all!" Though she considers his offer, she elects to stay in New York and becomes a surgical nurse for Dr. William Sutton. When Sutton's career ends in disaster, she leaves New York City and her friends behind, and travels the country, finding a job as a private nurse for a paraplegic at a spooky mansion. However, this particular position is short-lived. Palmer ends up returning to Metropolitan General Hospital, where she first encountersStorm andNightcrawler of theX-Men. It is revealed in theNightcrawler series that her mother lives inTucson, Arizona.

• Christine Palmer appears in media set in theMarvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), portrayed byRachel McAdams.^[23][24][25] This version is a fellow surgeon, ex-girlfriend, and ally ofStephen Strange (thus incorporating elements of Linda Carter) who appears in the live-action filmsDoctor Strange (2016) andDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). Additionally, McAdams portrays a redheaded alternate timeline variant of Palmer in the latter film^[26] and voices a separate variant in theDisney+ animated seriesWhat If...?.^[27]
• Elements of Linda Carter and theNight Nurse series were hybridized with the comic book characterClaire Temple, a nurse and love interest ofLuke Cage, to create the MCU character of NurseClaire Temple, portrayed byRosario Dawson.^[28][29][30] First appearing in theNetflix seriesDaredevil, series showrunnerSteven S. DeKnight noted that the character was originally "going to be the actual Night Nurse from the comics ... we had her name in a script and it came back that it was possible [Marvel Studios] was going to use her" in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and "had plans for her down the road", necessitating the change to the more obscure comics character Claire Temple.^[31][13] He later added "We just switched to another character that was very much kind of the same realm of Night Nurse".^[13] Temple also appears inJessica Jones,^[32]Luke Cage,^[33][34][35]Iron Fist, andThe Defenders.^[36][37]

An unidentified Night Nurse appears as an unlockable character inMarvel Strike Force.^[38][39] This version is armed with a gun that fires hypodermic needles.

• Night Nurse (both volumes) at The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators.
• Night Nurse at Comic Vine

• Superhero comics
• 1972 comics debuts
• Characters created by Stan Lee
• Comics characters introduced in 1972
• Fictional American nurses
• Marvel Comics female superheroes
• Romance comics

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