Night Nurse (comics)

Linda Carter is the daughter of a doctor in Allentown, 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 of Night Nurse #4, with Carter making a one-panel cameo and Jenkins not appearing at all.

Carter reappears in Daredevil (vol. 2) #58 (May 2004), takes care of the seriously injured hero following his defeat by the Yakuza.[11][12][13] Having been rescued by a superhero and wanting to pay the superhuman community back by ministering to heroes' health, often pro bono, she becomes a character that superheroes—including Luke Cage and Iron 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 takes Captain America's side against the registration act, and joins his resistance group. Though she is difficult to recognize in Civil War #2 (August 2006), editor Tom Brevoort stated that it was Carter welcoming the superhero team the Young Avengers at the new headquarters.[17] Carter teams with Doctor Strange in the five-issue miniseries Doctor 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 assassin Elektra, who had been severely wounded by the shapeshifting alien Skrulls during the Skrull Invasion. After Elektra's subsequent imprisonment by the newly formed H.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 an African-American nurse who comes from an inner 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 Dr. 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 encounters Storm and Nightcrawler of the X-Men. It is revealed in the Nightcrawler series that her mother lives in Tucson, Arizona.

• Christine Palmer appears in media set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), portrayed by Rachel McAdams.[23][24][25] This version is a fellow surgeon, ex-girlfriend, and ally of Stephen Strange who appears in the live-action films Doctor Strange (2016) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022).[26] Additionally, McAdams voices an alternate timeline version of Palmer in the Disney+ animated series What If...? episode "What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?".[27]
• Elements of Linda Carter and the Night Nurse series were hybridized with the comic book character Claire Temple, a medical doctor and love interest of Luke Cage, to create the MCU character of Nurse Claire Temple, portrayed by Rosario Dawson.[28][29][30] First appearing in the Netflix series Daredevil, series showrunner Steven 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 in Jessica Jones,[32] Luke Cage,[33][34][35] Iron Fist, and The Defenders.[36][37]

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