Spider-Girl

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Spider-Girl
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceWhat If #7 (November 1977)
Characters
Spider-Girl

Spider-Girl is the code name of several fictional characters in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The most prominent version and first to receive an ongoing series is Mayday Parker from the MC2 universe, the second version is Anya Corazon, and the third version is Gwen Warren, the latter two both from the Earth-616 universe. Several alternate reality incarnations of the character have additionally received notoriety, including the Ultimate Spider-Girl, Ashley Barton, Betty Brant, April, Penelope and Petra Parker, and Charlotte Morales.

Publication history[edit]

The first portrayed Spider-Girl, Mayday Parker, first appeared in a one-shot story in the ongoing series What If. Following positive fan response to the concept, Spider-Girl and two other series (A-Next and J2) set in the same alternate future universe were launched under the MC2 imprint with The Amazing Spider-Girl and Spectacular Spider-Girl.[1] [2] On November 8, 2008, Marvel EIC Joe Quesada confirmed that Spider-Girl would become a feature in the monthly anthology magazine Amazing Spider-Man Family. The series would replace the feature "Mr. and Mrs. Spider-Man", written by DeFalco, which served as a prequel series to the Spider-Girl universe.[3] The title would continue to be simultaneously published in paper form within Amazing Spider-Man Family. Amazing Spider-Man Family #5 (published April 2009) through #8 (July 2009) contained these Spider-Girl stories until the title's cancellation with issue #8, followed by one last Spider-Girl tale, Spider-Girl: The End, in which fellow Spider-Girl April Parker is killed.

In November 2010, a new Spider-Girl series was launched that was unconnected to the MC2 universe. The MC2 Spider-Girl title was cancelled, having surpassed publisher expectations for longevity. The new series featured a new character, Anya Corazon, whose adventures occurred on Earth 616. The series was canceled after only eight issues. No official reason was given for the cancellation. This character returned for a Spider-Island limited series.[4]

A second Earth-616 Spider-Girl was introduced in Avenging Spider-Man #16 (January 2013),[5] before returning a decade later in X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #69 (January 2023) under the name "Gwen Warren", assuming the mantle of Spider-Girl as a member of the X-Men.

Spider-Girls[edit]

Mayday Parker[edit]

The daughter of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson from the MC2 universe.

April Parker[edit]

Prior to calling herself "Mayhem", Mayday's clone April goes by Spider-Girl, the two sharing the mantle.

Anya Corazon[edit]

A Latina superhero who originally called herself Araña (Spider), and occasionally goes by Spider-Girl.

Gwen Warren[edit]

The mutant daughter of Scott Summers, Gwen Stacy, and Ana Soria, grown by the Jackal using technology stolen from Mister Sinister, the newborn Spider-Girl battles the Superior Spider-Man Otto Octavius and the X-Men in the form of a 30 ft. human-spider hybrid, resembling a giant garden spider with human eyes able to shoot eye-beams, before being returned to a normal size with sentience, to the physical size of a twelve-year-old humanoid girl.[5] Later, she enrols in and drops out of the Jean Grey School For Higher Learning under the name "Gwen Warren", before moving to Krakoa to get in touch with her father, becoming a member of X-Men Green as the superhero Spider-Girl, able to turn into both a giant spider and a "spider-girl" at a thought.

Other versions[edit]

Betty Brant[edit]

In "What If Someone Else Besides Spider-Man Had Been Bitten By The Radioactive Spider?", Betty Brant is one of three candidates – along with Flash Thompson and John Jameson – who is bitten by the radioactive spider which gave Spider-Man his powers. After confiding in Peter, and with his assistance, she begins to fight crime under the name "The Amazing Spider-Girl", with a mask similar to Spider-Man's but a very different costume. One time, she fails to stop a certain crook, who subsequently murders Peter's uncle Ben. The shock over the consequences of her failure makes Betty quit her Spider-Girl identity, although Peter takes up the identity of Spider-Man later on by synthetically recreating and ingesting the irradiated spider's venom.[6] This incarnation also appears in the events "Spider-Verse" and "End of the Spider-Verse".

Ultimate Marvel[edit]

An Ultimate Marvel version of Spider-Girl/Spider-Woman is featured with the Ultimate continuity. This version, known by various names, is a gender-swapped clone of the Peter Parker of the Ultimate Universe, with all of his memories, from their perspective having gone to sleep one day a boy and woken up the next as a girl. Initially known as Spider-Girl/Spider-Woman, she joins the Avengers and takes on the mantle of Black Widow, before returning to their original name.

In Ultimate Spider-Man #200, a glimpse of the future shows Kitty Pryde to eventually become Spider-Girl.[7]

Ashley Barton[edit]

In the pages of Old Man Logan, Ashley is the daughter of Tonya Parker and Hawkeye who did not like the way that Kingpin was running Hammer Falls. She becomes "Spider-Bitch", allying herself with a new Punisher and Daredevil, and plans to take back Hammer Falls, only for the group to be captured and Daredevil and Punisher to be fed to the carnivorous dinosaurs.[8] Hawkeye breaks his daughter out of her cell, whereafter Ashley immediately beheads Kingpin which avenges Daredevil and Punisher's deaths.[8] Then she attempts to kill her father, before taking over Hammer Falls as the new Kingpin.[8] Old Man Logan rescues Hawkeye as Ashley sends her men after them.[8]

The character appears in the "Spider-Verse" and Spider-Geddon storylines, now referred with her father's surname as Ashley Barton, and alternately referred to as "Spider-Girl" and "Spider-Woman" due to the family-friendly nature of the narrative, and is among the spider-powered characters who are recruited by The Superior Spider-Man (Doctor Octopus's mind in Peter Parker's body) to help fight the Inheritors, before returning to the Wastelands in "Venomverse" and "Old Man Quill".[9][10]

Penelope Parker[edit]

Introduced in "Spider-Verse", Penelope Parker is the 11-year-old Spider-Girl of Earth-11, who is best friends with Mary Jane Watson and has a crush on Flash Thompson.[11]

Charlotte Morales[edit]

The celebrity daughter of Gwen Stacy and Miles Morales from Earth-8, Charlotte operates as Spider-Girl alongside her brother Max as Spider-Boy.[12]

In other media[edit]

Film[edit]

Several incarnations of Spider-Girl appear in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023):

  • Mayday Parker, the infant daughter of Peter B. Parker and Mary Jane Parker of Earth-616B.[13]
    • Mayday Parker, an adult with Heterochromia iridum operating as Spider-Girl and a member of Miguel O'Hara's Spider-Society.[13]
    • April Parker, an adult clone of Mayday operating as a blue-suited Spider-Girl and a member of Miguel O'Hara's Spider-Society.[13]
  • Anya Corazon, a short-haired muscular adult operating as a blue-armored Spider-Girl and a member of Miguel O'Hara's Spider-Society.[14][15]
    • Anya Corazon, a black-and-white-costumed version of Spider-Girl who appears as one of the Spider-People pursuing Miles.[16]
  • Betty Brant, a webbed-suited version of Spider-Girl who appears as one of the Spider-People pursuing Miles.[16]

Television[edit]

Novels[edit]

An older, more cynical alternate version of May Parker/Spider-Girl appears in the Spider-Man/X-Men team-up novel Time's Arrow 3: The Future by Tom DeFalco & Rosemary Edghill (ISBN 0-425-16500-0). In that novel, Spider-Man travels to the alternate future known for its Iron Man 2020 (Arno Stark). This universe's Earth is designated Earth-8410. In this reality, Spider-Girl wears a costume almost identical to the one worn by Jessica Drew, except the colors have been modified to look like Spider-Man's costume. She has the ability to fire venom blasts and webs.

Video games[edit]

Miscellaneous[edit]

Peter Parker #1–4 (March–June 2010) features a Spider-Man advocacy group known as the Spider-Girls in "The Private Life of Peter Parker", consisting of Becky, Emma Paley, and Leila Goldberg, who operate a community service centre in Spider-Man's honour, opposed in merchandising by Teri Hillman, also calling herself Spider-Girl, with the four coming to peace and ultimately all being known as the Spider-Girls by the storyline's end.[22]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Panels | Comic Book, Graphic Novel and Cartooning Discussions – Forums powered by UBB.threads™". Comicon.com. Archived from the original on 2012-02-18. Retrieved 2013-08-11.
  2. ^ DeFalco Confirms Amazing Spider-Girl Cancellation, Comic Book Resources, October 13, 2008
  3. ^ "Spider-Girl Returns in Marvel Digital Comics". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2013-08-11.
  4. ^ "Spider-Girl #1 Starring Araña For November – Bleeding Cool Comic Book, Movies and TV News and Rumors". Bleedingcool.com. 2010-07-16. Retrieved 2013-08-11.
  5. ^ a b Avenging Spider-Man #16. Marvel Comics.
  6. ^ What If? #7. Marvel Comics.
  7. ^ Ultimate Spider-Man #200. Marvel Comics.
  8. ^ a b c d Wolverine Vol. 3 #67–70. Marvel Comics.
  9. ^ Superior Spider-Man #32. Marvel Comics.
  10. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 3 #10. Marvel Comics.
  11. ^ Spider-Verse #1. Marvel Comics.
  12. ^ Spider-Gwen #18. Marvel Comics.
  13. ^ a b c Polo, Susana; Patches, Matt; McWhertor, Michael (December 13, 2022). "Every new Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse character, explained". Polygon. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  14. ^ Diaz, Eric (December 14, 2022). "All the New Spider-Man Variants We Saw in the Across the Spider-Verse Trailer and Poster". Yahoo! Life. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  15. ^ "the Araña design was expertly done by Mauro Belfiore". Kris Anka, Character/Costume Designer - Across the Spider-Verse. Twitter. June 14, 2023. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  16. ^ a b Diaz, Eric (January 17, 2023). "All the New Spider-Man Variants We Saw in the Across the Spider-Verse Trailer and Poster". Nerdist. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  17. ^ "Looks like Anya Corazon is appearing on the 2017 Spider-Man cartoon". 20 April 2017.
  18. ^ "Bring On the Bad Guys Pt. 2". Spider-Man. Season 2. Episode 9. July 30, 2018. Disney XD.
  19. ^ "YouTube". www.youtube.com.
  20. ^ "NYCC 2014: Spider-Girl and Spider-Man 2099 coming to Spider-Man Unlimited". 12 October 2014.
  21. ^ Phillips, Tom (May 24, 2016). "Spider-Man swings free in Lego Marvel's Avengers today". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on March 29, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  22. ^ Peter Parker #1–4. Marvel Comics.