Spider-Woman

Spider-Woman is the code name of several fictional characters in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first major version is Jessica Drew (and later impersonated by Veranke), the second major version is Julia Carpenter, and the third major version is Mattie Franklin. Several alternate reality incarnations of the character have additionally received notoriety, including the Ultimate Spider-Woman, Ashley Barton, and Gwen Stacy.

List of Spider-Women

Jessica Drew

“	Spiders don't have families. But I do.	„
	~ Spider-Woman

Jessica Drew, the original Spider-Woman who left the role in the early 1980s and returned to her mantle by the late 2000s. This version starred in her own animated TV series in 1979 (which is not to be confused with the similarly named Web Woman animated series of the same time period).

Julia Carpenter

Julia Carpenter, the second Spider-Woman who was a former member of superhero teams who also used the Arachne and Madame Web mantles.

Mattie Franklin

Mattie Franklin, who briefly impersonated the then-retired Spider-Man before receiving her own short-lived comics series. Mattie also appeared in Alias #16–21, before going on to appear in the 2007–2008 Loners miniseries. Currently deceased.

Charlotte Witter

Charlotte Witter, a supervillain who used the Spider-Woman name.

Veranke

Veranke, queen of the shape-shifting extraterrestrial race the Skrulls who impersonated Jessica Drew over a long period of time and was a founding member of a superhero team. Currently deceased.

Ultimate Marvel

An Ultimate Marvel version of 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. She joins the Avengers and takes on the mantle of Black Widow, before returning to the Spider-Woman name.

Gwen Stacy

• Main article: Spider-Woman (Gwen Stacy)

“	As Spider-Woman I've traveled the Multiverse. I've stared down psychic vampires and psycho cops. Kicked in all the scary yellow teeth. And no, being caught or killed or found never truly scared me. No, what scares me is losing what I have in my hand now... what scares me is losing the people I love.	„
	~ Gwen Stacy / Spider-Woman

In the 2014 series "Spider-Verse", Gwen Stacy of Earth-65 is bitten by the radioactive spider instead of Peter Parker, being her universe's version of Spider-Woman. She is featured in her own solo series Spider-Gwen.

Other versions

Helen Goddard

An unrelated earlier "Spider-Woman" was published by Harry "A" Chesler's Dynamic Comics in 1944. She was a non-superpowered crime-fighter named Helen Goddard and made her first and only appearance in the Golden Age comic book Major Victory #1.

Spider Super Stories

A character called "Spider-Woman" (Valerie the Librarian) appears in the recurring live-action skit "Spidey Super Stories" on the 1970s PBS children's television series The Electric Company. She also appears as Spider-Woman in the spin-off comic book series Spidey Super Stories #11 (August 1975). She has no superpowers.

Mary Jane Watson

• Main article: Mary Jane Watson

There are several alternate versions of Mary Jane Watson known as Spider-Woman. The first version is a ninja of the Spider-clan in the Marvel Mangaverse, and another version is featured in the Exiles series.

Ashley Barton

In the pages of Old Man Logan, Ashley Barton is the daughter of Tonya Parker and Hawkeye who did not like the way that Kingpin was running Hammer Falls. She becomes "Spider-B****", 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. Hawkeye breaks his daughter out of her cell. Hawkeye and Ashley confront Kingpin, and Ashley kills him and takes over Hammer Falls. Old Man Logan rescues Hawkeye as Ashley sends her men after them.

Ashley appears in the "Spider-Verse" storyline, now called Spider-Woman, and is among the spider-powered characters who are recruited by Superior Spider-Man (Doctor Octopus's mind in Peter Parker's body) to help fight the Inheritors. The purpose of the name change from "Spider-B****" to "Spider-Woman" was to make the story more family-friendly.

Mayday Parker

Peter and MJ's daughter from the alternate future MC2, commonly known as Spider-Girl, began calling herself Spider-Woman after her father's death.

Earth X

On Earth X, a character named Spidra appears. She was one of the last survivors of the Microverse following Psycho-Man's attempt to drive the entire realm mad. Escaping with the rest of the Ant Men, who were formerly known as the Microns, Spidra and the rest of the Ant Men would be charged with watching Immortus, and would later be present at the wedding of King Britain and Medusa.

Squadron Supreme

In the Squadron Supreme series, Nell Ruggles was a young troubled girl, who upon gaining her powers killed her classmates, who had bullied her in the past. However, her superhuman powers allowed her to be traced back to a device which the Icarus One astronauts brought back from the Moon. Running away from home, she was captured by the Blur and turned over to Nick Fury's S.H.I.E.L.D.. Thanks to an electroshock collar, she has been prevented from leaving, though she appears to be making the best of the situation, having made friends and eventually falling in love with Tucker Ford, Biogeneral.

Appearances in Idea Wiki

Iago PUC's ideas

• A new version of Spider-Woman appears in the continuity of Marvel's Spider-Man: Webbed Champion. This version is named Jessica Reilly, the 24-year-old daughter of Ben Parker and May Reilly, Peter Parker's older cousin, an a college student who (one year before Peter became Spider-Man) earned her spider powers due to exposure to a Super-Soldier serum which was accidentally infused in her by Monica Rappaccini during a fight against Iron Man. Initially terrified with her condition, Jessica became inspired to become Spider-Woman. She is also an openly Lesbian young woman who is on a relationship with fellow college classmate and Max Modell's niece Alana Jobson, who became the young Super-Soldier Jackpot through similar circumstances. Living together in a townhouse, Jessica and Alana also raised Jenna (a genetically engineered child who was created Raymond Warren with Jessica and Alana's combined blood samples) as their own daughter. Along the years, Spider-Woman and Jackpot also formed a bond with several heroes who became their friends; those include Captain Marvel and She-Hulk, who became their respective mentors, as well as married superheroes Hulkling and Wiccan. As Spider-Woman, Jessica possesses the same powers of her counterparts from Earth-616 (Superhuman strength, speed, durability, reflexes, and senses, Gliding, Bio-electric energy projection, Wallcrawling, Venom blasts, and pheromone manipulation) and Earth-1610 (who has organic webbing).
  • Jessica / Spider-Woman appears as a main character in the comic book tie-in Marvel's Princesses of Destiny. She and Alana Jobson / Jackpot are featured in the second issue "Out", which chronicles their superhero origins, and the beginning of their romance.
  • Jessica / Spider-Woman appears in the Disney+ miniseries Marvel's Spider-Man: Rising Legend, voiced by Janet Varney. In the first episode "Brand New Day", she and Alana plan to host a family dinner to celebrate their college graduation, and after coming out to their loved ones about their romance. Peter is at first hesitant due to his fear of being blamed on for the death of Uncle Ben, but Jessica sympathizes with him, claiming that the incident was not Peter's fault (on which she defends that Peter only "predicted the wrong prediction"), and admitting that she is proud of him for honoring her father’s memory with the lesson he learned about great power coming with great responsibility.
  • Jessica later makes a silent appearance in A Marvel Christmas Carol, on which she along with Alana and Jenna attend to a Christmas party being held on F.E.A.S.T..
  • Jessica / Spider-Woman appears as a main character in Marvel's Superhero Adventures: Infinity War, voiced again by Varney. It is revealed that sometime after the superheroes defeated the Regent and his army from the Negative Zone, Spider-Woman, Jackpot, Hulkling and Wiccan joined the Avengers under Captain Marvel's request. They were also offered by Tyler Hayward a membership on his Thuderbolt Program, but they refused, critical of Hayward's use of metahumans (both heroes and villains) as living weapons for wars and battles they would not be expected to survive in. After the Thunderbolts were decimated by Thanos's armies, Spider-Woman accompanied Jackpot, Hulkling and Wiccan in searching for the Infinity Amulet before the Regent (who defected from the Thunderbolts to join Thanos's rising empire) did. Defeating the Regent, the four hid the Amulet to a safe place away from Thanos's sight, and faked its destruction. Three months later, she and Alana continue their superhero duties and their relationship after graduating from college, while making plans for their marriage, which is scheduled to be held on New Year's eve. After overhearing of Thanos's plans about the Infinity Stones, Spider-Woman and Jackpot are among the heroes who search for the remaining Infinity Stones before Thanos's Black Order members do. The two are selected to lead Thor, Anya Corazon / Spider-Girl, Wolverine, Drax the Destroyer, and Hulk on the search for the Reality Stone in Knowhere, where they clash with Taneleer Tivan the Collector, before a brainwashed Vulture and a pack of Klyntauri attack the city. During which, Jessica summons Cloak and Dagger to help reinforce the group, and has Cloak teleport Anya safely back to Earth with the Stone. After the Infinity Stones are placed back in the Amulet, Spider-Woman accompanies Spider-Man, Hulkling, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, and the Fantastic Four on the goal to confront Thanos himself in his space station, the Sanctuary X, while Jackpot stays with the others to defend Earth from the Klyntauri invasion. After the Black Order members are freed from their brainwashing, and the Klyntauri cloning is stopped, Jessica assists her cousin on dueling with Nighthawk while the others battle Thanos. She and Invisible Woman ultimately opt in freeing Venom from his containment cell, so that he can absorb Nighthawk's power chair and distract Thanos while Spider-Woman and her group can evacuate, and Doctor Octopus sacrifices himself to destroy the Sanctuary X, and send Thanos, Nighthawk and Venom into oblivion. Later in the epilogue, Jessica marries Alana in a ceremony attended by their friends and families, as well as their fellow heroes and Avengers. She is later seen watching the New Year fireworks during the wedding reception.
  • Spider-Woman also appears in Marvel's All-Star Multiverse, voiced again by Varney. In the first episode "Return of the Legends", Jessica returns from her week-long honeymoon with Alana following their marriage, and rejoin the Avengers on a mission to stop Thane. She and Alana put their daughter Jenna on the care of her cousin Peter Parker and mother May (who at the time planned to host a play-date for the Avengers' children in the Horizon Star), and (along with the Avengers) work alongside the Fantastic Four and Peter's partners from the Legendary Universes to stop Thane. In the next episode "The Sky's the Limit", Jessica is with her wife and daughter watching news about Princess Athena's public presentation of the Skycruiser Commandos.

Moon Silvight's ideas

• TBD
• TBD

Joint ideas

• Kirsten Dunst portrays Julia Carpenter as Madame Web in Avengers: Multiverse of Legends. This version is a Master of the Mystic Arts allied with Stephen Strange and the New Avengers who observes the Multiverse through the Web of Reality.

Gallery

Mary Jane Watson/Spider-Woman in Ultimate Spider-Man

Jessica Drew with Silk, Spider-Girl and Spider-Gwen

Julia Carpenter (middle) and Mattie Franklin (right) next to Anya Corazon / Araña in Madame Web (2024)

See also

• Silk
• Anya Corazon a.k.a. Spider-Girl / Araña
• Gwen Stacy / Spider-Woman / Spider-Gwen / Ghost-Spider

External links

• Spider-Woman on Wikipedia
• Spider-Woman on Marvel Database

Marvel Comics media

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