Spider-Girl
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| Spider-Girl | |
 Promotional art for Amazing Spider-Girl #1. Art by Ron Frenz. |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | What If (Vol. 2) #105 (1998) |
| Created by | Tom DeFalco Ron Frenz Mark Bagley (costume) |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | May "Mayday" Parker |
| Team affiliations | A-Next Fantastic Five New Warriors |
| Notable aliases | Spidey, Mayday, May Day |
| Abilities | Ability to stick to solid surfaces and repell objects and people. Superhuman strength, durability, stamina, speed, agility and reflexes, Precognitive "Spider-Sense." Bio-magnetism manipulation |
Spider-Girl (May "Mayday" Parker) is a fictional comic book superheroine active in an alternate future of Marvel Comics' shared universe, the Marvel Universe. The character was created by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz as a spin-off of the Spider-Man character, and first appeared in What If (Vol. 2) #105 (1998). She later acquired her own ongoing comic book, Spider-Girl, written by DeFalco and drawn by Frenz and Pat Olliffe, which is the longest-running superhero book with a lead female character ever published by Marvel.
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[edit] Publication history
Spider-Girl 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. Although each of these titles were slated to be 12-issue limited series, Spider-Girl's initial sales justified their continuation as ongoing titles.
After initial interest, Spider-Girl drew low sales. However, the book's active fanbase caused Marvel to revoke several cancellation announcements. Reprints of the series in digest size trade paperbacks sold well. Marvel Associate Editor Nick Lowe revealed in a November 2005 interview that "Spider-Girl, for the first time is completely safe from cancellation."[1]
However, despite Lowe's statement, Marvel announced that #100 would be the title's final issue. Although the Spider-Girl title was indeed canceled, the book was relaunched as The Amazing Spider-Girl, with issue #0 appearing in October 2006.
A prequel series, Mr and Mrs. Spider-Man, will be written by DeFalco for the anthology magazine Spider-Man Family. DeFalco has implied strongly that the series will be the definitive history of the MC2 Spider-Man Universe
[edit] Cast
[edit] Main cast
- Peter Parker is May's father, who has retired from superhero business and works as a police scientist.
- Mary Jane Watson-Parker is May's mother. Sharp-witted and responsible, M.J. knows her superhero husband and daughter inside out.
- Phil Urich is former Green Goblin (the only hero to use that name) and a good friend of the Parker family. (He has been a friend of the family for so long, that May calls him "Uncle Phil.") Phil works with Peter Parker at his job in the crime lab. Occasionally, he uses his Goblin powers to help May, at one point taking on the identity of the "Golden Goblin." Later, with the assistance of Normie Osborn, Phil was able to come out of retirement and take on the identity of the Green Goblin again
- Benjamin Richard Parker is May's infant brother, who has shown signs of developing spider powers despite his young age. Baby Ben was exposed to the Carnage symbiote, which may have sparked the development of his abilities.
[edit] Supporting cast
- Black Tarantula, a.k.a. Fabian LaMuerto is the current kingpin of crime. An honorable villain, he is a recurring foe, occasional ally, and possible love-interest for May.
- Chesbro is the assistant of the Black Tarantula. He comes to New York to represent his master. Chesbro originally served Fabian's father.
- Darkdevil, a.k.a Reilly Tyne, is a mocking Puck-like superhero who constantly taunts Spider-Girl for her various weaknesses, but has also proven to be a valuable ally. Tyne is May's cousin.
- Gerry Drew is the son of Jessica Drew, the first Spider-Woman. He has spider-powers because of his mother and he has an illness because of her radiation exposure. He once used the name Spider-Man but was stopped by Peter Parker.
- Courtney Duran is May's friend in school. She is a level-headed and bespectacled "Miss Normal" who is in her Science Club, and volunteers in the community along with May.
- Heather Noble is one of May's schoolmates. At first, she acted mean and stuck up towards May, but has since become her friend. She is currently dating Jimmy Yama. Heather is later kidnapped by the Hobgoblin. Fortunately Spider-Girl rescues her.
- Simone Desantos, introduced in the The Amazing Spider-Girl series, she seems to taken Heather's former position as the stuck-up "mean girl" of May's school.
- Felicity Hardy is the daughter of Felicia Hardy and Flash Thompson as well as the younger sister of Gene Thompson. She knows that May is Spider-Girl and adopted the costume of Scarlet Spider when May took a break from superhero business. However, she abandoned it quickly and helps May in her civilian identity.
- Sara Hingle is a mutant with telekinetic powers. She had trouble accepting her gifts until May and Mary-Jane talked to her. After seeing May nimbly dodge one of her psi-blasts, Sara believes that she is a mutant too. She was recently attacked by the anti-mutant group Humanity First, only to be saved by a pair of anti-human mutants, Impact and Pirouette, who convince her to join their crusade.
- Hobgoblin, a.k.a Roderick Kingsley, an old foe of Spider-Man's who now serves as May's arch-nemesis. Fearing that Kingsley would prove too much for May, Peter risked his life and once again became Spider-Man despite his handicap to aid her against him.
- Jack Jameson, also called "JJ", is the grandson of J. Jonah Jameson, and he is secretly the superhero called The Buzz.
- Kaine is very protective of Spider-Girl (his niece, and ultimately the source of his redemption). He currently leads a government team of reformed supervillains.
- Davida Kirby is May's best friend in school and her teammate in her basketball team.
- Nancy Lu a schoolmate of May who is a mutant with telekinetic powers; she was outed by her classmates, and had to leave the high school. She is an X-Man in-training known as "Push".
- Maurice "Moose" Mansfield is a burly footballer who constantly clashes with Jimmy Yama. On a field trip, he witnessed Spider-Girl running out of a toilet in which Courtney had been, and from then on, thought Courtney was Spider-Girl. He has recently moved away to live with his uncle while his father is in the hospital. When he was bonded with the Carnage symbiote, he attempted to use it's power to cure his father's cancer. When Spider-Girl used Reverb's sonic weaponry to destroy the symbiote, Moose was enraged that his only chance to help his father was destroyed.
- Brad Miller is a good-looking, smart teenager and May's secret crush. She dropped him when she found out he had a hatred for mutants. he has recently joined the anti-mutant group Humanity First.
- Normie Osborn is the grandson of Norman Osborn and was this universe's Green Goblin until he ceded that role to Phil Urich. Former enemy and former crush of May's. In recent issues, he had obtained the Venom-symbiote for his own use until it died in the final battle against Hobgoblin and the Scriers. After the final battle, he married Brenda Drago (Raptor). He still has feelings for May.
- Raptor, a.k.a Brenda Drago, is the daughter of the second Vulture and a former rogue until Spider-Girl convinced her to quit crime. She is a member of Kaine's superteam of reformed supervillains and was recently married to Normie Osborn.
- Flash Thompson is the coach of the basketball team at May's school. He was once married to Felicia Hardy and had a daughter Felicity and a son Gene with her (see above and below), but is unaware that Felicity tried to be May's partner in the hero biz.
- Gene Thompson, the son of Felicia Hardy and Flash Thompson, and the older brother of Felicity Hardy. He was dating May, but broke up with her in ASG #13, citing her constant unreliability. He has since shown signs of wanting to get back together with her.
- Jimmy Yama is a nerdy Asian schoolmate of May who is in her Science Club. He has a crush on May, a fact that makes May - who likes Jimmy as a friend, but not more - embarrassed. He has since started dating Heather Noble. He has a cousin named Zane, who happens to be the superhero J2, the son of the Juggernaut.
- Wes Collins is a talented artist, who has collaborated with Jimmy Yama in producing a Spider-Girl comic. He might have a crush on May.
- Mad Dog Rassitano - Human bounty hunter who uses equipment taken from the super-powered villains he hunts. Has his own TV show.
[edit] Fictional character biography
May "Mayday" Parker is the child of Peter and Mary Jane Parker in a future, alternate universe continuity. In the MC2 continuity, they were reunited with their baby daughter by Kaine, who found the child living with Alison Mongraine, the con artist who had kidnapped the baby on instruction from the Green Goblin. After they were reunited, Peter lost a leg during the horrific final conflict with the Green Goblin. After the battle Peter was offered a bionic replacement from Mr. Fantastic and, considering it a wake-up call, decided to retire and focus on being a husband and father (the battle is glimpsed in Spider Girl #7, and fully explained in Spider Girl #49). For years, they chose to keep their past from Mayday and hoped that she wouldn't develop powers of her own.
Despite her parents' hopes, May began developing versions of her father's Spider-powers when she was 15. At the same time, Normie Osborn (Green Goblin's grandson) set out to restore the family name (as he saw it). Mayday donned Ben Reilly's Spider-Man costume to stop him and soon took to crime fighting, at first hindered, then helped, by her worried parents.
May shares traits of both of her parents. Like her mother, she is a good-looking and popular student, and she is intelligent and bright, just as her father was. She also inherited his love for in-fight bantering. In addition, she is a very good athlete and excelled in her girls' basketball team until she quit after her powers emerged. On the other hand, May seems to have inherited the "Parker luck" in which her dual identity wreaks havoc in her private life.
In The Amazing Spider-Girl, May has promised to give up costumed superheroics, dates Eugene Thompson, and runs for student council. When Mary Jane becomes aware that the Hobgoblin poses a threat to her daughter's teenaged friends, she allows Mayday to resume her activities as Spider-Girl (a situation they wanted to keep secret from Peter). After a battle with the Hobgoblin, May tells her father the truth, and after a conversation with Mary Jane, they allowed May to resume her Spider-girl identity.
After an attempt at helping the S.H.I.E.L.D government agency, a case filled with a piece of the Carnage symbiote was released. It attaches itself to May's friend Moose, who becomes the new Carnage. In exchange, Carnage will bond itself to Mosse's terminally ill father, curing him in the process. Carnage causes a stir at May's school and kidnaps Peter and Baby Ben, forcing May to confront her friend. May tries to talk to Moose within the symbiote but fails, and it bonds with her brother Ben. Peter escapes as May battles the two symboites and gathers sonic gear that may be able to defeat the Symbiote. However it is May who uses the weapons, thereby destroying the piece of the Carnage symbiote. Her success is not without a measure of collateral damage as well, however; not only is Moose furious at Spider Girl for dooming his father, but the sonic weapon renders Ben deaf, possibly forever.
Ben's hearing is eventually restored thanks to the intervention of Normie Osborn. Normie later stumbles on one of Norman Osborn's former labs, and discovers a fluid tank containing what appears to be a physical duplicate of Mayday Parker. Notes left behind by his grandfather indicate that this Mayday is the original he kidnapped years ago, hinting that the Mayday who has lived a full life is yet another clone.
[edit] Powers and abilities
May Parker inherited many of the same abilities as her father, Peter Parker. May possesses superhuman strength, can leap several stories high, and can cover the width of a city block. Spider-Girl's reflexes are also heightened to levels well beyond that of an ordinary human. She heals somewhat faster than a normal human, and is more agile than Spider-Man.
Spider-Girl can adhere to almost any surface through a bio-magnetic field her body generates, allowing her to scale the sides of a building, just like a spider. Wall-crawling doesn't come as naturally to May as Peter; she has to concentrate to keep herself from slipping off surfaces. In addition to adhering to surfaces, May can also repel herself like an opposing magnet, or she can repulse and adhere another object or person through a shared medium. For example, she can cause a person to stick to a wall they're touching just by touching that same wall and willing them to, or she can just as easily violently push them away.
May Parker has inherited a "spider-sense", a clairvoyance that warns her of danger that is somewhat more powerful and reliable than her father's. It tells her the direction a threat is coming from with a high level of accuracy. Through intensive training, she learned to fight blindfolded using only her spider-sense. She can use it to spot weaknesses in an opponent and use them to her advantage. She can also sense mundane threats or observations like her father, but unlike him she can use it to sense deception. By touching her father's clone, Kaine, she experienced a shared precognitive vision, but she does not normally have that ability.
May also has mechanical web-shooters based on Ben Reilly's web-shooter design, but longer and narrower. They can fire impact webbing and metal needles called "Stingers" but May rarely uses them, thinking them to be "too brutal". Her mobile phone is modified to attach to one of her web-shooters, and looks like one of its cartridges. She occasionally uses spider-tracers, but as they are tuned to her father's spider-sense and not hers, she needs a receiver to detect them.
Spider-Girl once lost her powers due to being electrocuted. However, she borrowed the Green Goblin equipment from Normie Osborn until she regained them.
May has also received martial arts training from the Ladyhawks and Elektra Natchios, as well as being drilled in the use of her powers by her father.
[edit] Mutant question
Whether Spider-Girl is a mutant has not been established. Before her birth, a Sentinel robot found her to be "beyond the range of embryonic normalcy", but not specifically a mutant (The Amazing Spider-Man #415).
[edit] Other versions
[edit] Earth-616
May Parker also existed in the primary Earth-616 timeline in which most Marvel Comics are set.
Mary Jane became pregnant at the beginning of the Clone Saga. Impending fatherhood was one of the main reasons Peter retired as Spider-Man during that storyline, passing the mantle to Ben Reilly. However, at the end of the story, Mary Jane was poisoned by Alison Mongraine, an agent of the Green Goblin, and the baby was stillborn (or seemed to be, as Mongraine took the sedated infant away with her). Ben Reilly died at the Green Goblin's hands the same night, and Peter Parker became Spider-Man again.
There were hints during the "Spider-Man: Identity Crisis" storyline in The Amazing Spider-Man #434-435, one of Tom DeFalco's last storylines on the title, that Baby May would be returned. Instead, the subplot was dropped, and a few issues later DeFalco was replaced by Howard Mackie and John Byrne. Under that team, Aunt May was brought back instead.[1] In a flashback in Spider-Girl #49, an alternative version of this story was presented, with the younger May returned instead of the elder.
However, baby May and her parents were never reunited in Marvel's main continuity. Editors repeatedly stated that the baby died, or at the very least would never be seen again; the child was considered a major factor in the aging of the characters. However, no proof of her death was ever shown; it was clearly implied that she was kidnapped; and Alison Mongraine and Kaine were never conclusively shown to have died either.
The action in The Amazing Spider-Man #439 (Defalco's last on the title) takes place 1,000 years in the future. Two archaeologists stumble across relics belonging to Spider-Man (such as his webshooters). They speculate on his career, and discuss other heroes who were inspired by him, such as Spider-Girl, Spider-Man 2099, and Spider-Man 2211.
In issue #545, the final chapter in the "Spider-Man: One More Day" story-line, Peter and Mary Jane accept a deal from the demon Mephisto. In exchange for saving Aunt May's life, Mephisto erases the entirety of their marriage from the universe. According to Joe Quesada, "all the books count, all the stories count -- except in the minds of the people within the Marvel U, Peter and MJ were a couple, not a married couple."[2] However there are a few exceptions to this, and Mary Jane's pregnancy is one of those - meaning that in current Marvel continuity, the baby never existed. In a final blow, Mephisto shows the couple another daughter, a child who might have been theirs if they had chosen to remain married.
In several interviews at Comic Book Resources following the publication of "One More Day," Joe Quesada mentioned that the Spider Girl title would be the ideal place for disgruntled readers to follow the development of an aged, married Peter and MJ as they raise a family. Quesada's comments were followed by a feature article on Spider-Girl with an interview with Tom Defalco, who acknowledged that Quesada was a fan of the character and the title.
[edit] Earth X
There are two variant and alternate universe versions of Spider-Girl. One was raised by a Ben Reilly who survived after her father died during her childhood, as seen What If? vol. 2 #86, and later revealed in the Paradise X: Heralds mini-series. Another version of Spider-Girl is actually Venom, who is seen in the Earth X mini-series and its two sequels, Universe X and Paradise X. The world of MC2 is designated as "Earth-982". The world where Spider-Girl was raised by Ben Reilly is known as "Earth-1122" and the world featuring Venom as Spider-Girl along with the other heroes of the Earth X saga is known as "Earth-9997"
[edit] Ultimate Spider-Girl
In Ultimate Spider-Man, Peter's girlfriend Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) adopts a second costumed identity in order to fight crime at his side. (It is already public knowledge that she and Shadowcat are one and the same; hence, she cannot work with him as Shadowcat). She wears the costume in issue #91, and Peter jokingly suggests "Spider-Girl" as her crime-fighting name.[3]
The Ultimate universe's real Spider-heroine is introduced in Ultimate Spider-Man #98; in issue #102 she is revealed to be a clone of Peter Parker whose chromosomes have been manipulated to make her female. She resembles Peter, retains his memories, and appears to be the same age. Cassandra Webb was preparing to erase her memories in order to replace them with a new identity as "Jessica Drew", but the clone managed to escape before the process could be carried out. This character is an analogue to the mainstream Marvel universe's Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew).
[edit] In other media
[edit] Novels
- An older,more cynical alternate version of May Parker/Spider-Girl appears in the Spider-Man/X-Men team-up novelTime'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.
[edit] Action Figures
- Toy Biz's 8-inch scale "Famous Covers" action figure line included a Spider-Girl with a cloth costume and removable mask.
- Toy Biz's 5-inch scale "First Appearances" line included a Spider-Girl (as well as her allies, Stinger and American Dream).
- Toy Biz's preschool-oriented "Spider-Man & Friends" line has included several Spider-Girl figures and toys. These feature an exposed lower face, visible eyes, and pigtails or a ponytail, to make it easier for very young children to differentiate Spider-Girl from Spider-Man. According to one of the children's books released for the "Spider-Man & Friends" toyline, this Spider-Girl is actually Spider-Man's cousin.
[edit] Video games
- Spider-Girl appeared as one of the alternate costumes for Spider-Woman in the multi-platform action-RPG Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Bio at Marvel.com
- Interview with Tom DeFalco on Spider-Girl and Last Hero Standing
- Interview with creative team
- Interview with DeFalco
[edit] Bibliography
- What If (volume 2) #105 (Marvel Comics, February 1998)
- Spider-Girl #0–100, (Marvel Comics, October 1998 – July 2006)
- Spider-Girl #½ (Marvel Comics/Wizard Entertainment, 1999)
- Spider-Girl Annual 1999 (Marvel Comics, 1999)
- Spider-Man Family #1 (Marvel Comics, 2005)
- The Amazing Spider-Girl #0 - (Marvel Comics, October 2006 - present)
- Spider-Man Magazine - prose story (Marvel Comics, 2007)
[edit] Reprints
Spider-Man Universe #6 (Magazine)
- Reprints Spider-Girl #20.
Spider-Girl #100
- Includes reprints of Spider-Girl #27 and #53.
[edit] Trade paperbacks
- Spider-Girl: A Fresh Start (Marvel Comics, January 1999; reprints Spider-Girl #1-2)
- Spider-Girl (Marvel Comics, August 2001; ISBN 0-7851-0815-7, reprints Spider-Girl #0–8)
- Amazing Spider-Girl Vol. 1: Whatever Happened to the Daughter of Spider-Man? (Marvel Comics, May 2007; ISBN 0-7851-2341-5, reprints The Amazing Spider-Girl #0-6)
- Amazing Spider-Girl Vol. 2: Comes the Carnage! (Marvel Comics, November 2007; ISBN 0-7851-2342-2, reprints The Amazing Spider-Girl #7-12)
[edit] Digests
- Spider-Girl Vol. 1: Legacy (Marvel Comics, April 2004; ISBN 0-7851-1441-6, reprints Spider-Girl #0–5)
- Spider-Girl Vol. 2: Like Father Like Daughter (Marvel Comics, December 2004; ISBN 0-7851-1657-5, reprints Spider-Girl #6–11)
- Spider-Girl Vol. 3: Avenging Allies (Marvel Comics, April 2005; ISBN 0-7851-1658-3, reprints Spider-Girl #12–16&Spider-Girl Annual 1999)
- Spider-Girl Vol. 4: Turning Point (Marvel Comics, September 2005; ISBN 0-7851-1871-3, reprints Spider-Girl #17–21 and #½)
- Spider-Girl Vol. 5: Endgame (Marvel Comics, January 2006; ISBN 0-7851-2034-3, reprints Spider-Girl #22–27)
- Spider-Girl Vol. 6: Too Many Spiders! (Marvel Comics, June 2006; ISBN 0-7851-2156-0, reprints Spider-Girl #28–33)
- Spider-Girl Vol. 7: Betrayed (Marvel Comics, November 2006; ISBN 0-7851-2157-9, reprints Spider-Girl #34-38 and 51)
- Spider-Girl Vol. 8: Duty Calls (Marvel Comics, April 2007; ISBN 0-7851-2495-0, reprints Spider-Girl #39-44)
- Spider-Girl Vol. 9: Secret Lives (Marvel Comics, October 2007; ISBN 0-7851-2602-3, reprints Spider-Girl #45-50)
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