| Code Name: | Spider-Girl --> |
| Converted: | y |
| Debut: | What If #7 (November 1977) |
| Publisher: | Marvel Comics |
| Cat: | super |
| Subcat: | Marvel Comics |
| Hero: | y |
| Sortkey: | 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, the third version is Gwen Warren, and the fourth version is Makawalu Akana, the latter three 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.
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]
The character who would in 2023 become the second Earth-616 Spider-Girl was introduced in Avenging Spider-Man #16 (January 2013), 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.
The character who would become the third Earth-616 Spider-Girl debuts in Spider-Boy vol. 2 #12 (October 2023) and her real name of Makawalu Akana was revealed in the following issue.
The daughter of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson from the MC2 universe.
Prior to calling herself "Mayhem", Mayday's clone April goes by Spider-Girl, the two sharing the mantle.
See main article: Anya Corazon. A Latina superhero who originally called herself Araña (Spider), and occasionally goes by Spider-Girl.
Gwendolyne "Gwen" Warren is a clone of Gwen Stacy created by the Jackal who possesses the DNA of Ana Soria and Scott Summers, giving her the ability to transform into a giant spider with optical lasers. She later joins the X-Men Green.[5] [6] [7] [8]
The second volume of Spider-Boy introduces a new incarnation of Spider-Girl who is a minion of Bullseye. She accompanies him in ambushing Spider-Boy and Daredevil on top of the Daily Bugle to reclaim the trophy. As Spider-Boy is surprised that Spider-Girl knows his true identity and claims that she is like this because of him, Spider-Girl webs up Spider-Boy and Daredevil with her barbed webbing as she and Bullseye get away with the Golden Fang Trophy. This causes Daredevil and Spider-Boy to follow them to Madripoor.[9] [10]
In a flashback to three years ago in Kawainui Falls, Hawaii, Spider-Girl's identity is a Hawaiian girl named Makawalu Akana who does a dive off a cliff that was just done by Koa Iona. After that was done, Makawalu was approached by Bullseye who noticed her other talents like gymnastics, chess tournaments, and a battle of the bands leading Bullseye to take her on as a student. In the present, Makawalu and Bullseye are en route on an unmarked airplane to Madripoor as Bullseye states that they can walk around in their costume in Madripoor. They arrive at the sight of the Challenge of the Jade Dragon overseen by the Gaping Maw and present the Golden Fang Trophy as their entry into the tournament. Bullseye tells Spider-Girl about some of the competitors which consist of Bengal, an Iron Fist user, the Sisters of Stone, the Perfect Golden Duo, and El Gigante and La Mota. Bullseye and Spider-Girl are then surprised that the Challenge of the Jade Dragon got Daredevil and Spider-Boy as the latest competitors.[11]
See main article: Betty Brant. 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.[12] This incarnation also appears in the events "Spider-Verse" and "End of the Spider-Verse".
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 to eventually become Spider-Girl.[13]
See main article: Spider-Bitch (Ashley Barton). 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.[14] Hawkeye breaks his daughter out of her cell, whereafter Ashley immediately beheads Kingpin which avenges Daredevil and Punisher's deaths. Then she attempts to kill her father, before taking over Hammer Falls as the new Kingpin. Old Man Logan rescues Hawkeye as Ashley sends her men after them.
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".[15] [16]
Introduced in "Spider-Verse", Penelope P. 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.[17]
The celebrity daughter of Gwen Stacy and Miles Morales from Earth-8, Charlotte "Charlie" Morales operates as Spider-Girl alongside her brother Max as Spider-Boy.[18]
An alternate universe variant of May Parker/Spider-Girl originating from Iron Man 2020's timeline appears in the novel Time's Arrow 3: The Future by Tom DeFalco and Rosemary Edghill.
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 , , and , who operate a community service centre in Spider-Man's honour, opposed in merchandising by , also calling herself Spider-Girl, with the four coming to peace and ultimately all being known as Spider-Girl by the storyline's end.[30]