|
| “ | From now on Spider-Woman fights back! | „ |
| ~ Spider-Woman. |
| “ | It's funny. I've been trying so hard for normal. Quit the Avengers. Moved into the office. Started this street-level thing with Urich. And well... try as I might. Normal has eluded the Spider-Woman. But this little guy here. Maybe he's got a shot at it. Maybe I can give him normal. | „ |
| ~ Jessica speaking of her son, Gerald. |
Spider-Woman (real name Jessica Miriam "Jess" Drew) is a fictional character and superheroine in Marvel comics. She is the first Spider-Woman in the Marvel Universe, an ally of Spider-Man and his numerous spider allies, and member of the Avengers, Lady Liberators, and Daughters of Liberty.
She is the daughter of Jonathan and Meriem, and was injected with a serum made of the blood of several uncommon species of spiders after being effected by Uranium. After her age accelerated, she was taken under HYDRA until she refused to assassinate Nick Fury, and later left and became the superheroine Spider-Woman. Jessica went onto become an ally of Spider-Man, another superhero who was bitten by a radioactive spider and gave him powers similar to hers. She later became a member of the Avengers, Lady Liberators, Spider-Army, an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and S.W.O.R.D.
Jessica Drew was created by Archie Goodwin and the late Marie Severin, and first appeared in Marvel Spotlight #32 in February of 1977.
Background[]
Origin[]
There are two conflicting origins surrounding Jessica at the moment (her first one involving her being a super evolved spider being proven false by Modred the Mystic). The following is from the Brian Michael Bendis-Luna Brothers miniseries, "Spider-Woman: Origin": while still in her mother's womb, Jessica's DNA was fused with that of multiple spider species, giving her superhuman abilities, which first manifested when she accidentally zapped her parents with a venom blast out of fear from one of their arguments.
Hero Career[]
Recruited by her parents's benefactors, HYDRA, Jessica was trained to be one of their best assassins...too bad this would only be a dream. Breaking free from HYDRA, Jessica began her superhero career as Spider-Woman after a few adventures with the Thing, a career cut short after a series of events that caused her to lose most of her powers.
Jessica managed to regain her power thanks to Nick Fury's suggestion of infiltrating the HYDRA. However, it turns out to be a trap set up by the extra-terrestrial shapeshifting race Skrulls. Jessica was captured and locked up in the Skrull spaceship as their queen Veranke took her guise and infiltrated the New Avengers, also getting involved with many events such as the House of M, Civil War and World War Hulk. Eventually, as many Skrulls managed to replace other heroes and manipulating Iron Man's newfound 'authority' after the Civil War, Veranke launched her invasion, but an equally angered group of heroes put a halt on her invasion, especially in the wake of the death of Wasp, and Veranke was personally slain by Norman Osborn/Green Goblin in front of mass media.
In the same time, the ship containing Jessica crashed on Earth and she was free... with the cost that due to Veranke's impersonation, nearly everyone (except some like Wolverine and Ms. Marvel) were suspicious at her, since her face just reminded them as the face of the Skrull Queen that tricked her.
Wolverine managed to secure her a place in the New Avengers as Norman Osborn started his Dark Reign, but Jessica was still distraught at what happened to her and secretly took missions from S.W.O.R.D. to hunt down all Skrulls that wronged her. From a powerful Skrull, she eventually found out the reason why she was picked as the one Veranke impersonated: Because she was so insignificant that no one would care if she went missing. The New Avengers, including those formerly suspicious at her, quickly came to her rescue, proving the Skrull wrong and helped Jessica regain her spirit and she committed herself to fight for the Avengers, instead of SWORD.
After the event Siege, where Osborn's Dark Reign ended, Jessica is finally able to clean the stain in her name and image that Veranke caused. Captain America also handpicked her as a mainline Avenger team member.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Jessica Drew is the daughter of Jonathan and Miriam Drew, and the family would move from England to a small cottage in Transia, where they found a large portion of uranium. One day, Jessica became poisoned due to long exposure to uranium, and Jonathan, a geneticist injected a serum that was made from the blood of uncommon spiders. With the help of his colleague Herbert Wyndham (who would later become the High Evolutionary), they created a genetic accelerator to keep her sealed to speed up the process. Jessica was placed into stasis for decades, which slowed her aging until she was freed from the accelerator, and was greeted by her mother's clone.
Jessica would leave home and work as a barmaid, and eventually started a relationship with a man whom she accidently killed with her bioelectric blast. Accused of being a witch by the locals, Jessica fled and met Otto Vermis, who trained her to be a field agent for Hydra. She lost all of past memories while being trained by Vermis, due to being shock of killing her boyfriend, and was later brainwashed by Marvin Flumm. She was assigned to assassinate Nick Fury, but refused and defeated Vermis, who tricked her into believing she was originally an evolved spider. Jessica fled from Hydra until she met the Thing and Modred the Mystic, who reveled her origins of her past.
Becoming Spider-Woman[]
Living in London, Jessica broke into a store but felt guilty and left the cans, not wanting her future to living as a thief. After dying her hair and taking on an identity of Spider-Woman to hide from S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jerry Hunt, Jessica met Magnus, who informed her that her father was murdered. Wanting to find the killer, she traveled to North Hollywood and guised herself as Magnus' niece to live with the Dolly family. Jessica would start a relationship with Hunt, and stop Morgaine le Fay from acquiring the Darkhold. Eventually, Jessica find her father's murderer with the help of Hunt, and the killer died immediately after confessing to committing the act.
After departing from Magnus and Hunt, Jessica find herself without a purpose or belonging, so she returned to a Spider-Woman mantle and became a bounty hunter. She became friends with actress Lindsay McCabe and the two moved to San Francisco, and Jessica find success in becoming a private investigator. Gaining a reputation in San Francisco, Jessica find herself becoming an ally of the police, and starting a friendship with Carol Danvers. She would be reunited with Magnus, who asked for her help to finally defeat Le Fay, which succeed but Morgaine cursed Jessica that separated her soul from her body. The spell was undid when Doctor Strange broke the spell, but she was left powerless.
After encountering the Spider-Woman Julia Carpenter, Jessica's powers were seemingly restored, but they were taken by Charlotte Witter. She would regained them after helping Madam Web mentor Mattie Franklin, who in return defeated Witter and claimed the mantle of Spider-Woman. Jessica's powers slowly returned, and she would work with Wolverine in Madripoor and later meet and befriend Jessica Jones. Queen Veranke would take on Jessica's identity by impersonating her, allowing her to plan the invasion of Earth with the Skrulls. Jessica was taken hostage on a Skull ship for nearly two years along with other captives, and they were rescued by Iron Man. Due to Queen Veranke impersonating her, Jessica wasn't trusted by the public, and Wolverine recruited her into the New Avengers.
Though she wasn't trusted by her teammates, she proved herself to be a valuable member and gained the trust of Luke Cage when he helped him find his daughter. Jessica was then assigned to deceive Norman Osborn when he created Dark Avengers, but the villain saw past her ruse and sent the Hood and his gang to attack the New Avengers. Feeling responsible for this, and for Queen Veranke's actions, Jessica joined S.W.O.R.D. when asked to by Abigail Brand.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
- Spider-Physiology: Jessica's physiology was altered when she her DNA was crossed with multiple species of spiders, and her powers stem from the tome avatar like others. Just like Spider-Man, she has superhuman abilities and can wall crawl.
- Extended Longevity: Due to her regenerative healing factor, Jessica's age has been slowed.
- Superhuman Agility: Jessica's agility, balance and coordination was enhanced from multiple powers, allowing to be a skilled acrobat.
- Superhuman Durability: Her spider-physiology enhanced her durability, allowing to take more hits from enemies. She is not invulnerable, however, and can be injured.
- Superhuman Equilibrium: Jessica possesses the ability to achieve a state of perfect equilibrium in any position imaginable. She is able to adjust her position by instinct, which enables her to automatically balance herself on virtually any object, no matter how small or narrow.
- Superhuman Hearing:
- Superhuman Reflexes: Jessica's reflexes were also increased, the speed of her reflexes allows her to dodge almost any attack, or even gunfire.
- Superhuman Speed: Jessica has super speed, allowing to outrun an Olympic-athlete.
- Superhuman Stamina: Due to having super endurance, she cannot suffer from fatigue and exert herself for several hours.
- Superhuman Strength: Jessica has super strength, allowing her to carry over seven tons.
- Spider-Sense: Jessica possesses a precognitive danger sense, or "spider-sense," which warns her of potential or immediate danger by the manifestation of a tingling sensation in the back of her skull, and links with her superhuman kinesthetics, enabling her to evade most any injuries unless she cognitively overrides her automatic reflexes.
- Wall Crawling: Jessica can adhere to surfaces via electrostatic attraction. she can hold and carry a considerable amount of extra weight while sticking to walls without falling off; it's safe to assume that the weight she can carry is dozens of times her own, and the limits of how long she can do this before fatigue sets in are still unknown.
- Venom Blasts: Jessica's body possesses an inordinate amount of bio-electricity that she has learned to channel and discharge through her body, in controlled bursts of what she calls "Venom Blasts". These bio-electric projections vary in power; they mostly affect the nervous system. She can regulate them, from simply a stun, to potent enough to kill an average-sized man in the same way that a lightning bolt could kill him
- Regenerative Healing Factor: Jessica has a enhanced healing factor, allowing wounds to hear in mere minutes or hours.
- Contaminant Immunity: Spider-Woman is immune to all types of drugs, poisons, and toxins due to her enhanced metabolism.
- Pheromone Secretion: Jessica's body generates pheromones that create/elicit feelings such as fear and sexual attraction.
- Bioelectricity induced self-propelled gliding: Spider-Woman can glide through the air due to the bioelectricity in her body.
Abilities[]
- Skilled Acrobat: Jessica is a skilled acrobat, being an Olympic athlete and skilled gymnast.
- Skilled Spy: Due to her training from Otto Vermis, Jessica is a skilled spy, and was trained in espionage and covert operations.
- Master Martial Artist: Jessica is a master martial artist, having received training from Taskmaster.
- Multilingualism: She is fluent in numerous languages, such as Spanish, French, German, and Korean.
Portrayals[]
Television[]
- In Spider-Woman, she was voiced by Joan Van Ark.
Video Games[]
- In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, she was voiced by Tasia Valenza, who also voiced Shaak Ti in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Poison Ivy in the Arkhamverse.
- In Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, she was voiced by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Kurenai Yūhi in the Naruto series, Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell series, and Nina Williams in the Tekken series.
- In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, she was voiced by E.G. Daily, who also voiced Mockingbird in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Sprocket in Skylanders, and Tommy Pickles in the Rugrats series.
- In Marvel Super Hero Squad Online, she was voiced by Grey DeLisle, who voices Daphne Blake in the Scooby Doo franchise, and also voiced Mandy in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Frankie Foster in Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends, Sam Manson in Danny Phantom, and Catwoman in numerous media.
- In Lego Marvel Super Heroes, she was voiced by Kari Wahlgren, who also voiced Kitana in Mortal Kombat 11, Starfire in the DC Animated Film Universe and Injustice 2, and Chloe Carmichael in The Fairy OddParents.
- In Spider-Man Unlimited, she was voiced by Laura Bailey, who also voiced Helena Harper in Resident Evil 6, Supergirl in Injustice 2, Nadine Ross in the Uncharted series, Sherry Birkin in Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, and Mary Jane Watson in Marvel's Spider-Man.
- In Marvel Avengers Academy, she was voiced by Kiernan Shipka, who also played Sabrina Spellman in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Riverdale.
Motion Comics[]
- In Spider-Woman: Agent of S.W.O.R.D., she was voiced by Nicolette Reed.
- In Wolverine: Weapon X, she was voiced by Lisa Ann Beley.
Trivia[]
- Fury's intel classified her as power level 8.
- Ranked 20th on "The Top 50 Avengers" list by IGN.
- Ranked 54th on "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list by Comics Buyer's Guide.
