Spider-Woman

Origin

Jessica Miriam Drew’s parents were Jonathan and Miriam Drew, two scientists whose life’s work was dedicated to harnessing the environmental adaptive abilities of spiders by grafting elements of their DNA into the human genome. Prior to Jessica’s birth, the pair moved to Wundagore Mountain to conduct their research with funding from HYDRA, under the auspices of General Wyndham. While working on these experiments Jessica’s mother was hit by a laser beam containing the DNA, and subsequent physical traits, of several species of spiders. The unborn Jessica, still in her mother’s womb, took on these traits giving her a variety of spider powers. Jessica’s parents disappeared under mysterious circumstances, leaving her to be raised on Mount Wundagore by a woman named Bova. Jessica was later recruited by HYDRA under the false pretense of HYDRA being a force for good in the world. There she was trained by Taskmaster in martial arts and the effective use of her powers to become a deadly assassin.

Creation

Spider-Woman made her first appearance in Marvel Spotlight #32 in 1977. She was created by Archie Goodwin, Sal Buscema and Jim Mooney. She had a brief run of popularity in the 1970s, including her own regular comics-series Spider-Woman (lasting 50 issues until 1983) and a cartoon-series in 1979, but she was later depowered and then only made sporadic appearances for many years until a revival in the early 21st century as a member of the New Avengers and then the full Avengers team.

Character Evolution

In the original version of Jessica’s origin, she was the daughter of Jonathan and Merriam Drew, born in London, England and at a young age, she was lethally poisoned by radiation while living near Mount Wundagore in Transia. To try to save her life, her father injected her with an experimental serum based on irradiated spiders’ blood. Because the serum did not have any apparent effect on her, Henry Wyndham (later known as the High Evolutionary) placed her in a genetic accelerator that slowed her aging.

Eventually HYDRA, under the control of Count Otto Vermis, found and recruited her as a HYDRA agent. They manipulated her, giving her a fake boyfriend who then died. She was trained rigorously (and abusively) by Taskmaster. Through brainwashing and manipulation, she was convinced she was not human but actually an evolved spider. During this time, she went by the alias of Arachne. As a HYDRA agent she battled Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D., until Jessica learned HYDRA’s true nature.

In the new version of her history, Otto Vermis, who originally recruited her into HYDRA, was instead an old, retired HYDRA agent who Jessica seduced in order to gain information to lead her to her mother. Also, Jessica’s father was never possessed by the spirit of the Sixth Century magician Magnus, although this change created some confusion over why Magnus, decades later, would help Jessica in many of her adventures.

Several other characters have held the mantle of Spider-Woman. Julia Carpenter appeared during the first Secret Wars crossover and held the title for a while. Mattie Franklin also acquired powers and became Spider-Woman for a time. A villain named Charlotte Witter genetically modified by Dr Octopus also named herself Spider-Woman and Queen Veranke posed as Spider-Woman during the Secret Invasion storyline.

Major Story Arcs

Becoming the Spider-Woman

Going by the name Spider-Woman, Jessica used her new identity to track down her father’s killer, starting her search in London. During this time Jessica was recaptured by HYDRA and brainwashed into working for them. This brought her into direct conflict with Ben Grimm. After HYDRA’s brainwashing was reversed, she battled magical elements alongside the Thing and Modred the Mystic.

Jessica battled Excalibur, an agent of Morgan Le Fay, and then came into contact with Morgan’s arch nemesis, the sorcerer Magnus. Magnus would become one of her strongest allies, later providing information leading Jessica to relocate with him to Los Angeles and begin her career as a costumed crime fighter. While in Los Angeles, Jessica encountered Morgan Le Fay’s ghost and also tracked down her father’s murderers. Jessica was pursued at this time by S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jerry Hunt, who followed her to Los Angeles, to begin a romantic relationship with her.

In her early days as Spider-Woman, Jessica chose to keep her presence in Los Angeles a secret. She fought super-powered foes such as the Brothers Grimm, Hangman, the Enforcer, the Needle, Hammer and Anvil, Nekra, the Silver Samurai, Viper, Gypsy Moth, and the Waxman, and made allies such as Werewolf by Night and the Shroud.

Jessica also sought to discover the true nature of her pheromones, which appeared to produce a strong sexual attraction from men and repulsion from women. Her search led her to the Hatros Institute and her first true job. Working as a secretary, she was able to gain free medical treatment to suppress her pheromones so that she could move effectively among people without producing any unwanted side-effects. Alongside the Shroud, she battled the above mentioned Nekra and the cult of Kali, and learned of her pheromone secretions. The culmination of her time at the Hatros Institute led Jessica to her encounter with Nekra, and the loss of her job.

Bounty Hunter and P.I.

Unemployed, Jessica briefly considered stealing, but at the last moment decided against it. She came into contact with Spider-Man, who advised her to use her unique talents to help others in need. Jessica chose to heed his advice and became a bounty hunter. She worked closely with former FBI specialist, Scotty McDowell, who later became the Hornet. When their working relationship failed, Jessica moved to San Francisco with her best friend Lindsay McCabe, where she set up a practice as a licensed private investigator. On her first assignment, she battled Siryn, Black Tom Cassidy, and the Juggernaut alongside the X-Men. She also battled Morgan Le Fay once again.

While working as a P.I., Jessica crossed paths with the Viper and the Silver Samurai, who were planning to release a deadly virus contained within a man named Michael Kramer. Jessica had just been hired by Michael’s daughter, Pamela to find him, as he was missing. After finally stopping the villains’ plan and reuniting father and daughter, Jessica revealed to Lindsay McCabe that she and Spider-Woman were one and the same (although Lindsay claimed that she had known all along). When Jessica hunts down Viper seeking revenge for hurting Lindsay, she battles her, only for the demon Chthon to appear and claim that Viper was actually Jessica’s real mother. The resemblance between the two was apparently uncanny and had earlier fooled Viper’s agents when Jessica was trying to find Michael. Viper was revealed to be under the control of Chthon and she betrayed him during her fight with Jessica. Jessica later encountered and battle the Viper again, although now the Viper believed that Jessica had brainwashed her into believing that she was her mother. The whole thing turned out to be an illusion created by Morgan Le Fay. Not long after that, Jessica gave up her immunity powers to save Giant-Man.

Death of Spider-Woman

Jessica traveled in astral form with Magnus to the sixth century England to free her friends’ souls in a showdown with Morgan Le Fay. She managed to vanquish Morgan, but Jessica’s human body died while her spirit was gone from it. Jessica was believed dead and the sorcerer, Magnus, placed a spell over humanity to remove all traces of Jessica’s existence. However, this spell was faulty, and Tigra and the Shroud discovered Jessica’s dead body and contacted the Avengers and Doctor Strange. It turned out that Jessica was in fact trapped on the astral plane, and was attempting to make contact with her body again. The Avengers and Strange traveled to the astral plane to battle Morgan Le Fay, who was also trapped on the astral plane. Morgan attempted to foil the Avengers’ attempts to revive Jessica, bringing her into direct conflict with both the Avengers and Dr. Strange. Eventually, Doctor Strange was able to reunite Jessica’s spirit with her human body and trap Morgan, but it was not without a cost: her bioelectric powers were eliminated and Magnus sacrificed his astral form to help restore her to life. Jessica was nevertheless grateful for returning to the land of the living, and abandoned her Spider-Woman identity. She continued her life as a private investigator in San Francisco, assisted by Lindsay McCabe and occasionally by Tigra, the Shroud and (during their brief time in the city) the X-Men.

Jessica Drew frequented Madripoor as a private investigator, partnered with Lindsay McCabe. During this time she had lost her ability to discharge bioelectricity, but found that her super powers were slowly returning. She still possessed superhuman strength and agility, and the ability to cling to walls. At one point, she became ensorcelled by the Black Blade and battled Wolverine. Despite this Jessica became an ally and confidante of Patch (an alter-ego of Wolverine) and developed a friendship with pilot Archie Corrigan, who helped her return to San Francisco and sort out her life.

A Normal Life

Jessica Drew’s life settled down until Charlotte Witter, a villainess going by the name of Spider-Woman, stole her powers. After the theft, Jessica returned to her life as a private investigator and served as a teacher and mentor to Mattie Franklin, a young woman who had assumed the identity of the Spider-Woman (the third person to become Spider-Woman). Jessica began to regain her powers at this time while investigating two cases with Mattie, making use of her restored superhuman strength and agility. Although she regained the bulk of her spider-powers they were unstable. For example, her “venom blasts” worked efficiently in one fight then would fail unexpectedly on another occasion.

When Mattie Franklin was drawn into a highly abusive and parasitic relationship with a New York-based drug dealer who cannibalized her tissue to make the “Mutant Growth Hormone” (commonly known as “MGH”). Jessica didn’t hesitate to investigate, despite the instability of her powers. An initial misunderstanding with local P.I. Jessica Jones, who shared many surprising similarities to Drew, turned into an alliance when the women teamed up to rescue Mattie from her captors.

Secret Invasion

A HYDRA agent, known as Connely, attacked Jessica and offered her powers on the condition that she rejoined S.H.I.E.L.D. and acted as a double agent. Knowing Connely would kill her if she said no, Jessica agreed and contacted Nick Fury, who confronted her securely and urged her to accept the offer. Nick offered to feed her selected safe information, allowing S.H.I.E.L.D. to use Jessica to research the HYDRA cell and take it down. However when she went undercover to regain her lost powers, she was ambushed by the Skrulls and replaced by their current Queen, Veranke, who took her place in the New Avengers and assumed her role as Fury’s spy in preparation for the upcoming Invasion. In the aftermath of the Skrull Invasion, Jessica and many other superheroes were found on an orbiting Skrull ship by Iron Man. Sadly, Jessica’s homecoming was rather cold, until her old friend Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel) ran up to her and gave her a hug. Unaware of the Skrull Queen’s actions, Jessica asks why the other heroes have been giving her strange looks, to which Carol responded that “No one knows for sure.”.

SWORD

In the aftermath of Secret Invasion, Spider-Woman returns to the city of her birth, London, where she was approached by Agent Brand to become an agent of SWORD. SWORD provide her with a new mission, to hunt down any remaining Skrulls from the Secret Invasion. Equipped with an alien activity detector, Jessica sets out for Madripoor to track down the first name on their list. After fighting and killing a Skrull posing as Spider-Man, Jessica wakes up in a filthy jail cell, but refrains from breaking herself out with her powers. She is brought out for questioning and interrogated about her alien detector device. Norman Osborn requests she be taken back to the US for questioning.

Jessica uses her emotion influencing power on her interrogator, but as they leave, he is shot in the head. The assassination was carried out by HYDRA, specifically a group led by Madame Hydra who threatens to kill all the pursuing policemen forcing Spider-Woman to follow along reluctantly. Viper wants her to rejoin HYDRA, who knows about her mission to hunt Skrulls through her inside connection to SWORD. Arriving at the Hydra base, Jessica tries to kill Viper, but fails as she’s protected by a SHIELD force field. Viper brings her to a cell containing another Skrull, not the one she’s tasked with finding, but all the same she asks for and gets time alone in the cell with it. The confused Skrull still thinks Jessica is Queen Veranke in disguise and begs her to take him home. Jessica fights it with bare fists and kills it, escaping when Viper opens the door to the cell. Unable to fly, Jessica breaks her fall on a wire and crashes into a fountain. Back in hospital Jessica is taken and questioned again. She turns the tables on the detective by using her fear inducing powers. However, this backfires as the guy is too terrified to tell her anything and crumples to the floor. As the police burst into the room, Jessica pulls on her costume and escapes to the roof, only to be confronted by the Thunderbolts who want to bring her back to Norman Osborn. Jessica is able to beat them off and escape. She contacts Abigail Brand, who advises her to run.

Brand is annoyed that Jessica is not keeping a low profile and was open about her mission with the police, but gives her information about the Skrull who posed as Spider-Man and attacked her when she arrived in town. Jessica finds the Skrull’s human girlfriend who tells her about the bar where the fake Spider-Man met with his associates. Jessica goes there and provokes Koru Kaviti into breaking cover, revealing himself to be a huge Super-Skrull. As they fight Koru tells her that Queen Veranke picked her to be her disguise because no-one really cared about her enough to notice. As the fight proceeded to go downhill for Jessica (as Koru was a veteran warrior regarded as fourth in command below Veranke), the Avengers arrived to provide assistance. At first, Jessica, in a warrior-rage, thought they were Skrulls too. After coming to her senses, she managed to locate Koru, who had shape-shifted during the chaos. Wolverine then promptly impaled Koru from behind. Jessica was then comforted by Carol Danvers, a long time best friend of hers, and Jessica apologized for isolating herself from everyone.

New Avengers

During the Dark Reign of Norman Osborn‘s control of law and order in the US, Jessica was invited by Wolverine to join the New Avengers, having nowhere else to go. She informed the other Avengers that S.H.I.E.L.D. no longer existed and later helped search for Luke and Jessica Jones’s baby, Danielle. Along with Iron Fist, they attacked a HYDRA base to see if the Skrull posing as Jarvis had contacted any Earth villains seeking a way to leave New York, possibly Earth. She also joined the Lady Liberators, who were trying to discover the identity of the Red Hulk.

With the New Avengers, Jessica encountered The Hood and his gang and Dormammu/Hood before joining the Siege of Asgard where Norman’s reign finally came to an end. She subsequently joined the newly reformed Avengers, alongside the three core members: Iron Man, Thor and Captain America.

Spider-Verse

Due to the threats to the multiverse, Jessica joined the Spider-Army team. They first visited Earth-928 and met up with Spider-Man (Otto Octavius) and saw that he already had his own army. They also unintentionally alerted the Inheritors to their presence in the multiverse.

Jessica travelled with Spider-Man Noir and Silk to a new reality and, after encountering some enemies, they had to escape to Earth-90214 to allow Spider-Man Noir to recover from his injuries. There, they met up with Spider-Gwen and Spider-Girl, and Jessica had them look over Silk.

Spider-Man then instructed Jessica to go to Earth-001 (Also known as Loomworld) to gather information on the Inheritors. There, she discovered an alternate version of herself, Pirate Captain Jessica Drew. They had an altercation but Spider-Gwen, Spider-Girl, and Silk arrived to help Jessica out. Jessica managed to gather information about Master Weaver which was crucial to the Spider-Army defeating the Inheritors.

After that was done, she retired from the Avengers for the time being to focus on helping civilians.

Private Decretive

Returning from the multiverse, Jessica started being a Private Investigator again with the support from her friend, Ben Urich.

On a particular case she had, she investigated the kidnapping of partners of criminals, which led to her meeting Porcupine (Roger Gocking). Jessica followed a clue to Moon’s Hallow where she discovered that these “kidnappings” were fake and were constructed by the partners against the criminals. It was there that she discovered that Roger’s wife and daughter were fine and not kidnapped. However, she was attacked by the leader of this whole thing, Cat. During the fight, Jessica learned that Cat, like many of the partners, had been abused. So, she agreed not to inform authorities of what they had done as long as they stopped blackmailing the criminals.

Afterwards, Ben encouraged Jessica to take Roger under her wing as he saw potential in him, so she did. However, Roger angered Jessica by taking risks on the cases he accompanied her with, but when he figured out how to solve one of the cases, she forgave him.

Pregnancy and Becoming a Mother

Jessica then got pregnant via a donor father and, still continuing her Private Investigation business, had Ben and Roger around to help. As she was getting closer and closer to the end of her pregnancy, Carol suggested she go to an alien hospital. Jessica was hesitant at first but eventually agreed. However, shortly after she arrived at the hospital, Skrulls infiltrated and occupied space. Unable to get help from Carol at the time, Jessica had to save the hospital while also keeping her unborn child safe.

She was able to begin fighting them off and rallied the other patients there to help her. Jessica eventually got the help from a teenage Skrull who had been a patient there but, in the middle of the fight against Skrulls, she went into labor! The boy helped her over to where she could get a C-section and there she gave birth to her son, Gerry. After giving birth, Jessica finished the fight just in time for Carol to arrive, where she promptly passed out and awoke later in the hospital.

Afterwards, Jessica had doubt going into the superhero lifestyle again, for fear it would hurt her son. She wondered out-loud how other superheroes and police did it with children and talked it over with Carol. Eventually, she decided to be a superhero again in the mindset that she had to show her son what being a superhero was, like how she was shown.

Hunting Hobgoblin

Later on, Ben informed her that Roger had been killed by Hobgoblin, which devastated her and sent her to immediately go investigate to attempt to figure out what happened. She went to Roger’s ex-wife Olivia but Olivia got angry at her, claiming that Jessica was keeping Roger from seeing his daughter, Kalie. Later, Ben revealed that Roger had had feelings for Jessica.

Then, Carol reported that someone wearing the Porcupine costume had robbed a bank. Jessica investigated it and learned more about Roger’s death, before later being attacked by Hobgoblin’s men. She was helped by a mysterious figure who later revealed himself to be Roger, alive. In her excitement and relief, Jessica kissed him, but was interrupted by Hobgoblin attacking him.

Jessica immediately jumped into a fight and eventually was able to defeat Hobgoblin with Roger’s help, and then he and Jessica began dating.

Finding a Cure and King in Black

Jessica, desperate for money, took on a gig at a teenager Rebecca’s birthday party on a yacht as a bodyguard for her father, Michael, who had given her a flu shot the other day. However, Jessica wasn’t behaving like herself. She was more reckless and even ended up throwing a green substance up, which provoked her to break into Michael’s workplace and demand what had been in the flu shot that he gave her. It was revealed that Rebecca was sick from the radiation that Jessica had been protected from with her father’s science. Michael, wanting to find a way to get Jessica to help, removed that part of her father’s science in the flu shot, making Jessica sick. As a temporary cure, Jessica was given a serum that kept her alive but was the reason for her reckless behavior. She agreed to find a cure when she learned that this could be dangerous for her son.

Jessica first tried to steal the last spider that held a cure from Octavia Vermis but was stopped by her and learned that Michael was her biological brother. She then went with Michael and Rebecca and they ended up crash landing on Wundagore Mountain. Jessica was under the impression that her mother Miriam was alive and reconnected with her, before Octavia and her forces arrived, causing Miriam to push Jessica into danger. Miriam then sacrificed herself so her family could escape and Jessica learned that her mother was actually a clone.

Jessica then teamed up with Carol and they travelled to Counter-Earth to find the High Evolutionary who had been a friend and coworker of Jessica’s father. They wanted to find a cure from him but were turned away. When they returned to Earth, Carol enlisted Jessica’s help against King in Black. Jessica needed to fight a monster but to do so she needed more of the serum. She successfully defeated it but got into an argument with Carol, upset that she had to fight the monster for Carol and had to take even more of the serum, preventing her from being able to find a cure. The fight turned physical but Carol and some other heroes subdued Jessica and locked her in a hulk tank. Jessica and Carol had another argument but Carol left, which was when Octavia arrived and broke her out for them to team-up.

Jessica, knowing that she and Octavia had common enemies, agreed and Octavia had her retrieve her DNA from Tony Stark’s lab for a permanent cure. She was forced to break into it and was confronted by Rhodey, but evaded him. They then travelled to meet the High Evolutionary which was where Jessica discovered that Octavia had a daughter who was her clone, Ophelia. After fights against clones and tests, Jessica was able to retrieve the cure from the High Evolutionary.

Aeternum

After returning from finding a cure for herself and her family and taking down a couple bad guys, Roger broke up with Jessica, since he felt that she was neglecting their relationship. This was difficult for Jessica to deal with, but soon she reconnected with her friend Lindsay who arrived to help Jessica with her son. Their meeting was quite a chaotic one because Lindsay had arrived to babysit Gerry moments after Jessica had been attacked. While Lindsay babysat Gerry, Jessica ran off after her attacker, since the attacker told her that he was being paid/hired to retrieve the cure that Jessica had gotten.

Jessica and the attacker fought in the subway before she fought Lady Deathstrike on the airplane that she discovered the person who hired the attacker was on. The two “reminisced” about their encounter during Secret Avengers with Black Widow before Jessica was able to defeat Lady Deathstrike and uncovered who the employer was. To her shock – it was her brother, Michael!

Jessica allowed Michael to explain and he introduced her to his “friend”, Rose Roche. Rose and Michael attempted to convince Jessica to give up her cure, claiming that Rebecca needed it. Jessica told them she’d think about it and later talked about it with Lindsay. The two agreed that she would not give them the cure, both suspecting that they were up to something, and Jessica decided to infiltrate their facility. Unfortunately for her, she was stopped by Rose and discovered that Michael had transformed from serums he had tested on himself. He attacked her, calling himself Aeternum, and that’s when Rebecca arrived. Rose revealed that she had pheromone powers and used those powers to bend Jessica to her wheel. She had Jessica strap herself, Rebecca, and Rebecca’s dog to an aircraft. Jessica passed out but Rebecca was able to wake her up just in time for Jessica to get them both out of the aircraft before it exploded.

Afterwards, realizing that Michael and Rose knew where Jessica lived, she raced home. Meanwhile, back at her apartment, Lindsay was fending two attackers. She did well and protected Gerry but got hit and Jessica managed to arrive just in time to save the day. Then, the entire group went to Rebecca’s safe house, and discovered she had weapons and a suit. Rebecca wanted to team up with Jessica to stop Rose and Michael. After some convincing, Jessica agreed.

When she and Rebecca went to Rose and Michael’s apartment, the four fought. Jessica fought Michael and eventually won by using her Venom Blasts. She had Rose and Michael arrested and then had a brief conversation with Rebecca about her future and also comforted her.

Devil’s Reign

Shortly afterward the fight with Aeternum, Jessica visited Lindsay on a movie set where she would be acting as a stunt double, doing a stunt for the movie’s lead actress, Stevie Ciconia. After watching her friend carry through the stunt (which she was skeptical of for its dangers), they were interrupted and attacked by Mack Duffin’s gang from Madripoor since Lindsay had stolen from Duffin. Lindsay and Jessica took care of them and, throughout the fight, Jessica asked Lindsay if she was a bad mother due to a comment that Linda Carter had made when Jessica had left Gerry with her. Lindsay assured her she was an excellent mother and, after the fight, Jessica got snacks while Lindsay patched herself up in her trailer. When Jessica went back to the trailer, she discovered that it appeared damaged and messy, and Lindsay was missing. On the mirror, “This is all your fault, Jessica Drew!” was written with a drawing of her logo in red. This would lead into Jessica’s involvement in Marvel’s event, Devil’s Reign.

Later, when Lindsay was recovering, Jessica visited her before she went to go see Kingpin, who she knew was behind this. They had a conversation where Kingpin revealed that Veranke, the Skrull Queen who had stolen her life and impersonated her years ago, was back. Fearing that her son was in danger with Veranke wanting revenge, Jessica left quickly.

She returned just in time to see Veranke impersonating her with Linda, who had realized that Veranke wasn’t actually Jessica. Jessica tackled Veranke and fought her, until Linda told her that Veranke had put Gerry into a car which had begun to drive away. Jessica raced after the car, determined to get her son back. Following her, Veranke first impersonated Ronin, but Jessica saw through it quickly. Next, she pretended to be Iron Man, claiming that he was there to help. Jessica saw through her deception. When Spider-Man showed up, she thought that this was again Veranke, but it turned out to be the real Peter. Finally, Captain Marvel seemingly showed up, holding Gerry and claiming to have rescued him. Jessica was suspicious of this, especially when another Captain Marvel showed up. They both claimed to be the real Carol and Jessica did not know who to believe. She told Gerry to zap the fake one and when he did, it confirmed that the Carol who had been holding him was the real Carol. Jessica told her best friend to take Gerry away to safety and then she went after Veranke, fighting her and winning this time.

Anti-Arachne

After so many fights, Jessica relaxed in the park with Lindsay and her son. When Gerry accidentally wandered into some bugs, she quickly pulled him away. Later, at lunch with Lindsay, she was confronted by some former enemies. Instead of fighting them, Jessica defeated them by insulting them. Verbally wounded, they left. Jessica and Lindsay discussed Madripoor and Jessica agreed to return to Madripoor with her. At home, Carol and Rebecca came over to watch Gerry while Jessica left. They finished packing Jessica’s things and she managed to tease her niece before pizza came. When it did, she left to get it, only to be confronted by a group of all her past enemies who branded themselves as the Anti-Arachne. They all wanted revenge on her.

End of the Spider-Verse

In the End of the Spider-Verse event, Jessica (along with Miles Morales and Cindy Moon) arrived to help Spider-Man fight Morlun. A short while after, Spider-Man Noir also arrived. However, instead of helping the heroes fight Morlun, Spider-Man Noir instead stabbed Jessica with a magical dagger. This caused her to “unravel” and disappear from existence due to the Web of Life.

Using a device created by Peter that brought back those who had unravelled, Anya Corazon later resurrected Jessica.

Gang War

After returning to life, Jessica discovered that her son Gerry was gone and no one remembered his existence. Suspecting Hydra, she managed to get a list from Taskmaster of everyone he trained and started going after them to find more information on them. This led her to Diamondback, who teamed up with Hydra as he wanted to take over the Criminal Underworld. Spider-Man then approached Jessica, asking for her help in stopping all of New York’s gang bosses from going to war for each other. Jessica agreed as long as she could deal with Diamondback.

While fighting Diamondback and trying to find her son, Jessica had an encounter a new villain named Green Mamba with Viper where she was pushed out of a flying helicopter. This cemented Jessica’s belief that HYDRA must’ve kidnapped Gerry and was using his DNA, since Green Mamba had the same powers Gerry did, yet stronger. With Madame Web’s help, Jessica went to take down Diamondback. This led to a confrontation with him and Green Mamba, where Jessica discovered that HYDRA had taken her son but weren’t using his DNA. Instead they aged him up and he was Green Mamba, attacking his mother.

Personal Information

• Height: 5′ 10″ (1.7 m)
• Weight: 130 lbs (58.97 kg)
• Eyes: Green, formerly blue
• Hair: Black (dyed), Blond (naturally)
• Defining Features: Though Jessica’s natural hair color is blond, she prefers to keep it dyed jet-black, but now it is her natural hair.
• Unusual Features: When possessed by Kindred, Jessica had fangs, claws, wings, and spikes.

Status

• Citizenship: British, American
• Born in: Wundagore Mountain, Transia
• Marital Status: Single
• Occupations: Adventurer, Private Investigator, Espionage Agent, Secretary, Teacher
• Known Relatives: Jonathan Drew (father, deceased), Miriam Drew (mother, deceased), Michael Marchand (brother), Rebecca Marchand (niece), Gerald “Gerry” Drew (son)

Powers and Abilities

As a result of a combination of a special serum derived from spider blood and a certain radiation treatment, Jessica possesses a number of superhuman powers. She has superhuman strength, speed, reflexes, agility, endurance, durability, and a longer life span/slowed aging. However, it was revealed in Spider-Woman #17, that she can blow out her regeneration powers temporarily from overexerting her powers. It would be painful for her to use her powers during that time. As well as possessing the ability to focus the bioelectric energy that her body generates into “venom blasts” sufficient to stun or kill normal humans and adhere to almost any surface by excreting an unknown adhesive substance from her palms and soles. Jessica rapidly forms an immunity to all poisons and drugs and is totally immune to radiation. Her body also exudes a high concentration of pheromones which mostly elicits pleasure in most human males while eliciting fear in most females, though she often uses a chemical “perfume” that can nullify this effect. She has been known to manipulate her pheromones to to elicit other states, such as calming people. Jessica has lost and regained her powers more than once, but she has recently emerged with her powers restored greater than ever.

In addition to her powers, Jessica is also a superb hand to hand fighter and has trained in several styles of combat, including boxing, judo, karate, and capoeira, which she learned under the training of the Taskmaster. She has also had training in fencing and the use of many other weapons, including most firearms. Jessica was trained by HYDRA and later on by SHIELD in covert operations, stealth, espionage, and information gathering, and she is also a superb athlete. She speaks several foreign languages, including Korean, Russian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and German. Jessica also received vocational training in undercover detective work and sometimes carried a Walther PPK handgun.

Whilst not on the same physical level as some of the other Avengers, such as Spider-man, Jessica has shown to be more than capable of using her improved dexterity and reflexes to give more powerful combatants a very difficult time. During her time with S.W.O.R.D, she was locked in a chamber alongside a Skrull Warrior (albeit, it was malnourished and exhausted). She managed to trade blows with it, eventually coming out on top and killing it in the process. Koru Kaviti, the Skrull that originally captured her, on the other hand, was fourth in command below Queen Veranke and near the pinnacle of the Super-Skrull warriors. Jessica, out of costume, traded blows with Koru, holding her own in a losing battle. She took a variety of heavy hits, yet still refused to go down. The fight escalated, smashing through a bar and outside into the city of Madripoor. Whilst the outcome of the fight would most likely have ended in Koru’s favor, Jessica held her own until the Avengers arrived, whereupon Koru was impaled by Wolverine.

Equipment

Suits

• Classic Suit (Red and white with winged webs that allows Jessica to glide. She now wears an upgraded version of this costume. It originally had a matching mask but she abandoned it)
• Biker Suit (A red jacket with her logo on that also had the winged webs, accompanied with pants and red boots. She later wore a white and blue version of this for snowy weather)
• Empyre Suit (A new suit that she dawned when helping Captain Marvel out during Empyre. This costume was the same as her Classic Suit, but was green)
• Hero For Hire Suit (Jessica briefly wore a black and red version of her Classic Suit which was made by Ronnie)

Weapons

• Universal Weapon (Jessica was given a piece of the Universal Weapon by Doctor Strange. Hers was a hammer that she used to help Carol out during Empyre)

Other

• Motorcycle

Alternate Universes

Earth-1610 (Ultimate)

In the Ultimate Universe, Jessica Drew is a clone of Peter Parker. She was the most successful and youngest clone of Peter. She was supposed to be implanted with the memories of a new identity, but on the day it was supposed to happen there was a commotion at the lab allowing the clones to escape. She then makes contact with Peter who fights her. One of the other clones abduct Mary Jane and Jessica take Peter to him. After a fight Doctor Octopus shows up, claiming that it was he that made Jessica and the other clones. Peter and Jessica then fight and defeat Doctor Octopus.

She has the same powers as Spider only with organic webbing added. She later shows up during Ultimatum and saves Aunt May and meets Kitty Pryde. She later joins the Ultimates and helps Miles Morales become Spider-Man’s replacement.

Earth-982 (MC2)

In the MC2 universe, Jessica Drew was never able to regain her powers, which forced her to settle down and eventually get married. The couple had a son named Gerry, who inherited Jessica’s spider powers. However, Jessica’s radioactive blood also gave Gerry a disease. Her husband blamed her for their son’s condition and the couple divorced soon after. Gerry decided to use his powers to become the next Spider-Man. He would eventually meet Spider-Girl. However, with his disease, it caused him to weaken quickly. Jessica asked Peter Parker to convince Gerry to stop being Spider-Man, and Peter later found a cure for Gerry.

Earth-58163 (House of M)

In 1931 Jessica Drew was poisoned by uranium radiation and was put in suspended animation until a cure could be found. They finally developed a Spider serum and used it to cure her, she was then placed in a genetic accelerator. However, the world that Jessica woke up in was the mutant-dominated House of M reality, under the control of Magneto. It’s unknown what happened to Jessica, as Queen Veranke under Jessica’s disguise was the one who was recruited into SHIELD where she worked her way up to an active role on Wolverine‘s Red Army Squad. The House of M reality finally crumbled when a girl named Layla Miller was discovered to have the ability to restore memories. She then restored the memories of Earth’s superheroes and the heroes fought and won an epic battle with Magneto at the House of M, and reality was restored to normal.

Earth-2149 (Marvel Zombiverse)

In this reality, Spider-Woman was one of the remaining uninfected superheroes assembled by Nick Fury on a SHIELD helicarrier, where he briefed them on their dire situation. They were then sent to New York to fight the zombie superhumans, but Spider-Woman was later seen turned into a zombie.

Earth-9997 (Earth X)

In this reality, Jessica Drew was a member of SHIELD and wore a green and purple variation of her Spider-Woman costume. She and other SHIELD agents were being hunted down by the Hydra, a biological creature created by Norman Osborn (now the President of the United States) to kill those who did not support Osborn’s presidency. Jessica was later killed and her soul was sent to the Realm of the Dead, where she helped Captain Marvel fight Death in that dimension.

Earth-1815

Little is known about the Jessica Drew of Earth-1815, other than that she is African-American. And she can cling on walls. She had lost her sense of Smell and taste in the prison and also was blind from one eye. She was with the X-Men who just had all broken out from prison by Charles Xavier. But they were quickly defeated by the Exiles.

Earth-8410

In the future of 2020, Commander Jessica Drew is Arno Stark a.k.a. Iron Man 2020‘s boss.

Earth-11326 (Age of X)

In the Age of X alternate reality Jessica Drew is called Redback and is one of Americas top killers. She is part of the Avengers team set up to find rogue mutants. She gave her life to protect the inhabitants of Fortress X.

Earth-65 (Spider-Gwen)

In the Spider-Gwen alternate reality Jessica Drew’s counterpart is Jesse Drew who uses the code name Agent 77.

Earth-001 (Loomworld)

In the Loomworld reality, Jessica Drew was called Captain Jessica and was the captain of a pirate ship. After the Inheritors occupied Loomworld, Jessica was made a servant of Verna.

Eventually, after the Inheritors were defeated, Jessica was persuaded by 616 Jessica to become the leader of Loomworld.

Other Media

Film

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Issa Rae voiced Spider-Woman from Earth-414 in the movie “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”. Jessica is a member of the Spider-Society, working alongside Spider-Man 2099. She also becomes a mentor to Gwen Stacy. Ultimately, when a conflict arises about Miles being an anomaly, Jessica sides with Miguel and sets out to find Miles.

(There are other variants of Spider-Woman who make a cameo in this movie, but their roles are very brief).

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Jessica’s name was shown in Spider-Man‘s (Miles) phone contacts. Due to Issa Rae voicing a variant of Jessica from Earth-414 in the sequel, it’s likely that the Jessica in Miles’ phone is a not a spider-person, and he just knows the Jessica Drew in his universe.

Television

Spider-Woman

A Spider-Woman cartoon, featuring Jessica Drew, launched on ABC’s Saturday Morning Cartoon block in 1979 (produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and Marvel Comics Animation). She was voiced by Joan Van Ark.

Once a Hero

A cameo role on the short-lived TV series, Once a Hero, about a comic strip hero who leaves his “world” to find his creator. Near the end of one episode Captain Justice returns to the “Real Earth”, and a crowd of comic book characters can be seen cheering him on, including Spider-Woman.

Saturday Night Live

The Saturday Night Live sketch, “Superhero Party”, originally broadcast March 17, 1979. The sketch featured Margot Kidder as Lois Lane, with Superman, Flash, Lana Lang, Hulk, Thing, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Ant-Man, and Invisible Woman.

Motion Comics

Spider-Woman: Agent of S.W.O.R.D.

Spider-Woman: Agent of S.W.OR.D. was a 2009 motion comic based off of the 2009 comic Spider-Woman. In this motion comic, Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) is recruited to join the superhero organization S.W.O.R.D. and fights Skrulls after having been impersonated by a Skrull in the Marvel comic event Secret Invasion. This motion comic was written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Alex Maleev. Spider-Woman was voiced by Nicolette Reed.

Wolverine: Weapon X

Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) appeared in the 2009 motion comic book Wolverine: Weapon X, voiced by Lisa Ann Beley.

Video Games

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

Spider-Woman is a playable character in the video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance voiced by Tasia Valenza. She possesses all of the powers she has in the comic book except super-strength. She has a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent variant costume (a navy blue and black unmasked version of her classic costume, with white glider webs and a silver belt). In addition, she also has unlockable Julia Carpenter (Secret War edition) and Spider-Girl costumes, and faces the Wrecker in her simulator disc mission. If a player were to ask her a question revolving around Spider-Man, she tells the player that she’s not related to Spider-Man (though she seems to show a slight attraction to him, stating that he’s “kinda cute in a geeky sort of way”). Spider-Woman has special dialogue with Black Widow, Jarvis, the Grey Gargoyle, the Enchantress, and Doctor Doom (while in Doctor Doom’s castle).

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

Jessica Drew appears in the PlayStation 2 and PSP versions of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows voiced by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn. Spider-Man encounters her on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier and saves her from infected S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents. Following the path of her downed Helicopter, Spider-Man encounters Jessica who has become infected and trying to fight the symbiotic control. Spider-Man manages to defeat Symbiote-Jessica Drew and obtain the S.H.I.E.L.D. plans.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

Spider-Woman appears in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 voiced by Elizabeth Daily. She is allied with Captain America’s Anti-Registration movement. She is a boss in the Pro-Registration side, and an ally on the Anti-Registration side who also assists you during a mission. Spider-Woman first appears in Stark Tower after the events in Washington and tells the heroes she doesn’t plan on signing the SRA. If the player chooses Anti Registration, she assists the heroes in the first mission but is captured by S.H.I.E.L.D agents. Spider-Woman is one of the many heroes presumed deceased after the battle in the Negative Zone prison. She later gets taken over by The Fold and attacks the heroes outside of the Repeater Tower alongside Wonder Man.

Marvel: Avengers Alliance

Spider-Woman appears as an unlockable character in the Marvel: Avengers Alliance video game on Facebook. She is a Scrapper Class character.

Her bio says: Suffering from uranium poisoning as a young girl, Jessica Drew was at the point of death when her geneticist father injected her with a serum derived from spider venom. After decades in stasis as the serum took hold, Jessica reawoke into the contemporary world with tremendous powers. Initially trained by Hydra, she rebelled against them and joined S.H.I.E.L.D., where she’s a valued asset.

Spider-Woman got a second costume as Kuurth, Breaker of Stone as a reward in Season 2 Chapter 8 – Trial By Fire, based in the Feart Itself story.

Marvel: Avengers Alliance 2

She is a playable character in the game. She is a tactician Class.

Her bio in the game says: The result of a Hydra-funded experiment, Jessica Drew was born with extraordinary powers. Recruited, brainwashed, and trained by Hydra in her youth, Drew quickly became one their top agents, assuming the codename Spider-Woman. Eventually liberated from Hydra’s programming, Jessica bared an eternal enmity for the organization that created her.

Marvel Super Hero Squad Online

Spider-Woman is a playanle character in this game voiced by Grey DeLisle.

Her description says: Super-strength, super-speed, and powerful Venom Blasts make bad guys think twice about messing with Spider-Woman.

Marvel Heroes

Spider-Woman appears as a team up character in Marvel Heroes She was later released as a playable hero.

Her bio says:

When Jessica Drew was about a year old, her parents moved from England to a small enclave in the outskirts of Wundagore Mountain. Her father, Jonathan Drew, geneticist and research partner to the man who would later become the High Evolutionary, found large amounts of uranium in their property, which gave them the financial resources to build a research facility to keep working on their controversial studies of evolution, genetics and cell regeneration.

In the course of the next three years, life was good, until little Jessica became ill, poisoned by her long-time exposure to the Uranium that was so prevalent in their land. Jonathan, being an expert on the regenerative and immunological properties of arachnids’ blood, injected Jessica with an untested serum made with the blood of several uncommon species of spiders, in the hopes of stopping the tissue damage and immunizing the girl from the Uranium radiation in her blood.

Then, he sealed her in a genetic accelerator created by Herbert Wyndham (aka the High Evolutionary) to speed the process, but it only seemed to work at a very slow rate. In stasis for decades, her aging greatly slowed, she awoke with no memories of her past, to a world in which both her parents had disappeared mysteriously, and possessing powers that made everyone around her scared and resentful. Jessica lived in the Wundagore citadel until the High Evolutionary left Earth.

She was released with several costumes.

Lego Marvel Super Heroes

Spider-Woman appears as playable character in the game.

Marvel: War of Heroes

Spider-Woman appears in the mobile card game Marvel: War of Heroes in the following cards:

• Spider-Woman
• [Silk Spider] Spider-Woman
• [Double Life] Spider-Woman
• [Lady Liberator] Spider-Woman
• [S.W.O.R.D. Agent] Spider-Woman
• [Hunting Osborn] Spider-Woman
• [Former Villain] Spider-Woman
• [Covert] Spider-Woman

• [Well-Versed] Spider-Woman

Marvel Mighty Heroes

Spider-Woman is a playable character in the game.

Marvel Avengers Academy

A teenage version of Spider-Woman is playable in the game, voiced by Mad Men actress Kiernan Shipka. She is a premium character and debuted in “Secret Mission, Pt. 1”.

Lego Marvel’s The Avengers

Ultimate Jessica Drew appears in the game as playable character from Spider-Man: Homecoming DLC pack.

Marvel Puzzle Quest

Jessica is a playable character in the game.

Her bio in the game says: When young Jessica Drew fell fatally ill, her Hydra-scientist parents ran a genetic experiment to save her life. The procedure not only worked, but also gave her incredible powers! In addition to being super strong, super fast, and super durable, Spider-Woman can store and release biolectric “venom blasts” and release mind-altering pheromones.

As a member of the Avengers, Spider-Woman endeavors to save the world—and outrun her past.

Merchandise

• Toy Biz released a Spider-Woman figure as part of the Marvel Legends M.O.D.O.K. Build-a-Figure wave.
• Hasbro released a Spider-Woman figure for the Marvel Universe line.
• Diamond Collectibles released a Spider-Woman figure for the Marvel Select line.
• Bowen Designs has released statues of Spider-Woman.
• Kotobukiya released a Spider-Woman statue in the Bishoujo line.
• Hasbro released a Spider-Woman figure for the Marvel Legends Thanos Build-a-Figure wave.
• Hasbro released a Ultimate version of Jessica Drew figure of Marvel Legends Hobgoblin Build-a-Figure wave.
• Hasbro later released a modern Spider-Woman figure as part of the Lizard Build-a-Figure wave.
• FiGPiN released a Spider-Woman pin as a retailer exclusive.

Awards and Honours

Spider Woman (Jessica Drew) was ranked 54th in Comics Buyer’s Guide Presents: 100 Sexiest Women in Comics

Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) was ranked 20th in IGN’s Top 50 Avengers