Spider-Woman (Marvel Comics) Character Review
Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) is a fictional Character, a superheroine in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Marvel Spotlight (cover-dated Feb. 1977), and 50 issues of an ongoing series titled Spider-Woman followed. At its conclusion she was killed, and though later resurrected in an Avengers story arc, she fell into disuse, supplanted by other characters using the name Spider-Woman.
Writer Brian Michael Bendis added Spider-Woman to the roster of the high profile New Avengers. In 2009, the character received her own self-titled limited series - More about Spider-Woman (Marvel Comics) Character Review...Keep reading !!
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Fictional Character Biography
Origin - Jessica Miriam Drew, daughter of Jonathan and Merriam Drew, was born in London, England. At a young age, her family moved to a lab built by her father and Herbert Wyndham near Mount Wundagore in Transia,
where she became gravely ill from months of uranium exposure. To save
her life, her father injected her with an experimental serum based on
irradiated spiders' blood. Because the serum required a month's
incubation, Wyndham placed her in a genetic accelerator. Shortly after,
her mother died and her father left for the U.S.A., leaving Wyndham to
care for her. While in the accelerator, she aged at a decelerated rate. When she was
finally released, decades later, Drew was only 17 years old.
Drew was ostracized by the other residents of Mount Wundagore, the High Evolutionary's New Men,
since she was originally human while they were animals. Because of
this, she eventually left to seek human civilization. She was captured
by a HYDRA reserve unit under the leadership of Count Otto Vermis, who erased her memories, brainwashed her, and recruited her as a HYDRA agent under the codename Arachne. One of HYDRA's top agents, Jared, was assigned to train her in combat
and espionage, and to seduce her. Once Jessica had become his lover, he
allowed himself to be captured by S.H.I.E.L.D., so that she could be goaded into assassinating S.H.I.E.L.D. commander Nick Fury.
While battling Fury, Jessica accidentally killed Jared and learned
HYDRA's true nature. She quit HYDRA and assaulted the unit's base,
sending Count Vermis into a fatal crash, but not before he unlocked
memory implants that she was actually an evolved spider and had killed a
man before her association with HYDRA. Despondent from these revelations, she wandered the woods where Vermis
had crashed until being recaptured and hypnotised by HYDRA..
Spider-Woman: Origin - Origin does away with the spider-blood serum and genetic accelerator elements of the character's previous origin story. Instead, Jessica's powers derive from her mother's womb being hit by a
laser beam containing the DNA traits of several different species of
spiders while she was carrying Jessica (the Drews were trying to splice
and harness spiders' environmental adaptive capabilities, in order to
graft them into the human genome).
After Jessica's parents disappeared under mysterious circumstances,
Jessica was recruited into HYDRA (under false pretenses), where she was
made into a formidable fighter/assassin. She was trained and mentored by
Taskmaster, who schooled her in many martial disciplines and more than seven different fighting styles out of his own "arsenal".
In this re-telling, Otto Vermis, who had originally recruited her
into HYDRA, is rather an old, retired HYDRA agent who Jessica seduces in
order to gain information that will lead her to her mother.
In addition, Origin made the following modifications:
- Merriem Drew was now Miriam Drew.
- The Drews moved to Wundagore Mountain prior to Jessica's conception, establishing without a doubt that she was born on the European landmark. Afterwards, she was raised by her nanny Bova (who was human in appearance), as well as her mother.
- Jessica's father, Jonathan, never found uranium on their land. Instead, their research was funded by HYDRA, and their direct liaison/financier from the group was General Wyndham. It is not clear what connection, if any, he had with Edgar Wyndham (who in the original Spider-Woman books was Jonathan's best friend and research partner), nor with the High Evolutionary.
- Jessica's father worked in large part with Miles Warren, who later left the project because he felt that there was more potential in experimenting with the cloning of human cells.
Spider-Woman - Now going by the name Spider-Woman, Jessica was ordered to abduct Alicia Masters, who was vacationing in London. During the resultant conflict with Masters's boyfriend Ben Grimm, she recovered from her brainwashing and joined him in saving Masters. She and Grimm then encountered Modred the Mystic, who removed HYDRA's memory implants and restored her memories.
Jessica moved into an apartment in London, but found it impossible to
get a job due to her complete lack of background and her tendency to
inspire dislike and even fear in other people. Following an aborted
break-in she was unmasked by Scotland Yard officer (and S.H.I.E.L.D. agent) Jerry Hunt, who became obsessed with her. During this troubled time she was approached by the mysterious sorcerer Magnus, who offered help. After defending him from Excaliber, who had been sent by Morgan Le Fay to recover the Darkhold, he suggested she relocate with him to Los Angeles. Magnus tutored her in the ways of civilization and informed her that
her father had been murdered, leading her on a hunt for his killer that
brought her into conflict with the criminal Brothers Grimm. She was distracted from this hunt when Morgan Le Fey's ghost again
sought the Darkhold, this time in person. During the battle Hunt caught
up with Jessica, and they began a romantic relationship. With his help, she identified her father's murderer, who died immediately after confessing.
For the time, Jessica chose to keep her doings as Spider-Woman a
secret. Her relationship with Hunt soured, and following a final battle
with the Brothers Grimm, he and Magnus parted ways with her.
For the next three months she made a hand-to-mouth living by working as
a receptionist at the Hatros Institute while undergoing group therapy
there. Though she ultimately lost the position due to a change in
management, during her time there she received medication to suppress
her pheromones so that she could move effectively among people without
producing any unwanted side-effects, formed a strong friendship with
fellow patient and aspiring actress Lindsay McCabe, and developed
acquaintances with several other superheroes.
The next few months of Jessica's life are not covered by published
stories. During this time, she went public as Spider-Woman, became a bounty hunter working in partnership with parapalegic criminologist Scotty McDowell, acquired a full wardrobe of disguises for use in her work, and found a police liaison in Captain Walsh. This situation lasted for several months. When her working relationship
with Scotty failed, Jessica accepted an offer from Lindsay to move into
an apartment with her in San Francisco, where she began a romantic relationship with their landlord David Ishima and set up a practice as a licensed private investigator. Her move there allowed Lindsay to deduce her secret identity; she was
unbothered by the danger involved in being Spider-Woman's friend, and
the shared secret deepened the friendship between them.
While working as a P.I., she battled Morgan Le Fey once again. Not long after that, Jessica gave up her immunity powers to save Giant-Man. Her relationship with David Ishima developed to the point where she
revealed her identity as Spider-Woman to him, only to have him break up
with her because he wanted to be with an ordinary woman.
Jessica traveled in astral form with Magnus to Sixth Century England
to free her friends' souls in a showdown with Morgan le Fey in the 6th
century. She managed to vanquish Morgan, but her human body died while
her spirit was gone. At her request, Magnus placed a spell over humanity to remove all
memory of Jessica's existence. However, this spell was faulty; when Tigra and the Shroud discovered Jessica's dead body, they contacted the Avengers and Doctor Strange.
The Avengers and Strange traveled to the astral plane to battle Morgan
Le Fay, who was trying to claim Jessica's body so she could return to
the physical realm. Eventually, Doctor Strange and Magnus reunited
Jessica's spirit with her human body, though Magnus's life and Jessica's
powers were sacrificed to do so. She thus abandoned her Spider-Woman
identity and continued her life as a private investigator in San Francisco, assisted by Lindsay McCabe and, for a time, by Tigra.
Jessica and Lindsay took a job delivering the Black Blade to Japan, but while passing through Madripoor (island)
she was ensorcelled by the blade. By this time her superhuman strength
and agility, and ability to cling to walls, had returned. She was freed
from the blade's power by Lindsay and an underworld figure called Patch, who she immediately recognized as the X-Man Wolverine. Following the incident, she and Lindsay set up new business lodgings in
Madripoor, with Patch as a frequent ally and information source. She developed a friendship with pilot Archie Corrigan, who helped her return to San Francisco, where Jessica worked to sort out her 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 Spider-Woman identity. Jessica began to regain her powers at this time; while investigating
two cases with Mattie, she made 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, and then would fail her 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 did not 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.
Powers and Abilities
As a result of a combination of a special serum derived from spider
blood and a certain radiation treatment, Jessica possesses superhuman
strength, endurance, reflexes, and speed. Her body generates excess
bioelectricity that she can focus into "venom blasts" sufficient to stun
or kill humans and blast through solid metal. She has a degree of
control over the intensity of these blasts. She can also adhere to
almost any surface by excreting an unknown adhesive substance from her
palms and soles. Jessica is highly resistant to all poisons and drugs; a
first exposure to a specific toxin will disable but not kill her, and
subsequent exposures have no effect whatsoever. She is also totally
immune to the harmful effects of radiation. Her body exudes a high
concentration of pheromones which elicit pleasure in men while repulsing
women, though she uses a chemical "perfume" that can nullify this
effect. She has also demonstrated superhuman senses in her solo series.
Jessica has lost and regained her powers more than once, but has
recently emerged with her powers restored greater than ever. Initially,
Jessica was unable to actually fly, and had to glide with the help of
web-like extensions on her costume. When she was replaced by the Skrull
Queen Veranke, the latter demonstrated the ability to actually fly. Jessica, upon her return, gained this ability as well.
In addition to her powers, Jessica is also a superb hand to hand
fighter, and has trained in several styles of fighting including boxing,
judo, karate, and capoeira, learned under the training of the
Taskmaster. She has also had training in fencing and the use of many
other weapons. Jessica was trained by HYDRA (and later on by
S.H.I.E.L.D.) in covert operations, stealth, espionage, and information
gathering and is 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.
In Other Media
- Spider-Woman was among the ten Marvel characters on a set of Marvel Comics Super Heroes commemorative postage-stamps that were issued in 2007.
- Spider-Woman motion comics have also been made as part of the Marvel Knights Animated line, based on the series written by Brian Michael Bendis. They are called Spider-Woman: Agent of S.W.O.R.D. and came out June 14, 2011. In the series, Jessica Drew has an English accent and is voiced by actress Nicolette Reed.
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