Spider-Man may be the iconic arachnid powered hero
but there have been quite a few members of the fairer sex to wield spider powers as well.
A British amnesiac,
a desperate single mother,
even a spider-man fan-girl to name a few.
Here are the top 8 WOMEN of the Spider-Verse.
Created as a result of an effort by Marvel comics to secure the publishing rights to the name Spider-Woman
here is the original, Jessica Drew.
With a background largely shrouded in mystery,
Jessica Drew is the daughter of a British scientist.
As a child her family relocated to the Eastern European countryside
where her father conducted experiments in his remote laboratory.
The region was rich with uranium in the ground
and tragically young Jessica became gravely ill from radiation poisoning.
Desperate to save his daughter's life her father attempted to cure her
by injecting her with a serum containing the genes of irradiated spiders.
The serum was slow to react and she required long term incubation treatments over the course of years
in order for the serum to take effect.
During that time Jessica's mother died,
and father mysteriously disappeared.
Her father's colleague was left to continue her treatments
until she was 17 years old.
With the extensive treatments behind her,
she now harnessed incredible spider powers.
in a different account of her origin
while her parents were living in Eastern Europe
Jessica's pregnant mother was struck by an experimental laser
that contained the genes of various spiders.
The baby girl was later born with spider genes grafted to her DNA
As she grew up her parents would argue over how to deal with their daughter's unique qualities.
Her father wanted to perform experiments on her to learn the full scale of the effect on her DNA
Her mother was sternly against this.
During one horrible argument Jessica's father tried to kill her mother.
Panicking, little Jessica used her spider powers for the first time, attacking her father.
Overwhelmed by the sudden release of her powers Jessica blacked out.
She awoke many years later as an adult rising from an incubation pod
and was confronted by agents of the notorious terrorist organization, Hydra.
Jessica was told her parents had died years ago,
and she was then initiated into Hydra as their agent under false pretenses.
Hydra even brainwashed her into believing she was not originally human,
but a spider that had been altered and evolved into a human form.
Now trained by Hydra as an assassin she was next sent on a special mission.
Assassinate Nick Fury, leader of the counter terrorism organization known as SHIELD.
During the confrontation with Fury, Jessica realized that Hydra manipulated her for their own purposes.
She was able to break free of her programming and helped Fury attack Hydra.
Though unsuccessful at defeating Hydra she was able to free herself of their control.
She would move on to become the superhero, Spider-Woman.
Spider-Woman's powers included incredible strength, agility, speed and reflexes.
She is also immune to nearly all forms of poisons, toxins and radiation.
Her body also releases high concentrations of spider pheromones
which trigger feelings of pleasure and attraction in men but disgust and revulsion in other women.
Though originally making use of a web shaped apparatus on her costume to glide through the air,
she later went through a power upgrade which allowed her to fly freely airborne.
Her body also produces an excessive amount of bio-electric energy.
Spider-Woman can release this from her hands as bolts of energy to attack opponents.
Based largely in London England,
she fought villains like Morgan Le Fey and the brothers Grim.
She even came face to face with the Amazing Spider-Man himself.
After a period where she temporarily lost her powers and retired from being a superhero
she would return and became a primary member of the heroic Avengers team.
During this time she would play an important role in the Secret Invasion event
as she was suspected of being a double agent working for the alien Skrull Invaders.
More recently Spider-Woman was revealed to be pregnant
and gave birth to a son named Gerry.
As she made use of a sperm doner
she now attempts to balance her work as a superhero with new motherhood.
In other media Spider-Woman starred in her own animated series
where she fought crime while working as a newspaper editor.
She has also appeared as a playable character in various Marvel Universe video games.
Another accidental villain, here is the second heroine to use the name Spider-Woman,
Julia Carpenter.
A newly divorced single mother
struggling with her former husband over custody of their young daughter
Julia was at a loss for resources.
Desperate for more income, she was approached by an old friend
who worked for a United States Government agency known as the Commission on Superhuman Affairs.
This friend offered her a job to be a living test subject in a paid military athletic study.
Julia agreed to participate.
The truth was this study was a secret project meant to create agents
that would infiltrate the American superhero community
with the intention of controlling them.
During the study the Commission gave Julia injections
she was told would supposedly enhance her athletic performance.
In reality these injections were serums infused with genetically enhanced spider genes
intended to grant Julia spider abilities.
After nearly dying from a high dose of the spider gene serum,
Julia would awake with amazing new powers.
She now possessed incredible strength and agility as well as enhanced senses.
She also had the unique power to spin super strong webs through projecting psionic energy.
Now displaying the powers they needed
the Commission officially anointed Carpenter with a new costume making her one of their agents.
She was given the codename Spider-Woman
as the original heroine by that name had gone missing at this time.
As Spider-Woman she was a member of the Freedom Force,
a team of super-humans under the control of the Commission.
Most of her colleagues were convicted super villains trying to reduce their sentencing.
Through working with Freedom Force
Spider-Woman did battle with many superheroes.
Through participating in many of these missions
Spider-Woman realized her team was doing a lot of harm.
It was during a confrontation with the Mighty Avengers
that she decided to disassociate herself from the Freedom Force and the commission.
After going against her orders and helping the Avengers,
Spider-Woman escaped the Commission and became a fugitive.
During this time she lost touch with her daughter
and desperately tried to figure out her place in the world of superheroes.
She soon encountered Iron Man and Spider-Man
who tried to help her through this difficult period.
She would eventually find her way to California
where she met the West Coast Avengers.
After helping them during a mission the team offered her full membership.
This provided her with the stability she needed to reconnect with her daughter.
Spider-Woman would stay with the Avengers until they disbanded.
Julia would reappear during the Civil War event where she opposed the federal superhero registration act.
Now using the codename Arachne
she came into conflict with the patriotic superhero Ms. Marvel.
She later joined forces with Spider-Man to help him during the Grim Hunt event
where the family of Kraven the Hunter was hunting down spider powered superheroes.
This collaboration ended with Julia gaining the precognitive abilities of the mysterious Madam Web.
In other media this Spider-Woman appeared on the 1990's Iron Man animated series
as a member of Iron Man's support team.
She has also appeared as a playable character in various Marvel Universe video games.
Martha "Mattie" Franklin was a teenage Spider-Man fan-girl,
who also happened to be the niece of famed newspaper editor J. Jonah Jamison.
After obtaining a mystical artifact, she participated in a strange ritual with businessman Norman Osborne.
This ritual was, the gathering of five.
Here five people each possessing one of the five mystical artifacts
would converge and take the random chance of being endowed with one of three blessings.
Supreme knowledge, Eternal youth, or Incredible Power.
The remaining two people in the gathering would be cursed with insanity or death.
Osbourne had hoped to receive power, but was cursed with insanity.
Instead Mattie received the blessing of power.
At this time Peter Parker considered giving up on the life of being the heroic Spider-Man
so that he could focus on his marriage.
Noticing Spider-Man's lack of activity in New York City,
Mattie saw this as her chance to be a hero.
Outfitting herself with body padding to hide her feminine figure
as well as a Spider-Man costume of her own,
she took to the streets of New York as the arachnid crime fighter.
Peter Parker soon became aware of this new Spider-Man
and was glad to see someone else took over his old job.
His approval soon changed when he realized the amount of danger the new hero was in,
and even had to come to the rescue of the novice.
He soon realized the truth about the new hero's identity
and tried to discourage her from continuing to operate in his place.
She agreed to stop being Spider-Man
but would soon return,
as the new Spider-Woman.
Continuing to fight crime she was quick to call attention to herself
and welcomed interactions with the media.
She would once again gain the attention of the original Spider-Man,
who had returned to his work as a crime fighter.
Seeing that this new Spider-Woman was the same girl who attempted to previously take his place,
he tried to convince her to be more careful with her public image.
As this escalated into an argument
the two heroes suddenly found themselves under attack.
A strange woman also calling herself Spider-Woman
proclaimed that she was determined to be the only Spider-Woman alive and intended to kill Mattie.
Spider-Man escaped with Mattie,
but this villainous Spider-Woman hunted them down and attacked.
Spider-Man was able to fight her off leading her to escape.
As it turned out this Spider-Woman villain was Charlotte Witter,
a woman who had previously crossed paths with the notorious Spider-Man foe, Dr. Octopus.
The Doctor kidnapped her and performed extensive genetic experiments on her intended to grant her spider powers.
Octopus sent her on a mission to attack the two previous Spider-Women and steal their powers.
As Mattie started calling herself Spider-Woman she caught Witter's attention and was the next victim.
This was all intended to catch Spider-Man off guard so Octopus could easily have Witter kill the hero once and for all.
With help from Spider-Man, Mattie formulated a plan to break Witter free from the control of Octopus and foil his plot.
This led to a confrontation where Mattie absorbed all of Witter's powers.
With Witter now de-powered Mattie would go on to become the new heroic Spider-Woman.
At the Gathering of Five, Mattie gained the powers of enhanced agility, super strength,
and the power to fly.
After absorbing the powers of Charlotte Witter
she gained the combined powers and abilities of the previous Spider-Women.
Her most notable power was the four super strong spider legs that sprouted from her back.
During her adventures as Spider-Woman she went through many costume changes
and fought a variety of foes.
Her adventures came to a tragic end
when she was kidnapped by the family of the villain Kraven the Hunter
during the Grim Hunt event.
Here she died as a human sacrifice in a mystical ritual.
Anya Corazon was a teenager living in Brooklyn with her father, a New York city investigative reporter.
A Latina of Mexican and Puerto-Rican descent,
Anya is a precocious and spirited girl who is loyal and quick to defend those she cares about.
On her first day of High School
she was challenged to an after school fight with a local bully.
Never one to back down, she was ready to meet the hot head that night for the confrontation.
On her way to the meeting spot
Anya came across a man dressed in all black fending off a group of assailants.
Anya was accidentally pulled into the fight.
As she attempted to defend herself
one of the assailants attacked her with a knife, fatally wounding her.
The man dressed in black saved Anya's life,
casting a magic spell that would leave her with a spider shaped mark on her right arm.
The next day she awoke in her home and found the wound she suffered was fully healed.
Anya, still confused about what she remembered about the night before,
attempted to go through another normal school day.
After school Anya was confronted by the man in black.
His name was Miguel Legaar and he was a sorcerer mage.
He explained that he was a member of an old mystical group called The Spider Society.
The night of the fight Miguel was using his sorcery to find a new hunter spider.
His magic led him to Anya
but he was confronted by a rival group who attempted to prevent him from making contact.
Despite their meddling Miguel was still able to start the initiation process with Anya when he saved her life.
The rival group was the Sisterhood of the Wasp, the spider society's ancient enemies.
The two clans had been locked in battle for hundreds of years.
Now that Anya was a part of the society
she had to work with Miguel as his partner to continue the fight against the Sisterhood of the Wasp.
Next Anya received special training in order to understand the new powers that would soon develop in her.
During this time Anya was visited by the spirit of her dead mother
who helped her gain a better understanding of her powers.
Her mother's spirit was also able to activate Anya's powerful blue exoskeleton bio-armor.
After experiencing this epiphany she realized the heroic code name she would now use for herself,
Araña.
Araña's powers included her super strong exoskeleton, superhuman strength, speed, reflexes and endurance.
She also carried a pair of spider themed bolas of her own making that acted as grappling hooks.
Araña would later have her exoskeleton painfully ripped away during a battle with the villain doomsday man.
Years later after helping Spider-Man and his allies in a battle
Araña would receive the old costume of the newly retired superhero Julia Carpenter.
With this new costume she went on to reluctantly take on the new codename Spider-Girl.
In other media she appeared in the 2017 Spider-Man animated series as Spider-Girl.
She has also appeared as a playable character in various Marvel Universe video games.
While Peter Parker gained his amazing spider powers from the bite of a radio active spider,
it turns out there was a second person to be bitten by that same spider.
A young girl named Cindy Moon was also granted spider powers from the bite of the same spider.
Though unlike Peter Parker she found herself in a unique circumstance.
Cindy's powers developed very quickly and she is unable to control them.
Her parents were uncertain as to how to accommodate their daughter.
Soon the Moon family was visited by a man known as Ezekiel Sims.
Ezekiel subscribed to a theory that all people with spider powers were mystically linked.
He offered to help Cindy become better adjusted to using her powers with special training.
After training Cindy for a few years Ezekiel becomes aware of the villain Morlun,
he was determined to hunt down and kill all spider powered heroes.
Because of this Ezekiel locked Cindy away in a special secure underground bunker for many years to protect her.
Years later, during a battle Spider-Man was exposed to an energy that caused him to have a flash back
to the day he was bitten by the radio-active spider.
Now he could see that spider bit someone else.
Now determined to find out who that other person was Spider-Man ventured out to find her.
Guided by intuition he found the facility where Cindy was being held and freed her.
After a quick introduction Spider-Man could see she had some abilities he lacked.
While she did possess spider strength and agility,
she was also faster than him, and her spider sense was stronger.
She also had the ability to weave strong silken webbing from her hands.
Already determined to be a superhero like Spider-Man, she chose the name Silk for herself.
Happy to be free from the bunker, Cindy was eager to reunite with her family,
but she was quickly dismayed as she did not know how to find them.
While discussing her circumstances Silk and Spider-Man felt a primal attraction
and embraced in a passionate kiss.
Not wanting to explore physical intimacy on a rooftop with the woman he just met
Spider-Man struggled to pry himself away from Silk.
Being effected by the same radioactive spider, the two share a deep connection,
which is a persistent problem for them every time they are close to each other.
While trying to work out the details of their relationship, and attraction,
Silk became a close ally to Spider-Man.
At the same time Spider-Man was a source of support for Silk
as she transitioned to life in the modern world, while becoming a superhero.
Operating in New York City as a local crime fighter
she also works as an intern for J. Jonah Jamison at his tv news network, Fact Channel.
While adjusting to her new life she continued the search for her family.
Gwen Stacy is well remembered as one of Peter Parker's girlfriends,
who tragically died when the Green Goblin used her as a hostage during a battle with Spider-Man.
In another time line though Gwen Stacy's life was totally different.
Here Gwen was the one who was bitten by a radioactive spider
and developed amazing spider powers becoming the superhero Spider-Woman.
This version of Gwen Stacy is a passionate music lover, and a drummer in a local band.
Her work as a hero extended beyond the costume when she would fight school yard bullies
who harassed her friend Peter Parker.
Restless with the bullies Peter resorted to a powerful genetic serum he developed
that transformed him into a powerful lizard monster.
Once transformed he lost control of himself and went on a rampage.
Spider-Woman was forced to step in and defeat the lizard monster.
When the fight ended the lizard reverted back into Peter.
Weak from the fight, he admitted to Spider-Woman he only wanted to be special like her.
With that, he died.
Spider-Woman was blamed for the death of Peter and the media branded her a criminal.
While still operating as a crime fighter she was also a fugitive.
Her situation was even more complex as her father, George Stacy,
was the captain of the local police precinct,
and he was spearheading a public campaign to bring Spider-Woman to Justice.
Things came to a serious head for Spider-Woman after a battle where she defeated a local thug.
She was confronted by none other than her father, Captain Stacy.
As he was so determined to arrest her for the death of Peter Parker she knew she had few options.
She removed her mask exposing her face.
Her shocked father listened to her explain that she was not a criminal
and that she was driven to fight crime to make up for the death of Peter Parker.
Exhausted by this encounter, Captain Stacy allowed Gwen to escape.
Gwen Stacy would continue to operate as Spider-Woman, fighting crime in New York City.
In other media Spider-Gwen appears in several animated Spider-Man series.
She also appears in several Marvel Universe video games.
She is also featured in the 2018 animated feature Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
In the pages of Ultimate Spider-Man,
teenage Peter Parker became the subject of an extensive government program
focused on the altered genes that were the source of Peter's amazing spider powers.
In one of his many adventures as Spider-Man he battled a costumed villain known as the Scorpion.
Strangely enough this villain appeared to have powers and abilities similar to Spider-Man's.
During their battle Spider-Man managed to damage the Scorpion's helmet exposing his face.
He looked exactly like Peter Parker.
Frightened by what this might mean, Spider-Man reached out to his allies, the Fantastic Four.
He asked them to use their technology resources to examine the Scorpion and determine his identity.
The Scorpion was a genetic match for Peter Parker.
Horrified by how this could change his life Spider-Man asked the Fantastic Four to keep their findings a secret.
Later Peter discovered that his close friend Mary-Jane Watson had gone missing.
A panicked Peter went out to search for her.
Visiting one of their secret meeting spots in an abandoned warehouse
where he hoped to find his friend,
he was confronted by a mysterious woman dressed in a black spider themed costume.
A frustrated Peter lashed out at the woman leading to a fight between the two.
The woman managed to knock Peter unconscious and escaped.
After Peter eventually came too he went home,
but found a military force waiting for him.
A government agency suspected that Peter was involved in some terrorist activity.
Though he initially attempted to escape he did not want this ordeal to escalate further.
Peter surrendered.
Before the authorities could take him in,
the mysterious woman reappeared and freed Peter and escaped with him.
Once safely away Peter asked the woman who she was.
She answered with uncertainty,
Spider-Woman?
Then she removed her mask to reveal her face.
She looked almost exactly like Peter.
She explained that she was actually a clone of Peter Parker in female form.
When she first came to life she was told by the scientists who created her
that she was manufactured from the DNA of Peter Parker
and was meant to work as one of many government operatives.
The government became aware that Peter was Spider-Man and managed to obtain his blood sample
and intended to make a clone army of spider powered super soldiers.
This Spider-Woman was also given the alias Jessica Drew.
What's more there was an incident at the facility where Peter's clones were being contained
and they all escaped.
This led to Peter's confrontation with the Scorpion.
Spider-Woman possessed all the same powers as Spider-Man,
but also had the ability to create strong webbing from her fingertips.
Peter was horrified to discover that his DNA was being used by the government.
Though now Peter was still concerned about his friend Mary Jane.
Spider-Woman helped Peter track her down to an abandoned factory building.
Within they discovered two of Peter's other clones.
One of the clones had kidnapped Mary Jane and performed genetic experiments on the girl
transforming her into a red hulking beast.
Working together Peter and Spider-Woman
were able to overpower Mary Jane causing her to revert to her normal body.
Suddenly Peter and Spider-Woman realized that they had been stalked to the building by Otto Octavius,
better known as the super-villain Dr. Octopus.
As it turned out Dr. Octopus created the technology that facilitated the creation of all of Peter Parker's clones.
Previously, when Spider-Man did battle with Dr. Octopus
the hero was able to beat him and the villain was taken into custody.
Instead of being thrown in prison Dr. Octopus made a deal with the government
to help develop the technology that led to the clones.
Furious that his life was being used like a science experiment,
Peter and his remaining clones attacked the Doctor.
Peter and his clones were surprised by the sudden defense of Dr. Octopus and his powerful metal arms.
Two of the clones were killed in the battle leaving only Peter and Spider-Woman to battle the villain.
Working together they were able to overpower Dr. Octopus ending his attack.
Peter was ready to turn in the defeated villain
but Spider-Woman was not ready to face the authorities and fled the scene.
Spider-Woman would appear again in Spider-Man's life to help him in some of his crime fighting adventures.
In other media this Spider-Woman has appeared in several Marvel Spider-Man video games.
In a not too distant future Spider-Man had a final battle with his arch foe, the Green Goblin.
In the battle Spider-Man was able to kill the villain once and for all,
but the fight cost Spider-Man one of his legs.
The battle behind him Peter Parker chose to finally retire from being Spider-Man for good
and settled into a quiet life with his wife Mary Jane.
They welcomed the birth of their daughter, May Parker,
and in her teenage years she would be known to friends as Mayday.
The teen was a naturally gifted athlete and was the star of her high school basketball team.
What she did not realize was her abnormally high agility
was due to inheriting all of her father's spider powers.
Totally unaware of her father's superhero past
none of this was an issue until one night when May and her friends were out together.
They were attacked by a new incarnation of the Green Goblin.
The Goblin told May to deliver a message to her father,
to meet him tomorrow at midnight for a final battle.
As it turned out this Green Goblin was Normie Osborne.
The grandson of the long dead elder Norman Osbourne, the original Green Goblin.
May would tell her parents what happened.
Peter was horrified by the return of his old foe.
Desperate to protect his family and find a way to prevent further violence,
Peter resigned himself to meet the new Goblin, and hoped to talk him out of the battle.
Meanwhile, the young May was frustrated by the circumstances
as she did not understand why the Goblin came after her, or why he wanted to fight her father.
Her mother, Mary Jane, decided to tell her daughter the truth,
that her father was the original Spider-Man.
Learning the full story
including Osbourne's bitter obsession with destroying Spider-Man, as the Green Goblin,
May decided to save her father from the confrontation with the new Green Goblin.
When Mary Jane left to try to support her husband
she did not realize that her daughter followed her.
As the confrontation with the Green Goblin got intense
May leaped into action as Spider-Girl.
Now wearing one of her father's old costumes and armed with his web shooters
Spider-Girl confronted Green Goblin.
Peter watched the battle terrified, but was overcome with pride
to see his daughter outsmart the Green Goblin.
After defeating the villain the Parker's turned him over to local authorities.
That same evening the family disposed of the spider costume
hoping May would never become a superhero.
Despite this, May could not help herself and continued to operate as the Stunning Spider-Girl.
Though she attempted to keep her activity a secret, the media soon caught on to her activity.
She even managed to gain the approval of her parents.
She embarked on many crime fighting adventures allying herself with the Avengers,
the new Fantastic Five,
and even started her own team, the New Warriors.
In other media Spider-Girl has appeared in several Marvel Universe video games.
So what do you think?
Do you agree with our list?
Who is your favorite Woman of the Spider-Verse?
Is there anyone we missed?
Should any of them make an appearance in any upcoming movies or tv shows?
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below.
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