SpiderWomenI

Real Name: Jessica Drew

Powers: Originally thought to be a spider evolved into human form by the High Evolutionary, Spiderwoman has the various arachnid attributes of another famous Spiderperson. In addition, Jessica can generate "venom blasts", apparently bioelectric bursts that can startle, stun, or kill her prey, but which sometimes leave her depleted of energy. The general feeling of "creepiness" she exudes is the result of pheromones, as is the occasional abrupt attraction some men feel for her. Repressing these pheromones using drug therapy also repressed her powers, so Jessica decided to live with her sometimes unpredictable body chemistry. She lost her venom blast as well as her toxin immunities and other side-effects of her unique blood chemistry in Avengers 240-241, but was still hanging off of walls and even airplanes in Wolverine's early solo stories despite Dr. Henry Pym's assurances that her adhesive qualities were forever lost.

History: Jessica Drew was the daughter of American arthropologist Jonathan Drew and his British wife Meriem. When Jessica was still under two years of age, her parents moved to the small Balkan nation of Transia. Her father and his colleague, geneticist Herbert Edgar Wyndham, had purchased a parcel of land on Wundagore Mountain within the Transian borders, and intended to build a small scientific research center there. After discovering uranium on the property, the two scientists became wealthy and poured their riches into the building of a citadel of science. Coinciding with the completion of the Wundagore citadel five years later, Jessica Drew became deathly ill due to her exposure to the radioactive uranium. To save her life, her father injected Jessica with an experimental serum composed of irradiated spider's blood, since his experiments showed that spiders possessed greater immunity to radiation than did human beings. Jessica did not immediately respond to the treatment, however, and Wyndham placed her in a genetic accelerator of his own design for further treatment. Meriem Drew, distraught that her daughter was now a "guinea pig" for her husband and friend, died several days later. Jonathan, in turn, became so despondent that he left Wundagore for his home in England. Jessica was raised at Wundagore and continually subjected to the genetic accelerator, effectively making her half-human, half-spider.

Jessica was led to believe that she was actually one of the genetically accelerated animals of the High Evolutionary, but as the other demi-humans shunned her, Jessica left to wander the world, but was captured by the terrorist group HYDRA, and she became an agent, given the title and costume of Arachne. When she was sent to kill Nick Fury, head of the espionage agency SHIELD, she rebelled and quit. However, she was captured and brainwashed by HYDRA again. When the hero, the Thing, and his girlfriend Alicia Masters were visiting Stonehenge, HYRDA ordered Jessica to kill him. The hero was actually attacked by a group of elementals created long ago by Merlin to capture Modred the Mystic, and Jessica, now as Spider-Woman, ended up aiding the Thing and Modred in defeating the elementals. Modred could sense that Jessica's memories had been tampered with and he told her she was indeed human, letting her remember her true origin.

She soon battled the villain Excaliber and afterwards encountered Magnus the Magician, who promised to help Jessica. She moved to Los Angeles with Magnus in order to continue her search for her father there. During the course of her investigation, she battled many supervillains and was chased by a SHIELD agent Jerry Hunt. Ultimately, she learned that her father died after being conscripted by a paramilitary terrorist organization using the front of a scientific corporation, Pyrotechnics. She and Hunt began a romantic relationship, and Magnus began to make a life for himself, eventually leaving the couple.

Jessica tried unsuccessfully to hold down a number of jobs until she stumbled across the villain Nekra and her Cult of Kali. She defeated the mutant and learned her body produced fear-inducing pheromones, which led people to subconsciously dismiss her. As Spider-Woman, Jessica continued a full-time crime-fighting career, much to the chagrin of Hunt, who eventually left her. Later, Jessica met her namesake, Spider-Man, and began a brief partnership with criminologist Scott McDowell.

Later still, Jessica moved to San Francisco where she fought the mutants Siryn, Black Tom Cassidy and the Juggernaut along side the hero team X-Men. She became a licensed private investigator and battled for the first time Magnus' archenemy, Morgan Le Fay. During this time, she met and became fast friends with Lindsey McCabe.