SpiderWomenII

Real Name: Julia Carpenter

Powers: Julia has the porportionate strength, speed, and agility of a spider. She can cling to walls. Her most unique ability is her talent to create psiwebs, which are made of mental energy and can trap bad guys, make lines for her to swing on, or anything else she wants. The webs require intense concintration.

History: Julia Carpenter was a woman working for the US government agency known as the Commission, not suspecting that her unscrupulous supervisor Mike Clemson also worked for a secret subversive group known as the Conclave. In this capacity, she agreed to be experimented on in the hopes of gaining superhuman powers. Carpenter developed the costumed identity of Spider-Woman, performing crime-fighting activities on behalf of the Commission without the knowledge of her husband and daughter. Eventually, her private life began to suffer, and her husband filed for divorce, leaving Julia with limited custody of their daughter, Rachel.

Julia Carpenter was present in a suburb of Denver, Colorado, when it was transported to a distant location in outer space by the alien Beyonder to become part of the "Battleworld" he created as the setting for the so-called "Secret Wars." Seeing evidence of the fighting taking place on Battleworld among the superhuman beings whom the Beyonder had brought to the planet, the costumed Spider-Woman sought out the team of superhuman champions from Earth and offered her assistance, which they accepted. She served as an effective member of their team, and, at the conclusion of the "Secret Wars," was, like most of her teammates, teleported back to Earth.

Carpenter then became a member of Freedom Force, the United States federal government's team of superhuman agents, most of whom had formerly been wanted criminals belonging to the second Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. National Security Advisor Dr. Valerie Cooper insisted that Freedom Force accept Spider-Woman as a member, despite the reluctance of the Force's leader, Mystique. But while serving in Freedom Force, Spider-Woman observed and disapproved of the cruelty of her new teammates.

When the ex-Avenger Quicksilver framed his former team as criminals, Freedom Force was assigned to arrest those Avengers. Spider-Woman, who greatly admired the Avengers, was severely troubled at the treatment they received from Freedom Force, Cooper, and National Security Agent, Henry Peter Gyrich. Gyrich had the Avengers incarcerated in a special prison for superhuman beings called the Vault. Spider-Woman destroyed the controls for the team's cells, ultimately enabling the Avengers to escape. Spider-Woman fled, and the Avengers finally cleared their names of wrongdoing.

Relocating to Southern California, where it was easier to share custody of her daughter, Carpenter resumed crime-fighting activities on her own, and eventually encountered the villain team Pacific Overlords, and sought out the Avengers' West Coast branch for help. She joined forces with them to defeat the Overlords was invited to join their ranks as an active member. She accepted and served an uninterrupted term of membership.

During one adventure where the Avengers were asked to stand guard at a speech by right-wing presidential candidate Michael A. Galvan of the Liberty Party, circumstances forced Spider-Woman to bring her young daughter Rachel along. There, they also encountered Spider-Woman's ex-husband Larry Carpenter, who was handling publicity for the Galvan campaign. When Galvan was attacked by the criminal team Deathweb, the Avengers forced them to flee, although they took Spider-Woman's daughter along as a hostage.

Desperate to find her daughter, Spider-Woman reluctantly sought the aid of her former Commission supervisor Mike Clemson in finding Rachel, not knowing that the Conclave-- the subversive organization that secretly employs Clemson-was also employing Deathweb, under the supervision of a freelance criminal mastermind known as the Manipulator. Ultimately, Spider-Woman helped defeat the Deathweb, which exposed the Manipulator and the Conclave's machinations. In doing so, her public identity was made known to her daughter and ex-husband. Before he escaped, the Manipulater tried to kidnap Rachel to use her as a pawn against the Avengers should he encounter them again; when Larry Carpenter resisted, Manipulator killed him, and Spider-Woman arrived in time to save Rachel herself from the Manipulator, who fled.

Some time later, the Avengers attempted to disband their West Coast franchise against the wishes of its few remaining active members. These members, including Spider-Woman, resigned in protest and formed their own team of adventurers, Force Works. Spider-Woman continued with Force Works throughout its tenure, and later began to form a romantic relationship with the Works' associate, Moonraker. Force Works disbanded, however, shortly after the team was attacked along with the Avengers by the time-travelling villain Kang and former-Avenger Mantis (in actuality, the time-traveler Immortus and his Space Phantom in disguise) and Moonraker was killed.

Julia Carpenter returned to the West Coast to raise her daughter, resuming her crime-fighting career only briefly to help the Avengers re-assemble after a long hiatus. Shortly thereafter, she was attacked by a costumed villain calling herself Spider-Woman, stealing Carpenter's powers for herself. Carpenter joined with the original Spider-Woman, Jessica Drew, a recently-rejuvenated Madame Web, and a new hero calling herself Spider-Woman to track down this villain, who had been stealing powers from these women. Ultimately, the newest Spider-Woman stole the powers from the villain, leaving Julia Carpenter without her powers, and she returned to the West Coast.