Today’s post is all about Mattie Franklin aka Spider-Woman, the mysteries surrounding her place in the MC2 and maybe a few surprises along the way. Mattie presents us with a somewhat rare case of a character who was created after the clearest divergence point between the Main Marvel Universe and the Universe of the MC2, but still exists in some form within the MC2.
Martha ‘Mattie’ Franklin was the third character in the Main Marvel Universe to be granted the super heroic moniker of Spider-Woman. Her debut and solo title ran concurrently with May ‘Mayday’ Parker’s own Spider-Girl title. Mattie was given a pretty obvious push from editorial, appearing frequently in the early days of the Howard Mackie and John Byrne-led Spider-Man reboot era of the late 90’s leading into her aforementioned comic series.
With her series ending after just 18 issues, Mattie languished in obscurity, only appearing in two stories before meeting her end in the the post-One More Day story ‘Grim Hunt’. The first appearance, a storyline in the ‘mature’ series Alias by Brian Michael Bendis where Mattie mostly appears in a drugged state as the victim of several indignities. The second story, the Loners mini-series written by C.B. Cebulski, depicted Mattie as a member of a support group for recovering former superheroes. Between both stories, details such as a familial relationship to the Jameson’s are erroneously depicted, because clearly no one was paying enough attention. Mattie would reach her unceremonious and meanspirited demise in the post-One More Day story ‘Grim Hunt.’
Let’s start by taking a look at her first appearances in the Main Marvel Universe. Mattie cameoed in the shadows in Spectacular Spider-Man #262 where she overhears her father being coerced into participating in the Gathering of Five ritual by Norman Osborn. Taking part in this ritual herself in Amazing Spider-Man #441 alongside Madame Web, Morris Maxwell, Gregory Herd and Norman Osborn, Mattie would (unbeknownst to everyone at the time) gain the gift of great power. Later, Mattie would use these powers to take on the mantle of Spider-Man during the original hero’s absence. Shortly after, Mattie would gain the spider-powers of the previous Spider-Women and a new, evil Spider-Woman (Charlotte Witter).
The most obvious issue with Mattie Franklin’s existence in the MC2 is the Gathering of Five and Final Chapter storylines, which saw Norman Osborn use the aforementioned ritual in an attempt to gain further power through mystical means, along with the ridiculous resurrection of Aunt May, despite following several hints that Peter and Mary Jane’s baby May was still alive. You see, in the MC2, these events not only don’t play out in this way, they also occur much later in the timeline.
The first appearance of Mattie Franklin in the MC2 is during a flashback in Spider-Girl #39 when Julia Carpenter (the second Spider-Woman) is discussing how ‘all the Spider-Women’ used to use Peter Parker to relay messages to Spider-Man. We get a glimpse of Mattie in her original Spider-Woman costume, alongside a youthful looking Madame Web.
We next glimpse Mattie Franklin’s Spider-Woman in another flashback, this time courtesy of Gerry Drew, the son of Jessica Drew, the original Spider-Woman. Here we see Mattie is still wearing her original costume and appears to be meeting with her two predecessors. Notably Jessica is in plain clothes and apparently depowered while Julia seems to retain her abilities, appearing in Spider-Woman costume (Spider-Girl #40).
Mattie Franklin makes her final MC2 appearance to date during a flashback in Spider-Girl #49, which coincidentally is also chronologically her earliest appearance. Taking place during the MC2 version of the Gathering of Five, the flashback depicts Mattie as a participant of the ceremony just as her Main Marvel Universe counterpart had done before her. And I mean ‘before’ in more than just publication order, because the MC2’s Gathering of Five ceremony takes place sometime later than the one seen in the Main Marvel Universe. This is Spider-Man’s last battle with Norman Osborn, with Peter losing his leg and the Goblin ultimately losing his life. As the ritual was interrupted before completion and we see Mattie fleeing with the Five pieces, we can assume she later successfully completed the ritual and thus gained the ‘gift’ of power.
It’s unknown who else participated in this new Gathering of Five ceremony, but as we see a youthful Madame Web in Spider-Girl #39 alongside Mattie, it’s logical to conclude that she was one of the five and gained the ‘gift’ of immortality just like her Main Marvel Universe counterpart. Even if all the remaining original participants had taken part in ritual again, that leaves the vacant spot once held by Norman Osborn that an unknown person must have filled.
So, let’s revisit the timeline of events with a bit more overall context from other events in the MC2, shall we? It goes a little something like this:
- Norman Osborn, for unknown reasons does not enact the Gathering of Five ritual until much later in the MC2, likely as a result of setting up other schemes and masterplans in the meantime.
- Eventually, Kaine rescues and returns Peter and Mary Jane Parker’s baby May to them.
- Spider-Man has several adventures while raising May including those seen in the Mr and Mrs Spider-Man stories.
- Mattie Franklin steals her father’s piece and joins willingly in the Gathering of Five ritual alongside Norman Osborn, Greg Herd, Madame Web (Cassandra Webb) and Morris Maxwell. The ritual is interrupted Spider-Man before it’s completion.
- Mattie flees, taking the pieces for the ritual with her. Spider-Man loses his leg and Norman Osborn dies in their final battle.
- At some point afterwards, Mattie, Madame Web and others successfully complete the ritual. This ritual gifts Mattie with power and restores Madame Web’s youth.
- Mattie uses her powers to become a superhero, taking on the mantle of Spider-Woman.
- Jessica Drew, having apparently never regained her spider-powers, encounters Julia Carpenter and Mattie Franklin under unrevealed circumstances.
- At some point, Mattie made contact with Peter Parker, in an apparent attempt to get messages to Spider-Man.
- According to Anya Corazon, Madame Web died at some point, despite her apparent immortality (Amazing Spider-Girl #14).
Though Anya isn’t the best source of reliable information, I think it’s safe to assume that Madame Web did in fact pass away. Given that the various ‘gifts’ from the Gathering of Five began to fade over time in the Main Marvel Universe, it’s likely Madame Web succumbed to her disease or of old age in the MC2. I mention this because it might help to explain Mattie Franklin’s absence in the present day MC2 if her powers simply faded away and forced her to retire.
Going by the established timeline of events, Anya Corazon aka Araña was active as a superheroine before Mattie Franklin gained powers in the MC2, having encountered a still-active Spider-Man during a flashback seen in the Spider-Man Family One-Shot.
There are a few more points to briefly discuss, such as Charlotte Witter aka the villainous fourth Spider-Woman who drained the powers of her heroic predecessors. Created by Doctor Octavius aka Doctor Octopus, this Spider-Woman not only didn’t debut in the Main Marvel Universe until after the aforementioned point where the MC2 takes a drastically different path, it’s possible Charlotte Witter was never kidnapped, tortured and experimented upon at all. Assuming this is to be true, Mattie would never have obtained the various spider-powers of her predecessors, nor the ability to manifest psychic spider legs from Witter. Well, at least Mattie had a spider-themed costume, right?!
While not appearing in the issue itself, we do see Mattie Franklin amongst an assortment of other superheroines on the cover to Spider-Girl #60, again sporting her original Spider-Woman costume. You might have to take a close look as she’s only partially visible at the very top of the image.
It’s also worth mentioning that the boutique Spider Shoppe -which produces clothing based on the designs of various Spider-Women- stocks a full-mask cosplay variation of Mattie Franklin’s last Spider-Woman costume, which we see Davida Kirby wear in Spider-Girl #91 as part of a diversion to defeat La Fantome. This could be an indication that Mattie did in fact wear this costume at some point in her super hero career in the MC2.
Unfortunately, I think that’s everything, all that we know about the short-run Mattie Franklin in the MC2. While she was never a particularly well written character, I do think Martha had a great deal of untapped potential that was undercut by her introduction in such a poorly-conceived and poorly-received era for the Spider-Man mythos. It’s ironic that Mattie would be written into the history of the MC2, given that the character was seen by fans at the time as a rival to May’s own title. In fact, Mattie’s creator John Byrne is quoted as remarking ‘The Spider-GIRL series is dead. SPIDER-WOMAN continues to do quite nicely, thank you.’ in an AOL chat room in December 1999, just a year before his book’s cancellation. Later when discussing another cancelled book, X-Men: The Hidden Years, Byrne claimed the book was selling ‘better than SPIDER-GIRL, for instance, which has been “saved” from cancellation.’
Despite this apparent animosity on Byrne’s part, Defalco’s inclusion of Mattie into the Spider-Girl series demonstrates a remarkable level of professionalism. This type of decorum from Defalco is also seen later with the integration of the aforementioned Anya Corazon aka Araña, another short-lived rival to Mayday’s title, into the history of the MC2.
Until I gamble everything on an occult ritual in an attempt to gain power, I remain
frogoat