Julia Carpenter in the MC2

 

With Sony Pictures Madame Web movie right around the corner, now is a good time to take a look at one of the film’s main cast of characters as she appears in our favourite comic imprint. Today, we will cover Spider-Woman aka Julia Carpenter in the MC2.

 

First appearing in 1984's Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #6 in shadow and making her first full debut in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #7, Julia Carpenter was introduced as the second Spider-Woman, and the inspiration for Spider-Man’s own black-suit design, though her origin would remain a mystery for quite some time. 

 

Born Julia Cornwall in Los Angeles, California to Elizabeth and Walter Cornwall , Julia befriended fellow college student (and later federal agent) Valerie Cooper before she met, fell in love with married Larry Carpenter. Julia dropped out of college, working to support Larry as he studied for a career in public relations (Avengers West Coast #84). 

 

After graduating college, Larry Carpenter (who first appeared in Iron Man #214) often focused his time and attention on his work and extra-marital affairs, rather than Julia despite the two having a young daughter- Rachel Carpenter-together. Rachel Carpenter (who also made her debut in Iron Man #214) was five years old when Julia divorced Larry and the courts granted custody of Rachel to Julia. Now a single mother struggling to make ends meet, Julia moved Julia to Denver, Colorado. 

 

Unbeknownst to Julia, a seemingly chance meeting with Val Cooper would lead to Julia gaining her spider-powers. Val hired Julia as a test subject for a secret government project, telling Julia it was for exercise research when the experiments were to create government-controlled super humans for the Commission of Superhuman Activities (CSA). After being subjected to weeks of intense athletic training, Julia was secretly injected with a large dose of a special spider-serum. While Dr Napier claimed this was an accident, the researchers had been dosing Julia with higher and higher amounts over time. The 'accident' yielded the desired results and Julia quickly discovered she had developed her own unique set of spider-powers including the ability to generate psionic 'webbing' (Avengers West Coast #84).

 

Despite appearances, Val Cooper had not encountered Julia by mere luck. Julia would learn much later that the story she had believed was fabricated. The CSA's ambition to have government super-agents had led to them hiring lead scientist Dr Carter Napier. Napier and his team of scientists had sought out rare plants and spider venoms only found deep in the Peruvian Amazon. The expedition had been led by jungle guides Elizabeth and Walter Cornwall, Julia's own long-absent parents. It was through this connection that Val Cooper learned of Julia's financial struggles and combined with her prior knowledge of Julia's athletic prowess, found the perfect candidate for the experiments (Spider-Woman Vol.2 #2).

 

After the events of Secret Wars, Julia spent time working for the CSA, being assigned to work alongside Freedom Force in battling the X-Men and later capturing the Avengers. Feeling it was not right, Julia freed the Avengers and was declared a fugitive by (Uncanny X-Men #206, X-Factor #8-9, Avengers Annual #15). With Julia absent for long periods of time, Larry successfully sued for custody of Rachel. Aided by Iron Man, Julia turned herself in to the CSA, working as an undercover agent under the orders of Mike Clemson, a man who was openly hostile toward her. Meanwhile, the general public continued to believe she was a wanted criminal (Iron Man #214).

 

Julia encountered the Avengers in California after moving there to be close to her daughter again. After aiding the team in their battle with the Pacific Overlords, Julia joined the West Coast Avengers team, finally allowing Julia to officially clear her name and quit the CSA. Around this time, Julia revealed her superhero identity to Rachel. Julia would serve with the Avengers West Coast branch until the team was disbanded. (Avengers West Coast #70-102). 

  

When the West Coast branch of the Avengers disbanded, Julia joined the newly formed Force Works alongside with several other former-West Coast team members. Rachel moved into the teams headquarters- The Works- alongside her mother. However, in the wake of the events of The Crossing, the Force Works team disbanded (Force Works #1-22). After this, Julia next appears in a back up story in Sensational Spider-Man Annual '96, which takes place after the events of Onslaught. In this adventure, Julia is operating solo in Los Angeles when she encounters the animated Spider-Woman costume of Jessica Drew. It leads her into an encounter with Shadowoman and Lindsey McCabe where they save Jessica Drew from the other dimensional Void-Eater. The story concludes by implying Jessica may want her old super hero moniker back, and an editorial box tells readers to look for a follow up story in the pages of Spider-Man Team-Up. Sadly, this would never come to pass as this story was writer Mark Gruenwald's final published work before his death. 

 

Following this, Julia Carpenter next shows up post-Heroes Return for cameo appearances in Avengers Vol. 3 #1-4 and Captain America Vol. 3 #3. As I've mentioned in prior posts, it's unclear what parts of this era occurred or did not occur in the history of the MC2. Around this time in the Spider-Man books, Doctor Octopus' Spider-Woman (Charlotte Witter) was taking the powers of the various other Spider-Women. However, things appear to have played out differently in the MC2, as this is where events had already begun to diverge.

 

Julia Carpenter makes her MC2 debut in Spider-Girl #37 where she seeks out Peter Parker for assistance finding the original Spider-Man's family so she can bring in Jessica Drew's son, Gerry Drew aka the new Spider-Man before Gerry comes to harm as a result of his rare blood disease.

 

In Spider-Girl #39, Julia mentions that Jessica, herself, Mattie Franklin, and Cassandra Webb aka Madame Web had all previously used Peter to get messages to Spider-Man. Julia also appears to have detailed knowledge of Jessica and Gerry's history, implying the two Spider-Women have maintained contact until recently.

 

 As with the previous issue, the connection between the three Spider-Women is reinforced with a flashback in Spider-Girl #40 showing Julia in her Spider-Woman costume meeting up with a costumed Mattie Franklin and a plain clothed Jessica Drew. It’s notable that Jessica is in plain clothes and apparently depowered while Julia seems to retain her abilities, judging by her costumed appearance.

 

Julia and Peter track down Jessica at her home and confront her, with Jessica telling the two that Gerry won't stop his reckless behaviour as superhero without a good reason. Peter approaches Gerry in costume as Spider-Man and convinces him to retire until he can get treatment from Reed Richards. Julia notes that despite being believed dead, the original Spider-Man returned when needed (Spider-Girl #42-43). 

 

Julia’s appearances in the MC2 raise a lot of unanswered questions, such as whether she retained her spider-powers (it seems likely, though it’s never stated) and we get no mention of her own daughter Rachel who would surely be an adult by this point. Maybe someday we’ll learn more.

 

Until I discover Dr Napier was in the Amazon with my parents researching rare plants and spiders, right before they… didn’t die, I remain

 

frogoat

 

 

Christmas in Latveria

 

‘Tis the season! Once again, we near the end of the year, the time of decking halls, panic buying gifts and general chaos. To mark the festive season I wanted to take a look at the time the MC2’s Avengers went to Latveria for Christmas and found…Doom!

 

Our story opens with a prologue set in the ruins of Doomstadt, the former capital of the Balkan nation of Latveria. Two S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents discuss the destruction wrought by the long-ago war between Namor the Sub-Mariner and Doctor Doom as they search for a lost little girl. The pair are forced to cut their search short when they are attacked by Killer Robot’s. As they flee, they catch a glimpse of a distant figure on a rampart. Has Doctor Doom returned? (A-Next #5)

 

A few days later at the Avengers Headquarters in New York, J2 aka Zane Yama finds Thunderstrike aka Kevin Masterson reviewing old files about his father Eric Masterson, the original Thunderstrike. Meanwhile, a frustrated Stinger (Cassie Lang) brushes off American Dream (Shannon Carter) before confronting Mainframe about the unconfirmed reports of the return of Doctor Doom. While the Fantastic Five have been tasked with investigating, Cassie and her father Scott Lang (the former Ant-Man) convince them to let a team of Avengers go instead. However, Cassie is surprised to learn from Mainframe she’ll be accompanied by the new additions to the team American Dream and her fellow Dream Team members Bluestreak, Freebooter and Crimson Curse (A-Next #5).

 

Attempting to patch things up with her new team mates, Cassie tells them her real reason for wishing to travel to Latveria so much; Kristoff Vernard, a young boy and ward of Doctor Doom who she met and befriended when they all lived in the Baxter Building with the Fantastic Four. The pair grew close over the years until Kristoff returned to his home country Latveria when he heard a war was brewing between Doom and Namor. With Latveria devastated in the ensuing conflict, Doctor Doom was missing in action and believed dead, while Cassie lost all contact with Kristoff Vernard (A-Next #5).

 

As Thunderstrike, Kevin Masterson visits his father Eric’s grave, thinking about how he is trying to make him proud. A nearby awkward J2, unsure of what to do eventually puts his hand on Kevin’s shoulder to show his support before unintentionally reverting back into Zane Yama. Kevin invites Zane to join him for pizza (A-Next #5).

 

Arriving in the city of Doomstadt, the Avengers team plan to search Castle Doom for the missing girl, but are attacked by the Killer Robots. The Avengers make short work of them, especially once Crimson Curse demonstrates her abilities. Uncovering underground tunnels, Stinger ditches the others, shrinking to make her way through a blocked passage (A-Next #5).

 

Back in New York, Zane is impressed by Kevin’s apartment, including his Stunt Master poster. While Kevin feeds his cat Alex, Zane noticed a bunch of unopened letters from Kevin’s stepfather, Bobby Steele. Kevin reveals the two aren’t on the best of terms and that his mother would often have to play peacemaker between them. Zane responds that he dreams about having a father in his life and that Kevin is lucky to have had two and encourages him to call Bobby for Christmas (A-Next #5).

 

Hearing a child’s voice, Stinger eventually finds the missing girl Greta is not alone and appears to be talking with Doctor Doom. Listening to the pair talk, Stinger hears the girl ask Doom about his scary mask but before she can get a look beneath, the rest of the Avengers bust into the room. Stinger flies between them, demanding they stop their attack. With American Dream trusting her, Stinger explains the masked figure isn’t the real Doctor Doom. Cassie removes her helmet as Doom removes his mask to reveal himself as Kristoff Vernard and the pair embrace (A-Next #5).

 

Kristoff reveals that he returned home to ensure that Doctor Doom’s vast arsenal of advanced weapons of mass destruction never fell into the wrong hands. As Doctor Doom’s heir, Kristoff alone was given full access to all of Doom’s creations and ideas and therefore he concealed his own existence to ensure they could not be exploited. Kristoff Vernard bids Cassie a sad farewell and disappears (A-Next #5).

 

Returning to the outer perimeter with young Greta, the Avengers tell S.H.I.E.L.D. they saw no one else within the area just as Castle Doom is destroyed in an enormous flash of green light. As snow begins to fall, Greta tells the disbelieving S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that Father Christmas destroyed the castle as a gift to the world. With the Avengers coming together as a team, American Dream backs up the girl’s story as Stinger wishes her a Merry Christmas (A-Next #5).

 

I hope everyone has a wonderful time over the holidays and lets hope the New Year brings us all something positive.

 

Until I stop believing, I remain

 

frogoat