It's been a while since I've done an MC2 Family Tree entry, hasn't it? Today, I'll be covering The Carpenter Family Tree. No, not the musical duo! This post, we'll be taking a look at Marvel's second Spider-Woman, Julia Carpenter.
First appearing in 1984's Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #6 in shadow and making her first full debut in the following issue, Julia Carpenter was introduced as the second Spider-Woman. 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 in reality 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, in actuality 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. In reality, 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).
Larry Carpenter continued to share custody of Rachel with Julia during her tenure with the Avengers. Learning of Julia's super hero identity as Spider-Woman when Rachel was kidnapped by The Manipulator and his arachnid-powered team Deathweb, Larry died of a heart attack while saving Rachel from the villain. During this plot, Mike Clemson was exposed as a double agent working for a shadowy government group called the Conclave (Avengers West Coast #84-86).
Not long after, Elizabeth and Walter Cornwall make their first appearance returning to the United States to visit their daughter and granddaughter. It's here that we first learn that Walter and Elizabeth run the 'Junglerama Lodge' in the Amazon (Spider-Woman Vol. 2 #1). When Dr Napier is found dead after attempting to reach Julia's parents, Elizabeth and Walter's unwitting connection to the CSA is revealed. Julia learns the true details of her origin and saves her parents and daughter from The Manipulator and Deathweb with some assistance from Mike Clemson. It's also revealed that decades ago, Mike pursued a relationship with Julia's mother, when she was still known by her maiden name of Elizabeth Wesselman. Elizabeth ultimately married Walter, causing Mike to resent the entire Carpenter family (Spider-Woman Vol. 2 #2-4).
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...
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 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.
In a flashback seen in Spider-Girl #40, Julia is seen in her Spider-Woman costume meeting with a costumed Mattie Franklin and a plain clothed Jessica Drew. 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 super hero 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).
Unfortunately that's all we see of Julia in the MC2 and we don't get a mention of her daughter Rachel at all. The various Spider-Women in the MC2 are a topic that warrants further exploration. Hopefully this look at the Carpenter Family Tree has been informative.
Until I figure out how to synthesize spider-powers from Peruvian spider venom, I remain
frogoat
