Spider-Girl



""Because you demanded it! The wildest (and cutest) web-slinger of all!""

- Cover blurb, Spider-Girl #1

What if Peter Parker and Mary Jane's baby had survived The Clone Saga? In an Alternate Timeline, the baby was rescued and returned to Mary Jane and Peter alive and well, shortly after Peter Parker retired as Spider-Man when he lost one of his legs in a fight which killed the Green Goblin. The baby grew up to become May Parker--Mayday to her friends (and to help us differentiate between her and her namesake Great Aunt). The character was introduced in What If vol. 2 #105 (February, 1998), created by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz. Her costume was created by Mark Bagley.

At fifteen, May is a popular, pretty, athletic girl. She's inherited many things from her parents, like her mother's social ease, her father's smarts....and, whoops, his Spider-powers. They manifest quite suddenly during a school basketball game, where - luckily - her parents are the only ones in the crowd who realise what's going on. She's at most about half as strong as her Dad, but much more agile, and her Spider Sense is apparently better. In an interesting twist on wall crawling, May can also stick other people to walls, or repel them with equal ease.

Needless to say, her parents have mixed reactions to all this. Nevertheless, May finds Ben Reilly's old Scarlet Spider costume in the attic and decides to put it on after a new Green Goblin appears (Normie Osborn, (grand)son of the originals) to menace her father, who isn't in fighting shape. Unable to secure help from other heroes, Peter reluctantly authorises May's one-time-only appearance as Spider-Girl. Of course, she ends up enjoying the experience so much (and has had the "With great power, comes great responsibility" meme drilled into her so thoroughly) that she feels compelled to become Spider-Girl on a more permanent basis.

This series sometimes plays with the I Just Want to Be Normal trope in the way Spider-Man does, but to a lesser degree. May genuinely wants to be a superhero but angsts when it brings her into conflict with her parents, or when she messes up, or when she feels she isn't as good as she'd like to be. There are also times when she gives it up, or loses her powers temporarily... but still misses the thrill of superheroics, and lets her sense of responsibility push her back to them.

Was Marvel's longest-running comic starring a solo heroine through 102 issues (including #0 and the annual) of Spider-Girl, a relaunch/renumbering as Amazing Spider-Girl, and a further 31 issues (they just love their #0 issues in MC2!) before final cancellation. She-Hulk might have reached #100 first, but Spider-Girl did so without ever being cancelled. Currently running as a digital comic that goes to print after a couple months' delay in the anthology title Web of Spider-Man. A recent announcement was revealed that it would be getting a new, proper monthly series again, until it was later switched into a mini series and a The End one shot to wrap up the series and presumably the MarvelComics2.

If you're looking for the Earth 616 Spider-Girl (Anya Corazon), search her in the Spider-Man Character Page. If you're interested in The Verse, check Marvel Comics 2.

Provides examples of:

"Felicity: I don't want to use a name with the word Kitten or pus --
 * A Day in The Limelight: Occasionally, usually given to Peter or MJ. The most notable is Spider-Girl #51, about a boy with a crush on May... written by the future author of Spider Man Loves Mary Jane.
 * Affectionate Parody: The in-verse Spider-Girl comic by Jimmy and Wes, starring a "super" gun wielding alien princess nothing like the real May.
 * It was clearly obviously a Shout Out to the live-action Japanese Spider-Man, who also came from "Planet Spider."
 * All Guys Want Cheerleaders: At first it seemed like May would join the school cheerleading squad, and one cover even showed her in the outfit, but it's becoming increasingly unlikely with each new issue.
 * Almost Kiss: May and  get two of these.
 * May and Franklin Richards get one, too, before Peter informs Franklin that she's underage.
 * Aloof Big Brother: . Technically an aloof cousin slash genetic-half-brother.
 * He's also a Sour Supporter and Sink or Swim Mentor... but he's only hard on May because he wants her to succeed and admires her determination.
 * Alpha Bitch: Heather Noble, until she hooks up with May's Unlucky Childhood Friend. Simone has filled Heather's shoes quite nicely.
 * Alternate Timeline: Diverges from the main universe sometime after the Clone Saga. Known as the MC2 universe.
 * Annoying Younger Sibling: Spider-Man II isn't a relative but otherwise fits the trope perfectly. The Faces lampshade it, noting he and Spider-Girl bicker like siblings.
 * The Faces themselves are like this too, getting into a childish argument that Funny Face's employer has to break up.
 * Anti Hero Substitute
 * Art Shift: In one issue, May starts looking like she's in Archie Comics for no apparent reason. (Foreshadowing she was in a Lotus Eater Machine without realising it.)
 * Ascended Fanboy: Gerry Drew, . Arguably May, who's a fangirl of Franklin Richards and some other heroes.
 * The Atoner: Lots of 'em.
 * Back to Back Badasses: Kaine and Peter vs. The Scriers. With lots of sarcastic Lampshade Hanging.
 * Badass Adorable: More adorable than Badass, but you have to give Benjy props for.
 * Badass Family: The Parkers. Their family tree includes Spider-Man, Peter's Badass Normal parents, May herself, Peter's clones,the son of Peter's clone, and will surely include Baby Ben someday as well. Plus, Aunt May and MJ. An evil version includes the Faces.
 * Badass Grandpa: Kaine may not technically be one, being around the same age as Peter... but with his long gray hair, beard, and coat, he does evoke the image.
 * Roderick Kingsley/The Hobgoblin is one of these if you stop and do the math. He's at least in his sixties and might be pushing seventy.
 * Badass Longcoat: Kaine. Mr. Nobody might be a villainous variant.
 * Beta Couples: Usually Peter and MJ or Courtney and Moose.
 * Bi the Way: Felicia Hardy aka the Black Cat.
 * Black Best Friend: Davida seems to be one of these at first but she averts it with character development.
 * Blondes Are Evil: Brad turns out to be  and Gene's The Scrappy for good reasons. J.J. and Franklin are good guys, though. (May seems to have a thing for blondes.)
 * Blue Eyes: May, probably 'cause of her Naive Everygirl status. Also Benjy.
 * Body Snatcher: Two types: Demonic Possession for Darkdevil and.
 * Book Dumb: Lampshaded by Moose when he points out that he might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer...right before he points out to May that she doesn't need to blame herself for Courtney being in the hospital after being hit by a car.
 * Breakout Character: Spider-Girl began as a What If one-shot.
 * Cannot Spit It Out: Darkdevil's heritage.
 * The Casanova: J.J. Jameson
 * Cheerful Child: Benjamin "Benjy" Parker.
 * Chekhov's Gun: The issue of Amazing where MJ accepts the . Play close attention to Baby Ben playing with his blocks in the background.
 * Chekhov's Gunman: Wes, a friend of Jimmy's who's briefly introduced as the artist for their Spider-Girl comic book. He turns out to be.
 * Also Sara Hingle, who briefly appears in one panel, long before the.
 * Civvie Spandex: Subverted/Inverted with the Spider-Shoppe, where people can buy Spider-Girl themed clothes and even costumes.
 * Cloning Blues: May's Uncle Ben.
 * Clone Degeneration: Kaine had it,
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Quite a few of May's villains, but most notably Crazy Eight, Funny Face and their mother Angel Face.
 * Continuity Overlap: Spider-Girl is clearly its own canon. However, the writers often introduce versions of new Marvel Universe characters and plots.
 * Costume Copycat: steals the identity of May's dad, in part because he's an Ascended Fanboy of the original wall-crawler.
 * Felicity Hardy's stints as the Scarlet Spider.
 * ...and April Parker also steal May's identity at different points.
 * Dark Action Girl:
 * Dating Catwoman: Spider-Girl and the Black Tarantula. Spider-Girl and the Buzz, sort of.
 * Dead Guy Junior: May Parker, her brother Ben, and Norman "Normie" Osborn.
 * Deadpan Snarkers: Peter, Kaine, Darkdevil. May grows into it as well.
 * Decompressed Comic: Quite deliberately avoided. Spider-Girl stories are often complete in one issue, though this applies more to the earlier stories.
 * Defeat Means Friendship: May is much better at reforming her enemies into allies than her father ever was.
 * Distaff Counterpart: One of the many Spider-Man distaff counterparts, though the only one who is a family member (the others being unrelated women or a Opposite Sex Clone).
 * Dogged Nice Guy: Wes Westin
 * Dying Dream
 * Lawyer Friendly Cameo: Edna Mode makes a brief cameo in issue 91, as an investor who specializes in fashion based on superhero costumes.
 * Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Crazy Eight and Funny Face both love their mother Angel Face very much.
 * Subverted when Funny Face reveals mid-Freak Out they might be better classified as
 * Failure Knight: Allison Mongrain,  Don't worry, May talked her out of it.
 * Kaine and Peter also have guilt over not protecting Baby May and Ben Reilly. Kaine protecting Spider-Girl and  probably has something to do with that guilt, too.
 * Fan Service: Definitely avoided.
 * Well, usually. Then comes the last page of Amazing Spider-Girl #26, wherein the first thing May sees as she recovers consciousness is Arana's rather generous cleavage. The panel is a POV shot, at that.
 * And then there's the whole flipping-around-in-body-bending-poses-while-wearing-skintight-spandex bit...
 * Darkdevil also gets a lot of Shirtless Scenes in his miniseries. Wonder why.
 * Feuding Families: The Osborns and Parkers, of course.
 * First Kiss/Smooch of Victory: May to Brad, after Courtney wakes up from a coma. Causes her to see she's not really that into him anymore, which turns out to be fortunate.
 * Fix Fic: The idea is basically "what if we took every stupid idea we inflicted on Spider-Man in the 90's and made it awesome again with Mayday?"
 * Foe Yay: Spider-Girl and the Black Tarantula, who plans to someday have heirs with May.
 * And now Arana and the Black Tarantula, enemies who seem to have some history... and LOTS of tension.
 * Slight subversion: May and Normie don't develop their Will They or Won't They dynamic until his Heel Face Turn. But the fight between the newly Venomized Normie and May is loaded with this.
 * Forceful Kiss: May to Normie, speaking of Foe Yay. It didn't work out.
 * Former Teen Superhero: Phil Urich. He's become a weird mix of Crouching Moron Hidden Badass and White Dwarf Starlet (or should that be superhero?).
 * Foreshadowing: Two of the first bad guys May meets, Crazy Eight and Funny Face, are Monster Clowns.  Oh, and sure, Funny Face sounds similar to another DeFalco badguy Angel Face but that's just a gag.
 * Fusion Dance: Darkdevil's origin.
 * Generation Xerox: Played straight in that almost all of the MC2 heroes are following in their parent's or mentor's footsteps (and costume choices). Subverted in that most of them have different personalities and motivations.
 * May has a LOT of xeroxed relationships, though.
 * Heck, even Peter's gotten in on the act. He's as overprotective as Aunt May sometimes...
 * It can be argued it's just a more subtle, realistic version of the trope. No one's a carbon copy of their parents/mentors (looks aside), but naturally there are still a lot of Like Parent/Mentor Like Child/Mentoree moments.
 * Upon meeting her, Elektra instantly deduces that Spider-Girl is indeed Spider-Man's daughter. She invokes the trope: "You move like him, stand like him, sound like him, fight like him."
 * Genre Savvy: Perhaps because Superheroes have been around a long time by this point, Mayday is aware of most Comic Book Tropes, and often refuses to fall into Let's You and Him Fight, sometimes commenting on how cliche it would be.
 * And once, when she does fall for it, she laments being "The Amazing Jerk-Girl! The hero with no brains!"
 * Gentle Giant: Moose Mansfield after he grows out being a Jerk Jock. Although now that he's
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: Felicity, daughter of the Black Cat, wants help thinking up a cool superhero name:
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: Felicity, daughter of the Black Cat, wants help thinking up a cool superhero name:

Spider-Girl: Enough!"

"Elektra: You move like him, stand like him, sound like him, fight like him."
 * Good Scars Evil Scars: Normie's tattoos,  and Kaine's scars.
 * Happily Married: Peter and MJ,.
 * Heel Face Turn: May seems to have a knack for making her enemies do these. "I have destroyed my enemy by making him my friend" might as well be Mayday's motto. Her converts comment on it, sometimes.
 * J. Jonah Jameson himself. Not that he was a villain, but in this continuity, the old man openly supports Spider-Girl's actions. Still grumpy, though.
 * Hero Killer: The Hobgoblin. Arguably the deadliest villain in the series (barring the Eldritch Abomination Set), in Spectacular Spider-Girl #4, he effortlessly beats down an assembled group of heroes with only one other ally at his side. He is only defeated via sneak attack.
 * Hollywood Nerd / Hollywood Pudgy: Courtney plays both of these straight while subverting them. She has the geeky hobbies plus the body type... but she's the one with an adoring boyfriend and the authors even tease at a Love Triangle between the Gentle Giant and Casanova.
 * Hot Shounen Mom/Hot Shoujo Dad: MJ for sure, Peter arguably.
 * Imagine Spot: One of the early issues showed all of May's friends (except Moose) fantasizing about being a superhero. Then Normie's fantasies/delusions of defeating Spider-Girl.
 * Identical Grandson: Norman "Normie" Osborn.
 * In the Blood: Unsurprisingly so for May and Lampshaded often.


 * Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Lots of 'em, but most notably Normie and Raptor.
 * I Know You Are in There Somewhere Fight
 * Ill Boy: Gerry Drew.  used to be one.
 * Intergenerational Friendship: May and Phil Urich
 * Jerkass: April Parker, a relatively rare female version.
 * Jerk Jock: Moose, at least before Character Development turned him into a Boisterous Bruiser. Now Gene is taking up this role.
 * Journey to The Center of The Mind: The final story arc involves May travelling into both her own mind and that of her father.
 * The original series did this twice: Once in Darkdevil's mind and, in the last issue of Spider-Girl, Normie does through the symbiote to snap May out of a near-death Heroic BSOD.
 * Knight of Cerebus: He doesn't completely distort the book, but things get a lot grimmer when the Hobgoblin is on the scene.
 * Lamarck Was Right: At least it isn't unreasonable to believe Peter's DNA could have been altered by that spider bite.
 * Last Guy Wins: Wes.
 * Left Hanging: We never did find out why the Kingpin wanted Peter Parker dead.
 * Legacy Character: Mayday, and most of the other heroes, as well as a villain or two.
 * Les Yay: Felicity Hardy really, really, REALLY wants to be May's "partner".
 * Her mom Felica has none of the ambiguity.
 * Lady Octopus and Dr. Jade are an older and evil example.
 * Let's You and Him Fight... avoided most of the time.
 * Like Brother and Sister:, though they sure took their time getting there.
 * Lighter and Softer: Generally, though some of the 'verse backstory has pretty dark spots.
 * Lightning Can Do Anything: Being electrocuted when she's fighting Killerwatt causes May to lose her powers. Being accidentally zapped by the Costume Copycat who steals her dad's costumed identity causes May to regain her powers.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters
 * Lost in Imitation
 * Lotus Eater Machine: This is Misery's gimmick. Notable attempts include making May believe her parents were killed by the Green Goblin and that she was turning into everything from a turtle to a giant spider.
 * Luke You Are My Father: Darkdevil,.
 * Mama Bear: Oh, just guess.
 * is an inverted, evil version. When one of her sons dies, she goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge with his brother. Except they end up taking out their anger out on everyone else who had a part in his death, instead of on the killer.
 * Meganekko: Courtney Duran.
 * Mental World: We've seen May's, Peter's, and Darkdevil's. Normie's too, sort of, in a dream sequence.
 * Monochrome Casting: Subverted. Mayday's group of friends is pretty diverse without getting Five Token Band about it. There's also a lot of diversity amongst random mooks and civilians.
 * More Than Mind Control: April, maybe. She claims she only  because Fury , but...
 * Most Common Superpower: Averted with May. Though Jimmy and Wes's indie Spider-Girl comic gives her this, as well as long blonde visible hair and the backstory of being an alien princess from the planet Spider.
 * And she thinks Stripperiffic outfits would leave her vulnerable. (Plus, her dad would freak!)
 * That still doesn't stop her from wearing a very form-fitting costume.
 * Though it's as much for practical reasons as anything else. Hard to do aerial gymnastics in loose baggy clothing.
 * Mutants: Averted and subverted. May's status as a mutant is rarely acknowledged. And her friend Nancy, who has powers, wants to be a doctor instead of a superhero. . Then in Amazing, there is Sara, whose father couldn't accept a mutant child. Now, she's been.
 * Muscle Angst: In Amazing Spider-Girl 15 a villain Mindworm tricks May into believing she's future version of Black Tarentula. She gets grossed out when she sees her new costume and extremely muscular physique in a mirror.
 * Mysterious Protector: Darkdevil, who subversively ridicules and mocks the heroine. Or maybe it's not so subversive, since he's really her
 * Kaine becomes a standard one of these after his Heel Face Turn..
 * Nineties Anti Hero: April.
 * No Bisexuals: Avoided. The Black Cat is shown living with a long-time lover she met after divorcing Flash Thompson. Before her outing in 616!
 * Not So Harmless: Fury . Definitely creepy but May deals with her easily... the first time. Then, she forces Normie to bond with Venom, helps Norman Osborn take over Peter's body and goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against her former allies. While messing with April for the heck of it. Oh, and she's.
 * Obstructive Bureaucrat: Agent Arthur Weadon.
 * Official Couple: Courtney and Moose, Jimmy and Heather, ... and of course, Peter and MJ.
 * Older and Wiser: Peter Parker, of all people. Badass, has a beard, a bionic leg and a stick he uses to beat people up. Like Bruce Wayne in Batman Beyond, but not as old.
 * Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: Inverted. Almost all of May's rogues gallery is older than her.
 * Older Sidekick: Phil Urich, aka The Green Goblin.
 * Old Superhero
 * Omake: The one-page stories about Baby Ben in Amazing, with art by Colleen Coover.
 * Only Barely Renewed
 * Overnight Age Up:
 * Overprotective Dad: Peter Parker, again. It's a lot easier to sympathize with him, since he's less concerned about May's boyfriends than the risk of her getting killed while fighting supervillains. A more traditional application of this trope applies when he very bluntly informs Franklin Richards that May is only fifteen years old.
 * Parental Abandonment: Not for the heroine, but amongst the supporting cast...
 * Papa Wolf: Guess who.
 * People Puppets: The final story arc centers around
 * Pick On Someone Your Own Size: Subverted. Many of May's enemies are much older than she is.
 * Plucky Girl: Guess who.
 * Psycho Electro: The villainous Killer Watt. Aftershock, too.
 * Psychopathic Manchild: Crazy Eight and Funny Face indulge in this trope to an often disturbing degree.
 * Puberty Superpower: May's powers kick in when she's in her teens and not at birth
 * Also happens to, but is averted (and subtly foreshadowed) with.
 * Red Oni Blue Oni: Or, as April puts it, "Spider-Girl Red and Spider-Girl Blue". Subverted in that May is more of a Blue and April more of a Red.
 * Redemption Equals Death:
 * And the Venom symbiote.
 * Retired Badass: Once again, Peter Parker. Age has cost him some of his reflexes and strength, but he's still got the experience and skill gained from his early years as Spider-Man.
 * Romantic False Lead: Brenda/Raptor becomes this after her Heel Face Turn. Subverted in that after lots of Ship Tease and Will They or Won't They.
 * Rogues Gallery: Mr. Nobody, Crazy Eight, Funny Face, Killer Watt, Mr. Abnormal, Raptor, Earthshaker, the Hobgoblin, Reverb, Dragonfist, the Dragon King, Angel Face, Misery, Aftershock, etc.
 * Sarcastic Confession: Employed by May more then once to cover up for her Secret Identity. Having a merchandising store around helps people to dismiss them.
 * Secret Government Warehouse: Where Weadon and Kaine's teams works -- an abandoned amusement park.
 * Secret Legacy
 * Shadow Archetype: April and May, May and Arana, Kaine and Peter, maybe, played with between May and Normie.
 * Mother-Son team The Faces to Peter and May.
 * Probably  to Peter and May, too.
 * Ship Sinking: May/Brad, pretty brutally.
 * Shout Out: After just waking up, Mayday mutters "Kltpzyxm!" In Superman, this is Mxyzptlk's name reversed, and Supes must trick Mxy into saying it to get rid of him until their dimensions next align (in other words, for three months.)
 * Plus the many characters and places named after Spidey writers. Oh, and May's Temporary Love Interest, named after a Big Name Fan's screen name.
 * Show Within a Show: Jimmy and Wes's Spider-Girl comic.
 * Shrouded in Myth: Darkdevil and Black Tarantula, at first.
 * Sibling Team: Funny Face and Crazy Eight, a villainous example that ends tragically.
 * Played with in Spider-Girl's team ups with Scarlet Spider and Spider-Man II, neither of whom she's related to.
 * Sibling Yin Yang: Spider-Girl and, depending on how you define sibling.
 * Ditto for May and April.
 * Sidekick Glass Ceiling: Felicity's attempts to play Scarlet Spider would count, except that she's always being forced out of (or quitting) the superhero biz before becoming a full-fledged sidekick. Not that this has stopped her. Since then, Mayday's new partner is newly discovered clone April Parker.
 * Sky Surfing: The Green Goblin(s), Hobgoblin, and Fury of course. Mayday even gets in on the act, using Goblin gear when she (temporarily, of course) loses her powers.
 * Sleep Cute: Peter and May get a non-romantic version, after having spent a whole issue bickering at each other and helping reunite an ex-villain with his daughter.
 * Spin Offspring
 * Spirit Advisor: May gets one in the form of a mysterious blonde also named May in the last arc of Amazing. It's, of course.
 * Squee: This is basically reaction to meeting his idol, the original Spider-Man. Although a little overwhelmed at first, Peter Parker is very flattered.
 * Stalker With a Crush: The Black Tarantula.
 * Strong Family Resemblance: Normie looks almost exactly like Harry, Reilly Tyne is basically Ben Reilly with red hair.
 * Stuffed Into the Fridge: Defied by MJ. When Normie comes to kidnap her, she isn't fazed. She starts berating him, pointing out she used to change his diaper, why the hell would she be scared of him? And she starts beating him with a table lamp just before May swings in to the rescue...though by this point, it's unclear just whom she's rescuing.
 * Teen Idol: Franklin Richards, a superhero version. He's actually pretty into May until he finds out her real age.
 * Tiny Guy Huge Girl: Peter's superior, Captain Ruiz, stands over a foot taller than him.
 * Totally Radical
 * Training From Hell: Who better to train May in the use of her powers than dear old dad?
 * Troubled but Cute: J.J., Normie, and the Black Tarantula.
 * Tyke Bomb: May's baby brother Ben, in the Carnage storyline. Sort of.
 * Un Cancelled: Many, many times.
 * Uncanny Family Resemblance: Early in the series, May looked a LOT like Peter. Now she resembles both her parents without looking a clone of either of them. Speaking of clones, though, Reilly Tyne looks just like a redheaded Tobey Maguirerrr, Peter Parker. And somehow only MJ and Normie Osborn have noticed this.
 * A recent dream sequence featured May's brother Ben looking almost exactly like his dad, too.
 * So it's only In the Blood for the Spider-Sons?
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend: Jimmy Yama to Mayday.
 * Unwanted Harem: Most of the male cast has had a crush on Mayday at some point.
 * Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Kaine's facial scars. To be fair, Kaine's not drawn as horrifyingly disfigured in the future.
 * Very Special Episode: "The Girl Who Fell To Earth," about a side-character's abusive boyfriend.
 * In a slight subversion, the issue was the culmination of a long subplot, and the abused character (Sandra) remains part of the supporting cast. Later, May and Courtney  start volunteering at the women's shelter.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Kaine and Darkdevil, once Reilly gets over his issues.
 * Whos Your Daddy: The "who is the mother of the new Spider-Man?" subplot. Lots of red-herrings point to Felicia Hardy, but it turns out he's.
 * What Happened to The Mouse: Mutant Sara Hingle, who was last seen  and hasn't been seen since.
 * What If: Spider-Girl began as a story in Marvel's What If.
 * What the Hell Hero: All of the New Warriors to May after she lets Angel Face and Funny Face go, which lets them go loose on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
 * Why Did It Have To Be Symbiotes; Darkdevil. when.
 * Will They or Won't They: Mayday and Normie in the original series. May and Wes in the relaunch.
 * Would Hit a Girl: Spider-Girl's enemies have no problem attacking her with everything in their arsenals.
 * Yandere: Elan towards Normie.
 * Yandere: Elan towards Normie.