Ultimate SpiderWoman: Change With the Light

An offshoot of the TVTroper fanfic Ultimate Sleepwalker: The New Dreams, Ultimate SpiderWoman: Change With the Light stars Mary Jane Watson as the title heroine.

Mary Jane Watson seemingly has it all: wealth, beauty, and popularity. Unfortunately, much of it is a facade, behind which she hides an abusive home life and a deep hatred for her biological father. When she begins mysteriously developing bizarre, spider-like powers, Mary Jane assumes she is a mutant whose powers have begun to manifest themselves. Remembering all too well her father's feelings toward mutants, and inspired by the superheroes who have become more and more common in the world, Mary Jane creates a costume of her own and becomes the mysterious Spider-Woman, ostensibly for no better reason than to spite her father. What begins as an act of teenage rebellion, however, soon becomes much more as Mary Jane begins questioning why she became a costumed heroine, and the increasingly important role it has in her life.

Set in the same universe as Ultimate Sleepwalker, Ultimate Spider-Woman came about in part because of Jared's attempting to subvert the traditional expectations of Spider-Man fans and make Gwen Stacy Peter Parker's one true love. Eventually, he came up with the idea of doing a spider-themed series with Mary Jane as the star. The series ended up going in an entirely new direction, particularly about the nature of identity and how people step into different roles at different times. You can find it here.

Tropes used in Ultimate SpiderWoman: Change With the Light include:

Action Girl: As Spider-Woman, Mary Jane both gives and takes her lumps the way any male hero would.
Adaptational Badass: A staple of the series. Villains that are C- and D-list background fodder in the comics are given a chance to shine here.
Adorkable: Mary Jane feels this way about Kenny, and can't help but laugh at his Cloudcuckoolander tendencies.
Affably Evil: Well, the Constrictor isn't exactly nice, but when he sees that Spider-Woman is a teenage university student he advises her to consider just why she had decided to become a costumed heroine in the first place, pointing out that the super-powered world is far more dangerous than she probably initially thought.
The Aggressive Drug Dealer: A particularly subtle version of this trope occurs with Mad Scientist Dr. Karl Malus, who was hired by the Kingpin to lace the drugs he sells with special chemicals that make the drugs so addictive that the users will literally die if they don't take them.
All Girls Want Bad Boys: Netshape became a supervillain to develop a badass reputation as a way of attracting women. Spider-Woman, for one, isn't impressed.
All Women Love Shoes: Very much so when it comes to Mary Jane, who just can't resist splurging on a pair of Ugg boots, despite her limited finances. She owns various assorted boots, platforms, high heels, sandals, ballet flats and about fifteen pairs of Converse sneakers.
- Her girlfriends share her love of footwear too, something Lampshaded by Ben Reilly when Kitty tells him that Mary Jane owns almost as many pairs of Converse as she does.
Alpha Bitch: Felicia Hardy. Let's just say she and Mary Jane don't get along and leave it at that.
Alternate Universe Fic: Earth-2706 is an alternate version of the Marvel Universe of Jared's own creation.
Angry Black Man: Subverted by Randy Robertson. He's not so much angry as passionate and committed to increasing awareness of the many social and artistic contributions that black people have made in the U.S. over the years. All he wants from white people is to make them more aware of the influence blacks have had on the country's development.
Arch Enemy: Jack O'Lantern ~~will eventually~~ has become one of these.
At Least I Admit It: Jason Phillip Macendale is a Dirty Cop, but at least he admits to being a corrupt bastard...unlike the self-serving anti-mutant bigots who wrap themselves in motherhood and apple pie to justify the shit they pull on innocent mutants.
Attractiveness Isolation: Subverted in that it was deliberately cultivated by Mary Jane in high school to keep anyone from getting too close to her. Even now, she's still having a hard time deciding between Ben Reilly, Randy Robertson and Mark Raxton, and one reviewer has suggested that Mary Jane still has this problem.
Author Appeal: Mary Jane has several character traits that the author finds attractive in women.
Ax Crazy: Boomerang, Bullseye, Firebrand, Jack O' Lantern, Supercharger and the Brothers Grimm all qualify.
The Bad Guy Wins: Jack O'Lantern's Evil Plan works out just as he'd hoped, with Spider-Woman defeated and the Maggia weakened enough for him to destroy it, thereby establishing his reptuation as a major player in the criminal underworld. Now, he can put his true plan into action...
Ballroom Blitz: Mary Jane is at a high-class party with Ben Reilly when Jack O' Lantern attacks it, hoping to rob and murder the party guests.
Bat Deduction: As this is one of the author's Pet Peeve Tropes, the text will sometimes pause to specifically explain how a given plan will actually work, how a character figured something out, and so forth.
Beach Episode: Mary Jane, Kitty, and Liz go to Fire Island in issue #22, accompanied by Harry and Kong.
Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Despite being punched, burned, cut, electrocuted, strangled and gassed at various points in the series, Mary Jane never suffers any scars or blemishes.
The Bechdel Test: Many, if not all, of the series' issues pass this test.
Beneath the Mask: Subverted by Jack O'Lantern, who in fact dons his costume so he can display his true personality. He claims that the actual masks are the civilized facades people put up because they don't want to reveal what they're really thinking, or what they really want to do. Jack's well aware of the irony in wearing a mask to reveal his true face, but he considers himself superior to the pathetic, mindless sheep and cattle that make up most of the rest of society because he's willing to embrace just what he really is.
Big Applesauce: Subverted to a certain extent. Although the series is set in New York City, Jared usually tends to treat it as Generic Big City, U.S.A. There are usually only vague indications as to what part of New York a given sequence is actually taking place in, given that Jared's never actually been there.
Big Damn Heroes: One possible reason why Spider-Man doesn't resent Spider-Woman taking his moniker is because she once saved his hide when Boomerang and Bullseye had him dead to rights.
Born Unlucky: Hoo boy. Mary Jane gets hit with this trope hard, although it's to be expected from a Spider-Man-themed series. Actually, from what we see of Peter Parker's home life and financial situation, Mary Jane actually has it a hell of a lot worse than he does.
Break the Cutie: Kitty Pryde is getting this trope in spades after being publicly outed as a mutant.
Broken Bad: Tarot almost counts.
Broken Bird: Poor, poor Maddie Watson...at least at first. It's later subverted when she starts getting the help she needs and repays Mary Jane for everything her daughter's gone through to help her. It also turns into a case of Like Mother, Like Daughter when Character Development helps Mary Jane overcome many of her own personal issues.
Burning Building Rescue: When Mary Jane briefly stops wearing her Spider-Woman costume, concerned about the violence with which she attacks her enemies, she is confronted with a woman whose house is on fire and whose elderly mother is trapped on the second floor. Without thinking, Mary Jane uses her powers to save the woman, which makes her rethink her previous stance.
Busman's Holiday: Much to Mary Jane's displeasure, her trip to Fire Island is interrupted by Polestar. Briefly Lampshaded when she's glad she listened to her nagging intuition and brought her costume with her to the beach, despite her initially not wanting to.
The Call Knows Where You Live: As it turns out, Avalanche, a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, was behind the Daily Globe's revealing that Kitty was a mutant and that she was related to Jack O'Lantern. Suffice it to say that he intends to make her an Acolyte of Magneto, one way or another...
Calling the Old Man Out: Sick of his father's meddling in his love life, Ben Reilly finally has enough and tells Andrew off in issue #28. He's all too ready to move out of Andrew's house and take a second job to pay for medical school itself if that's what it takes to get Andrew out of his life.
Career Killers: Frank Payne was a standard mob hit man before he got himself a costume and became the Constrictor. Believe it or not, he's keeping up with the times, since your standard hired gun in black is rapidly going the way of the VCR, the typewriter, cartridge-based video gaming, and the TV antenna.
Chekhov's Gunman: Jack O' Lantern's true identity is that of one of several satellite characters who appear at different points throughout the story. Only one of them fits all of Jack's traits, though.
Chronic Hero Syndrome: Even after her rebellious phase ends, Mary Jane finds herself still becoming Spider-Woman on instinct whenever people are in trouble. This is even Lampshaded by some of her enemies, who ask her why she fights crime as a heroine. Even Mary Jane herself can't quite figure out the reason why she continues to fight crime for no apparent or rational reason. What she does know is that she simply can't help herself whenever she sees someone who needs help.
The City Narrows: New Yorkers commonly refer to Yancy Street as the city's figurative "ass crack", considering what it spews on a daily basis. Home to street gangs, drug dealers and pimps, every law-abiding person who could afford to flee Yancy Street long ago, and the few that remain live in fear of the criminals that use the street as their base of operations, especially the Yancy Street Gang.
C-List Fodder: Jared makes an effort to subvert this trope, relegating A-list heroes to guest star appearances and forming Spider-Woman's Rogues Gallery out of many of his favorite C- and D-list bad guys.
Comic Book Time: Although the series has been running for three years, it's only advanced ten months in that time.
Composite Character: Take the character of Mary Jane Watson, give her Jessica Drew's costume and some of Jessie's powers, add a few biological equivalents to Spider-Man's webbing and spider-tracers, and you have our dashing heroine.
Cool Big Sis: She isn't actually their sister, but Mary Jane has played this role for her cousin Kristy and is starting to do it for Kitty as well.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: Mary Jane's father Phillip counts as one of these, as does his business partner Norman Osborn.
Curb Stomp Battle: Spider-Woman battles the professional freelance assassin Constrictor. It doesn't end well. This later happens to her again when she fights Jack O'Lantern in the second Annual.
Cut and Paste Note: After she's outed as a mutant, Kitty Pryde receives one of these as a threatening letter in her mailbox. As noted on this trope's main page, nowadays this is a pretty stupid thing to do since these notes typically give up all kinds of evidence to the police. It's even Lampshaded by Detective Macendale when he arrests the idiot anti-mutant bigot who sent the note in the first place.
Cute Bruiser: Mary Jane Watson is a hot teenage coed. Spider-Woman is every bit as strong as Spider-Man.
Cut Herself Shaving: Mary Jane's had to come up with explanations for her injuries at different points. Her typical excuse is that she got caught in the middle of a supervillain attack or some other type of crime. This actually works more than you'd think, particularly since New York is typically rife with enough supervillains to create a Rogues Gallery for each hero that operates there and is specifically mentioned as having the highest crime rate in the entire United States.
Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Subverted with Polestar. After almost twenty years of slaving away in honest work, he's earned about as much wealth and prestige as Al Bundy. So why in the blue hell would he get a legitimate job when he obtains magnetic powers?
- More generally, this trope is repeatedly Reconstructed throughout the series. The simple fact is that many supervillains find chaos, torture and murder to be far more fulfilling and meaningful than earning an honest living with their powers. They could probably make an honest living with their powers, but many of them simply don't want to.
Dating What Daddy Hates: In this case, it's the son (Ben Reilly) dating a girl (Mary Jane Watson) that his father (Andrew Reilly) hates.
Daughter Bear: Mary Jane is especially protective of her mother, Aunt Anna and cousin Kristy. When Spider-Woman battles Spiral, the threat to her family allows her to overcome Spiral's magic with sheer rage. Later, when she gets a rematch with the Constrictor, his threatening her loved ones makes Spider-Woman kick his ass six ways from Sunday.
- Mary Jane also feels this way about her close friends. After what happens to Kitty in issue #31, an enraged Mary Jane vows to make sure that anyone who messes with Kitty will mess with Spider-Woman.
Deadly Prank: Brigid O'Reilly overdoses on a designer drug at a teenage party hosted by Felicia Hardy. The intent was for them to record the crazy stuff she'd do while she was high and then humiliate her by posting it on the Internet, but when they think Brigid dies from the overdose, they dump her in a chemical tank in the hopes that the toxic soup will dissolve her body. Instead, the combination of the toxic chemicals and the designer drug end up turning her into Mayhem.
Deadpan Snarker: Will O'the Wisp is one. Spider-Woman has her moments too.
Deface of the Moon: Jack O' Lantern uses his wrist blasters to carve JACK O' LANTERN WAS HERE on the outer walls of a large Osborn Industries factory.
Defrosting Ice Queen: Mary Jane herself. A rarity in that the Ice Queen is actually the protagonist.
Depraved Bisexual: Joystick has had flings with men and women alike, but her sexuality isn't what makes her depraved. It tends to be more the violence and the destruction she causes as a supervillain that do it.
Did Not Do the Research: Being Canadian, Jared hails from a country where the drinking age is generally 18. He forgot that the legal age is generally older in the U.S.
Dirty Old Man: Roderick Kingsley's attention makes Mary Jane very uncomfortable, but she forces herself to put up with it because she needs the money.
Distaff Counterpart: Mary Jane is one of these to Spider-Man, who also exists in this universe. Oddly enough, Peter Parker is more surprised than angry at someone stealing his moniker, suspecting that there's something else going on with the fact that Spider-Woman's powers are similar to his own in so many ways.
Domestic Abuse: Beating his wife is bad enough, but Phillip Watson also quite openly cheats on her with call girls and prostitutes. Getting caught in the act by a thirteen-year old Mary Jane doesn't exactly fill him with remorse.
Dude Magnet: Since she's never going to get together with Peter Parker, Mary Jane is a free agent. So far she's dated both Ben Reilly and Randy Robertson, attracted the crazed Supercharger, flirted with Mark Raxton, and left the men at various beach parties and high society charity functions drooling.
Enemy Mine: Spider-Woman and Blizzard set aside their differences when a massive army of brainwashed supervillains invade New York. Once Spider-Woman brings Blizzard back to his senses, he helps her protect many of the innocent bystanders caught up in the bedlam.
Enigmatic Minion: Roderick Kingsley's older brother Daniel never speaks and never seems to do anything besides follow his brother around and beat up anyone who threatens him. God only knows what he's actually thinking.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Uh, no they don't...at least if you're Jack O' Lantern, who doesn't give two shits about what could happen to his relatives once his identity is publicly exposed.
- This trope is played straight, however, by Tarot and Blizzard, who are very close to their families. It's not a coincidence that they're also the only members of Spider-Woman's Rogues Gallery who aren't complete and total psychopaths.
Even Evil Has Standards: He might have tried to rob an armored car in his first appearance, but Blizzard is appalled and horrified by what happens to New York in issue #14. When Spider-Woman asks him why he helped her, he replies that if New York were destroyed, there'd be nothing left for him to rob. As Blizzard himself states, he's a trailer park boy, not a killer.
- Another example is when Corrupt Corporate Executives like Simon Utrecht begin dropping Phillip Watson after he's exposed as an anti-mutant racist. Even if they don't care about mutants themselves, the corrupt executives believe that it's bad for business to be seen associating with someone who sponsors terrorist groups like the Friends of Humanity.
- And then there's Dirty Cop Jason Phillip Macendale, who seethes at the way the anti-mutant movement claims to be standing up for their country and communities. He might be a very bad man, but at least he's honest about it!
Even the Girls Want Her: This may apply to Mary Jane either in her civilian or Spider-Woman identities, but so far we don't know for sure. It definitely applies to Joystick, though, and she eagerly returned the affections her female fans had for her.
Evil Plan: Jack O'Lantern triggers one of these when he orchestrates a city-wide gang war; a neccesary condition for his real objective.
Evil Counterpart: Mary Jane initially became Spider-Woman to spite her father, but in many respects it acted as an outlet for all her feelings of guilt and frustration. Becoming a superhero actually helped her cope with these parts of her identity. On the other hand, Steven Mark Levins became Jack O'Lantern to indulge his most perverted desires and sadistic urges, and let these parts of his identity take him over completely.
Evil Feels Good: Jack O' Lantern revels in the freedom that paradoxically comes with wearing a ghoulish pumpkin mask and causing misery for innocent people.
Evil Laugh: Jack O'Lantern indulges himself with this trope on a fairly regular basis.
Fallen Princess: Mary Jane is this trope to a degree. She's got the good looks, talent and apparent social stature, but now she's struggling to make ends meet, is continually plagued by bad luck and only hangs out with a small group of close friends. That said, she doesn't entirely fulfill this trope since her friends aren't really geeks.
Fiery Redhead: Mary Jane, of course.
Fire, Ice, Lightning: Spider-Woman's rogues gallery contains this trope with Blizzard (ice), Firebrand (fire) and Supercharger (lightning).
For Science!: This is why Dr. Karla Sofen, alias Moonstone, has done the things she does. She's fascinated by the psychology of the insane and evil, and actively enables them to cause further mayhem and bloodshed so she can study them.
For the Evulz: Why does Firebrand try to burn down entire city blocks with his powers? For kicks, mostly.
- This is also why Jack O' Lantern, alias Steven Mark Levins, became a supervillain.
Freak-Out: When Supercharger professes his love for Spider-Woman, the disgusted heroine calls him sick and says that she can do without the "love" of a sick freak like him. This trope is Supercharger's reaction.
Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke: Mary Jane's powers actually come from being bitten by a genetically altered spider that came from the same collection as the one that bit Peter.
Girl-On-Girl Is Hot: Ironically, this is the reason Joystick stopped having lesbian flings. Girl-on-girl action has become so fetishized by the media that it's not even subversive anymore.
Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Mary Jane loves the teddy bear Randy gets her for Christmas.
Good Feels Good: There are times when being Spider-Woman causes Mary Jane no end of stress and irritation, but the gratitude she receives from many of the people she helps does a lot to cheer her up.
Green Eyed Red Head: Mary Jane, of course.
Guest Star Party Member: So far, Spider-Woman has teamed up with Spider-Man and the X-Men.
The Gwen Stacy: Very deliberately subverted. Gwen is very much alive.
Hair-Trigger Temper: When you combine this with the fact that Firebrand's powers increase with his rage, the end results are not pretty.
Halloween Episode: As with Ultimate Sleepwalker, Ultimate Spider-Woman has begun an annual tradition of Halloween Specials which are published in October of every year.
Hand Blast: Spider-Woman's bioelectric venom blasts are a textbook example.
He Cleans Up Nicely: This is Mary Jane's reaction when she sees what Ben looks like in his tuxedo. Ben returns the favor a few seconds later when he sees Mary Jane in her party dress.
The Hedonist: Joystick went from bisexual flings to drugs and raves to supervillainy as she got bored with each activity in turn.
Hello, Nurse!: She's Mary Jane Watson. No further explanation is needed.
Hero of Another Story: Heroes like Spider-Man, Daredevil and Moon Knight have their own adventures which are occasionally referred to, although they sometimes intersect with Spider-Woman's cases.
Heroic BSOD: After a particularly brutal Humiliation Conga stretched over two days, Mary Jane pretty much falls to pieces at the end of issue #35. Ben Parker helps her get back on her feet.
Heroic Bystander: Brutally subverted when one of these tries to help Spider-Woman during her second fight with Jack O' Lantern and gets his throat ripped open for his trouble. He's dead before he even hits the floor.
Heroic Fatigue: As of issue #34, Mary Jane has pretty much fallen into this trope. Granted, it's not only from being a superhero-being a Triple Shifter and having a very stressful civilian life has Mary Jane struggling to even come close to keeping on top of things.
Hidden Depths: Blizzard is quite comfortable with the idea that he's a petty lowlife who'll never amount to anything, but he's also shown surprising moments of insight and compassion.
Honor Before Reason: Mary Jane turns down Anna Watson's offer to live with the rest of the family at her townhouse, given that she really doesn't want to feel like she's mooching off Anna. She also insists on helping to pay for Maddie's therapy and legal bills, which is one of the main reasons she's always strapped for cash and needs the extra modelling work.
How Do I Shot Web?: Some of Mary Jane's powers begin working reflexively, and it takes a bit of experimentation before she figures out how to use them properly. Luckily, she's a quick study.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: This is what results when Kong starts dating Kitty, humorously Lampshaded by an amused Mary Jane.
Humans Are the Real Monsters: This is one of Jack O'Lantern's core beliefs. He claims to be better than most other people because he's willing to embrace his true evil nature.
Humiliation Conga: It started when Phillip Watson was outed on live TV as an anti-mutant activist. First he started losing clients, then he was kicked out of his club by the disgusted membership, he was paralyzed and gassed by Jack O'Lantern, manipulated into starting a city-wide Mob War that left the city's crime lords howling for his blood, and finally put out of his misery after being murdered by Jack O'Lantern.
- Another example is combined with Laser-Guided Karma when it comes to Will O' the Wisp. From being fired from his job after causing an accident that killed several people because he was too cheap to spring for decent safeguards, to bankrupting himself filing wrongful dismissal lawsuits, to having his wife leave him for his coworker after years of neglect, the Wisp is a Jerkass who largely caused his own problems, but refuses to take responsibility for them.
- A non-villainous example hits Mary Jane hard in issue #35. At first she seems like everything's looking up for her, with new acting and modeling jobs that are sure to be major stepping stones in her career. Unfortunately...her grades are in the toilet after she blew her midterm exams and she gets a severe dressing down from Dr. Connors; she ends up being sexually harassed by Roderick Kingsley, fired after she refuses his advances and threatened with the fact that Kingsley will use his connections to ruin her budding career; she had her backpack stolen by a purse snatcher and ended up being late for her audtion, which meant she didn't get her dream role in Les Misérables; she got splashed outside the theater by a passing vehicle, which ruined any chance she might have had of convincing the producers to give her another chance; she got into a fight with a supervillain and ended up being late for work at the coffee shop, which got her fired; she got splashed again as she was leaving the coffee shop; and finally she and Kitty Pryde are getting evicted from their apartment.
Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Bullseye and Boomerang get into an argument over which one of them has the more Improbable Aiming Skills. To settle the debate, they make a bet to see which of them can kill Spider-Man first. The winner gets $100,000 of the other's money and recognition as the best marksman in the supervillain commmunity.
Hurting Heroine: Spider-Woman is definitely one of these.
An Ice Person: Blizzard is one of these. Who'd have guessed?
If I Can't Have You: Friendly bit of advice to any aspiring superheroines: If you have an obsessive stalker who's so devoted to you that he pays several million dollars to get himself superpowers, starts calling himself Supercharger, and goes around murdering people who diss you in the media, chances are he's not going to take rejection well...
I Just Want to Be Normal: To be honest, this version of Kitty Pryde considers her phasing and intangibility powers to be rather useless, and can't really think of anything to do with them. She'd much rather not make a big deal of being a mutant, and refused to join either the X-Men or the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
Info Dump: An unfortunate necessity of the series. Since this version of the Marvel Universe is in many ways drastically different from the real one, this trope becomes the quickest and easiest way to get the readers up to speed.
It's All My Fault: Spider-Woman thinks this way after Phillip Watson's murder, but Maddie reminds Mary Jane that he made his own choices, and he has to live with that responsibility. She did everything she could to try and save him, and that's what matters before anything else.
- More generally, Mary Jane keeps pushing herself to live up to her self-imposed responsibilities, but her inability to do so ends up driving her crazy. Her family and friends have to remind her about her most important responsibility-her responsibility to herself.
Jaded Washout: This is what Polestar was before the accident that gave him superhuman powers.
Jerkass: Will O' the Wisp is one of these.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Although she gets better as the series goes on, Mary Jane goes into this territory at times. Instead of hiding her anger and frustrations behind a party-girl persona, this version of Mary Jane simply represses it, which leads her anger to manifest on occasion.
Karma Houdini: Felicia Hardy, oh so much:

Spider-Woman: You're responsible for this.
Felicia: You can't prove that.
Spider-Woman: No. But your'e the one who has to live with it.

Large Ham: The Brothers Grimm absolutely loves a crowd. He always tries to cap off a performance with a suitably dramatic flair.
Laser-Guided Karma: Subverted to Hell and back. Although Steven Mark Levins is now in prison, he doesn't really care and in fact rather enjoys the notoriety he's received from his depraved crimes. Much of the fallout from his activities has actually fallen on his relatives, who most certainly do not deserve what they've been put through.
Legion of Doom: This is ultimately revealed to be Jack O'Lantern's greatest goal, namely to form the city's supervillains into a new crime syndicate capable of seizing control of the city's rackets for themselves, robbing and killing for fun as much as for profit.
Lighter and Softer: Mary Jane herself. While at first she was an angry, bitter young woman with a Hidden Heart of Gold, Character Development has shifted her much more towards the -dere side of her Tsundere / Kuudere personality. She still gets stressed and angry, but she's become much better at controlling her emotions and is a much more outgoing and friendly person now.
Like Brother and Sister: This is the essence of Mary Jane's relationship with Peter Parker. There's no romantic attraction between them, but their powers and shared origin means they share a unique experience.
Like Parents, Like Daughter: Mary Jane has inherited both her father's fiery, passionate nature and her mother's Broken Bird status due to everything she went through growing up. Character Development has helped Mary Jane get better control of her emotions and start enjoying life again.
Loads and Loads of Characters: Not as many as Ultimate Sleepwalker (yet!), but Ultimate Spider-Woman is already creeping into this trope.
Lonely Rich Kid: Phillip Watson might have been very wealthy, but his abuse left Mary Jane very guarded and withdrawn. She only had a few close friends in high school, and otherwise kept any of the boys she dated from getting too close.
Loser Son of Loser Dad: Mary Jane gets a fair amount of flack from Ben Reilly's family for being the daughter of Phillip Watson. The Reillys themselves, including Ben's cousin Kitty, get this when Jack O'Lantern is exposed as Steven Mark Levins and the Daily Globe exposes the connection, exposing Kitty as a mutant to the public at large.
Mad Artist: The Brothers Grimm sees himself as a performance artist. Unfortunately, his idea of "performing" is to kidnap people, force them to watch his bizarre Nightmare Fuel performances, and then rob them blind.
Make It Look Like an Accident: Or rather, make it look like the victim is a casualty of a random supervillain attack. This is a common technique used in assasinations performed by costumed supervillains.
Mall Santa: Once school lets out, Mary Jane gets a job working as a Christmas elf in the Santa Claus display at Macy's. She feels more than a little silly, but ironically the job is actually less stressful than working at the coffee shop.
Mama Didn't Raise No Criminal: Averted by Jack O'Lantern's relatives when his identity is revealed. Instead of denying Jack's crimes, the relatives react with horror and dismay at learning that they're related to a psychopathic mass murderer.
Mind Rape: This is how Mayhem controls her victims, either by making them die of fright or inciting them to do what she wants. People with strong enough willpower, like Spider-Woman, can still fight it.
Mob War: Through Phillip Watson, Jack O'Lantern triggers one of these between the four major crime syndicates in New York.
Moral Myopia: Completely subverted. Jack O' Lantern's relatives feel nothing but horror and loathing for him when his true identity is exposed and they know what he's done. Jack, for his part, doesn't give a damn about what his public exposure could mean for his relatives and simply shrugs off the idea that people could try and get revenge on him by harassing them.
Motive Rant: Jack O' Lantern gives several of these in explaining his outlook on life. Possibly subverted in that he gives them before he's ever caught-one rant involves him explaining his goals for the Tomorrow Legion to his fellow supervillains, while another has him explaining to a defeated Spider-Woman just why he hates her so much.
Mr. Exposition: Peter Parker takes on this role when he explains the workings of his and Mary Jane's respective spider-powers.
Muggles Do It Worse: People who've tried to defend themselves from supervillain attacks with their guns inevitably lose. This also applies to hitmen who don't wear costumes and/or don't have superpowers. It's gotten to the point where hired killers can't get any work unless they wear warped costumes and employ outlandish technology or powers.
Mundane Utility: Getting back in after she locks herself out of her house, locker or car is about all Kitty Pryde can really think of using her mutant phasing powers for.
Muscles Are Meaningless: Mary Jane hasn't gained any muscular bulk since her superhuman powers manifested. Instead, her muscles are now rock hard and spectacularly efficient for her size.
My Beloved Smother: Gender Flipped with Ben Reilly and his father Andrew, who's constantly trying to meddle in Ben's love life, to the point of insulting and threatening his girlfriends if they don't stay away from him.
Neighbourhood Friendly Gangsters: Lampshaded and subverted by Silvermane, head of the Maggia, who notes that only naive, sentimental idiots believe in this trope and think that organized crime syndicates actually give a damn about their own or anybody else's communities. Every crime syndicate in New York produces and distributes everything from drugs to child pornography to snuff films, and the few criminal groups that have tried to show some sort of charity or compassion have been ruthlessly strangled by the more brutal syndicates.
New York City Cops: The NYPD is simultaneously blessed with good cops like Captain George Stacy, Captain Jean DeWolfe and Detective Kris Keating, and plagued with dirty cops like Detective Jason Phillip Macendale.
Never My Fault: Will O' the Wisp blames everyone but himself for his problems.
Nietzsche Wannabe: Jack O'Lantern has shades of this trope in his outlook on life and his actively revelling in causing mayhem and chaos. He also sees himself as something of an Ubermensch in that he embraces and acts on his true evil nature, unlike the mindless cattle that hide their dark sides behind a wall of civilized bullcrap.
Noble Demon: Jason Phillip Macendale is so disgusted with Kitty being harassed for being a mutant that he makes every effort to track down and bust the guy who put the threatening letter in her mailbox.
Noodle Incident: When Mary Jane and her friends decide to go camping for the rest of their vacation after Polestar ruins their stay at Fire Island, Kitty insists that Kong leave his guitar behind. When Mary Jane asks why, Kitty says that she doesn't want to know.
No Periods, Period: This is something the author really doesn't want to write about.
Obnoxious In-Laws: Gender Flipped with Ben Reilly's parents, who both detest Mary Jane and don't want her dating their son.
Official Couple: Subverted in that Mary Jane and Peter Parker dated in the past, but never really clicked. And they never will, because Word of God says so.
One Steve Limit: Kenny "Kong" McFarlane, a Canon Immigrant from the Ultimate Spider-Man comics, also appears here briefly. However, since Ultimate Sleepwalker already had a character named Kenny as part of the cast, Kong's real name is Bruce.
Only in It For the Money: As Mary Jane finds out, getting psychiatric help for your mother isn't cheap. Hence why she forces herself to put up with Roderick Kingsley's borderline sexual harassment.
Ordinary High School Student: Mary Jane is one of these before her powers begin to manifest.
Overprotective Dad: Gender Flipped with Ben Reilly's father Andrew, who loathes Mary Jane and isn't shy about letting her know that. He bluntly warns her to stay away from his son, before threatening to make her life miserable if she doesn't listen to him. Ben is not pleased when he hears about this.
Parental Substitute: In addition to raising her own daughter and providing Maddie Watson with a place to stay, Anna Watson also serves as a second mother to Mary Jane.
- Peter Parker's Uncle Ben acts like a father figure to Mary Jane after she suffers a Heroic BSOD, helping her deal with her problems and assuring her that his door's always open if she ever needs to talk to someone.
Perpetual Poverty: Mary Jane lives paycheck to paycheck, in no small part because she's a teenage university student who has to pay her own tuition and living expenses. It's not helped by her insistence on helping Anna support Maddie and pay for her therapy, or the fact that she's been shortchanged on her tuition payments both deliberately (by her father, out of spite) and accidentally (after the idiots at the bank fouled up her student loan application). Hence Mary Jane is constantly trying to find time for additional modelling or acting work to help pay the bills.
Pick on Someone Your Own Size: After being defeated by Spider-Woman, the Brothers Grimm develops a bizarre obsession with her and seeks to make her the "straight woman" in his act.
- And then there's Jack O'Lantern, alias Steven Mark Levins, who views Spider-Woman as everything he hates about this world.
Playing Both Sides: Jack O'Lantern does this with the New York mobs, using Phillip Watson as his proxy. Subverted in that Jack knows the mobs are going to realize they were played for fools, and are going to blame Phillip for it...
Playing with Fire: Firebrand is a particuarly psychotic version of this trope.
Plucky Girl: She might be frustrated and miserable a lot of the time (at least at first), but Mary Jane continues to soldier on in spite of it all.
Popularity Power: Completely inverted. The more of this you have, the lower your chances of showing up outside of the odd guest star appearance. The sole exception is Spider-Man, but even he doesn't get more than the odd cameo appearance.
Powers as Programs: The nanotechnology that's used with the cells of Netshape's body are programmed with the abilities of various video game characters, including the Super Mario Brothers, Sonic the Hedgehog, Duke Nukem, Donkey Kong and Kratos. By changing shape, he can give himself super speed, super strength, More Dakka, the ability to throw fireballs, etc.
Pragmatic Villainy: The Constrictor is a hired killer. When Spider-Woman tries to stop him from killing one of her friends, he swiftly defeats her, but leaves her alive, since he wasn't being paid to kill her.
Prima Donna Director: Archibald Llewellyn, Mary Jane's director on a production of A Streetcar Named Desire is a pompous jerk who rubs most of his actors the wrong way. He goes out of his way to belittle and even humiliate Mary Jane, but she gets a sort of revenge when the critics give her a glowing review for her performance during the show's actual run.
Psycho Electro: Completely inverted with Thunderbird, a member of the X-Men. In this version, rather than getting a bridge dropped on him the way his 616 counterpart did in the X-Men comics, Thunderbird is alive and well and possesses the power to generate and control electricity. His brother is also part of the group, serving as The Big Guy for the X-Men when they team up with Spider-Woman to help rescue her family from the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
- Played dreadfully straight with Supercharger. Good grief...
Psycho for Hire: The Constrictor is as cold and merciless as his namesake.
Psychopathic Manchild: The Brothers Grimm definitely counts as one of these.
Psycho Psychologist: Dr. Karla Sofen, alias Moonstone, is a rather disturbing example. Not only has she enabled other supervillains to commit their crimes so she can study them, but she's also become a supervillain herself to gain a better understanding of what makes villains tick.
Psychotic Smirk: Jack O'Lantern has one of these carved into the front face of his pumpkin mask.
Puberty Superpower: The reason Mary Jane's powers didn't activate at the same time as Peter's was because of the differences between their genomes and the different altered powers of the spiders that bit them. Mary Jane's abilities were set to activate after a specific point in her lifespan, namely around the time she turned nineteen years old.
Put the Laughter In Slaughter: Nothing like a little murder, death and suffering to make a Jack O'Lantern smile.
Pyromaniac: Firebrand is an especially dangerous one, since his powers increase with his rage.
The Real Heroes: Spider-Woman has helped them and been helped in turn, most notably when she's gone up against Firebrand. While the firefighters deal with the blazes Firebrand has started and rescue the people he's threatened, Spider-Woman keeps the flame-spitting lunatic off their back so they can do their jobs without becoming victims themselves.
- And then there's New York police detective Kris Keating, who pulls a Big Damn Heroes moment in rescuing two of Harvey Broxtel's victims on his own without any superhero getting involved.
Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: Mary Jane would call bullshit on this trope if she was ever confronted with it. She's generally a "girly girl", but she's also an ass-kicking superheroine with a Rogues Gallery as long as her arm.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Andrew Reilly gives Mary Jane a pretty blunt one, before openly threatening her if she keeps dating Ben.
- Jack O'Lantern gives one to Spider-Woman after he defeats her in the second Annual. She later returns the favor by giving him one after defeating him in issue #30.
Reconstruction: Of traditional superhero comics. Efforts are frequently made to Justify various superhero tropes and examine how the world would develop if they really existed. Some of the larger trends in recent years, such as Writing for the Trade, are also notably absent.
Redheaded Hero: Mary Jane herself. Subverted in that she has the ability to spontaneously change the color of her hair, which she uses to heighten her disguise as Spider-Woman.
Refusal of the Call: Kitty refused the appeals from both the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, wishing that everyone would quit giving her grief over mutant powers she never really wanted in the first place and can hardly find any real use for.
The Reveal: Mary Jane eventually learns that she's not a mutant, and that her powers were cause by being bitten by one of the other spiders that was in the same glass cage as the one that bit Peter Parker.
- And then there's the revelation of who Jack O'Lantern truly is: Steven Mark Levins, uncle to Kitty Pryde and Ben Reilly.
Revenge by Proxy: When Jack O'Lantern's true identity is revealed, a few of the friends and family of his victims go after his own family members out of revenge.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When she seemingly died, Brigid O'Reilly eventually came back as...well...Mayhem. From then on, she became obsessed with getting revenge on the people who made her that way.
Rogues Gallery: For someone who's only been a costumed hero for about a year, Mary Jane's built up a pretty big one. So far Spider-Woman has tangled with the likes of Blizzard, Will O' the Wisp, the Brothers Grimm, Firebrand, Polestar, Tarot, the Constrictor, Jack O' Lantern, Moonstone, Supercharger, Joystick, Boomerang, Mayhem, Netshape and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Blizzard, the Brothers Grimm, Firebrand, Will O' the Wisp, Tarot, Polestar, the Constrictor, the Brotherhood (in the form of Avalanche), Moonstone and Jack O'Lantern have already come back for a second round. The speed with which Spider-Woman gained her rogues gallery is Lampshaded, as is the fact that there seemed to be enough costumed criminals in New York to form a Rogues Gallery for every hero that operates there.
Rogues Gallery Transplant: Since Mary Jane didn't have any actual rogues gallery in the comics, the author had to create one for her. Her enemies are stolen from heroes ranging from Iron Man to Spider-Man to the Incredible Hulk to the X-Men.
Room Full of Crazy: The Brothers Grimm's hideout is one of these, with its bizarre purple and white stripes painted on the walls, demented furniture, and hideous paintings depicting various superheroes suffering all kinds of hideous fates. Ronald Hilliard, a teenage fan of Spider-Woman, begins turning his bedroom into one of these when he covers every available inch of it with pictures of Spider-Woman he downloads off the Internet.
Samaritan Syndrome: Being a costumed superhero is only partly responsible for Mary Jane falling into this. Her conscience forces her to take on a lot of challenges in her normal life, sometimes against her friends' advice, and she's pushing herself far harder than anyone could have reasonably expected her to.
Sanity Slippage: Jack O'Lantern is a curious example. It turns out that he's always been a psychopathic monster on the inside, but his crimes become increasingly violent and destructive as the series progresses. Jack goes from bank robberies to killing sprees to holding dozens of hostages to orchestrating a bloody city-wide gang war to creating a new supervillain crime syndicate. Even in jail, he's fantasizing about carving up human heads the way people do Halloween pumpkins.
Schoolyard Bully All Grown Up: It Got Worse for Firebrand as he grew up, going from being a bully to arrested for viciously beating his former victims to being transformed into a literal Pyromaniac who revelled in the sick thrill of burning down the houses of innocent people.
Screw the Rules, I Have Money: When Roderick Kingsley gropes Mary Jane, she hits him hard enough to break his nose and threatens to sue him. He merely smirks and points out that he pays his lawyers top dollar to make sure these types of problems are swept under the rug.
Secret Identity Identity: A central theme of the series. Putting on a mask and fighting crime actually helps Mary Jane grow as a person and let out other parts of her personality.
Secret Keeper: Peter Parker and his Uncle Ben become one for Mary Jane, and she in turn becomes one for Peter.
Sexy Santa Dress: For her Christmas Eve date with Randy Robertson, Mary Jane wears a red sweater, a green jumper, white thigh-high stockings, knee-high black Santa boots and a sassy little Santa hat.
Shadow Archetype: Putting on a mask and becoming Spider-Woman allowed Mary Jane to come to terms with her anger and let out other parts of her personality, making her grow and mature as a person in the process. Putting on a mask and becoming Jack O'Lantern allowed the person wearing the pumpkin to indulge his darkest fantasies, making him go completely over the edge in the process.
Ship Sinking: When Mary Jane and Peter have learned each others' secret identities, they feel a special bond and briefly wonder if they could have ever gotten together. They then burst out laughing at the sheer lunacy of the idea and scoff that it could have happened in "another lifetime, maybe!"
Shock and Awe: Spider-Woman's bioeletric "sting" blasts are an example of this trope.
Shout-Out: Mary Jane has a strong knowledge of theater history, which suits her as a Drama major. The subtitle of the series is also a Shout Out to the Ace of Base song of the same name.
- And then there's the time when Mary Jane is waiting for Ben Reilly to pick her up so they can go to a fancy party at the Plaza Hotel. When Mary Jane sees just how hot Ben looks in his tuxedo and starts drooling, Ben only grins and says:

Ben: Face it, Tigress-you just hit the jackpot!

Silk Hiding Steel: Mary Jane is an asskicking Action Girl as Spider-Woman, but she's also a Twilight and Harry Potter fangirl, has a massive crush on the likes of Robert Pattinson and Justin Bieber, enjoys fashionable clothing and is otherwise proud to be a "girly girl."
Smug Snake: Will O'the Wisp, full stop.
The Smurfette Principle: Aside from the Invisible Woman, who's only in town half the time anyway, Spider-Woman is New York's only female superhero. This applies to her Rogues Gallery too, who are all male except for Tarot and Moonstone. More generally, Maggie Beck observes that men generally tend to outnumber women as both superheroes and supervillains. The female heroes' rogues galleries mostly tend to be male as well.
Snuff Film: Although these are never actually shown, it's mentioned a few times that the New York crime syndicates do produce them. They tend to be purchased by the same sick freaks who pay for child pornography, which is another "product" the syndicates regularly produce.
So Beautiful It's a Curse: Subverted by Mary Jane. She doesn't really Wangst about how her beauty as a curse, and in fact she actually feels a certain amount of pleasure in getting a lot of attention from guys when she's at a party or on the beach. What is a problem is when her beauty leads her to attract electrically-powered whackjobs who don't like to take "No" for an answer...
So Proud of You: At the start of issue #25, Spider-Woman is a physical and emotional wreck after getting her ass kicked by Jack O'Lantern and seeing her father Phillip being murdered by the pumpkin-headed lunatic. Her mother's reminder of everything she's succeeded at, and everything else she's done, goes a long way to restoring MJ's spirits.
Spin-Off: A Type 11 version of this trope for Ultimate Sleepwalker. While it's set in the same universe, Ultimate Spider-Woman has an almost entirely new cast of characters.
Squick: Mary Jane feels this in-universe from the way Roderick Kingsley leers at her, but she doesn't do anything because she needs the modelling work he offers her. As Spider-Woman, she has this reaction when she learns that Supercharger has been killing people who criticize her.
Stalker with a Crush: After Spider-Woman fights to stop Jack O' Lantern from robbing a high-society party, teenage guest Ronald Hilliard gets it into his head that she was there to protect him specifically. He finds himself constantly thinking about her, and begins downloading every picture he can find of her on the Internet, which he then uses to wallpaper his bedroom. And It Got Worse from there...
Stern Teacher: Dr. Curt Connors is one of the most popular professors at Empire State University. His classes are highly sought after because of his ability to clearly explain complicated scientific principles to even the least scientifically-minded students. He doesn't pull his punches when he doesn't think his students are living up to their potential, though.
Invisible to Gaydar: Anna Watson's lesbianism is casually mentioned by Mary Jane in a one-off conversation with Kitty, explaining that Anna doesn't make a big deal about it because she doesn't want her homosexuality to be the only thing people notice about her. As a mutant who consciously tries to avoid getting caught up in the drama surrounding mutant politics, Kitty can sympathize.
Superman Stays Out of Gotham: According to Word of God, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, The Mighty Thor and The Avengers are not based in New York the way they are in the comics. This trope also applies due to the sheer number of supervillains, meaning that each hero usually has their hands full with their own Rogues Gallery.
- Not that some of Spider-Woman's enemies don't take precautions, of course. The Brothers Grimm threatens to murder all his hostages if anyone but Spider-Woman tries to stop him, while Jack O' Lantern arranges it so all of New York's other heroes are tied up with the Tomorrow Legion and can't stop him.
Superhero Paradox: Reading between the lines, averting this trope has become a major theme of the series. Almost all of Spider-Woman's enemies became villains through their own circumstances and only became part of her Rogues Gallery after she crossed paths with them. Oftentimes, things would be a lot worse if she had never been involved to begin with.
Tabloid Melodrama: After Jack O'Lantern was exposed as her uncle Steven Mark Levins, his connection to Kitty Pryde was revealed by the Daily Globe, along with the fact that she's a mutant. Now Kitty's fallen victim to mutant racist harassment, including getting threatening letters in the mail. She's humiliated, upset and scared, but Mary Jane is just pissed off and more than ready to extend the Mama Bear part of her personality to anyone who goes after Kitty.
Inner Dialogue: The Brothers Grimm apparently has two personalities, both of which constantly argue with one another. But is that what's really going on?
Tarot Troubles: When Mary Jane visits her in prison, Tarot offers to give her a reading. Although she's somewhat reluctant at first, Mary Jane eventually agrees and Tarot reads out the cards for her. The results of the reading, which allude to Mary Jane's Hidden Depths, are as much a surprise to Tarot as to her.
To Create a Playground For Evil: This is Jack O'Lantern's ultimate goal and vision for the Tommorow Legion.
Token Minority: Averted by the X-Men when they guest star in the first Annual. No less than four minority characters are involved. Along with the black Storm, there are three First Nations characters-the Cheyenne Forge and the Apache brothers Warpath and Thunderbird. Unlike the 616 version, who was killed in one of his first missions and possessed Super Strength as his power, this version of Thunderbird has electricity powers and is an all-around nice guy. James and John Proudstar are both alive and well, and make a highly effective team in combat.
Took a Level in Badass: A character's ranking on the 616 pecking order doesn't count for anything here. Characters who might be small-timers in 616 can have counterparts who are major players in Earth-2706.
Triple Shifter: Mary Jane's trying to balance school, superheroing, money, work and sleep takes its toll both on her grades and on her nerves.
Tsundere: Mary Jane has some anger problems, alternately coming off as cold and aloof or hot-tempered and angry. She's eventually called out on it by Harry Osborn, and her kinder side begins to come out more and more as the series goes on.
- Alternately could be seen as a Kuudere, since her troubles displace her emotions into one of either extreme, depending on situation.
Tuckerization: Mary Jane's maternal grandfather appears in one issue, a Cool Old Guy named Stanley Lieber.
Twerp Sweating: Andrew Reilly tries this on Mary Jane, reminding her that he has a lot of powerful friends and that he can make her life very miserable if she doesn't stay away from his son. Ben himself is not amused when he finds out about it.
The Unfavorite: Polestar was like this growing up. In between being constantly ridiculed for not being as athletic as his older brother, or as academically gifted as his younger sister, Polestar came to hate and resent his family so much that when he developed superhuman powers, he became a villain simply to humiliate and embarrass them.
The Unfettered: Jack O'Lantern sees himself as one of these. He remarks on the irony of needing to dress in a ghoulish costume to reveal just what he really is, and mocks the pathetic, mindless cattle who are content to muddle through their lives while stubbornly clinging to their masks. Seeing Spider-Woman protect them only makes him hate her all the more.
Ungrateful Bastard: Subverted by some of the people Spider-Woman helps, who were occasionally just as endangered by her reckless behavior during her early fights and have a more justifiable reason for calling her out on it.
Unholy Matrimony: Subverted with Tarot after she finds the Bookworm and nurses him back to health. They become lovers and combine their desires for vengeance on the people who tormented them, but Tarot ultimately can't bring herself to do it, especially when she realizes that the Bookworm's demonic magic is interfering with her own tarot powers.
Unsatisfiable Customer: Being called in to work on her night off might not be so bad for Mary Jane, but when she's already extremely stressed out about her falling grades, her lack of sleep, her trying to find more acting and modelling work, and her mother's mental health, the nitpicking and obnoxious customers she has to deal with become more than her nerves can take.
Uptown Guy: Ben Reilly finds himself drifting into this trope, as his parents and uncle dislike Mary Jane intensely. His mother thinks Mary Jane is a stuck-up snob, his uncle thinks she's a hypocrite, and his father thinks she's a Gold Digger.
Villainous Crush: Supercharger to Spider-Woman...at least at first. He went completely off the deep end after Spider-Woman expressed her disgust at his actions and called him a freak...and now he's torn between wanting to make her his own and simply killing her for spitting on him despite everything he did for her.
Visionary Villain: Jack O'Lantern's ultimate goal is to use his fellow supervillains in the Tommorow Legion To Create a Playground For Evil.
Waif Fu: Both subverted and played straight. Spider-Woman is a slim teenage girl who typically employs this fighting style, but her impressive superhuman strength allows her to slug it out with the best of them.
Wacky Fratboy Hijinx: Subverted by Mark Raxton and his fraternity brothers, who despise the stereotype of drunken fraternity hooligans created by the American Pie and National Lampoon movies. While Mark jokingly refers to this trope when he first meets Mary Jane at Fire Island, his fraternity brothers have more important things to do, like performing charity work or indulging their musical interests.
Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World: University student by day, crime-fighting heroine by night...and on multiple other occasions, where Mary Jane often is halfway to a hiding place where she can change costume before she even realizes what she's doing.
Web Serial Novel: The series is based on a comic book, and features regular monthly updates like a comic book, but since the author is so bad at drawing he makes Christian Weston Chandler look like Leonardo da Vinci, it's presented in prose form.
What Have I Become?: This trope pretty much sent Brigid O'Reilly over the edge.
What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: This is Kitty's attitude towards her mutant powers.
What the Hell, Hero?: Early on, Spider-Woman's emotions often got the better of her during her fights and she very nearly hurt a number of innocent bystanders with her reckless behavior. Things improve once she realizes what she's doing and starts exercising more self-control.
Why Couldn't You Be Different?: When his wife became pregnant, Phillip Watson eagerly awaited the birth of what he expected would be the son he always wanted. What he actually got was a daughter. It all went downhill from there.
Wicked Cultured: Jack O'Lantern really enjoys his steak tartare and chardonnay.
Worthy Opponent: The Constrictor is a cold-blooded assassin, but he'll commend the fighting skills of anyone who beats him. He even compliments Spider-Woman on having come a long way since the first time they fought, and ranks her with the likes of Spider-Man and Captain America (comics) for winning their rematch.
Would Hit a Girl: Spider-Woman's enemies are all evil in their own ways, but even they know better than to assume Spider-Woman can't hold her own against them. Hence they have no problem throwing everything in their arsenals at her.
Wretched Hive: New York City verges on this trope, as it has both the largest number of supervillains per capita and the highest overall crime rate in the entire country. Mary Jane mentions this as one of the reasons she starts teaching martial arts to Kitty, besides the fact that Kitty is a mutant who's more apt to be the victim of a hate crime.
Xanatos Gambit: Jack O'Lantern launches one of these to set up his true Evil Plan. The beauty of it is that it would work no matter which crime syndicates were crippled, since destroying Philippe Bazin or Crimewave would have suited him just as well. Even if the gang war had petered out, he wouldn't really have lost anything, since he'd already covered his tracks.
You!: This is Phillip Watson's reaction when he sees Jack O'Lantern's true face. Who Phillip actually was Steven Mark Levins, Kitty Pryde and Ben Reilly's uncle.
Yandere: A rare male example in Supercharger, who begins murdering people who dissed Spider-Woman online as a means of trying to show his affection for her. She is sickened, horrified, and Squicked out all at once. He later develops this attitude towards Spider-Woman herself when she disgustedly calls him a freak.
You Did Everything You Could: Mary Jane's friends and family have repeatedly told her that she's pushing herself too hard and that she doesn't have to do all the things she does, but her conscience won't allow her to let up.
You Do NOT Want to Know: This is Kitty's explanation to Mary Jane when she asks why Kong can't bring his guitar along on their camping trip.
You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry: Firebrand is an especially dangerous version, since his fires become hotter and more intense with his rage.
Zettai Ryouiki: Mary Jane wears a pair of white thigh-high stockings as part of her Sexy Santa Dress on her Christmas Eve date with Randy Robertson.