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| Anna Maria Marconi | |
|---|---|
 Anna Maria Marconi in her debut appearance inSuperior Spider-Man #5. Art by Giuseppe Camuncoli. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | The Superior Spider-Man #5 (May 2013) |
| Created by | Dan Slott (writer) Giuseppe Camuncoli (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Team affiliations | Parker Industries |
| Supporting character of | Spider-Man Doctor Octopus |
| Abilities | Genius-level intellect |
Anna Maria Marconi is a fictional character appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. She was initially depicted as a love interest ofSpider-Man, notably during the time when his body was taken over byDoctor Octopus's mind. She has since been depicted as a close friend to Peter Parker after he regains his mind.
Anna Maria Marconi first appeared inThe Superior Spider-Man #5 (May 2013) and was created byDan Slott andGiuseppe Camuncoli.
Marconi was created in part from Slott's desire to introduce a character that could cause some friction in Peter's personal life. He found this difficult to pull off as he could not find a reason why a character likeBetty Brant orAunt May could be bigoted or racist. Rather than having any one of them have such a fierce trait, he had May's opinion of Peter dating Anna Maria be that of concern:
Having Aunt May not be perfect is interesting. And when Aunt May is talking about this, it doesn't sound like a prejudice. It's a concerned grandma, wondering what her grandchildren are going to be like, and being ignorant. Aunt May did have cause to dislike the woman...Anna Maria does the worst possible thing you can do to Aunt May, which is to serve wheat cakes. She uses Aunt May's recipe and improves on them.
He also found it relieving that Peter's mind was taken over by Otto Octavius, as he felt that the character was more open-minded than Peter:
With Anna Maria, it was fun to have this character who never knew Peter. And you quickly see that the things that she likes are Otto...You look at Otto, and he really sees people for who they are inside, and everyone he has chosen to love and be with, there's something very neat about that.[1]
Anna Maria Marconi is a young woman withdwarfism who attendsEmpire State University. At the time when his mind was in Peter Parker's body,Doctor Octopus visits her to become a physics teacher and earn his doctorate. The two share great admiration for each other and the next day, Otto pulls a brutal prank on a group of bullies.[2] The two set up a date together that ends with Otto saving Anna Maria fromdry ice and kissing her.[3][4][5] However, she too falls under the same worry umbrella as many of Peter's friends and family due to his frequent absences.[6][7] Later, Anna Maria accepts Otto's offer to join Parker Industries and afterwards, successfully helps him earn his doctorate.[8]
Anna Maria eventually meetsAunt May who despite her friendliness, causes some concern when she asks about her height. She later confides in Otto that she feels that their evening together was her fault because she had hurt the relationship between him and May.[9] During the events ofGoblin Nation, Anna Maria was kidnapped by theMenace who had deduced that Peter was really Otto.Norman Osborn as theGoblin King held her hostage to lure hisSuperior Spider-Man form out. However, Otto had given up his mind and let Peter take back control of Spider-Man and he successfully rescued Anna Maria.[10] She reveals to Peter that she had deduced that he was Spider-Man and that he planned on proposing to her, but is shocked to learn that Otto Octavius was the one she was in love with.[11][12] After baking him cookies, she leaves to clear her head. She soon meets back up with Peter at Parker Industries to help him with some of Otto's work and continues to help Peter on a platonic basis.[13]
Anna Maria still continues to worry for Peter, not necessarily due to his safety, but because his absences have caused some to lose faith in the company. To remedy this problem, Peter promotes Anna Maria to ensure safety with the company.[14] At the time when Aunt May asked Peter and Anna Maria if they are coming over for dinner, Anna called up Peter when he as Spider-Man was fightingIguana at the Central Park Zoo.[15] Anna Maria also patches up her past conflict with May, who until recently did not know that she and Peter had broken up. It is also revealed that she andSajani Jaffrey, a co-worker at Parker Industries, have been working on nano-tech research, mostly due to Sajani feeling that Peter keeps too many secrets to himself.[16] Anna Maria is later sent to work at Parker Industries' European Division under Sajani. Unbeknownst to Anna Maria, Sajani had infused theLiving Brain with the consciousness of Otto Octavius, causing the robot to act clingy around her.[17] Later, she gets Sajani's position after she is fired by Peter for conspiring against him.[18]
Since then, Anna Maria and Living Brain have been acting as something akin to Spider-Man's sidekicks, helping him whenever he needs them.[19] Slowly, Living Brain's Otto Octavius persona becomes more active as he grows jealous of Peter and fellow subordinate Aiden Blain's closeness to Anna Maria. Otto soon enacts his plan by getting rid of Aiden and then pretending to be faulty by attacking Peter.[20]
In "Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy", Anna Maria helps Peter battleJackal, who is actuallyBen Reilly. When Horizon University is attacked byRhino andElectro, they retrieveGwen Stacy's clone andKaine Parker. Anna Maria is brought into the lab and becomes uncomfortable when Doctor Octopus starts appealing toward his love interest. When Spider-Man makes it to the lab amongst the clones starting to break down, Anna Maria tells him that she has invented an inverse frequency that can fix most of the problem. Doctor Octopus fights Jackal to allow Peter and Anna Maria the time to transmit the frequency. After the frequency is broadcast, Peter and Anna check the building and see that Jackal, Doctor Octopus, and Gwen Stacy have been reduced to dust. Anna notes that the "Proto Clone", or "Ultimate Template", is missing. They come back to the front to check on Kaine andSpider-Woman's status.[21]
At the conclusion of the "Go Down Swinging" storyline, Anna Maria is present at Horizon University where a clean-slated Superior Octopus, under the alias of Elliot Tolliver, applies for a job. Anna Maria acts suspicious around him.[22]
In the "Spider-Geddon" storyline, Anna Maria encounters Elliot Tolliver.[23] After discovering that Elliot is Otto Octavius, she lets him leave to battleTerrax, and helps him absorb some of Terrax's cosmic powers. After Superior Spider-Man defeats Terrax, Anna takes him to the medical room at Horizon University and helps him remain a hero.[24][25][26]
Anna then tries to understand why Elliot left during a ceremony, where he was being given the key to the city by the mayor for his heroic actions during "The War of the Realms" storyline. When a news report reveals that Superior Spider-Man is Otto Octavius, Anna, along with Emma andMax Modell, helps him investigate who spread the news. They later discover that the alternate version of Norman Osborn from Earth-44145 was responsible for the leak until Norman appears at the lab and attacks Elliot, destroying the lab in the process. Superior Spider-Man then summonsMephisto to restore his body.[27]
When Superior Spider-Man is sent to the year 2099, he encounters Gabriel O'Hara, the brother of Miguel O'Hara /Spider-Man 2099. To contact Miguel and return to his proper time, Gabriel and Superior Spider-Man create an A.I. named Anna, who is based on Anna Maria Marconi.[28][29]
Hamza Jaka, a comic book fan and disability rights advocate, praised Anna Maria Marconi's confident personality, which averted the trend of characters with disabilities solely existing to be inspirational.[30]
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