| Anya Corazon Araña | |
|---|---|
_1cover.jpg) Anya Corazon as seen on the textless cover ofSpider-Girl #1 (January 2011). Art byBarry Kitson andChris Sotomayor. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | As Anya Corazon: Amazing Fantasy #1 (August 2004) As Araña: Amazing Fantasy #2 (September 2004) As Spider-Girl: Young Allies #5 (October 2010) |
| Created by | |
| In-story information | |
| Species | Human mutate |
| Place of origin | Brooklyn,New York City |
| Team affiliations |
|
| Partnerships | Ms. Marvel Spider-Man Spider-Woman |
| Notable aliases | Spider-Girl, Araña, Arañita, the Hunter |
| Abilities |
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Aña "Anya"Sofia Corazón (surname alternatively shown without diacritic,Corazon, over the years) is asuperhero appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. Created by Marvel editor-in-chiefJoe Quesada, writerFiona Avery, and artistMark Brooks,[1] the character made her first appearance inAmazing Fantasy #1 (August 2004). She is theLatina daughter of aPuerto Rican father and aMexican mother. Corazón was the first Marvel character to adopt the identityAraña (Spider), before becomingSpider-Girl (Young Allies #5, October 2010). She is the third Spider-Girl published by Marvel, and the first to appear in themainstream Marvel universe.
Anya Corazón / Spider-Girl made her cinematic debut in the animatedSpider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), and is played byIsabela Merced inSony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) filmMadame Web (2024).
Anya Corazon was created byMarvel Comics editor-in-chiefJoe Quesada, writerFiona Avery, and artistMark Brooks, and is based on ideasJ. Michael Straczynski used in his run onThe Amazing Spider-Man. Araña was the star ofthe resurrected comic book seriesAmazing Fantasy, launched in 2004.[2] After her storyline ended inAmazing Fantasy #6, she appeared in her own twelve issue seriesAraña: The Heart of the Spider, starting in March 2005 as part ofMarvel Next. The character next appeared in theMs. Marvel title as a recruit for service as a licensed superhero under theSuperhuman Registration Act.
She next appears teaming up withNomad to fight the secret empire in a backup story inCaptain America #602-605. Chronologically, her next appearance was during the "Grim Hunt" storyline inThe Amazing Spider-Man; however, her appearance in the newYoung Allies series was published first.
As the new Spider-Girl, she starred in a monthlySpider-Girl comic that debuted on November 17, 2010[3] as a tie-in to the "Big Time" storyline inThe Amazing Spider-Man.[4] With the change of moniker to Spider-Girl, she's the second published character to adopt the "Spider-Girl" alter-ego, but she actually comes prior to thefirst character in the chronology of theMarvel Universe. It was announced concurrently with the announcement of the series' cancellation that Anya would be receiving a new mini-series as part of theSpider-Islandcrossover.[5] The first issue of the mini-series was released one month after the final issue of the cancelled series, and one month after the mini-series ended Anya appeared in one issue ofAvengers Academy.[6]
Anya was one of the main characters in Marvel'sSpider-Verse event, which led to a spinoff miniseries inSecret Wars, which she was also included in. She was one of the stars in the team comicWeb Warriors as a part ofAll-New, All-Different Marvel.[7]
On her first day at Milton SummersHigh School inFort Greene, Brooklyn, Anya is friends with classmate Lynn Sakura. She is later caught in a skirmish between two mystical clans, the Spider Society and the Sisterhood of the Wasp, and is mortally wounded. To save her life, the mage Miguel Legar from the Spider Society performs a ritual on her by giving her a spider-shaped tattoo that endows her with spider-like powers, and recruits her to be a Hunter for the Spider Society. WebCorps operatives Nina Smith and Ted Mankowski offer her various costumes, but she decides to make her own costume. She designs a costume as "Araña" with red and blue sneakers, blue track pants, red backpack, red gloves with many pockets, and large yellow-lensed goggles. As part of her powers, an insectoid exoskeleton covers most of her body with a bug-like bluish skin. In place of equipment like web-shooters or spider tracers, Anya created her own modified bolas out of discs that are about the size of her palm and have eight red legs able to grip objects. Anya fights a Hunter from The Sisterhood of the Wasp, adversaries of the Spider Society.[8]
While interrogating a spy for the Sisterhood of the Wasp, Anya and Miguel discover that the Sisterhood of the Wasp has recruited a fifteen-year-old boy codenamed Amun, a descendant of Egyptian assassins who believes the boy is skilled enough to not need to conceal his own identity. Anya soon meets Amun who has enrolled at her school under the name Jon Kasiya. The two soon deduce each other's dual identities. Later, during a fight with Anya, Miguel, and the Sisterhood of the Wasp, Amun tells her that Amun will attack her loved ones if she opposes. Noting her fatherGil Corazon is filming the fight, Anya takes Gil to safety. In her absence, Amun seriously wounds Miguel. The encounter leaves Anya doubting her duty due to the danger it poses to her loved ones. However, in a chance encounter,Spider-Man arrives and, after discussing her origins and adventures, tells her, "With great power comes great responsibility" and that in every age, people are called to be heroes. Soon afterward, Anya fights Amun and, in anger, nearly strangles Amun to death. She is stopped and Amun runs. She learns she had released "the Spirit of the Hunter" and warned not to do it again without Miguel with her. Back at WebCorps, Miguel is revived upon being reunited with Anya, and Miguel tells her the organization's history that would eventually split into Wasps and Spiders. After an encounter with a gunman in a coffee shop, in which Anya saves Lynn and Amun without revealing hersecret identity, Amun promises to respect her double life and to stop targeting her friends and family.[9]
The Sisterhood of the Wasp recruits Jaime Jade, a Mexican crime lord who has mental abilities that allows to hypnotize other people and was involved in the death of her mother Sofia Corazon. Miguel stops Anya from going after Jade alone with the promise that Anya can punish Jade afterwards. Anya and Amun develop a loose truce because Amun has lost his father as well, so he checks into Jade's possible involvement in Sofia's death. Jade hypnotizes Anya into fighting Miguel, but she eventually breaks free of the control and knocks Jade out. When Jade wakes up, the car Jade is in is suspended by a rope over the river. Jade thinks she's bluffing, saying "Little miss super hero won't want my death on her conscience." to which she replies "No, my conscience feels fine," and lets go of the rope. Amun arrives too late, but Anya reluctantly dives into the water to save Jade but the crime lord has already escaped.[10]
In theone-shotSpider-Man/Araña: the Hunter Revealed, she discovers that her exoskeleton is not an ability from being a Hunter, and she has in fact never been a true Hunter. While facing a gigantic monster summoned by the Wasps, she grants her Hunter abilities to Nina and renounces Webcorps. After Miguel is killed saving Nina from the Wasps' hunter, Nina is Webcorps' chosen champion, and Anya is free to pursue a new fate.[11]
Thepro-registration heroes have taskedCarol Danvers andWonder Man to find Anya, convince her to register, and train her. After foiling an attempted robbery, Anya and her father are taken into custody where Gil learns of Anya's superpowers. Gil is proud to let her train with Ms. Marvel and Wonder Man. Anya's training will essentially comprise her accompanying Wonder Man and Ms. Marvel on missions and playing "sidekick" to the two. Anya accompanies the two toStark Tower, where she forces herself into a meeting withIron Man, and then on a mission to capture theShroud andArachne. Arachne escapes, but the Shroud is captured and taken intoS.H.I.E.L.D. custody.[12] A strike team led by Ms. Marvel and Wonder Man arrives at the home of Arachne's parents to take into custody.[13] After a battle between the heroes, Arachne is arrested and her daughter Rachel Carpenter forcibly separated. Anya is deeply shaken by the ordeal and states that if being a hero means separating a mother from her child, she wants no part of it. However, she remains part of the pro-Registration strikeforce.[14]
Before a battle withDoomsday Man, Ms. Marvel asks Anya to go get help if she fails to make contact by a certain time. Eventually, Anya joins the battle, and Doomsday Man rips away her exoskeleton, severely injuring her.[15] Although she eventually recovers, her exoskeleton is gone. Gil takes out a restraining order to keep Ms. Marvel away from her, but Anya secretly visits Ms. Marvel to say she is not to blame for what happened. Soon after, Anya quits her job, and is confronted by Arachne who is enraged and demands to know Rachel's whereabouts.[16] Anya manages to subdue Arachne, but chooses to accompany Ms. Marvel and Arachne in their attempt to find Rachel, even though that means violating the restraining order her father has placed against Ms. Marvel.[17]
Anya gets into a fight with Gil for treating her like a child after Gil accuses her of seeing Ms. Marvel. She tells Gil at least Carol is showing her how to grow up. She is later captured by Chilean soldiers who deliver her to thePuppet Master; she is added to a collection of female heroes that includesStature,Dusk,Tigra, andSilverclaw.[18] During a battle with Ms. Marvel's team, Anya is partially subdued byMachine Man andSleepwalker, and resists the Puppet Master's command that she kill Ms. Marvel whom she sees as a mother figure.[19]
During the Kravinoff family's hunt for "Spiders", Anya is targeted as a sacrifice. Spider-Man, Julia,Madame Web, andKaine come to her aid. Despite their help, Anya is knocked out byAna Kravinoff,Alyosha Kravinoff, andVladimir Kravinoff. Anya is captured along with Julia and Madame Web while Kaine (who was dressed as Spider-Man) is sacrificed as part of a ritual forKraven the Hunter's resurrection.[20] Spider-Man manages to free them and she assists Spider-Man in taking down the Kravinoffs. After the experience, Julia (who received Madame Web's powers) decides to give the old Spider-Girl costume to Anya, despite the fact that Anya has no powers. She is referred to as Spider-Girl, much to her chagrin.[21][22]
Anya (still known as Araña) was next seen teaming up with the new Nomad (Rikki Barnes) to investigate theSecret Empire. Although information Araña obtained from her father turned out to be a trap, the pair nonetheless bonded, and shared secret identities.[23] Both she and Rikki join the superhero group Young Allies together.[21]
Anya joins the superhero group Young Allies along with her friend Rikki despite being depowered.[21] During the team's first storyline, Anya and Rikki are kidnapped by a team of teenaged supervillains known as theBastards of Evil. The Bastards link up a video feed of the bound and gagged heroines acrosstelevisions,computers, andcell phones throughoutNew York City, with the intent of executing the girls to build up reputations. After having the duct tape ripped from her mouth byElectro's daughter Aftershock, Anya cleverly divides the villains by informing them that Aftershock has lied about her parentage to get a spot on the Bastards. With their captors distracted, Anya and Rikki escape and ultimately defeat the Bastards once the rest of the Young Allies arrive.[24]
Anya accepts the "Spider-Girl" moniker[24] and begins operating solo, although she frequently interacts with her Young Allies teammates such as Rikki as well as Spider-Man and theInvisible Woman.[25] When Gil is killed,[26] she fights theRed Hulk who she initially believes is responsible.[27] She is eventually convinced that the Red Hulk did not kill Gil, but rather a target of the assassination attempt that also killed her father. Spider-Girl eventually is able to stop the Raven Society organization that was behind Gil's death,[28] and the intervening time shows that she made friends with Rocky Flint[27] and fought Ana Kravinoff,[29] the newHobgoblin,[30] andScrewball.[31]
Later, the Young Allies and several members of theAvengers Academy are kidnapped byArcade. Anya manages to escape, and works withReptil to rescue the remaining captives. The two teens flirt with one another, and Anya ends up giving her phone number to Reptil once Arcade is defeated.[32]
During theFear Itself storyline, Anya,X-23,Amadeus Cho,Power Man, andThunderstrike are teleported to a station in the middle of the Pacific Ocean where they fight samurai Shark Men.[33] Later, Anya and the Young Allies are almost beaten byHydro-Man until Spider-Man shows up.[34]
During theSpider-Island storyline, Anya is attacked by the Sisterhood of the Wasp. She ends up getting an unlikely ally in the Hobgoblin, who flies her to see theKingpin. When Spider-Girl asks why the Kingpin wants her help, the Kingpin reveals that the crime lord has developed Spider abilities and ended up targeted by the Sisterhood of the Wasp.[35] The Kingpin tells Spider-Girl of locating the Central Wasp Nest. Spider-Girl refuses the Kingpin's help and tries enlisting the help of the Young Allies and other heroes, but they are too preoccupied with the Spider outbreak to help. The new Madame Web approaches Spider-Girl and tells her that for better or for worse, she has to team up with her enemy. As they battle against the Society of Wasps, their queen reveals that they have developed a venom to kill all spider-powered people in Manhattan.[36] Spider-Girl, Hobgoblin, the Kingpin, and theHand fight against the Society of Wasps until Spider-Girl realizes what Madame Web really meant by teaming up with her enemy. She gets everyone fighting the Wasps to temporarily assist the Wasps in fighting the spider invasion so the spiders cannot helpAdriana Soria, allowing Spider-Man and theAvengers to defeat the Spider-Queen without being overrun by the spiders. In the aftermath, Anya retains her spider powers.[37]
Anya is part of the new class of students when theAvengers Academy moves to theWest Coast Avengers' former headquarters.[6]
During theInhumanity crossover, Anya gets help from various Avengers (Spider-Woman,[38][39]Black Widow,[38][39] theHulk,[39] andWolverine[40]) when trying to track down her social studies teacher who was kidnapped while inside an Inhuman cocoon.
During the "Spider-Verse" storyline, Spider-Girl joined Spider-Man, Spider-Woman and other spider totems from all over the multiverse to fight the Inheritors who threatened to destroy every Spider from all realities in the eventSpider-Verse.[41] Her abilities were indispensable for the Spider-Army to discover the Inheritors' plan, as her powers and relationship with the Spider Society allowed her to read their scrolls.[42]
After the Inheritors were defeated and exiled to an irradiated Earth, the spider totems proceeded to return to their respective realities. After the universe of Spider-UK was revealed to have been destroyed while he was fighting the Inheritors, he decided to stay in Loomworld, the former base of the Inheritors, and use the Web of Life and Destiny to reach out to any reality in need of a Spider-Man. Spider-Girl decided to join him to utilize her knowledge of the totems.[43]
During theSecret Wars event when all universes were destroyed and their remains formed a single planet calledBattleworld, Anya and Spider-UK found themselves in the Battleworld domain called Arachnia with no memories of how they got there.[44] They eventually discovered and teamed up with other Spider-powered people (consisting ofSpider-Woman,Spider-Ham,Spider-Man Noir, andSpider-Man: India), neither of whom remembered their previous encounter during the originalSpider-Verse.[45]
Following the conclusion ofSecret Wars the team of six Spiders that formed during the event will rename itself and feature in a new ongoing series calledWeb Warriors, a name that was coined by Peter Parker from theUltimate Spider-Man TV series during the originalSpider-Verse.[46]
During the "End of the Spider-Verse" storyline, Anya helps in the fight against Shathra. After Shathra was killed, Anya revives those who were struck by the totem dagger, which also revived the then-unknownSpider-Boy.[47]
Spider-Boy later visits the building where the Great Web of Life and Destiny is so that Anya can fix the part that has erased the universe's memories of him. After throwing outHoward the Duck, Anya, Madame Web, and Silk work to help Spider-Boy through whatever way they can. They experience a setback when Spider-Boy accidentally switches places withTakuya Yamashiro of Earth-51778. Afterwards, Anya, Madame Web, and Silk find that Spider-Boy is now lost in the Spider-Verse as he ends up on Earth-65.[48]
As Araña, she originally possessed superhuman strength (able to lift three tons), speed, stamina, reflexes/reactions, agility, coordination, balance, and endurance. Anya had the ability to cling to walls, and to sprout a spider-like exoskeleton around her body which enhanced these abilities and protected her from damage. When her exoskeleton was ripped out by Doomsday Man,[15] she retained her primary powers. Anya invented spider-like grappling hooks, which she uses to swing from buildings and as whip-like weapons, though she has found these to be harder to use since losing her abilities.[26]
WriterPaul Tobin stated In an interview withNewsarama that as Spider-Girl, the character initially lacks superpowers, but Tobin will be "staying away from having her feel crippled by any power loss; it's for sure on her mind, but Anya is a character that wants to focus on what shecan do." Tobin revealed that Anya regains her powers in the "Spider-Island" storyline.[5][49][50] TheJackal copies Spider-Man's powers into the entire non-superhuman population of New York, including Anya. Anya submits to the mass cure, but retains her copy of these powers nonetheless.[6][37]
In the line cue forWeb Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure, Anya’s locker can be spotted among others, including Peter Parker, Cassie Lang, and America Chavez.
Araña features in an arc ofRobert Kirkman'sMarvel Team-Up vol. 3 featuring a group of C-list heroes dubbed "The League of Losers". A group of heroes including Araña,Darkhawk,Dagger,Gravity,X-23,Sleepwalker, andTerror go to the future to prevent the villain Chronok from stealingReed Richards' time machine, (Chronok comes to the present after killing all of Marvel's major heroes). Araña however, dies in an explosion while the team searches for a time machine so that they can travel to the future.[51] The rest of the team succeeds however, and Chronok is defeated. Due to theMarvel Universe'smethod for resolving time travel paradoxes, this story takes place in an alternate timeline.
In theMC2 continuity, an adult version of Anya Corazon as Araña, still accompanied by Miguel (sometimes being referred to as Michael), testsSpider-Girl, then covers for her, posing as a fake seer to throw the Hobgoblin off track when he tries to find her weaknesses.[52] She later takes over Spider-Girl's body in an attempt to take down theBlack Tarantula, but the two end up trapped in each other's bodies.[53] Using Spider-Girl's body, Anya is able to get close to Black Tarantula to kiss. However, Black Tarantula, who had been kissed by Anya once before, recognizes and attacks her, using his own powers to reverse the mind-switch.[54] It is later revealed Anya and Black Tarantula have a personal history with one another, and they bond once more when the Tarantula is attacked by Spider-Girl's symbiotic clone April. As the gang war concludes, Black Tarantula agrees to give up his title as the current Kingpin of Crime and decides to marry Anya.[55]
In theWhat If? Spider-Man: Grim Hunt, an alternative possibility for the events of Grim Hunt begins with the decision of Spider-Man to kill Kraven. Araña, scarred by things that she should not have seen is transported by the new Madame Web to her residence. Later Madame Web appears in her room in the middle of the night asking Anya to be Spider-Girl. Anya refuses the proposal because she is worried that if she fights against Peter she will make the same decision he made. In the middle of the battle Madame Web teleports herself to get Araña to confront and defeat Peter. Peter ends up blinded by a shotgun he was attempting to use on her. Araña takes over as the head Spider while Peter is left permanently blinded and distant from Mary Jane.[56]
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