The Origin of Julia Carpenter, The Second Spider-Woman

hey Heroes welcome to another avenging episode of history of the Marvel Universe this channel is sponsored in part by patreon supporters if you would like to contribute and vote in monthly polls then you can sign up for an amount of your choosing over at patreon.com Mar marvelite the link is in the description below along with other places you can find me today's Story begins with a woman named Julia Cornwall who was born in Los Angeles California two parents Walter and Elizabeth she grew up and attended College where she met a woman named Valerie Cooper Julia was an undergraduate at the time while Cooper was earning her PhD in Psychology somewhere around this time Julia also met a man named a Larry Carpenter and the two started a dating she ultimately decided to drop out of her own courses so that she could work and support Larry the two also married and had a daughter named Rachel and thus Julia cornwal became Julia Carpenter however after college Larry went into PR work during which time the couple began to have marital troubles and Larry cheated on his wife with multiple other women 5 years after Rachel was born Julia divorced Larry and one custody of their daughter at some point moving to Denver Colorado but now let's turn our attention to Julia's old college friend Dr Valerie Cooper in the years since the two had last seen each other Cooper had become a member of the government's Commission on superhuman activities or CSA which reported directly to the president of the United States while serving as the acting head of the CSA Cooper sought to create superhuman agents that could be directed and controlled by the US government the trio of scientists that she employed for this project were the world-renowned Dr Carter Napier the indigenous Peruvian Dr Sylvia yaka and the Japanese grad student Hashi Noto there were already notable examples of a person being infused with the powers of a spider and made superhuman and so they turned their attention towards developing a similar process for this program they partnered with a company called Thompson biochemical Industries or TBI meanwhile Julia's parents Walter and Elizabeth Cornwall worked as jungle guides in Peru and and ran to the survival style Resort jungle Rama Lodge and it just so happens that when CSA scientists Dr yaka and Hashi Noto traveled to the Peruvian Amazon to collect certain plants and spider venom for their research they hired the corn walls to assist them soon Dr Napier was on the verge of a breakthrough but he required an adequate test subject it seems that the Stars had aligned for Valerie Cooper for not not only did she remember Julia as being smart discreet and reasonably athletic but from the corn walls she'd learned that she was divorced and in need of money Cooper visited Julia in Denver making an excuse about having a lay over there while assessing Julia's physical candidacy while meeting under the pretense of catching up over dinner Cooper offered Julia a job back in Washington Julia agreed to take part in a study which tested the effects of various kinds of exercise and met the scientists in Cooper's employe she also received a series of injections unaware that she was being given Dr Napier's spider serum she'd always been afraid of needles but Julia believed what Valerie had told her and Dr Napier seemed trustworthy as well behind the scenes Napier was hesitant about human testing at this stage concerned about potential side effects however Cooper coerced him into continuing increasing the dosage of each injection when forced to choose between his career and his principles Napier gave Julia a dosage of his serum that was just short of fatal Julia passed out and when she awakened she was told that there was a mixup and that she had accidentally been given an injection of dangerous spider venom she struck the wall in frustration regarding this alleged accident only to find that her strength had increased drug atically the scientists feigned shock each one attempting to take responsibility for what happened ultimately convincing her to submit to further testing she displayed abilities comparable to those of Spider-Man allowing her to lift over 10 tons this also gave her the power to leap over 30 ft directly into the air and of course she was able to cling to walls and crawl across sheer surfaces like a spider however a unique aspect of Julia's mutation was her ability to generate a web purely out of psionic energy the next day she was given a costume and agreed to serve as a masked government operative Cod named Spiderwoman she would have preferred the name Arachne or ariadne but Cooper insisted on one that was more media friendly it should be noted that there was another Spider Woman before this but during this time she was inactive for unrelated reasons Julia returned to Colorado making her initial debut as a local hero and defeating the likes of the rampaging manb it was only days later that her life would be uprooted in a most literal fashion as the entire Denver suburb where she lived was ripped from the planet Earth the one responsible for this was the beyonder a being that we've mentioned on the channel many times before for a more in-depth explanation of who and what he is please refer to my video about Owen Reese the molecule man the important thing for today is that he is an extremely powerful extradimensional entity who staged a secret war between earth's greatest heroes and villains to this end he created a patchwork Planet at the edge of the universe constructed from pieces of other worlds Julia Carpenter just so happened to be on the piece of the earth that was taken and did her best to keep the rest of the suburbs inhabitants safe while their home became part of battle world when the dust settled she set out in search of answers and ended up finding a number of other Heroes they compared what they knew and Julia fought alongside the Avengers and other heroes in the first secret War she soon proved herself by single-handedly defeating an experienced super villain the absorbing man it was also during this time that she met the original arachnid superhero Spider-Man and in fact when he obtained an alien costume on Battle World it ended up resembling Julia's Spiderwoman attire possibly being subconsciously influenced by it in any event the war eventually came to an end the Denver suburb was returned to Earth by the molecule man and the heroes soon followed after all of that Valerie Cooper assigned Julia to Freedom Force a government sponsored super team primarily consisting of mutant former criminals she had moved to Washington with her daughter but the vagueness regarding her new job left her ex-husband Larry frustrated Julia was subsequently a part of Freedom Force when they were sent to apprehend the ex-men who were considered Outlaws at the time funnily enough during this incident Julia briefly encountered the X-Men's Ally Jessica Drew not realizing that she was the previous Spiderwoman not long after that Freedom Force was tasked with apprehen attending the mutant fugitive Rusty Collins Spiderwoman succeeded in Catching him in her sigh web but he was freed by another mutant Sally bevens better known as skids the situation culminated in a confrontation with the original 5 X-Men who at the time were calling themselves the exterminators Julia began questioning her place on the team as she grew increasingly uncomfortable with the ruthless attitudes of the former villains she worked with the things started coming to a head when the Freedom Force was sent to apprehend The Avengers on trumped up treason charges in the ensuing battle a conflicted Julia secretly hoped The Avengers would Escape however she felt like she had little choice but to help defeat them when ordered into the fight the heroes were locked up in Colorado's newly constructed superhuman prison the Vault unwilling to let this happen Julia infiltrated to the prison and helped the Avengers Escape as a result Spiderwoman became a fugitive although her true identity remained a secret to anyone outside the CSA making matters worse in the midst of all of this her ex-husband Larry was suing for custody of their daughter Rachel after the Avengers were exonerated of their alleged wrongdoing Valerie Cooper asked Iron Man to apprehend Spiderwoman he of course had no desire to help Cooper but she offered leniency if Spiderwoman returned willingly and also pointed out that if he didn't do it then Freedom Force would be sent meanwhile Julia used her powers to prevent a pair of Steel girders from falling onto a crowded Street Iron Man was able to track the residual energy of her s webs and told her about Cooper's offer Spiderwoman in turn told Iron Man about her daughter and asked him to help her escape with Rachel and start a new life elsewhere before anything could be done however Spiderwoman was attacked by a group of mercenaries called The Seekers the two Heroes fought off the mercs but Iron Man was left convinced that surrendering to the CSA was spider woman's best option however with Julia still unsure he let her make the final decision providing her with stealth technology that would allow her to see her daughter in Larry's home she was tempted to take her but upon witnessing Rachel sleeping peacefully she realized that Iron Man was right and left her there Julia returned to Valerie Cooper although the csa's new offer was far from ideal To The World At Large Spiderwoman would still be regarded as a criminal but she'd secretly be working as a covert operative seeing little choice in the matter Julia reluctantly agreed and met her new supervisor Mike Clemson wishing only to see her daughter again she embarked on missions for the CSA one of which pitted her against the wrecker alongside Spider-Man that confrontation ended when Spiderwoman gave the wrecker a letter written by his recently deceased mother meanwhile Clemson tormented and berated at Julia secretly harboring a grudge against her and her father you see in his younger days Mike Clemson was in love with Julia's Mother Elizabeth wesselman however she of course instead married Walter Cornwall remaining jilted and bitter for decades he took out his frustrations on Julia any way he could he also worked for a subversive government organization known as the conclave but we'll come back around to that point later in the meantime Larry gained full custody of Rachel and moved to California but Cooper approved Julia's request to relocate there as well and while there she stumbled upon members of a criminal organization known as the Pacific overlords unable to defeat them alone she reunited with Iron Man Who at the time was a member of The Avengers West Coast Division she aided the team in their investigation and battled against the volcano goddess P taking this opportunity to accuse Spiderwoman of going rogue Clemson sent another operative us agent to eliminate her however the agent found himself unable to kill her In Cold Blood and Julia explained the situation a former member of the West Coast Avengers himself agent joined Julia and the others in battle against the Pacific overlords and their villainous Master Dr demonicus in the aftermath of that us agent rejoined the team and Spiderwoman was officially made an Avenger as well this effectively ended her time as a fugitive and allowed her to meet another superhero parent Susan storm of the Fantastic 4 when the West Coast Avengers and FF planned a vacation to a new amusement park Julia decided to bring Rachel she initially hid her dual identity But ultimately unmasked and told her young daughter the truth Rachel actually recognized her even in costume but Julia's honesty brought them closer together her duties as an Avenger still sometimes came between them and while Rachel at least knew why it was still upsetting when she couldn't see her mother meanwhile fellow Avenger Hawkeye was flirtatious towards Julia while he was separated from his own wife Mockingbird although Julia never really noticed until it was pointed out by Iron Man and living lightning while Spiderwoman operated as an Avenger the subversive organization known as the conclave plotted from behind the scenes one of their operatives was the owner of Thompson biochemical Industries Ferell J Thompson better known as the manipulator he sought out Dr Napier the CSA scientist chiefly responsible for the serum that empowered Julia Carpenter and bribed him into producing more spider powerered operatives their first new test subject was a maintenance worker Theo Davos who was injected with an ionically charged version of Napier's serum as a result he grew into a lerge six armed creature dubbed theak needing more subjects the manipulator convinced Napier's Associates sylvi yaka and Hashi Noto to take the serum as well the formula also affected them differently with yaka gaining the ability to project toxic webbing from her wrists although doing so was painful Noto meanwhile gained a form of teleportation which they referred to as his trap door power using this ability caused him a considerable amount of pain forcing him to wear a suit of armor designed to mitigate it he took the name anro while yaka also wearing gear to minimize the pain while using her toxic webs became became Arachne theak anro and Arachne were collectively referred to as death web and reported directly to the manipulator true to his name the manipulator forced death web into servitude by including a deadly toxin in their spider serum injections leaving them dependent on regular doses of an antitoxin that only he could provide during this time the manipulator and his Masters the conclave sought to gain more political power by secretly influen incing the Liberty party which was gaining enough traction to challenge the Democrats and Republicans in the next presidential election and so death web's first recorded mission was to assassinate people who knew about the party's ties to organized crime complicating matters further this occurred just after Larry Carpenter was hired to do public relations work for the Liberty party turning our attention back to Julia while her fugitive days were over she still had ties to the CSA and was called to check in with her supervisor Mike Clemson however with Larry busy dealing with the Fallout from the murders and their alleged connections to the Liberty party Julia was looking after Rachel at the time Julia told her daughter to wait in the C but when Rachel didn't listen and started striking the man for Bering her mother Clemson lost his patience and shoved the little girl back this was the final straw for Julia who threw Clemson to the ground and declared that she would no longer longer be working for him or the CSA meanwhile death web's assassinations put them in conflict with the West Coast Avengers and Spider-Man things only got more complicated from there with death web taking Rachel Carpenter hostage Julia went back to Clemson hoping to get help from the CSA but he was betrayed by the manipulator and ultimately exposed as a conclave double agent Spider-Man followed her but with Rachel held captive the manipulator forced spider Spider Woman to attack him although rather than see this through the villains took their opportunity to escape allowing the spider Heroes to rescue Rachel in the wake of this Julia revealed her secret identity to Larry who was Furious and threatened to get her visitation rates revoked meanwhile death web emerged again and publicly killed the Liberty Party's presidential candidate Michael Galvin they were defeated by The Avengers and arrested while RNE presumably going against the wishes of her superiors revealed that they' been ordered not to harm the vice presidential candidate Wilson Lambert it's unconfirmed whether Lambert had any knowledge of the conclaves actions but the resulting Scandal cratered his political career along with the Liberty party in general meanwhile the manipulator made another attempt to abduct Rachel but this time Larry protected her Spiderwoman and Spiderman arrived in time to save Rachel but Larry had already been fatally wounded paramedics rushed onto the scene but it was already too late and Julia held her ex-husband as he passed she subsequently regained full custody of Rachel and the pair moved into the Avengers West Coast compound that ended up being shortlived as not long after the compound was attacked by the insane killer robot Ultron after that Julia and Rachel moved back to Newport Beach joined by The Avengers housekeeper canuela Sanchez who agreed to work as a live-in nanny in addition to her Avengers duties Spiderwoman also worked with Doctor Strange's secret Defenders and befriended the young hero darkhawk with allies supporting her Julia began balancing her superhero work and her life as a single mother then one day the manipulator resurfaced and having broken away from the conclave freed death web from prison meanwhile Valerie Cooper deduced where death web had come from and forced Napier to reveal what he'd done of course the manipulator had promised to kill Napier if he' talked and sent death web member theak to follow through on that theak was also sent to abduct Walter and Elizabeth Cornwall leading to another confrontation with Spiderwoman remember the corn walls were the jungle guides hired by CSA scientists while Gathering materials for Napier's original Spider serum and as a result of this incident they finally learned that their daughter was Spiderwoman while the corn walls took Rachel back to Peru to lay low Julia confronted Valerie Cooper and learned the full story of her origin as well as who death web really were however she also learned that the manipulator planned to force her parents to help him find more materials to increase death web's power and realized that by sending them back to Peru she'd placed them directly in herm's way and indeed by taking Rachel hostage once again he was able to get exactly what he wanted using an Avengers quinjet Julia traveled to South America and tried to intervene however fighting alone against all three members of death web she was defeated and used as a test subject at a hidden lab in the Mojave having no further need for them the manipulator abandoned the Cor walls leaving them free to escape Rachel meanwhile was brought to Thompson biochemical industries in Silicon Valley and cleverly conveyed this information to her mother while the manipulator gloated via hologram Spiderwoman ultimately Broke Free from her bonds and soon was aided by a very unlikely Ally Mike Clemson who had a grudge against the manipulator since his schemes cost him his job in the CSA was willing to put aside his enmity with Julia to strike at their Mutual Foe and so with help from the conclave Julia traveled to Thompson biochemical Industries to confront the manipulator and rescue Rachel now the manipulator did indeed succeed in increasing the powers of death web albeit temporarily however they were unable to control their enhanced abilities and were quickly defeated in the end theak turned on his master for everything he had done and the manipulator Was Defeated once and for all when the proper authorities arrived he was exposed as TBI owner Ferell Thompson and arrested along with deathweb while many conclave troops were defeated in the battle Clemson himself escaped although Julia never saw him again he later resurfaced and plotted against the supernatural vigilante known as Vengeance but that's another story entirely Julia meanwhile continued operating a Spiderwoman but soon The Avengers voted to disband their West Coast Division the senior Avengers offered to keep Spiderwoman on as a reserve member but she decided to follow Iron Man's lead and joined a new group he was forming Force works now there is more we could cover when it comes to Julia Carpenter not least of which being her taking up the mantle of Madame web so perhaps we'll come back to this subject another day there are more spy women to talk about as well so you guys will have to let me know what you want to hear more about in the comments Below in the meantime thank you so much for watching this video If you enjoyed it be sure to leave a like subscribe to the channel and share it on your favorite social media as always the issues referenced in this video are listed in the description below if you would like to read them for yourself as well as links to other places you can find me including my patreon page where for only a dollar a month you can get your these special thanks here and voting polls that help decide what topics get covered on the channel so until next time True Believers exelor

Channel: MerryMarvelite

Views: 30,199

Keywords:

Id: mfYO22G5sds

Length: 23min 20sec (1400 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 10 2024