SPIDER-GIRL

BIOGRAPHY

This mutant/human/animal hybrid was created by the Spider-Man foe, Miles Warren, also known as the Jackal. A brilliant geneticist in his own right, Warren managed to find one of Mr. Sinister's laboratories and stole some technology and stored mutant DNA. Warren had an obsession with Spider-Man's late love, Gwen Stacy, and often cloned her. He decided to cross her DNA with that of a spider and two mutants, Cyclops (Scott Summers) and Spider-Queen (Adriana Soria), another Spider-Man villain. Through unknown means, “Spider-Girl” escapes. As she had no memories, she was panicked, confused and, in her fear, started to terrorize Manhattan. Thanks to the combined effort of the “Superior” Spider-Man and a group of X-Men, she was knocked out and brought back to the Jean Grey School for Gifted Youngsters for enrollment. [Avenging Spider-Man #16]

[Note: Beast claimed that Spider-Girl was not a mutant because she had three different types of DNA: mutant, human and animal. This seemed odd, as all mutants have human DNA, as they are descended from them, and having mutant DNA would not negate her also being part animal?]

For undisclosed reasons, “Spider-Girl” (now going by “Gwen Warren”) was kicked out of the Jean Grey School for Gifted Youngsters. As being a mutant hadn't worked out for her, Gwen opted to try and live as a “human” this time. She got a job in a restaurant in Los Angeles that catered Krakoan/human fusion meals, though even she wasn't sure exactly what that meant. She was living with some of the other servers in an apartment when she was targeted by Nature Girl.

Nature Girl was a former student of the X-Men but she had recently been corrupted and become an Eco-terrorist. She thought Gwen would be a kindred spirit, due to her animal nature, and attacked her apartment, terrifying Gwen and her roommates until she erupted in her spider form and destroyed the building. Nature Girl immediately tried to manipulate Gwen into joining her militia “X-Men Green.” She communicated with her telepathically and told her that she would give her a family, a home, that she would not reject her like the X-Men had. Lonely and desperate, Gwen accepted Nature Girl's offer. Nature Girl also promised Gwen revenge down the line, assuming at this point it was something that Gwen would also want. [X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #69]

[Note: Nature Girl claimed that Gwen was “hot gossip” in the school, due to her genetically engineered nature and considered “difficult” by the faculty. However, given that Nature Girl was actively attempting to manipulate Gwen at this point, her commentary has to be taken with a grain of salt.] 

Gwen very quickly found herself in opposition to Nature Girl. At their first mission together in Syracruse, New York, Nature Girl instructed another member of group, Armageddon Man, to contaminate a lake and make it deadly to humans. Gwen didn't understand this. The lake had at one point been very polluted but now the humans were trying to repair the damage; didn't that count for anything? To Gwen it did, but not to Nature Girl. To her, there was no forgiveness or redemption. Gwen didn't want to be angry anymore, but she believed Nature Girl actually did. At her core, all Gwen wanted was acceptance and community and that need eclipsed any urge to punish those who had hurt her. Nature Girl feigned empathy and told Gwen how sweet she was but that punishment was a requirement to achieving their shared goal. Still, Gwen's loyalty being this fragile resulted in Nature Girl agreeing they would target no more lakes and move on to Hordeculture.  [X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #70]

Hordeculture were a group of “evil” botanists whom Nature Girl considered responsible for the death of her friend, Curse. Curse had an unfortunate mutant power to corrupt those around her and was accidentally responsible for Nature Girl's new, despotic personality. Despite this, Nature Girl still grieved her death and sought vengeance. Nature Girl led her troops, Gwen and Armageddon Man, to the Substratum, the underwater base of Hordeculture. Their enemies were expecting them and a vicious battle took place. Throughout the stand-off, the women of Hordeculture tried to warn Gwen of Nature Girl's cruel personality. Armageddon Man was incredibly powerful and, as the battle raged, Nature Girl encouraged him to lash out. Fearing the worst, Hordeculture shot him with the “genus compound,” which regressed him, turning him human. Gwen ran to his side to make sure he was okay. Nature Girl was still pontificating, so she didn't notice one of Hordeculture prepare to open fire on her next. Armageddon Man jumped in front of the blast to protect her, but the second shot turned him into a kind of extinct lemur. The whole incident temporarily bonded Gwen to Nature Girl, who was equally furious about what had been done to Armageddon Man. Hordeculture and X-Men Green narrowly managed to escape just before the undersea base flooded. [X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #71-73]

Gwen and Nature Girl relocated to San Marco to plot their next move. They took Armageddon man with them, despite his “lemur” status. Nature Girl had stolen the “Genus Compound” and planned to unleash it globally. Gwen was not onboard with this plan and thought they should destroy it. Nature Girl, however, would not be convinced. She was sure she was correct and all sentient life needed to be purged, except of course for her and Gwen. As the debate became more heated and Gwen accused Nature Girl of simply using her, they were interrupted by Eye-Boy a former close friend of Nature Girl. [X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #86]

Eye-Boy had tracked them down and pleaded with Nature Girl that she was on the verge of committing a genocide. He also mentioned Curse corrupting Nature Girl inadvertently, a fact of which Gwen had been unaware to this point. Eye-Boy failed to convince Nature Girl, who ripped his arm off, killing him. Gwen was horrified and again tried to reason with Nature Girl not to unleash the compound, failing again. Realizing she was simply in over her head, she made the decision to deactivate her own, personal psi-inhibitor, which was the only thing preventing the X-Men from finding her. [X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #87]

They traveled to Niagara Falls, New York to unleash the compound, where Gwen again tried to argue with Nature Girl but again it was to no avail. Nature Girl had dragonflies drop the “genus compound” on the unsuspecting townspeople. Before she could delight in her victory too much, the X-Men appeared on the scene and Jean Grey telekinetically detonated Nature Girl's swarm. It didn't take long for Nature Girl to realized that Gwen had taken off her inhibitor and therefore tipped off the X-Men. She was furious but so was Gwen now. She recounted ad-nauseum how, time after time, she had tried to talk Nature Girl out of her actions and how she just wouldn't listen. Gwen went into her animal form and tried to attack Nature Girl but was unable to do so, due to Nature Girl's ability to control all animal life. The X-Men tried to contain Nature Girl but she evolved and accessed a previously unseen power level. Armageddon Man was killed by Nature Girl's powers, as energy swarmed around her, much to Gwen's despair. [X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #88]

As Nature Girl (now going by Armageddon Girl) was fighting the X-Men and destroying Niagara Falls, Gwen met Magik for the first time. Magik felt an immediate kinship with Gwen, as she herself was an outsider. She offered Gwen mentorship going forward. [X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #89] Spider-Girl and Magik joined up with Jean Grey. At this point, Armageddon Girl had killed at least two X-Men, so a decision was made that she was beyond saving. As they made plans to send Nature Girl to an alternate dimension, Gwen took the opportunity to thank Nature Girl. She had saved her from her despair, at least in their initial meeting, and she was glad they had met, despite this bleak end. Just as the X-Men were about deliver their punishment, Armageddon Girl disappeared into the ground. [X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #90]

Gwen went back with the X-Men to Krakoa and watched asunset with Jean Grey and Magik. They were both apologetic for what happened at the Jean Grey School for Gifted Youngsters. Magik, in particular, pledged to give Gwen a home. Gwen also finally found out her lineage and knowing she had a blood tie to Cyclops made her feel more a part of the X-Men's extended family. [X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #90] Unfortunately, this respite was short-lived, as Krakoa fell during an Orchis attack during the third Hellfire Gala. Gwen was one of the lucky ones and managed to escape. She found sanctuary in the Limbo Embassy in New York ruled by Jean Grey's clone, Madelyne Pryor. She was greeted on arrival by Zero, who described her as “gross” and that she was going to love it there. Hopefully, he was right. [Dark X-Men (2nd series) #5]