Mayday Parker
Spider-Girl is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She has been referred to as both Spider-Girl and Spider-Woman. The character appears in the MC2 universe. The character was created by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz as the teenage daughter of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson, and first appeared in What If #105. She later acquired her own ongoing comic book, Spider-Girl, written by DeFalco and drawn by Frenz and Pat Olliffe, which was the longest-running superhero book with a lead female character ever published by Marvel. The title was relaunched as The Amazing Spider-Girl and later The Spectacular Spider-Girl. The character would then return in a supporting role in the event series Spider-Verse, Web Warriors, Spider-Girls, Spider-Geddon, End of the Spider-Verse, and Spider-Boy, and in a starring role in the digital series Unlimited Spider-Girl.
The character made her cinematic debut in the 2023 feature film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, voiced by Michelle Ruff, with an infant Mayday depicted as the daughter of Peter B. Parker and his universe's Mary Jane Watson.
Publication history
Spider-Girl first appeared in a one-shot story in the ongoing series What If. Following positive fan response to the concept, Spider-Girl and two other series set in the same alternate future universe were launched under the MC2 imprint. Although each of these titles were slated to be 12-issue limited series, Spider-Girl initial sales justified their continuation as ongoing titles.After initial interest, Spider-Girl drew low sales. The book's active fan base convinced Marvel to revoke several cancellation announcements. Reprints of the series in digest size trade paperbacks sold well. Marvel Associate Editor Nick Lowe revealed in a Nov. 2005 interview that "Spider-Girl, for the first time, is completely safe from cancellation."
Despite Lowe's statement, Marvel announced that No. 100 would be the title's final issue. The book was relaunched as The Amazing Spider-Girl, with issue #0 appearing in Oct. 2006.
On October 11, 2008, Tom DeFalco announced that The Amazing Spider-Girl would be canceled with issue #30, though he revealed that, due to the company's love for the character, she could possibly be given a sixteen-page back-up strip in The Amazing Spider-Man Family. On November 8, 2008, Marvel EIC Joe Quesada confirmed that Spider-Girl would become a feature in the monthly anthology magazine Amazing Spider-Man Family. The series would replace the feature Mr. and Mrs. Spider-Man, written by DeFalco, which served as a prequel series to the Spider-Girl universe.
On March 18, 2009, Marvel announced that Spider-Girl would continue publication as The Spectacular Spider-Girl, a web-comic released through Marvel's Digital Comics Unlimited. The title would continue to be simultaneously published in paper form within Amazing Spider-Man Family. The Amazing Spider-Man Family #5 through No. 8 contained these Spider-Girl stories until the title's cancellation with issue #8.
The new The Spectacular Spider-Girl stories were then contained in Web of Spider-Man. This lasted for seven issues, completing the storyline Who Killed Gwen Reilly?, before being moved to its own four-issue limited series, Spectacular Spider-Girl, which tied up most of the series plot threads. This was followed by one last Spider-Girl tale, Spider-Girl: The End, collected as Spider-Girl: The Last Stand.
Mayday and her family were reintroduced, as part of the Spider-Verse crossover event, in the eighth issue of the third volume of The Amazing Spider-Man, which was the first story with Mayday to be written by Dan Slott, the first time a fully-grown Mayday appeared in the pages of her father's flagship title, and the first story to highlight the "Spider-Marriage" in the regular comics since 2007's controversial One More Day.
She appeared again, handled by the original creative team, in July 2015 as part of Marvel's Secret Wars event, serving as a backup story in Christos Gage's Spider-Island. She also returned for the sequel event to Spider-Verse, Spider-Geddon. Shortly after her father reunited with her family in End of the Spider-Verse, Mayday reverted back to her original Spider-Girl codename. In November 2022, a new serialized adventure starring Mayday was launched on the Marvel Unlimited Infinity Comics app, Unlimited Spider-Girl, with the story penned by Stephanie Williams. She and her family also returned in the 2025 graphic novel Spider-Boy: The Dragon's Challenge, Mayday and her father both active as Spider-Girl and Spider-Man at the same time.
Fictional character biography
May "Mayday" Parker is the daughter of Peter and Mary Jane Parker and the great-niece of Aunt May in the future, alternate universe continuity. Peter and Mary Jane named their daughter after his Aunt May. In the MC2 continuity, they were reunited with their baby girl by Kaine, who found the child living with Alison Mongraine, the con artist who had kidnapped the baby on instruction from the Green Goblin. After they were reunited, Peter lost a leg during the horrific final conflict with the Green Goblin. After the battle Peter was offered a bionic replacement from Mister Fantastic but, considering it a wake-up call, decided to retire and focus on being a husband and father. For years, they chose to keep their past from May and hoped that she wouldn't develop powers of her own.Despite her parents' hopes, May began developing versions of her father's spider-powers when she was 15. At the same time, Normie Osborn, grandson of the original Green Goblin, set out to restore the family name. May donned Ben Reilly's Spider-Man costume to stop him and soon took to crime-fighting, at first hindered, then helped, by her worried real parents.
May shares traits of both of her parents. Like her mother, she is a beautiful, charismatic, and popular student in her high school, and she is intelligent and talented just like her father. She also inherited his love for in-fight bantering and his intolerance for injustice. Even without her spider powers, she is a very good athlete and excelled in her girls' basketball team until she quit, her resignation coming after the manifestation of her powers. On the one hand, May seems to have inherited the "Parker luck" in which her dual identity wreaks havoc in her private life. On the other hand, her superhero career, unlike her father's, begins with her successfully protecting her family. From the early part of her career onward, Spider-Girl has developed a reputation for avoiding unnecessary battles with anyone and reforming her former adversaries, like Normie Osborn and Raptor. Spider-Girl quickly establishes herself in the superhero community and gets along with other superheroes easily, gaining reserve status in the Avengers and allies in the New Warriors and Fantastic Five.
In The Amazing Spider-Girl, May promises to give up costumed super-heroics, dates Eugene Thompson, and runs for student council. When Mary Jane becomes aware that the Hobgoblin poses a threat to her goddaughter's teenage friends, she allows May to resume her activities as Spider-Girl. After a battle with the Hobgoblin, May tells her godfather the truth, and after a conversation with Mary Jane, they allowed May to resume her Spider-Girl identity. After Mary Jane has an argument with May's real parents, she realizes that May will come to the truth about Peter someday but Peter planned it all along. Because of this action, she continues her fight to keep the city safe.
After an attempt at helping the S.H.I.E.L.D. government agency, a case filled with a piece of the Carnage symbiote was released. It attaches itself to May's friend Moose, who becomes the new Carnage. In exchange, Carnage will bond itself to Moose's terminally ill father, curing him in the process. Carnage causes a stir at May's school and kidnaps Peter and Baby Ben, forcing May to confront her friend. May tries to talk to Moose within the symbiote but fails, and it bonds with her cousin Ben. Peter escapes as May battles the two symbiotes and gathers sonic gear that may be able to defeat the symbiote. However, it is May who uses the weapons, thereby destroying the piece of the Carnage symbiote. Her success is not without a measure of collateral damage: not only is Moose furious at Spider-Girl for dooming his father, but the sonic weapon renders Ben deaf.
Ben's hearing is eventually restored thanks to the intervention of Normie Osborn. Normie later stumbles on one of Norman Osborn's former labs and discovers a fluid tank containing what appears to be a physical duplicate of May Parker. Notes left behind by his grandfather indicate that this Mayday is the original he kidnapped years ago, hinting that the Mayday raised by Peter and MJ is yet another clone.
Fury the Goblin Queen begins acting out the Green Goblin's final gambit against Peter Parker. While kidnapping the retired Spider-Man, Fury also activates a signal that awakens the unconscious girl within the Osborn labs' tank. The changeling escapes, confronting Mayday on the roof of her high school just as she is changing into Spider-Girl. The two briefly battle before being caught in an explosion. A critically injured May is rescued from the debris by Araña's forces. Araña is suddenly traumatized by her own ordeal, and, thinking that May might not survive her ordeal, offers to merge with her. However, she intervenes in a vision quest that Mayday is undergoing. By aiding her to overcome a force she was meant to overcome alone, she obstructs Spider-Girl from uncovering whether or not she is the true May; mainly because May is half Latina on her father's side and Araña is only going by the trauma she went through not thinking of what could happen to May and her school. Araña also has an ulterior motive: by assuming the body and power of Spider-Girl she hopes to take the Black Tarantula, an adversary and former lover, by surprise and defeat him. Araña successfully completes the merger and temporarily assumes control of May's body, leaving May and a third, blond woman who shares her name trapped within Araña's body.
Meanwhile, the changeling emerges from the blast relatively unharmed and attempts to resume May's life. However, her presence deeply disturbs Benjy. She later receives a call from Normie, telling her about the capture of Peter Parker, leading the changeling into taking on the role of Spider-Girl.
The two women are restored to their rightful bodies while in battle with others. May, in Araña's body, runs into the changeling just as Araña, in May's body, enters the lair of the Black Tarantula. The Black Tarantula is able to see through Araña's trick and nearly knocks her unconscious, just as May, in Araña's body, is knocked unconscious as well, leading the two of them to recover their original bodies.
Normie Osborne, along with Kaine, Phil Urich, Darkdevil, and Raptor, tries to rescue Peter Parker from Fury's hands, unaware of the fact that Peter has absorbed the mind and memories of the original Norman Osborn. This leads to a fight between the assembled heroes and Peter, now possessed by the Green Goblin. May arrives just as Peter/Green Goblin reunites with the changeling, who is revealed to have been genetically spliced with the DNA of the Venom symbiote, giving her similar metamorphic powers displayed by Spidercide, but without the need for a host like normal symbiotes.
Bonding with his "daughter", the possessed Peter declares himself as "The Goblin God" and begins to go on a rampage, while May finds herself trapped within her father's mental psyche. With the aid of the spiritual influence of her Great Aunt May Parker, as well as flashbacks to the day she healed Normie Osborn's psychological scars, Mayday and Peter are able to overcome Norman in a psychic duel and convince the Brand New May that May is a good person. Norman is seemingly defeated, but not before he denies Mayday the chance to discover whenever or not she is the true daughter of Peter and Mary Jane or the clone. Mary Jane is rescued from near-death by Benjy, who reveals he has developed organic webbing.
With the Brand New May uncertain of her place, May proposes she become a member of the Parker family; Mary Jane agrees, though Peter distrusts her and objects to the idea. May takes a walk, reflecting on how her parents, baby brother, and potential new twin sister have overcome so much and truly become "An Amazing Spider-Man Family".
The following story-line sees Mayday and her clone begin to steadily grow as crime-fighting partners, with April proving at times to be unstable and far more intense and ruthless than her "cousin" Mayday. At one point, April murders Tombstone when she believes him to have murdered May.
In the meantime, whilst trying to control the rising gang warfare in New York City as well as keep her unruly cousin in line with both her temper and powers, Mayday's relationship with comic book artist and friend Wesley begins to blossom into a deeper bond, and Wes at times demonstrates hints that he knows May's identity. April briefly attempts to play mischievous match-maker with the pair by posing as May, but Wes sees through her deception. April eventually takes on the name "Mayhem" and embraces her symbiotic, intense, no-nonsense nature and cuts herself off from The Parker family to pursue a life as a vigilante who answers to no one.
The Spectacular Spider-Girl title concludes with May having a nightmare that she sacrificed herself to save April's life. However, in the far future, a future incarnation of April uses Doctor Doom's time machine to return to the present and convince her past self to act responsibly, she does and saves Mayday's life at the cost of her own and at the cost of the future that came to be. May is later united with Wes, who reveals that he does indeed know May's true identity and they kiss, beginning a relationship.
In the Spider-Verse storyline, Daemos, a member of the Inheritors and a relative of Morlun, attacked the Parker home and set it ablaze. Despite Wes' best efforts to help her, May is badly beaten. Peter, whose bionic leg is busted, frees May only to be caught in Daemos' grasp. Mary Jane hands baby Ben to May and tells her to run while she goes to help Peter. Daemos kills Peter and seemingly Mary Jane too. Two alternate universe Spider-Men consisting of Spider-UK and Last Stand Spider-Man appear in time to save May and Ben as Daemos emerges from the Parker home. May vows to avenge her family for what he has done.
May and the alternative Spiders later travel to Earth-616, where they recruit its version of Peter Parker alongside his most recent partner Silk and his clone Kaine. May reveals her identity to Peter, revealing that they have met before earlier in his timeline. The Spiders take the three to a safe zone where they eventually also come into contact with a team led by the "Superior Spider-Man" Otto Octavius. When Peter and Octavius clash and do battle with each other, Mayday requests that Captain Universe Spider-Man intervene and stop the fighting, as better time and energy could be spent tracking down the Inheritors, but the Cosmic Spider refuses. Peter eventually wins the fight. The safe zone is then compromised by the Inheritors, led by their father Solus, Cosmic Spider is killed, May is easily defeated, and can only look on helplessly as Benjy is captured, and it is revealed that he is "The Scion", a vital part of a prophecy that also involves "The Other" and "The Bride". Despite her earlier vow to kill the Inheritors, after seeing Otto kill the Inheritors' 'Master Weaver' to stop their plans for good, May reconsiders her stance, avoiding destroying a crystal containing the life-essence of the Inheritors' 'father'. With the crisis concluded, Spider-Ham assures May that, if her father was anything like him, he would be proud of what she just did, May accepting the compliment despite Spider-Ham's comical appearance. Returning to her world with the Ben Parker of Earth-3145—a world where Ben became Spider-Man and his family were killed, resulting in Earth being decimated by a nuclear apocalypse—May learns that her mother and Wes survived the Inheritors' attack, although her father gave his life to save them. With Ben deciding to remain on this world to be the grandfather no other Ben Parker had the chance to become, May, on her mother's encouragement, decides to don her father's costume to become Spider-Woman.
Following the events of Secret Wars, the MC2 universe, along with most of the multiverse, is destroyed and is merged with several other alternate realities by God Emperor Doom into the patchwork planet called Battleworld. Mayday continues to protect the innocent as Spider-Woman, but still struggles to come to terms with her father's death. Many citizens still refer to her as Spider-Girl. However, after a battle against the Revengers, she donned a new costume and gained renewed hope for the future.