| “ | Don't find shame in defeat, Spider-Man. This is the way of things. You could never have stood against me. This is natures way. | „ |
| ~ The Spider Queen to Spider-Man before kissing him. |
The Spider-Queen (real name Adriana Soria), also known as The Queen is a supervillainess and major antagonist originating from Marvel Comics as an enemy of Spider-Man and Captain America, as well as supporting antagonist of Spider Man franchise. She has multiple powers, the most prominent being able to control anyone with the "insect gene."
She was the primary antagonist of the storylines Spider-Man DISASSEMBLED: Changes, where she fell in love with Spider-Man and attempted to make him her mate by infecting him with her mutagenic powers, causing him to transform into a beastly giant spider in order to have children with him to create a colony of mutant hybrids to repopulate New York after destroying the city and it's upstate region with a hidden thermonuclear bomb she had stolen from Project: Rebirth, only to be foiled by Captain America with help from Nick Fury, allowing Peter to revert to human form.
She would later return as the main antagonist of the Spider-Island storyline, approaching Dr. Miles Warren aka The Jackal to form an alliance by offering her mutagenic hybrid blood to create a modified carrier breed of bedbugs to bite and infect every citizen of New York and alter their genomes and grant them physiologies and superpowers parallel to Spider-Man's, allowing her to pheromonally/psychically enthrall the entire populace and infect the Web of Life (save the Avengers, X-Men, and Fantastic Four/Future Foundation, Defenders, Heavy Hitters, staff of Horizon Labs and Project: Rebirth, Agent Venom, and anyone who had traveled out of state prior to the infestation epidemic), transforming them all into monstrous Cross-Species Hybrids, accruing herself a vast army of mutant arachnoid drones with the intention to have them scour across the globe and infect and subsume every country and continent and render the Earth human-free as she could rule over a global kingdom forever. However, she would be foiled by the efforts of most of the East Coast superhero community (Spider-Man, Anti-Venom, Agent Venom, Captain America, and Scarlet Spider (a cured Kaine, whom she and the Jackal previously turned into patient zero, Tarantula). After being ambushed by Agent Venom and Captain America, the former seemingly mortally wounding her with the latter's holo-shield, she would metamorphosize into her own titanic monstrous spider-hybrid form, the Spider-Queen, and would engage the Avengers and X-Men and Heavy Hitters in a final battle. Her dream would finally be thwarted by the efforts of Spider-Man and Eddie Brock, who had sacrificed his Anti-Venom symbiote to be used as a reservoir of a distilled gene-cleansing serum that would revert the mutations of the hybridized New Yorkers, with Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson utilizing a remote control helmet to distribute the cure to the populace via a horde of Mini-Octobots, and would meet her demise at the hands of Kaine impaling her through her throat and the heroes attacking her simultaneously with combined firepower, obliterating her body and killing her for good.
Biography[]
Nothing is known about Ana's life until, in the beginning of World War II, she joined Fury's Army Auxiliary Corps. She then was drafted into a special unit of the Marine Corps, becoming the first female marine to go into combat. At some point, her unit was lined up along the Bikini Atoll to absorb the radiation from the ongoing weapons tests.
The project's inhumane testing killed the rest of her unit, and drove her insane in the process. Eventually she was deemed a failure when she showed no signs of powers and was committed to an asylum, but she eventually managed to escape by using her awakened powers. She went into hiding and swore she would have revenge on the government that betrayed her, including Captain America.
Ana resurfaced in New York in 2004 now calling herself "The Queen" and in full control of her abilities. She wore a beautiful elegant black dress and retained a young and beautiful appearance, appearing to be in her early 20s despite now being decades old.
She quickly took control of a large portion of New York citizens with her powers, having them follow her through the city and threw a taxi into a building with her telekinesis for honking at her. Her very presence caused Peter's spider-sense to go crazy, making him bleed from the nose and ears, and he followed it to the source, at a Manhattan Highrise. The Queen had already taken over the Highrise, instantly controlling anyone she could and either killing or driving out anyone she couldn't. Spider-Man met Captain America, who was also investigating The Queen's disturbance, but Spider-Man ignored his warnings against a frontal assault and crawled up the building to confront her. A helicopter approached Queen, who was being carried by her drones while she sat on a chair, and asked her what were her demands for the city. She simply answered "down" and the helicopter blade was crushed, sending it and its occupants hurtling to the ground below.
Spider-Man reached the top of the building, where he met Queen face to face. She approached him, saying she thought he'd be taller, and Spider-Man cracked one of his usual jokes and tried to web her, but his arm suddenly moved on its own away from her and she swiftly kicked him in the leg. Queen stood above Spider-Man and glared down at him, warning him she was giving him one chance and if he did that again his city would suffer. The two engaged in a brief fight, with Spider-Man tripping Queen and attempting to restrain her legs, only for her to break free and kick him across the face. Spider-Man dodged another powerful kick that dented the ground and put some distance between him and Queen. He joked that he felt like he's in High School, asking if she was flirting with him. The Queen responded that he'd be surprised and stunned him with a powerful sonic scream. Spider-Man dropped to the floor, clutching his head in pain, and Queen punched him headfirst into a wall, leaving a large crack.
The Queen forces a kiss on a defeated Spider-Man.
Queen's drones restrained Spider-Man while he was dazed and she took a moment to calm herself before approaching him. Impressed by his strength and wit, she decided that she liked Spider-Man, telling him he was a survivor like her and respected that about him, now having plans for him. She began rolling up his mask, revealing his bleeding nose and ears, while telling him that survival is all that matters and that he could think of her as a cockroach, the largest one ever. Cap arrived and tried to save Spider-Man, but was overpowered by The Queen's overwhelming number of drones and was eventually knocked out with his own shield. Despite this, Spider-Man continued to struggle against Queen and demanded she face him without her drones so he could "kick her butt". His determination impressed her further, and with a smirk she ordered her drones to release him so she could deal with him herself. Queen then unleashed a second sonic scream while standing directly next to Spider-Man, who let out a scream of pain unable to defend himself until he passed out from the pain, defeated. As Spider-Man fell unconscious, Queen caught him in a hug and held him close. Speaking gently, she attempted to comfort him by telling him not to find shame in his defeat, because he could have never stood against her and that this is simply "nature's way". With Spider-Man unable to resist her, she pulled him forward into a deep wet messy kiss, as his blood dripped on her hands and in her mouth.
Spider-Man eventually woke up, finding himself restrained in some webbing inside the building, being held captive by Queen. Queen soon visited Spider-Man, with one of the straps on her dress now loosened and hanging on her arm in a seductive manner. Queen explained she hadn't taken off his mask because she has no interest in his identity, only his powers. She explained that Spider-Man had shown he was the strongest member of her "hive" and was thus worthy of being her mate and lover, the one who would father her children in her new world. She flirted with him, revealing her name to him, and slowly began to pull up his mask again. As Spider-Man tried to resist, demanding his personal space, she told him to relax, whispering for him to simply accept and enjoy it, before leaning in and kissing him again in an attempt to make him fall in love with her. Her kiss had an affect on Spider-Man, who slowly began to lose himself to her. He felt "alive" during her kiss and slowly began to kiss her back, seeing her love as an honor. But just as he was about to give in and accept her love he regained control of himself and forced her off him, spitting out her kiss. Enraged by his disrespect and rejection of her, Queen dropped her romantic attitude and grabbed him by the chin. She snarled that no one does that to her, calling him a "little worm", before slapping him across the face twice and then grabbing him by the cheeks. Looking him in the eyes she vowed that he was part of her hive now and he'd love her whether he wanted to or not. With that, she turned away and left him alone in the dark.
Meanwhile, news of the first kiss between The Queen and Spider-Man, having been caught on live news, spread through the city, but everyone thought it was Spider-Man who kissed Queen. Queen soon visited Captain America while he was restrained, planning to kill him shortly, and taunted him over his failure with her in the past and how she had now "replaced him" with Spider-Man, who she viewed as younger and stronger than him, confident that he will "warm up to her" eventually and love her. Cap however managed to free himself and Spider-Man, catching Queen off-guard. She ordered her drones to kill Captain America but protect Spider-Man, and she made her escape while they fought off her drones. However, Spider-Man noticed her fleeing and once again disobeyed Cap, going after Queen for revenge. He seemed to corner her on the roof, but she gave him a demonstration of her power and forced several of her mind controlled drones to jump to their deaths to demoralize the hero. Spider-Man refused to back down, but was easily beaten by Queen's telekinetic powers. She urged Spider-Man to stop resisting her and agree to be hers, but when he once again refused she knocked him out with a kick to the face, smirking down at the defeated hero. Queen almost forced herself on Spider-Man again, but was distracted by a S.H.I.E.L.D attack on her hive, which launched several missiles at her. She used her powers to stop the missiles before they could hit and shield herself and Spider-Man from the explosion, but left herself vulnerable and was knocked off the roof by Captain America.
Despite her defeat and setback, Queen vanished and began to build a new lair in secret with her drones in the New York subsystem. She forced for the scientist in charge of the operation that gave her her powers to build a bomb that would kill everyone in the world that didn't have the insect gene, allowing her to control all the survivors. She spied on Captain America and S.H.I.E.L.D, gaining information from one of her drones being a member of their briefings, and learned that Captain America was aware she had taken an interest in Spider-Man and had already laid the foundation for her plan by kissing him, but was unconcerned since she believed it was too late for them to stop her. Spider-Man meanwhile, could still feel that her kiss had done something to him and couldn't get her out of his mind, even having nightmares about her. He slowly began to mutate into a giant spider mutant with fangs, eight arms and four eyes. This increased Queen's physic connection to him, and she continued her flirtatious taunting, urging "her love" to come join her so they could be together. The Queen tracked Spider-Man down and explained that her kiss had slowly been affecting him and he angrily attacked her. Despite his mutation, Queen managed to overpower Spider-Man and toss him through a wall of a building. When he still refused to submit to her, calling her love "filth", she once again defeated him, knocking him unconscious, and took him back to her lair, where he eventually mutated into a giant spider, now completely under her control.
However, Spider-Man's new form was unstable and "died" not long after his transformation. Queen was reduced to tears over her dead mate, but missed Spider-Man emerging from his spider body, now with enhanced strength and organic webs. Queen, in a rage, began destroying the equipment around her and ordered for the bomb to be detonated immediately. But Spider-Man sabotaged Queen's bomb so it wouldn't detonate. Queen discovered Spider-Man alive, and knowing she couldn't have him as her mate attacked him, saying she'd see if he "could die twice in one day." But Spider-Man finally managed to overpower Queen, leaving her trapped in her own lair as S.H.I.E.L.D attacked it. Queen was caught in an explosion and was presumed dead, but her body was never recovered.
The Queen resurfaced years later, and working with The Jackal, created a new plan. She provided Jackal with a DNA sample of when Spider-Man emerged from his spider body and he created a "spider virus" that infected the Web of Life. New York citizens began to develop their own spider powers and slowly mutated into giant spider mutants like Spider-Man did. This allowed Queen to control them and increase her own power as her connection to the Web of Life grew stronger, and she even mutated Captain America, into The Spider King.
Queen as she appears in Spider Island.
Spider-Man, Agent Venom, and Anti-Venom tried to fight the mutating citizens and contain the chaos while Horizon Labs worked on a cure for the virus. Queen learned of the cure and sent Tarantula, a mutated Kaine, to destroy it. Spider-Man stopped him though and regained his spider-sense in the process. The Queen angrily killed Jackal with a sonic scream for failing her, but discovered her powers had now increased as well, gaining all the powers of her mutated drones. She battled Agent Venom when he infiltrated her lair, but he was soon joined by a cured Captain America, and the two appeared to fatally wound her. However, she transformed into a giant 28 stories tall tall Spider Monster herself and now called herself The Spider Queen.
Spider-Man and Kaine joined the fight along with dozens of heroes but Spider Queen had become too powerful to beat. Spider-Man took control of Doctor Octopus' old Octobots to distribute the cure to the citizens of New York. With her drones slowly being cured Spider Queen began to grow weaker. With her now in a vulnerable state, Ms.Marvel threw Kaine at Spider Queen and using his spider fangs in his wrists, pierced the Queen's head killing her instantly. With Queen dead the mutated New Yorkers returned back to normal, happy to be human again.
Personality[]
During her time as The Queen, Ana showed a desire to be in control of the entire world. She showed a cold demeanor to anyone she couldn't control and would swiftly put them in their place, through either intimidation or murder. She saw herself as Queen over all and showed no remorse over any loss of life she caused, even ordering several of her brainwashed drones to leap to their deaths just to make an example of them to Spider-Man. She valued her own survival, comparing herself to a cockroach. She chose Spider-Man as her mate because she recognized him as one of her strongest "subjects," recognizing him as a fellow survivor like her, and impressed by his determination against her. After her plan to kill all humans she couldn't control failed, she instead tried to infect the world with a "spider-virus" that would allow her to control all humans, not caring about the loss of life this would cause the planet.
She was shown to be unstable and appeared to suffer minor mood swings. When she first met Spider-Man she kicked him for cracking one of his lame jokes and threatened his city if he does it again, only to decide she likes Spider-Man enough to make him her mate shortly after knocking him around. She would also become extremely violent and angry when rejected. After flirting with Spider-Man once again and forcing another kiss on him she angrily slaps him across the face for rejecting her and disrespecting her, even calling him a "worm."
After choosing Spider-Man to be her mate she showed a close obsession for him. She continued to try to break his spirit and make him love her. In their first battle she began flirting with Spider-Man shortly after beating him up, despite her anger with him shortly before. His determination against her earned her interest in him, and eventually her affection. After defeating him, she caught the hero in a hug and tried to comfort him, saying not to be ashamed of his defeat because he could have never stood up to her, before making out with him in public. Her flirting would also invade Spider-Man's personal space, with her only response being for him to relax and enjoy it. She would force kisses on him even as he was bleeding from the ears and nose, apparently not caring about his messy state or if she got blood on herself. Despite choosing him as her mate though, she continued to beat him when he refused her advances, slapping him across the face for breaking her kiss, kicking him unconscious for refusing to give in to her and slamming a mutated Spider-Man into a brick wall for continuing to resist her and calling her filth.
Powers and Abilities[]
Queen's mutated form: Spider Queen
Ana was stated to have countless superhuman abilities, but she only ever displayed a handful of them.
- Superhuman Strength: In her human form Queen was able to lift one ton. She could leave dents in the floor by stomping and punch Spider-Man so hard into a wall it leave cracks. This strength was presumably multiplied after she transformed into her Spider-Queen form.
- Telephathy: She could communicate with her drones through a "hive mind" over a vast distance. She could communicate with and control insects and any human with an "insect gene." Only those with a strong will like Spider-Man could fight her control, but he also suffered from her control, at one point almost falling in love with her after their second kiss and obeying her completely after mutating into a giant Spider.
- Telekinesis: She was shown able manipulate things around her with hardly any movement on her own part. She sent a taxi flying into a building, crushed a helicopter rotor blades, and was able to control body functions of others who had the insect gene.
- Mutagenic Enzyme: She passed a mutant compound in her saliva that she could transfer via a kiss. Those infected with the enzyme became connected to her and the Web of Life. Spider-Man was first exposed to this enzyme after The Queen forced a kiss on him and eventually mutated into a giant spider, but this form quickly died and gave Spider-Man enhanced versions of his powers. The Jackal managed to improve on this enzyme and created the "spider-flu" that infected all of New York.
- Sonic Scream: She could produce a powerful blast of sound that was strong enough to cause Spider-Man to drop to the ground in pain and eventually knock him out. This is also what she used to kill Jackal. However, Kaine was immune to her scream because he was wearing the Stealth Suit that Peter invented, showing the scream could be countered.
- Transformation: After most of New York was infected with the Spider-Flu Queen's own powers increased as well and she was able to transform into an 28 stories tall spider mutant herself.
- Military Training: Ana has received military training and is adapt in hand to hand combat. She has shown to be skilled enough to knock out Spider-Man even while wearing an elegant dress not suited for fights, though with her other powers she rarely ever needs to deal with things hand to hand.
Trivia[]
- Adriana Soria is the second person to use the alias "Spider-Queen" in the Marvel Universe. The first was Shannon Kane.
- The role of her original storyline was to give Spider-Man organic webs like he had in Sam Raimi's film series at the time.
