I mentioned last time that Sony’s decision to make a movie about Madame Web seems kinda…odd. Yeah, odd is a good word.
Apparently, Sony tossed some other Spider-Women into the mix because no one really wants a movie about Madame Web, so you might as well add other characters no one really cares that much about into the mix. One of those was one Mattie Franklin.
Mattie’s first appearance, well, full appearance, was in The Amazing Spider-Man #441 in November of 1998 by John Byrne and Rafael Kayanan. Mattie overheard her father talking to Norman Osborn about some ceremony called “the Gathering of the Five,” which sounds kinda lame, and she took his place, accidentally gaining the superpowers Norman intended for himself. Big time Spider-Man fan that she was, Mattie got a similar costume and swung into action during one of Peter Parker’s many “retirements”. She was actually mistaken for Spider-Man at first, though Peter noticed she was flying more than leaping, and when things went bad, he managed to get her mask off and discovered she was a teenage girl with strange powers in a similar costume.
Peter donned the webs again not long after that, so Mattie became another Spider-Woman. And since her father was always working, she moved in with her Aunt Marla. Marla Jameson.
That’s right: her uncle is notorious Spider-Hater J Jonah Jameson.
Mattie’s powers were, at one point, stolen from her by another Spider-Woman, Charlotte Witter, and Witter was the evil one who had likewise taken the powers of two other Spider-Women (Jessica Drew and Julia Carpenter) as well as Madame Web. Mattie managed to get her powers back from Charlotte, but in the process, temporarily gained the powers of the other three women. Jessica took Mattie under her wing, and things were running pretty smoothly. She’d go on to appearances in the mature readers title Alias, a Contest of Champions, and even in a team book of sorts called The Loners.
You know, until some member of Kraven’s family killed her. Oh sure, she was temporarily brought back by one clone storyline or another because Spider-Man fans love clone stories that much, but the point stands. She’s dead.
But maybe she won’t be for long! I mean, she was in Madame Web as played by actress Celeste O’Connor, and even name-dropped an “Uncle Jonah” at one point. Surely such a hit movie will see the revival of characters like Mattie!
But the Spider-Woman get-up is from some flash-forward scenes that got more play in the trailer than the actual movie, so I’m guessing she’s probably not coming back to the comics any time soon. I mean, there isn’t that much to her, is there?
Oh, I need to cover one of the other young Spider-Women next time now, don’t I?
More Stories
Weekend Trek “Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum”
Weekend Trek “Magic To Make The Sanest Man Go Mad”
Paradise “The Mailman”