Description
The title should say "Araña," but DeviantArt doesn't like ñ's in titles.
So Spider-Man character number 129! Anya Corazon currently goes by "Spider-Girl" in the comics but here she's going as "Araña."
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Peter first encountered the girl calling herself "Araña" not too long after he and MJ had gotten back from their honeymoon. Not everyone was enthused about Peter and MJ's marriage, least of all Morris Bench, aka Hydro-Man. He had been laying low looking for a cure for himself for a while, but when Morris heard that his ex girlfriend was getting married he made his way back to New York, materializing in front of the newly wed couple as they were walking down the street (shopping for furniture for their new apartment probably). Bench demanded to know what Parker had that he didn't have, but Peter was having none of it and told him to get lost.
With a loud bang a deluge of water shot up from nearby manholes and fire hydrants as all of the water mains in the block broke, the flood congregating at Bench's feet. Bench laughed at Peter and told him that MJ was coming with him, and the couple saw Bench's now fully mastered aquatic abilities transform him into an enormous giant of water. Unsure of how to proceed without losing his secret identity (again), Peter hesitated for a moment only to see a completely new face swing into action against Hydro-Man. Using what looked like a grappling hook, she wore a spider themed outfit and struck the torrential titan in the face with one of her large red gloves, emitting something that looked like an EMP pulse, partially evaporating Bench's water.
Bench was distracted just long enough for Peter and MJ to get to cover and for Peter to switch to Spider-Man. Working together with this spider newbie, they managed to use her gauntlets to weaken Bench enough that he could be successfully corralled away from bystanders before the city shut the water off to the blocks surrounding them to keep him contained. With less and less water to access, Bench found himself on the run from his two arachnid antagonists and was led right into an ambush led by Silver Sable's people, who managed to subdue him for good and take him away.
After quickly determining that MJ was safe, Peter took a breather on a rooftop and found himself followed by the new kid. She called herself "Araña," and she said she was Spider-Man's new sidekick!
Kind of at a loss as to what to even say to that, Peter told her that he had never really had a sidekick. Didn't those go out of fashion in like the seventies, anyway? Araña told him he never had one before because he didn't know how useful they could be--he saw how she handled herself against the Hydro-Man. Peter said she was a great help, but a sidekick was not something he was prepared to take on, he had enough trouble keeping himself safe as it was.
He was impressed by her skills and tech, though. Peter asked her if she had super powers, which she replied that she didn't, everything was all thanks to those special boots and gloves she wore. They increased her strength and leaping abilities, emitted EMP pulses, and let her stick to walls and ceilings. The tech was neat, Peter had to agree, and he asked her how she got it. Araña played dumb and just answered with a question of her own--where did Peter get his powers and equipment?
Fair enough, Peter replied. But he still didn't need a sidekick, and told Araña that he was actually on his way home. Araña didn't seem to be able to read the situation, though, and bounded off, saying, "Same time same place tomorrow?" and was gone before Peter could even say "No, absolutely not!"
Heading back to their new apartment, Peter told MJ about the weird Araña kid. MJ said she had been all over the news, the press dubbing her Spider-Man's new sidekick; so she definitely had the effect she was going for. Something about her didn't seem right, though, and the two of them looked over the footage that Peter's advanced suit had recorded (it has a camera function in its eyes!). Peter noted that goggles instead of a mask seemed kind of brave, they didn't cover much of her face, but MJ suddenly realized something about her looked very familiar.
Looking over records, they found a lead. A girl by the name of "Anya Corazon." She had been a senior in high school at the time of the war between the Superior Spider-Man and the Green Goblin, and was taking a tour of Empire State University's lab department when the Goblin Nation bomb hidden there detonated. Anya was reported among the casualties and there had been significant press about her due to being the youngest casualty of the Goblin Nation's attacks.
What they could see of Araña's face definitely seemed to match the pictures of Anya Corazon, but what cemented it was old video footage of her giving a speech at her high school the press loved to play over and over in the weeks after the attack--her voice was identical. Araña was Anya Corazon. But how, and why?
Those questions would have to be answered another day.
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So I have a lot of mysteries all set up, with Puma and Venom and Cardiac and what have you. Are they all connected? Or are there multiple threads being pulled all at once? Hm...
There are a lot of spider people in the Marvel universe, so I kind of have to pick and choose which ones I'm going to do based on how well I think they're going to fit in the tone and story. Anya's a lucky one, a late addition that I realized fit really well in a story I'm telling, so here she is. Her being a wannabe sidekick is my way of having her stand out from being just another spider themed person running around New York, they're kind of difficult to all juggle at once.
For her look I decided to mash both her original Araña look and her current Spider-Girl look into one. I thought she was a lot more interesting powerset wise as Araña though her current design is stronger I think, so this is kind of my way of meeting halfway, though her powers here I decidedly much more limited than either of her incarnations. But anyway she's got a black and white spider themed onesie going on there like her Spider-Girl design but then I gave her her belt, backpack, gloves, and grappling hook of her original Araña design, and I have to say, it all came together much better than I had anticipated. Black, white, and red make for a good color combo.
Oh, and then her pose is based on one of Mark Brooks' original covers of her original design.