Merge:Araña

Araña is a character from the. She was the star of the resurrected Amazing Fantasy comic book in 2004. After her story-line ended with Amazing Fantasy #6, she got her own title, Araña: The Heart of the Spider, starting in January 2005 as part of Marvel Next.

Araña was created by writer Fiona Avery and artist Mark Brooks and is based on ideas J. Michael Straczynski used in his run on Amazing Spider-Man.

Biography
Araña's real name is Anya Corazon, a teenager of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent from Brooklyn, New York, where she lives with her father, Gil Corazon, an investigative reporter. She was recruited by a mystical clan called The Spider Society to become their Hunter and fight to preserve world peace. To that end, the Society has gifted Anya with spider-like physical abilities, similar to those of Spider-Man. Araña possesses an entity called the Hunter which is some kind of extradimensional symbiote. It is similar in appearance to the Guyver and has similar powers to other Marvel symbiotes with some added mystical abilities (much like the Witchblade of Image Comics).

As a cover for her activities, she works as an intern for WebCorps, the Spider Society's commercial front that was set up by a mysterious businessman known as Ezekiel Sims. Her heroic endeavors are supported by WebCorps, who recruited Anya to become Araña. Her main adversaries are the Sisterhood of the Wasp.

Araña eventually learned not only that her mother died as a Hunter for The Spider Society, but also that Anya is the latest in part of a bloodline of Hunters that stretches back through her ancestors on her mother's side.

After Arana learned that she is not a true hunter. No hunter before her has ever had an exo-skeleton like hers. In a fight with "The Sisterhood of the Wasp" who attempted to resurrect their hunter, she released the power of the Hunter after Miguel died. Later, she has quit WebCorps, though she's committed to fighting for the greater good.

During Marvel Comics' major summer 2006 crossover event, Civil War, Araña will appear in the Ms. Marvel comic.

Amazing Fantasy #1 - 6: Heart of The Spider
On her first day at Milton Summers High School in Fort Greer, Brooklyn, Anya Corazon is recruited by a mystical clan called the Spider Society to act as their agent, a Hunter. A ritual is performed on her by giving her a spider-shaped tattoo that endows her with spider-like powers. Anya lies to her father, Gil Corazon (a reporter for the New York Herald and writer of several major stories), about what has happened; she tries to convince him that she has an ordinary internship at WebCorps. Gil interrogates Miguel concerning what sort of work he has lined up for Anya.

WebCorps offers Araña various costumes, including suits resembling those of Supergirl, the Invisible Woman, Magneto, Spider-Man, The Bride from Kill Bill, Sailor Moon, Wonder Woman, and a giant rabbit costume. Anya, not satisfied, decides to make her own costume. She designes a costume with red and blue sneakers, blue track pants, red backpack, red gloves with many pockets, and big goggle-eyed sunglasses. A crusty exoskeleton covers most of her body with a bug-like bluish skin. In place of equipment like web-shooters or spider tracers, Araña attaches cords to discs that are about the size of her palm and have eight red legs able to remotely grip objects.

The Sisterhood of the Wasp, adversaries of the Spider Society, also have a Hunter, who in fights Araña in the first issue.

Araña: The Heart of the Spider #1-6: In The Beginning
While interrogating a spy for the Sisterhood of the Wasp, Anya and Miguel discover that the Sisterhood has recruited a fifteen-year old boy code-named Amun, a descendant of Egyptian assassins who believes he is skilled enough that he doesn't need to conceal his identity. Soon after Anya meets Amun, who has enrolled at her school under the name Jon Kasiya. The two soon deduce the other's dual identity.

Later, during a fight between Anya, Miguel, and the Sisterhood, Amun tells her that he will attack her loved ones if she opposes him. Noting her father is filming the fight, Anya takes him to safety. In her absence, Amun seriously wounds Miguel. The encounter leaves Anya doubting her duty due to the danger it poses to her loved ones. However, in a chance encounter, Spider-Man arrives and, after discussing her origins and adventures, tells her, "With great power comes great responsibility" and that in every age, people are called to be heroes.

Soon afterwards, Anya fights Amun and, in anger, nearly strangles him to death. She is stopped by Ted, who tells Amun to run. Ted tells her that she had released "the Spirit of the Hunter" and warns her not to do it again without Miguel with her. Back at WebCorps, Miguel is revived upon being reunited with Anya, and he tells her the history of the organization that would eventually split into Wasps and Spiders.

After an encounter with a gunman in a coffee shop, in which Anya saves Lynn and Amun without revealing her secret identity, Amun promises to respect her double life and to stop targeting her friends and family.

Araña: The Heart of the Spider #7-12: Night of the Hunter
The Spider Society receives information that the Sisterhood of the Wasp is about to recruit a Mexico City crimelord. The crimelord, Jaime Jade (pronounced 'Hai-may Ha-day', but the inabilities of the English-speaking world have resulted in the nickname 'Jade') is rumored to have mental abilities. Disturbingly, he was also involved in the death of Anya's mother in Mexico City about a decade ago. Her death is supposed to have made Anya's father emigrate.

Anya, realising who Jade is, steals some experimental anti-telepathy gear from WebCorps with the purpose of tracking down Jade, but is stopped by Miguel. When she tries to escape, he traps her in the building. He knows it won't hold her for long, but thinks it will give him enough time to get Jade.

Jade shows some interest in the mental abilities of Vincent, the Wasp's mage. After a demonstration on the way to the safehouse, they are ambushed by the Spider Society. In the battle, Jade mistakes Nina for Anya, but the arrival of Amun and Anya dispels this belief. In the fight, Vincent teleports Jade away. Miguel and Anya agree to work together to track down Jade, if Anya can punish him afterwards.

At the safehouse, Vincent wants to teleport Jade to another safehouse, to keep the Spiders off-balance. Jade declines, and hypnotizes Vincent to leave the building. He will do this on his own, he says.

At school the next day, Amun wants to know why Anya is putting so much effort into this case. He asks that they trust one another as enemies. She tells him that Jade killed her mother. Amun replies that his father is dead. He promise to check her story on the Wasp's computers.

That night, the Spiders arrive at the Wasp safehouse. The anti-telepathy gear is set up, and they move in. They defeat the guards, but when they face Jade, he taunts Anya. She loses her temper, and through this he manages to hypnotize her. She knocks out Miguel and carries him to a car.

Amun is checking the Wasps' computers, and he discovers that Anya doesn't have the whole story of her mother's death. He is instructed to go help Vincent - who is currently driving back to New York. A truck horn snaps him back to reality, and he realizes how he has been tricked. He drives back immediately.

At the safehouse, Miguel wakes up, gets Ted and Nina, and is about to go after Jade when their car is destroyed by Vincent. He fights to keep them there. Further down the road, Anya cannot break free of Jade's hypnosis, but the sight of her mother's ghost wakes her up. She knocks out Jade and stops the car. When he wakes up, the car is suspended by a rope over the river. He thinks she's bluffing, and says, "Little miss super hero won't want my death on her conscience." She replies, "No, my conscience feels fine," and lets go the rope.

At this point, Amun arrives, and tells her that Jade was not responsible for her mother's death. Realizing that he never admitted to it, and Amun may not be lying, she dives into the water to save Jade, but he has already escaped.

Spider-Man/Araña
Arana learned that she is not a true hunter. No hunter before her has ever had an exo-skeleton like hers. In a fight with "The Sisterhood of the Wasp" who attempted to resurrect their hunter, she released the power of the Hunter after Miguel died. Afterwards, she has quit WebCorps, though she's committed to fighting for the greater good.

Civil War
Anya Corazon has gotten a job at the Chicken Cow fast-food resteraunt to support herself. At the same time, the Pro-Registration heroes have tasked Ms. Marvel and Wonder Man to find her, convince her to register, and train her. Upon fleeing the scene of the Chicken Cow restaurant attempted robbery in Ms. Marvel #7, Anya and her father are taken into custody, where it is revealed to her father that Anya has super powers. Upon discussing Anya's possible training with her and Ms. Marvel, Anya's father proudly lets her train. She accompanies them to Stark Tower, where she forces herself into a meeting with Iron Man, and then on a mission to capture the Shroud and Arachne. Arachne escapes, but the Shroud is captured and taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. Custody. It is inferred from this comic that Anya's training will essentially be accompanying Wonder Man and Ms. Marvel on missions and sometimes playing "sidekick" to them.

Supporting cast

 * Miguel, The Spider Society's mage. (deceased)
 * Nina, an aspiring executive at WebCorps.
 * Ted, WebCorps' resident hacker.
 * Lynn, Anya's best friend.
 * Gil Corazon, an investigative reporter and Anya's father.
 * Jon Kasiya (Amun), egyptian assassins worked for Sisterhood of the Wasp.

Marvel Team-Up: League of Losers
Araña features in an arc of Robert Kirkman's Marvel Team-Up (vol. 3), featuring a group of C-list heroes dubbed "The League of Losers". A group of heroes including Araña, Darkhawk, Dagger, Gravity, X-23, Sleepwalker and Terror go to the future to prevent the villain Chronok from stealing Reed Richards' time machine, Chronok having come to the present and already having killed all of Marvel's major heroes. Araña however, dies in an explosion while the team searches for a time machine so that they can travel to the future. The rest of the team succeeds however, and Chronok is defeated.

Note that due to the Marvel Universe's method for resolving time travel paradoxes, this story occurred in an alternate universe.

Trivia

 * Originally, Araña was supposed to be known as Spider-Girl, but Marvel decided to resurrect the Amazing Fantasy brand to test the waters for a possible new series featuring Araña.
 * Araña is Spanish for spider.

Marvel Digest

 * Araña: The Heart of the Spider:
 * 1) Heart of The Spider (Amazing Fantasy #1 - 6)
 * 2) In The Beginning (Araña: The Heart of the Spider #1-6)
 * 3) Night of the Hunter (Araña: The Heart of the Spider #7-12)