—Mayhem[source]This is my chance to forget about May. It's the only time I don't care which of us is the original. (Even though I'm still convinced she's my clone!) This is when April Parker truly comes into her own as--the merciless MAYHEM!
History
Brand New May[]
When May Parker was born, Norman Osborn stole her away,[8] and secretly had her cloned as part of Project Changeling to replace the child. Then he kept the clone and placed her into a stasis chamber for years.[9] While in stasis, Norman Osborn altered her genetic code to make her the very first human/symbiote hybrid clone, replacing around 35% of her DNA with symbiote genetic matter. This symbiote was derived from pieces of the Venom symbiote and as a result was never sentient so the girl never had to deal with a second consciousness in her mind.
This new hybrid was all a part of Osborn's master plan to be reborn into an immortal Goblin Creature. After Osborn's death, a group of the Goblin Cult's followers updated the hybrid's DNA so she would be exactly the same in appearance as May Parker. About 16 years later, Philippe DeJunae discovered her stasis chamber in a secret lab in Oscorp Chemical, and told his daughter Fury the Goblin Queen about her existence. Planning to use this discovery to her advantage, she decided to lead her would-be partner, Normie Osborn, into "finding" the girl.[10]
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The other May Parker
Peter Parker arrived at the lab, and Normie explained that the being in stasis was placed there by his grandfather, and that his grandfather had stated in his notes that the stasis-trapped female was the original May Parker. Peter tried to analyze some of the stasis fluid, but it exploded in his face due to being attacked by Fury, knocking him unconscious. He claimed that it was an attack by the female specimen, but Normie assured Peter that she was not dangerous. Peter and Normie vacated the chamber, but Normie returned when unforeseen activity was heard in the stasis chamber. He rushed down to investigate, but the "Brand New May", who was finally awoken by Fury activating a signal from a distance, attacked and overpowered him, allowing herself to escape.[11]
The New May stalked the other May at school, and as she rushed out to become Spider-Girl, the New May attacked her. She accidentally threw herself down the school stairwell, allowing the familiar May to escape by leaping off the building. The New May looked fruitlessly for her double as May was driven off by a van she was clinging to. May changed into Spider-Girl to assist the X-People in containing Sara Hingle's powers, but New May intercepted her way and tried to tackle her. May saved them both from falling to the street, and, after a brief fight, flung the New May off a building. May saved her double and hung her in a web net on the edge of a building, proving a major difference between the two Mays: Spider-Girl does not kill her enemies, but New May was willing to use lethal force.[12]
Later an explosion transpired in which May was caught, leaving her in a critical state and to be taken under the care of Araña and Black Tarantula. With May gone, the new May took the opportunity to replace her, taking back what she thought should've been her life. She managed to trick May's mother Mary Jane, though May's little brother Benjy could see past her disguise which made him uncomfortable with her. The new May met up with her supposed best friend Davida Kirby in the Cafe Indigo, but there she was charged by Gene Thompson due to a beef he had with May. New May simply tripped him, and when he charged again, she tossed him effortlessly onto another table. Her peers cheered her victory, but Simone simply grimaced.
New May took to using her spider-powers to do the household chores in record time and in creative ways, such as standing on the ceiling while vacuuming the drapes. Eventually, She got a call from Phil Urich, who believed her to be the May he knew, to help free her "father" from Fury. After pondering whether she was ready, April donned May's spare costume and became the new Spider-Girl. She thoroughly enjoyed being Spider-Girl, swinging through the city. She went to save Peter, only to be met with May in Araña's body. She knocked May out which caused both her and Araña to return to their original bodies. She proceeded to fight the real Araña, who saw her monstrous face before being defeated by the merciless Spider-Girl. The new May went back home, but the house was broken into by the original May and a crazed Peter who was being possessed by Norman's consciousness.[13]
Becoming April Parker[]
The two Mays again fought each other, until Norman used the symbiote hybrid to bond his stolen body with her, becoming the Goblin God. May was also fused in this new body, and was transported to Peter's mindscape. There, she again confronted the hybrid, and as they battled they passed through the memories of Peter and May. Though May defeated her double she managed to convince her that they didn't have to be enemies and she should turn on Norman. The Parkers proved victorious and successfully purged Norman's mind from Peter's, but as he perished Norman refused to tell them which one of the girls was the true May.[14]
In the aftermath of the battle in their collective consciousness, the three of them separated and Peter returned to normal. As the new May had no place to go, May proposed to let her join their family since she had always wished to have a sister. Mary Jane agreed, but Peter objected as he was distrustful of her. Despite this, the hybrid was allowed to become a member of the Parker family, and named herself "April" as a play-on-words with her "sister" May. She then enrolled in the same school as May calling themselves "cousins."[15]
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Spider-Girl Blue and Spider-Girl Red
The two Spider-Girls adjusted to life together and investigated the death of Gwen Reilly. Together they worked as partners, helping each other in fighting crime, though April was far more rebellious and ruthless, with May being forced to keep her double in check. However, April's jealousy of May got the better of her stroke out on her own as Mayhem, killing Tombstone and later the Hobgoblin when she believed that the former killed May.
April soon took notice of May growing closer to Wes Westin and decided to help their relationship by intermingling between them for a bit. Under the identity of May, she met up with Wes and attempted to kiss him, but he was able to discern that she wasn't actually May. At some point she was hired by Man Mountain Marko to kill Black Tarantula. She would've succeeded in taking him out, hadn't been for the intervention of Spider-Girl and Araña. Eventually, April left the Parker family and cut all ties with them, fully embracing her monstrous side and opting to work alone as a vigilante.[16]
Invasion of Earth-41940[]
April Parker was recruited by the S.H.I.E.L.D. of Earth-41940 into the Spider-Men, a group of Spider-Man analogs assembled to combat the Multiversal Sinister Six.[9]
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Among the Spider-Men
Kraven the Hunter hunted Mayhem to his lair in Central Park. The native Peter Parker came to her aid and while she was able to escape, he was captured. April went AWOL, but was found by Ben Reilly. Mayhem joined the Symbiote Hive and with the help of Agony, they built an army and rescued Peter. Afterwards, Ben became an honorary uncle for April.[9]
Poison tricked April into bonding with the Scream Symbiote under the pretense of saving the symbiotes from extinction. April was able to resist the symbiote enough for Poison and Toxin to give up. Bonding to the Raze Symbiote, April gained the strength to separate Ben from the Carnage Symbiote and Eddie Brock from the Toxin Symbiote. Afterwards, a weakened Scream bonded to Eddie Brock, becoming the Hive's brood mother when she returned to full strength.[9]
April also joined the Elite Counter-Symbiote Squad to capture rogue symbiotes. Among the symbiotes they deported to Klyntar was Pork Grind.[9] She later returned to her reality.
Death[]
Still under the belief she was the real May, April attempted to threaten May into retiring as Spider-Girl and admitting she was the clone, sparking a fight between them. In one future, May died when the warehouse they were fighting in exploded. In order to prevent that future where clones of the Carnage symbiote were conquering the world, the April from that timeline travelled back in time, and transferred her memories to her younger self.
April, seeing that the world needed May, sacrificed herself to avert that future so that May could live on, acknowledging she was the real clone and asking May to tell their family that she truly loved them before dying. May grieved the death of April, but Peter assured that clones always came back, insinuating that April may come back one way or another.[17]Personality
Attributes
 |
Powers
Weaknesses
Paraphernalia
Equipment
Transportation
Notes
- April refers to how that month comes before May.[7]
- Coincidentally, May Reilly, the person May was named after, also had an estranged sister named April who was described as the black sheep of the family.[21]
- Mary Jane suggested April take the surname Reilly as a reference to Aunt May.[7] This was also the reason April's Uncle Ben took the name.[22]
Trivia
- Unlike the symbiotes and clones who could bypass Peter's Spider-Sense, April triggered May's.[7]
See Also
- 28 appearance(s) of April Parker (Earth-982)
- 1 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of April Parker (Earth-982)
- 42 image(s) of April Parker (Earth-982)
- 2 quotation(s) by or about April Parker (Earth-982)
- 1 victim(s) killed by April Parker (Earth-982)
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #5
- ↑ Spectacular Spider-Girl #10
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Amazing Spider-Girl #29
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Girl #25
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Girl #30
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Girl #20
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Spectacular Spider-Girl #1
- ↑ Spider-Girl #46
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Spider-Man Unlimited
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Girl #20–29
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Girl #21–23
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Girl #24
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Girl #25–28
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Girl #29–30
- ↑ Spectacular Spider-Girl #9–11
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Spectacular Spider-Girl (Vol. 2) #3–4
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Spider-Girl: The End! #1
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Girl #25–30
- ↑ Spectacular Spider-Girl #4–11
- ↑ Spectacular Spider-Girl (Vol. 2) #1–4
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man Annual #36
- ↑ Spectacular Spider-Man #223
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #5
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update Vol 1 5