Yuriko Watanabe (Earth-1048)

History

Early Life

Yuri was born on Astoria, New York City. Coming from a family of police officers, Yuri always believed on justice, aspiring to be an officer just like her grandfather and her father John Watanabe afterwards. When she was young, her father was convicted to be accepting bribes from the Maggia, but was killed before he could be arrested. This made Yuri swear to end the Maggia once and for all, joining the police to seek justice. On her early years as officer, Yuri started out as a detective in the Chinatown branch of the NYPD, but changed precincts several times during her time in the force. Over the course of a decade, Yuri begun to hunt down and disrupt many of the Maggia's operations by herself, being quickly promoted to captain for her deeds. As of 2018, it's said that Yuri was the responsible to end most of the Maggia's business in the city. This attracted the attention of the infamous Maggia leader Hammerhead, who became obssessed on finding Watanabe. When the masked vigillante Spider-Man became notorious on the city, Yuri was one of the few authorities to really trust him, giving him her contact. They have been working together ever since, with Spider-Man helping Yuri on many cases.

Marvel's Spider-Man

Yuri was called to arrest Wilson Fisk, after his criminal acts have been proven true. To delay the arrival of the authorities, Fisk mounted several fronts of defense, keeping the police busy until his escape helicopter could arrive. To help even the odds, she called Spider-Man to infiltrate the Fisk Tower, and apprehend Fisk before he could escape. Spider-Man was successful on the task, with Yuri congratulating him for the deed. She later directs Spider-Man to fix the city's crime system, by hacking on transmission towers to restablish the police's connection to the net. Weeks later, When Doctor Octopus caused a massive leak in both the Raft and Ryker's Island, Yuri asked Spider-Man to help on containing the situation. During the siege, her helicopter was struck by Electro, with Yuri being saved by Spider-Man. She later directed Spider-Man to help the police in defeating both Rhino and Electro, who were attacking the city's police precincts. With the Devil's Breath virus spreading throughout New York, Yuri and her mother were among those infected, forcing Yuri to stay behind to care for her mother. Eventually, however, Yuri and her mother were cured of Devil's Breath, and after Doctor Octopus's defeat, Yuri declared that she and Spider-Man would start cleaning up loose ends in the city.^[1]

The City That Never Sleeps

Yuri was contacted by her friend Detective Mackey to pass him her contact with Spider-Man, so the webhead could help him. Days later, when Hammerhead started a gang war between the Maggia families, police investigations discovered that one of Hammerhead's bases was located on the abandoned Harlem Sanatorium, with a great chance of Hammerhead himself being at the locale. Yuri assembled a team to break into the derelict building with Spider-Man's help, who stayed behind to distract the henchmen. Unfortunately, the team was caught and overwhelmed by Hammerhead, who slaughtered most of the team, leaving Yuri as the sole survivor thanks to Spider-Man's intervention, who arrived just in time to save her. After returning to her police precinct, she is forced to call the families of the fallen officers to inform them of their fate. This leaves Yuri deeply traumatized, vowing revenge on Hammerhead and the Maggia like never before, deciding to hunt down Hammerhead by herself. Trying to find information about Hammerhead's whereabouts, Yuri invades Bar With No Name to interrogate his henchmen, finding that Hammerhead planned to execute the other Maggia leaders on a construction site. arriving on the location, she discovers that Spider-Man arrived earlier, and had just managed to subdue Hammerhead after a fight. Enraged, she stuns Spider-Man so he may not interfere, and proceeded to shoot Hammerhead in the head, killing him. She was then suspended from the force for her actions. However, not even suspension was enough to stop Yuri. She became a ruthless, murderous vigilante, murdering Maggia members in cold blood. On one such occasion, she tracked down a Maggia enforcer through his various crime scenes, leaving behind audio recordings of her attempts for Spider-Man to listen to. Spider-Man eventually stumbled upon a rooftop, where he learned of the enforcer's death by Yuri's hand. She explained her anger of the system and proclaimed that she will dispense justice in her own way.^[1]

Personality

Yuri is a tough character, having her own code of justice and morale. This makes her sometimes act with irresponsibility as a cop, going far enough to face entire gangs alone and even to kill who she thinks that deserves without any hard feelings. This is exemplified when she executes Hammerhead at point-blank with a bullet in the head. Yuri is also a very harsh person, having little sense of humor and being frequently annoyed with Spider-Man's "Spider-Cop" jokes, often backing out of her conversations with him whenever he brings it up. However, she eventually accepts it and uses it in an attempt to cheer him up, only to quickly regret it when he goes further with the joke. Despite that, she regards her relationship with Spider-Man as little more than partners, though she does care for his well-being, such as taking him to the hospital when he is injured.

Powers and Abilities

Abilities

• Police Training: Yuri is a police captain.
• Master Combatant: Yuri is shown to be a extremely good fighter, being able to take out quickly a room full of henchmen alone.
• Firearm Proficiency: Yuri is shown to be able to handle firearms, such as pistols.
• Helicopter Pilot: Yuri is shown to be able to pilot helicopters.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

• Police equipment.
  

Notes

• Yuri is voiced by Tara Platt in Marvel's Spider-Man.
  • Platt is married to Yuri Lowenthal, the voice of Spider-Man.

Links and References

• 4 Appearances of Yuriko Watanabe (Earth-1048)
• Minor Appearances of Yuriko Watanabe (Earth-1048)
• Media Yuriko Watanabe (Earth-1048) was Mentioned in
• 2 Images featuring Yuriko Watanabe (Earth-1048)
• 1 Quotations by or about Yuriko Watanabe (Earth-1048)
• Character Gallery: Yuriko Watanabe (Earth-1048)

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Footnotes