Jessica Drew is a pretty complicated lady. Her creation and publication history as a character came about as a means of creative espionage: during the height of litigations between "The Big Two", Marvel realized they need the rights to the name "Spider-Woman" before DC or anyone else could trademark it. Even though the obvious associations to Spider-Man were clear, the character's origin took a bit of a different turn, away from the Peter Parketype that would become the blueprint for later Spider-fam. (Peter Parker + archetype. Get it? Not sorry.) Created by Archie Goodwin and Marie Severin in 1977, her backstory is more akin to characters like Scarlet Widow and Winter Solider. An assassin by trade, super-heroine by choice, and an early member of the ever-expanding family of spider-folk, here's a list of things to help you get to know this often overlooked bad-ass.
10 Former Villain, Retired Spy
Early after leaving the Citadel of Science, Jessica took a bartending gig. However, this is comics, so normal life just didn't take and after accidentally killing her boyfriend, Jessica was driven into the open arms of Hydra. There, she was trained in espionage and brainwashed by Mentallo to believe that she was fighting the encroaching powers and influence of corporations.
On her first and only assignment with Hydra, she refused to kill Nick Fury and turned on her former allies. Now retired from her career in subterfuge, she works as a private investigator. In addition to Hydra, Drew has been a member of H.A.M.M.E.R., S.W.O.R.D., A.I.M., and S.H.E.I.L.D. (Fun Fact: Jessica's S.H.I.E.L.D e-mail address is jdrew@superop.shield.gov)
9 Single Mom
After dying in a horrific space-ship crash at the beginning of Secret Wars [2015] and then being restored back to life, Jessica seemed to realize there was more to life than just being super bad-ass. During the following year, she conceived a child through artificial insemination and continued her life as a private investigator, enlisting the help of Roger Gocking (the Porcupine) and Ben Urich toward the end of her pregnancy. Later on, Drew visited the maternity ward aboard the Alpha Flight space station and fended off a Skrull attack after giving birth via cesarean section. Motherhood has always hardcore and bad-ass, but that a whole other level.
8 Bioelectric “Venom Blasts”
The first spider-hero to have bioelectricity-based attacks, but certainly not the last. While similar to Miles Morales' "venom sting", because of the incredible amount of bioelectric energy her body creates Jessica Drew is actually able to project that energy from her hands and affect a person's nervous system in the same way a lightning strike would.
7 Squad Goals
Member of the several Avengers squads as well as other super-teams like Heroes for Hire, Drew has a superhero resume for days. The versatility of her power set, as well as her background in espionage, makes her the perfect fit for most super teams, covert or otherwise.
Her likeability in the superhero community makes her a pleasure to work with. (Fun Fact: Jessica's New Avengers e-mail address is arachnophilia@newavengers.stark.net)
6 Radiation and Contaminant Immunity
Jessica Drew is immune to most, if not all, contaminants the brutal Marvel multiverse can throw at her. Probably one of the most useful powers in a world where cosmic radiation, gamma radiation, and various other kinds of radioactive waste exposure are frighteningly common occurrences, Jessica Drew can get into places that literally kill other heroes.
5 Pheromone Secretions
Another one of Spider-Woman's more specialized powers is the pheromonal secretions that give her the power of suggestion and influence over her unwitting victims. She's able to elicit severe emotional responses such as fear, anxiety, attraction, and repulsion depending on a number of variables such as the person's gender or disposition. She can even use it to make Hulk fetch her a sandwich. However, since becoming a mother this power seems to have gone dormant.
4 Spider Totem
Even though most of J-Drew's powers come from genetic experimentation with several species of spiders, the reason they manifested as arachnid-themed, is because of her status as a "spider-totem", which is an avatar of the "Web of Life and Destiny". Think something along the lines of the Flash's "speed force", but for spider-folk.
3 Trained by Taskmaster
There's maybe a handful of people you'd want to give you close-quarters defense and tactical infiltration lessons, but Taskmasker would be at the top. Taskmaster has the ability to learn any fighting style just by watching, so you can see why he'd be top-of-the-pops to train Hydra espionage agents for hand-to-hand combat.
This training from her time as a brainwashed Hydra agent combined with her childhood education from her father, the High Evolutionary, has made Drew as tactically formidable as she is brilliant.
2 Other Squad Goals
As someone who spent quite a bit of time being gaslighted about her job and relationships, Jessica understands the value of people who sincerely have your back. Despite her murky ethics and history of spying and espionage, she has earned the trust of professional skeptic Nick Fury and is one of the more likable personalities in the Marvel multiverse. She's bezzie-mates with the likes of Cindy Moon, Jennifer Walters, Gwen Stacy (Earth-65), Carol Danvers, Ben Urich, and many others. (Fun Fact: Jessica Drew allergic to the flerken species the same way regular folks are allergic to cats)
1 Had Her Own Animated Series [1979]
The era before mainstream pop culture became saturated with comics was truly a magical place where anything could happen. Before Marvel started selling-off movie rights to stay financially solvent, they had some incredible animated series unencumbered by petty things like who owns what characters. This cartoon is a spider-themed Johnny Quest-style romp featuring Jessica Drew, her nephew Billy, and photojournalist guy-Friday Jeff Hunt. Because comic IPs had a certain stigma about only having a kind juvenile appeal, never to be taken seriously by adults. This actually allowed comics and associated properties to operate pretty freely because the grown-up audiences didn't take them seriously. This allowed projects like the animated Spider-Woman series to have classic Marvel staples Spider-Man, Kingpin, Dracula, and Dormammu to be featured.