Marvel’s First LGBTQ+ Spider-Hero Debuted Years Ago, But No One Remembers
Queerness has a long and intriguing history with comics, though for a long time LGBTQ+ identities had to remain subtextual due to the censorship of the Comics Code Authority. Even though Marvel Comics abandoned Comics Code back in 2001, expanding queer representation on Earth 616 is often a slow-going and irregular journey. In particular, Web Weaver, Marvel's first gay Spider-Man, is not scheduled to debut on-panel until later this year. Web Weaver's welcome into the Spider-Verse fold is worth celebrating, and it also tees up the opportunity to reintroduce readers to the first openly LGBTQ+ Spider-Hero, the Ultimate Spider-Woman.
Related: Marvel Makes History With Their First Ever All-Trans Superhero Team
Ultimate Spider-Woman, otherwise known as Jessica Drew of Marvel's Earth 1610, was co-created by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley. She made her debut in Marvel's Ultimate Universe in 2006's Ultimate Spider-Man #98 by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley, Cory Petit, and Ralph Macchio. A genetically altered clone of Peter Parker with all of Peter's powers and memories, Jessica Drew is essentially the Ultimate Universe's twist on the Ben Reilly of Marvel's Prime Universe. The key difference between the Jessica Drew of Earth 1610 and the Ben Reilly of Earth 616 is that Jess's DNA is altered to be slightly different from Peter's, but only to the extent that she's assigned female at birth. Pieces of her queerness are present from her the beginning, but it would be years until Jessica made these aspects of herself explicit.
There are two queer identities that Ultimate Spider-Woman resonates with the most. After a period of adjustment from waking up as Peter in a body that was assigned female, Jessica does take ownership of
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