Betty Brant
Betty Brant | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance | The Amazing Spider-Man #4 (September 1963) |
Created by | Stan Lee (writer) Steve Ditko (artist) |
In-story information | |
Full name | Elizabeth "Betty" Brant |
Species | Human |
Place of origin | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
Team affiliations | Daily Bugle |
Supporting character of | Spider-Man Agent Venom |
Notable aliases | Betty Brant-Leeds |
Elizabeth "Betty" Brant-Leeds is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, usually in stories featuring the superhero Spider-Man. She is the personal secretary of J. Jonah Jameson at the Daily Bugle,[1] and served as both a supporting character and love interest for Peter Parker. She later became a reporter for the Daily Bugle and the girlfriend of Flash Thompson/Agent Venom, later marrying Ned Leeds/Hobgoblin.
Since her inception, the character has been featured in various media adaptations, such as
Publication history
Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, she first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #4 (September 1963).[2]
Fictional character biography
Betty Brant was born in
Her secretarial job at the Bugle was taken to help her brother Bennett Brant pay back his gambling debts,[6] which he had acquired trying to pay for their mother's medical bills. Bennett had become friendly with Betty's then boyfriend Gordon Savinski.[7] Gordon was into many illegal activities and Bennett eventually took on a gambling debt that he could not pay back to a gangster named Blackie Gaxton. When Blackie's thugs came looking for Bennett at the family home, Betty's mother was knocked into a coffee table, resulting in permanent brain damage.
With the help of Doctor Octopus, Blackie Gaxton kidnapped both Bennett and Betty as insurance against anyone preventing him leaving the country. Bennett was double crossed when Glaxton refused to free him of his debts and was fatally shot during a melee between Glaxton's gang, Doctor Octopus and Spider-Man. At first, Betty blamed Spider-Man for the death of her brother and told Spider-Man that she never wanted to see him again, although afterwards she realized she had been wrong and that he had only been trying to help. The blossoming romance between Betty and Peter was cut short, when Betty feared that Peter cared more for his classmate Liz Allan.[8] This misunderstanding led to their relationship finally coming to an end.[9]
Ned Leeds
Soon after Peter and Betty's break up, she started dating fellow Daily Bugle employee reporter Ned Leeds.[10] Even though he soon left for Europe, they remained in contact, writing each other letters regularly.[11] Upon his return, they began dating again,[12] and Leeds eventually proposed to Betty. There were signs that Betty still loved Peter, and Peter did his best to alienate her for her own good.[13] She eventually accepted Leeds' marriage proposal.
After their engagement, J. Jonah Jameson threw an engagement party at his penthouse apartment and their wedding soon followed. Their wedding day was not all smooth sailing as a costumed criminal named Mirage decided to rob all the guests at the top weddings on that day. Spider-Man intervened and Mirage was easily captured. Betty and Ned were married with Mary Jane Watson serving as Betty's maid of honor.[14]
Soon after their wedding, Jameson sent both Betty and Ned off to Paris on an all expenses paid working honeymoon. Betty began to notice a change in Ned as he became consumed by work. While Ned covered an insurrection in Cyprus she flew back to New York to the consoling arms of Peter.[15] After discovering Betty's disappearance Ned returned to New York and confronted both Peter and Betty. Ned punched Peter in the jaw and tried to force him to never see Betty again. Peter said he never wanted to see either of them again and that he was only interested in Betty to make Mary Jane jealous, in the hope that this would bring Ned and Betty back together. Advice that Peter had received from a ghostly Noah King dressed as a priest. [16]
After that, the villain
Ned's investigative reporting brought an incredible strain on the Leeds' marriage. Following leads on the mysterious new villain named
Betty suffered a complete mental breakdown after the news of Ned's death by the Foreigner,[18] and believed him to still be alive. In her state a young recruiter from the Cult of Love was able to persuade her to join their faction under a leader called the Teacher where she was programmed in their ways.[19] The Teacher turned out to be a con artist. Flash and Spider-Man figured this out and saved Betty, though she lost everything she owned and had to take up residence with Flash Thompson. During this, the demonic events of Inferno happened, overwhelming much of New York City. Betty and Flash were attacked by demonic duplicates of Spider-Man and Ned. Betty overcame physical and psychological barriers and succeeded in destroying the monsters.[20]
After these difficult times, she returned to work at the Daily Bugle as a secretary under the city editor Kate Cushing. A change in Betty occurred when she became an investigative reporter who successfully tracked down the Foreigner and his assassins and found out the real identity of the Hobgoblin which finally put her mind at rest. She has now become one of the top investigative reporters at the Bugle.
Deadline
In
Brand New Day
In
Recently, she celebrated her birthday and asked Peter to organize for her friends to come over for a dinner, but due to her work at the new DB, nobody feels like befriending her. In fact, only Peter showed up at her birthday, because he was the only one of her friends that was not angry with her. Initially, Betty was furious at Peter, angrily accusing him of ruining her night until he tells her the truth. She is sad, but he reassures her that everyone will forgive her soon. Betty realizes that Peter really is her best friend.[23]
Following the DB's destruction, she went on to create a successful journalism blog; she is last seen with having gotten back together with Flash.[24]
Other versions
Ultimate Marvel
In the Ultimate Marvel universe, Betty Brant is again the loyal secretary of J. Jonah Jameson at the Daily Bugle.[25] She is a headstrong woman, trying to get by in life and having as much fun on dates as she can get. This version has a considerably different personality as she goes as far as making bets about the deaths of missing co-workers. She also lacks her mainstream counterpart's brown bob hairstyle and instead sporting long black hair (but her design was not concrete at the beginning of the series). She worked herself up into a rage while trying to build the Bugle website to which Peter Parker took over from her and got his job at the Bugle as a webdesigner.
Jameson rejects her request to find out more about the disappearance of
What If?
In "
Marvel Noir
In the Marvel Noir universe, Betty Brant is once again depicted as the personal secretary of J. Jonah Jameson at the Daily Bugle.[30]
Spider-Gwen
In the alternate reality where Gwen Stacy is Spider-Gwen, a.k.a. Spider-Woman, Brant is the bass player for the high school rock band the Mary Janes. Out of the four musicians (Mary Jane, Glory Grant, and Gwen Stacy), she is shown to have a larger interest in death metal and darker subjects such as horror. She has a cat named Murderface.[31]
In other media
Television
- Betty Brant appears in Spider-Man (1967), voiced by Peg Dixon.[32] This version plays a larger role than other incarnations, similarly to Lois Lane of the Superman franchise, such as being captured by the villain Parafino and supporting Peter Parker and Spider-Man when J. Jonah Jameson criticizes them.
- Betty Brant appears in Spider-Man (1981), voiced by Mona Marshall.[32]
- Betty Brant appears in The Spectacular Spider-Man, voiced by Grey DeLisle.[32] This version is J. Jonah Jameson's secretary at the Daily Bugle and largely makes minor appearances throughout the series, with her most notable appearances including being repeatedly asked by Peter Parker to his Fall Formal and being interviewed by Ned Leeds on whether or not she believes Parker is Spider-Man.
- Betty Brant appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episode "Along Came a Spider", voiced again by Grey DeLisle.[32] This version is a reporter for the Daily Bugle.
- Betty Brant appears in Spider-Man (2017)[33] as J. Jonah Jameson's secretary at the Daily Bugle.
Film
- Betty Brant appears in Spider-Man trilogy, portrayed by Elizabeth Banks. First appearing in Spider-Man (2002) before making subsequent appearances in its sequels, Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3, this version is a staff member of the Daily Bugle and J. Jonah Jameson's secretary who is usually seen either passing on messages to Jameson or receiving curt orders from him. While she never dates Peter Parker, she displays a subtle attraction to him in the first two films. Banks stated that she first auditioned for the role of Mary Jane Watson before taking the role of Brant.[34] She also admitted that the groundwork of the relationship between Brant and Parker is much closer to an office romance than what the two shared in the comics.[35]
- The Spider-Gwen incarnation of Betty Brant appears in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), voiced by Antonia Lentini. Additionally, Betty Brant / Spider-Girl of the What If comics makes a non-speaking cameo appearance as a member of the Spider-Society.[36]
Marvel Cinematic Universe
A teenage incarnation of Betty Brant in media set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), portrayed by Angourie Rice.[37] This version's appearance bears a similarity to Gwen Stacy, having long blonde hair and often wearing a black headband.[citation needed]
- Introduced in the film Jason Ionello.
- In the film
- Brant also appears in the film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) and the web series The Daily Bugle (2021–2022) as an intern for the titular website.
Video games
- Betty Brant appears in the Spider-Man 2 film tie-in game, voiced by Bethany Rhoades.[32]
- Betty Brant appears in the Spider-Man 3 film tie-in game, voiced by Rachel Kimsey.[32]
- Betty Brant / Spider-Girl of the What If comics makes a cameo appearance in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.[citation needed]
- Betty Brant / Spider-Girl of the What If comics appears as a playable character in Spider-Man Unlimited.[citation needed]
References
- ISBN 978-0756692360.
- ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #142
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #4
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #9
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #11
- ^ Untold Tales of Spider-Man #12
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #13
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #17
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #18
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #23-24
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #29
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #30
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #156
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #184
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #195
- ^ Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #107 (December 1985)
- ^ Spider-Man Vs. Wolverine (Feb. 1987)
- ^ Web of Spider-Man #40 (July 1988)
- ^ The Spectacular Spider-Man #148 (March 1989)
- ^ Deadline #1
- ^ Deadline #4
- ^ Mark Waid (w), Barry Kitson (p), Mark Farmer (i). "Platonic" The Amazing Spider-Man, no. 583 (January 2009). Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #648
- ^ Ultimate Spider-Man #8
- ^ Ultimate Spider-Man #121
- ^ Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man vol. 2 #6
- ^ Bendis, Brian Michael (w), Marquez, David (a). Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #16.1. December 2012. Marvel Comics.
- ^ What If? #7
- ^ Spider-Man Noir #1
- ^ Spider-Gwen vol. 2 #13
- ^ a b c d e f "The Voices of Betty Brant". Behind The Voice Actors.
- ^ "Take Two". Spider-Man. Season 2. Episode 27. June 18, 2018. Disney XD.
- ^ "ELIZABETH BANKS PONDERS BETTY BRANT'S FUTURE". Retrieved 22 February 2011.
- ^ "'Spider-Man' Secretary Dishes On Hero's Hookups, Black Suit". MTV. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
- ^ Jasper, Gavin (2022-12-13). "Guide to the Weirdest Spider-Men in the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Trailer". Den of Geek. Retrieved 2022-12-13.
- ^ Ford, Rebecca (July 6, 2016). "'Spider-Man: Homecoming' Adds 'Nice Guys' Breakout Angourie Rice (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 7, 2016. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
- ^ "Angourie Rice Has Roles In Two Of Summer's Most Anticipated Films". NYLON. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
- ^ Barnhardt, Adam (September 29, 2018). "Tom Holland Battles A Pigeon in New 'Spider-Man: Far From Home' Set Photos". Comicbook.com. Archived from the original on October 19, 2018. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
External links
- Betty Brant at Marvel.com
- Betty Brant's Profile at Spiderfan.org Archived 2022-03-07 at the Wayback Machine
- Betty Brant on Marvel Database, a Marvel Comics wiki