Miss Arrow
Attributes
| Eyes: | hazel (as Miss Arrow) red (as Ero) |
| Features: | African American woman (as Miss Arrow) humanoid made of spiders (as Ero) |
| Hair: | blond (as Miss Arrow) none (as Ero) |
| Height: | 5'4'' |
| Weight: | 105 lbs |
Powers
| Abilities: | See above. |
| Equipment: | Egg sack. |
| Limitations: | Birds. |
| Powers: | Transforms into spiders, stingers from her wrists, webbing. |
| Strength Level: | Can lift 20 tons. |
| Weapons: | Stingers. |
Summary
| Citizenship: | other worldly |
| Created By: | |
| Current Aliases: | Miss Arrow |
| Current Groups: | Unknown |
| Current Occupation: | bird feed |
| Dual Identity: | Unknown |
| Education: | Unknown |
| Former Aliases: | Unknown |
| Former Bases: | Unknown |
| Former Groups: | Unknown |
| Former Occupation: | high school nurse |
| Known Allies: | spider god |
| Known Confidants: | spider god |
| Known Relatives: | spider babies |
| Legal Status: | dead |
| Major Enemies: | Spider-Man, Betty Brant |
| Marital Status: | Unknown |
| Place of Birth: | Unknown |
| Real Name: | Ero |
| Usual Bases: | abandoned church |
Background
”The Other”
Miss Arrow lived because Spider-Man died. After being killed by Morlun, Peter met a spider god. The god told him that it wasn't his time to die and would grant him the ability to return to life if he agreed to embrace his inner spider. This meant accepting certain abilities that he might consider frightening. (He was stronger than before, had stingers that came from his wrists and had a highly tuned spider-sense, that let him "see" in the dark. This was all much like a storyline that took place shortly before this one, where Peter was transformed by the Queen.) Peter agreed to the bargain and returned to life, which angered another spider god.
This other god thought that the bargain went against the natural order and demanded that another being be sent to earth as a counter balance. This creature was Spider-Man's "Other," his opposite. Peter, Mary Jane and Aunt May were living in Stark Towers at the time. Peter's old body was being held by Tony Stark for research, until Peter found that it had been devoured by a swarm of spiders. He recognized them as cannibal spiders, which got their name for obvious reasons.
The spiders then came together to form a humanoid woman. It smashed through a wall and escaped, but not before a pair of stingers tore their way through Spider-Man's wrists. It seemed to have happened on reflex, done without his bidding. They receded back into his wrists as the spider-creature escaped. Chasing the creature, he learned that it could talk. It then explained to him how it came to be before it jumped off a building and swarmed into a sewer.
Spidey went to see Stephen Strange for more insight into his resurrection. Strange saw that Peter was at the center of a cosmic web, possibly as the spider or the prey. The afterlife has been thrown into turmoil by his return to life and a “severe correction” was coming. Spidey said he had met it already. (Marvel Knights Spider-Man (vol. 1) #22)
”Spider-Man Unmasked”
A few weeks later, Peter got into a fight with coach Flash Thompson at Midtown High School where both were working as teachers. Flash had a gym ball bounced off his head and woke up in the office of Miss Arrow, the nurse. They immediately began flirting but were cut off when the school was shrouded in darkness. A voice claimed that the school was haunted and that the front door was the only way out. Little did they know but Mysterio (Francis Klum) had rigged the place with traps. (Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (vol. 1) #11)
Arrow and Flash were leading a group of kids through the darkened hallways when Flash decided to spring potential traps. He sprinted down the hall safely and the group followed, until the floor dropped out under him. He barely managed to not fall onto the giant eyeball tentacle monster. A kid saved Flash by stabbing a tentacle with a Swiss Army knife. After getting to safety, Arrow wondered why a country as neutral as Switzerland had army knives. She then fell into a locker and disappeared. She appeared at the feet of the real Mysterio, Quentin Beck. He said she seemed like an innocent bystander but looks can be deceiving. He introduced himself and reminded her that he had killed himself. She guessed that he was going to say that everyone was wrong but he removed his helmet and half of his head was missing. (Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (vol. 1) #12)
He assured her that this wasn’t a trick or illusion, he had been sent to Hell after his suicide. Certain individuals believed that he could be useful to them. Everyone plays a part in the grand cosmic scheme, which he knew she was aware of. She called him crazy and he reminded her that they both work for certain sides. He told her that a game is being played and they are all players. They needed to be in place, including Peter. He was not to leave the school for any reason. Beck disappeared but she was soon found by Klum. He started to drag her away until she stabbed him in the chest with a stinger from her wrist. She was about to stab him again when he teleported away, just as Flash and Spider-Man showed up. She played the scared girl routine and kissed Flash when things were safe. She told him that she was going to convince Peter to stay as a teacher. (Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (vol. 1) #13)
Arrow talked to Peter, telling him that the school needed him. He said his face had launched a thousand crises and they had just dealt with a battle of Mysterios. (Daniel Berkhart had fought Klum and Spider-Man.) She replied that he was needed to protect them, while Mary Jane and Aunt May were safe at Avengers Tower. She knew that the bad guys would see the school as full of hostages that Peter was connected to. She told him to figure it out. (Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (vol. 1) #14)
After the rest of the staff had gone home, Flash was trying to get Arrow to get dinner with him. She claimed that she had to work but he interrupted her when he saw in a newspaper that Deborah Whitman was signing her book, exposing her relationship with Peter and Spider-Man. He ran off to the book signing and as he left, Arrow ate a spider that was hanging from a thread. (Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (vol. 1) #15)
Arrow showed up at the bookstore just after Spider-Man swung away with the Vulture. Flash was talking with Betty Brant about how they used to date. Flash noticed Arrow listening and introduced them. Once Arrow learned that they were no longer dating, the stinger in her wrist retracted. She shook Betty’s hand, saying she was sweet enough to eat. (Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (vol. 1) #16)
”Back in Black”
Peter, MJ and May had left Avengers tower and hidden in a hotel. Their location had been discovered by Wilson Fisk, who hired a hitman to kill Peter’s loved ones. The sniper had aimed for Mary Jane but after Peter yanked her away, the bullet hit his aunt. (Amazing Spider-Man #538)
On a date with Flash, Betty went to use the bathroom. While on the toilet, thousands of spiders came crawling out of the bowl and she ran out screaming. The manager looked into the bathroom and didn’t see any spiders but did find a mirror and with cocaine. Betty swore she didn’t do drugs and she hadn’t hallucinated but they were still asked to leave. Arrow watched with a grin as they left. (Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (vol. 1) #18)
As they drove away, Betty swore that she wasn’t a drug user. She did freak out when she saw Arrow standing on the sidewalk, waving at them. Flash was startled and accidentally rear ended a cop car. The cops arrested Betty as she said that they were being followed. As she was walked away, spiders crawled into the sewer. (Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (vol. 1) #19)
In an abandoned church, a shadowy spider spoke to Arrow, telling her that she didn’t have much time. She needed to reproduce or die. She said she had found her mate and host, which the shadow approved of. It warned her to not take too long or else her enemies would destroy her. She found Flash on a date with yet another woman, professional bowler Kelly Kulick. (She’s a real person, btw.) In the bowling alley, Arrow told Flash that she was ready to date him.
He introduced Arrow to Kelly, and she insisted that they leave. Kelly started to speak up when Arrow knocked her over. Arrow grabbed Flash’s hand and tried to pull him away and he commented on her strength. He told her not to bite his head off and she told him she wouldn’t do it yet. Kelly hit her with a bowling pin and spiders scurried off of Arrow. She spat out a swarm of spiders onto Kelly, just before Spider-Man crashed through the window. (Peter and Betty had figured that “Miss Arrow” was an alias for “Ero.” Ero is a genus of cannibal spiders, like the kind that devoured his old body at Avengers Tower.) Ero changed into its true form, telling Spider-Man that she wouldn’t be there if he hadn’t violated the natural order and cheated death. She was his equal and opposite number and he couldn’t get rid of her too easily. She changed into spiders and escaped.
The swarm appeared under the truck that Flash and Kelly were driving away in, lifting it into the air. Flash told her to leave Kelly alone and Ero threw her out of the truck. Spidey caught Kelly and went after Ero, who had escaped with Flash. (Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (vol. 1) #20)
Back at her abandoned church hideout, Ero had Flash webbed to the ceiling and explained to him what she needed from him. Flash had been in a coma for several months due to a car accident caused by the Green Goblin. During that time, his tantric life force went unspent, leaving him with a surplus. She intended to use that surplus to feed her unborn offspring. Except, her species reproductive cycle involved stuffing an egg sack down a host's throat, where the babies would hatch and feed off the life energy. With Flash's excess, Ero expected thousands of offspring. That's why she needed him away from other women. She couldn't chance him using up some of that energy.
Spider-Man arrived after being told by Betty that a large cocoon had been found on the side of an old church. He bet that Ero had come from a similar cocoon that he had after he was reborn. Ero quickly got the upper hand on Spidey, who was saved by a shotgun toting Betty Brant. Betty quickly destroyed the egg sack and blew away Ero. (When Peter asked her when she started carrying around a shotgun with sliver bullets with crosses etched into them, she said "I'm a reporter for the Daily Bugle...Girl's gotta be prepared.") Ero then warned Betty to sleep with the gun every night, because she just destroyed Ero's one chance to reproduce.
As she glided away on a web parachute, Spider-Man caught up with her and forced her to crash into the Central Park Zoo aviary. Peter told her that while she considered herself to be his natural predator, it was really the other way around. While it was the exotic birds that were eating her alive, he was the one that gave her to them. Before Ero disappeared, he told her to tell any other magical beings to leave him and his family alone, or he would do the same to them. He stepped on an escaping spider for good measure. (Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #22)
”Grim Hunt”
Aspects of this story were repeated in Grim Hunt, when Kraven the Hunter was resurrected by his wife, Sasha Kravinoff. Peter's clone, Kaine Parker, had been mistaken as Spider-Man and sacrificed in his place. (Amazing Spider-Man #635) He returned by the end of the story, courtesy of the spider-god.
Image Gallery
