The White Rabbit

Background

The White Rabbit is a clear example of a nutcase. As a child, Lorina Dodson belonged to a rich family, who wanted to give her an upright education. She was mostly secluded and "protected", in order to become a "proper lady". Having nowhere to turn, she found her refuge in books, until she read Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. That book was more than a simple refuge for a troubled mind; in her own words, it saved her soul.

She grew up into a futile and melancolic 25 year old woman married to an 82 year old multi-billionare geezer. She could have anything money can buy, but she longed for the thrill of danger, mayhem, and adventure, which her husband couldn't give her. She eventually got rid of him, though his death was assumed to be natural (she assures he died happy... I wonder) and then used his fortune to become the White Rabbit, based on the character from the book.

She started her villainous career by robbing several fast-food restaurants. Why fast-food? As I said, "the White Rabbit is a clear example of a nutcase". Her biggest problem was that when she tried to rob Kwikkee Burger, Eugene Patilio was in the restaurant. You don't know who Eugene is? He's none other than the Fabulous Frog-Man! While he dodges the bullets from the White Rabbit Gang, the White Rabbit herself abandons her men, leaving them to handle Frog-Man. Of course, Frog-Man eventually handles himself (check his profile if you don't understand why), and he only survives because Spider-Man intervenes. After that, she goes to her next target with a renewed Gang: A book fair. On her way, she's spotted by Spidey and Frog-Man, and after a funny battle, her jet-boots fail and she crashes to her first defeat.

A few years later, she returns with a different plan: She wants to execute revenge on Frog-Man. With that, she contacts Speed Demon, Yellow Claw and the Walrus, the other guys who were (sort of) defeated by Frog-Man. The first two scoff at her proposal, only the dumb-as-a-rock Walrus agrees. They start spreading chaos and mayhem in Brooklyn (surprisingly, in front of Kwikkee Burger) to attract Frog-Man, but they attract one frog too many, because Eugene's dad, the original Leapfrog, also shows up and he controls the suit much better than his son. Of course, Spidey also appears, and once again Frog- Man scores a clumsy victory, by falling on the Rabbit's back when jumping out of control.

”The Legion of Losers!”

In her third and final storyline to date, she and her gang are robbing a bank, when the Gargantuan Grizzly and his partner, Gibbon, the Boy Monkey, show up to stop her. They're captured, and three issues later she attempts to ransom the duo demanding 1 billion dollars for their lives, or she'd feed them to her genetically altered killer bunnies (Monthy Python, anyone?)! The Mayor thinks that 1 billion is too much, and makes a counter offer: $2.50! She rejects and takes the Flying Hare to bomb the city. She raises the ransom request to 5 billion and returns to her hideout, while a stealthy Bombastic Bag-Man (Peter with a bag on his head. Hey, it's the middle of Identity Crisis, and he had none of the other costumes with him!) climbs aboard the Hare.

When the Hare arrives back at the hideout, the White Rabbit drops Grizzly and Gibbon into the bunnies' pit, and the Bag-Man takes out the White Rabbit Gang. When he faces the Mad Hatter and the Dormouse, the White Rabbit's sidekicks, they say they're only hired actors, because not a single super-villain (!!!) wanted to work with the Rabbit. She shows up with a giant Rabbit-Robot and blasts Bag-Man away. Of course, Peter's just pretending, because he saw Grizzly and Gibbon leaving the pit and wanted to give them the victory. It seems that the Gibbon's natural affinity with animals convinced the killer bunnies to chew their chains. The Grizzly, afraid to be called sexist if he didn't give the Rabbit equal treatment, renders her K.O. with a nice punch.

“Claws”

W.R. next worked with Arcade and actually developed a romantic attraction to the little guy. The duo went after the Black Cat and Wolverine. Felicia and Logan were tracking someone claiming to be Kraven the Hunter, who was engaging in a game of hunting human beings. Naturally Wolvie and Cat beat the duo but White Rabbit ended up in the Savage Land and became queen a tribe of warriors. (Claws #1-#3) Lorina later teamed with the Hood during Norman Osborn's Dark Reign and took on Mister Negative's gang. (Dark Reign: Mister Negative #1-#3)

”Red Headed Stranger”

We next see the White Rabbit in Los Angeles, where she is working as a drug dealer to the rich and famous. One of her clients is Mary Jane's boyfriend, Bobby Carr. (Peter and MJ ended their relationship via the demon Mephisto in the One More Day story.) Carr is also an actor and is using Mutant Growth Hormone to bulk up for a movie role. The Rabbit turned on her client when the U.S. Department of Justice wanted him to inform them who his dealer is.

Rabbit and her gang attacked Carr and MJ at a trendy L.A. club, gassing the party goers. Mary Jane saved the day when she disabled the "Alice" gang member and stole her costume, allowing her to get close to Bobby. As they ran, Mary Jane took out the White Rabbit with a "Cream Machine" at the club. As the police took the White Rabbit away, Bobby Carr complained that now she would tell them all about his drug use. His shallowness made MJ walk away from him and take a TV job, which took her back to New York. (Amazing Spider-Man #605)

”Spider-Island”

Rabbit was later hired as a guard (along with Chance and Scorcher) to protect the hideout of the Queen and Miles Warren. They were tougher than usual, as the Jackal and Queen had given them spider powers. Peter and Carlie Cooper over powered the trio, with kung fu that Peter learned from Shang Chi. (Amazing Spider-Man #669)

She escaped soon after and was apprehended without a fight by the Superior Spider-Man. The new Spider-Man's methods were quite a bit more brutal than the old one's and he congratulated her on her wise choice of surrender. (Superior Spider-Man #4)

Soon, Peter was restored to the role of Spider-Man and his typical Parker luck stayed true to form. The White Rabbit had formed a animal themed gang called "The Menagerie" and worked with Panda-Mania, Gypsy Moth and the Hippo. As Spidey swung in, Gypsy Moth (now calling herself "Skein") used her cloth controlling powers to unravel his costume. He knocked her out before the mask fell apart but he stood there buck naked. He spun a web costume for himself as TV cameras rolled. The Menagerie was quickly captured. (Amazing Spider-Man vol 3 #1)

Spidey briefly crossed paths with the "Menagerie" after a diamond heist. He quickly defeated them and resumed looking for the German tourists whose cell phone he was trying to return. (Amazing Spider-Man Annual vol 3 #1)

"Spiral"

After Tombstone and Hammerhead were taken to prison, the power structure of the New York gangs was in flux. Many criminals took advantage of the newly vulnerable territory and Rabbit was one of them. However, this brought her into conflict with the Spot, who also wanted that territory. (Amazing Spider-Man #19.1)

”Hunted”

Rabbit faced a murderous threat after she was captured by Taskmaster and Black Ant. They had been hired by Arcade and Sergei Kravinoff to be hunted by robots with other animal themed menaces. The prey was trapped in Central Park and held in by a force field. The machines were piloted by wealthy donors that wanted the thrill of hunting dangerous game. Spider-Man had also been captured but before the bad guys could take revenge, they were attacked by the robots. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 5) #18)

Several of the criminals were killed but the survivors regrouped and were spoken to by the Vulture. He told them that the Gibbon was dead but wanted him to carry on as the leader. (When asked who the Gibbon was, Rabbit said he owned her money.) Spider-Man arrived to cast doubt on his story but the group followed Vulture’s plan against their stalkers. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 5) #20)

Rabbit was running through the forest, chased by several robots and feigned a stumble to draw them to a certain spot. Before they could kill her, they were destroyed by Tarantula, Puma, and Killer Shrike. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 5) #21) In the final assault against the hunters, she and Vulture ambushed them from a tree and fought on, until the robots fell over, deactivated. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 5) #22) Her victory was short lived, as all of the escaping bad guys were captured by the Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange, and the Avengers. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 5) #23)

"Behind the Scenes"

Rabbit was next a part of the Sinister Syndicate, led by the Beetle (Janice Lincoln). Other members of the gang were Trapster, Lady Octopus (Carolyn Trainer) and Scorpia. Their first mission together was to free the new Electro, Francine Frye, from police custody. (Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 5) #25)

As Beetle showed Electro around their hideout, Rabbit argued with Lady Octopus over their menu. Octopus was disgusted by the amount of dairy in the fridge and said it interfered with her plan for vegan cheeseburgers, which Rabbit resented since she owned the dairy business. Beetle got them to focus when she announced that their plan was to kidnap and kill Boomerang, who had crossed all of the members at some point. (He had betrayed Beetle, nearly killed Electro and had flirted with the rest of them at The Bar With No Name.)

”A World Without Love”

Rabbit became the hired muscle for Tombstone and showed up at a meeting with Hammerhead, Crime Master, Mister Negative and others. They had all gathered to meet with the resurrected Richard Fisk, who wanted an unknown product. Fisk arrived with his own enforcer, a Hulk-level creature called Digger. Rabbit offered to take him on but was told to cool it. Later on, Rabbit was delivering a Green Goblin glider to the Rose's goons. Spider-Man arrived but he was quickly taken on by Digger. During the fight Digger escaped but White Rabbit was webbed to a car, which Spidey attached a tracer to. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 6) #1)

”Gang War”

Rabbit barged in on a meeting of the gang bosses, telling Hammerhead that he looked like he put his head out in an ashtray. Janice arrived and claimed her dad’s seat at the table while he was in the hospital. Hammered said if she wanted to be taken seriously, she’d have to kill her former fiancé. (Amazing Spider-Man Gang War First Strike)

White Rabbit and Kareem took shelter as they were attacked by Black Mariah and her crew. They were saved by her friends, the Sinister Six. Beetle took Mariah’s territory in Spanish Harlem and wanted to take the Upper East Side. First she’d have to take on Diamondback and his territory and Rabbit reminded her that he was tight with her dad. Tombstone showed up and Beetle was relieved he was ok after the assassination attempt. Rabbit explained that they took out Mariah after she tried to control the docks. Beetle and Tombstone argued over strategy and she and the Six made up their minds. Tombstone had Rabbit stay with them. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 6) #39)

In Harlem, Beetle planned to take on Diamondback and Rabbit was concerned if they had enough firepower. Beetle planned to put the fear of God into Diamondback’s gang. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 6) #40)

The Sinister Six met with the Rose and Digger to tell them to stay out of Harlem. Fisk wasn’t impressed and had Digger go through them. Rabbit scolded him for grabbing Trainer’s tentacles and soon Electro (Francine) was frying him. Digger was tearing them apart and Rabbit told them to get it together or she’d take care of it herself. That’s when guys in armor showed up and started shooting. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 6) #41)

The men took Fisk away, who complained that they worked for his father. The Six took stock of the situation and were concerned about their ability to fight on. Beetle reminded them that they now controlled the troops and territory of Richard Fisk. Even Tombstone had never accomplished that. Rabbit reminded her of Madame Masque and Beetle knew she’d come for them. Rabbit said they’d need all the help they could get when Digger pulled himself out of the rubble. Rabbit awkwardly offered him a job. Soon the gangs were all gathered in Central Park. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 6) #42)

Tombstone ordered White Rabbit to leave the Park during the battle, telling her that he was in charge. Afterwords, he told her that he had forced Beetle to leave and hoped she stayed away. He told Rabbit that she and the Syndicate had just been promoted and he controlled New York’s gangs. She reminded him that the other bosses had seen him working with Spider-Man and it wouldn’t be forgotten. When it came down to it, Spider-Man was the only one he could trust but he was still going to beat him to death. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 6) #44)

”Blood Hunt”

A world wide vampire revolt happened after the sun didn’t rise. Spider-Man was contacted by Kareem, who wanted him to rescue Rabbit. She had gone to shake down a store owner, whom had recently been bitten. She bit Kareem as Spidey dealt with the vampire that had bitten her. He felt bad for the man, whom had also been bitten. He was killed by Kareem, and he and Rabbit were returned to human. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 6) #49)

After Tombstone was released from prison, he wanted Rabbit to be the one to kill Janice. She was reluctant to kill her friend, and he reminded her that he was her boss. In a subway tunnel, she and Digger waited as he held the subway tracks over his head. He complained that his arms were getting tired and she said he'd know when he could put them down. The moment came when the train was pushed through the tunnel roof and through the pavement and into the street above. It blocked off the armored car that contained Randy and Janice, who were trying to flee the city. While Digger and Spider-Man fought, the Syndicate attacked the armored car. Rabbit warned Janice to leave the city but was surprised to see that "Janice" was really She Hulk. Rabbit realized that Tombstone knew she couldn't be trusted to kill her friend, and that he'd kill his daughter himself. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 6) #57)

Image Gallery

Appearances

Cover Date	Appearance Information
Jul 1983	App: Marvel Team-Up #131
	Faces Frog-Man and Spider-Man. Origin told.
Feb 1992	App: Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #185
	Teams-up with the Walrus, and faces Frog-Man, Leapfrog I and Spider-Man
Jan 1998	App: Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #253
	Captures Grizzly and Gibbon
Apr 1998	App: Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #256
	Defeated by Grizzly, Gibbon and Bag-Man
Nov 2009	App: Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #605 (Story 1)
Oct 2011	App: Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #668
Nov 2011	App: Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #669
Apr 2013	App: Superior Spider-Man #4

Thanks To

 The assistance of the Marvel Chronology Project is gratefully acknowledged.

 Some of the above information is extracted from the various versions of the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe and the more recent Marvel Encyclopaedias.