SPIDER-MAN WEEK Starring THE MANY LOVES OF PETER PARKER!
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Welcome to SPIDER-MAN WEEK: THE MANY LOVES OF PETER PARKER, our second-ever theme week that’s solely driven by our artist pals: Kerry Callen, Des Taylor, Walt Grogan (who did that fab banner), Chris Franklin, Dakota Alexander, Franco, Bill Morrison, and special guest Mark Chiarello. For more on this groovy feature, click here. — Dan
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By CHRIS FRANKLIN
When the 13th Dimension crew conceived a series on the “Many Loves of Peter Parker” my mind immediately went past the obvious Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy to Peter’s original paramour, Betty Brant.
Betty loomed large in the Spider-Man tales I took in during my youth. I first met her on reruns of the 1967 Spider-Man animated series, where, at least during the first season produced by Grantray-Lawrence, she was essentially Spidey’s Lois Lane. Betty, her grumpy boss J. Jonah Jameson, and Peter himself made up the trio at the incredibly understaffed Daily Bugle.
Betty (voiced by Peg Dixon) got a lot of screen time, flirting with Peter, trying to keep Jonah from blowing his flattop lid, and repeatedly being rescued by Spidey. She continued that role (voiced by Mona Marshall) in the 1981 Spider-Man cartoon series produced by Marvel Animation and syndicated along with the reruns of the ’67 series. Although for some reason, they gave her black hair.
Peter and Betty spark in their first real romantic moment in Amazing Spider-Man #7 (Dec. 1963) by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
Marvel Tales began reprinting the earliest Amazing Spider-Man stories in order, beginning with Issue #137 (March 1982), and I became hooked on the soap opera drama co-creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko concocted within. These were the stories the original animated series was primarily based on, but there was so much more romance, angst, and emotion oozing out of each page.
Debuting in ASM #4, Betty and Peter started flirting innocently, then become an item, until through her ailing mother and gambling brother, she’s drawn into the world of gangsters and Spidey’s arch-enemy Doctor Octopus. Her brother Bennett is killed trying to protect her from a ricocheting bullet meant for Spidey. Of course, Betty blames the wall-crawler, right at the moment Peter is about to tell her his secret and fully confess his love for her.
Betty’s brother Bennett dies before her eyes in Amazing Spider-Man #11 (April 1964) by Lee and Ditko
Betty and Peter’s romance continued, but Peter’s commitments as Spider-Man drove a wedge between them, one Betty could never fully understand. There were also the other girls like Liz Allan, and the unseen Mary Jane Watson who became obstacles for Peter’s affection and attention.
With Peter and Betty no longer an official thing, she began dating Daily Bugle reporter Ned Leeds, which angered Peter, further pushing them apart. As Peter moved on from high school to college, Betty somewhat faded into the background of the series. She would resurface many times over the years, such as in Amazing Spider-Man #156, where she and Ned married after a decade-long engagement (publishing-wise, anyway). Their wedded bliss didn’t last long, with Betty leaving Ned on their honeymoon/Daily Bugle assignment in Paris and heading straight to Peter’s apartment.
It’s heavily hinted that Peter and the still-married Betty may have, ahem, consummated their old romance, but writer Marv Wolfman was being cagey about the whole thing. Ned returned, fighting mad, and Peter played the jerk so Betty would run back to her husband, claiming he was using her to make Mary Jane jealous. Ouch.
Peter finds a married Betty waiting, ready to rekindle their romance in Amazing Spider-Man #184 (Sept. 1978)
Betty and Ned never really had a chance. In the mid-’80s, Ned was set up as one of several suspects who may have been Spider-Man’s new mysterious nemesis, the Hobgoblin. Another was longtime supporting character Flash Thompson, who Betty grew close to when Ned became increasingly cold and distant.
Ned was murdered while on foreign assignment in the Spider-Man vs. Wolverine one-shot (Feb. 1987) and was posthumously revealed to have been the Hobgoblin… even though he really wasn’t. A later retcon posited that Flash and Ned were hypnotized by the REAL Hobgoblin into assuming his role, to throw off suspicions of his true identity. It’s complicated in both the comics’ fiction, and even more so in the real-world Marvel offices, where backbiting among shifting creative teams and editors resulted in a very unsatisfying conclusion to a once great and intriguing storyline. But poor Betty, her mind shattered, ended up joining a cult as a result!
Betty sees the face of her husband Ned Leeds behind the Hobgoblin’s mask in Amazing Spider-Man #288 (May 1987) by Jim Owsley (Christopher Priest), Alan Kupperberg and Jim Fern.
Because of all of this, the idea came to me to spotlight the tumultuous life of Betty Brant in a poster from an imaginary late-1950s/early-1960s teen exploitation flick like Date Bait, Wild Youth and This Rebel Breed. You know, the classics!
Betty is cast as the beleaguered heroine, who at every turn is emotionally scarred by the men she cares about. And yes, of course I realize the Ned Leeds revelation as the Hobgoblin didn’t happen until 20 years after the Lee/Ditko era of Spider-Man, but it was too juicy to leave out. Betty herself is modeled after her appearance in the 1967 animated series, with a little Ditko anguish thrown in. She’s even wearing her dark blue dress, the only outfit seen on the show!
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MORE
— It’s SPIDER-MAN WEEK Starring THE MANY LOVES OF PETER PARKER. Click here.
— WHY SPIDER-MAN and MARY JANE Really Need to Stop That Upside-Down Kissing Thing. Click here.
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13th Dimension contributor Chris Franklin is a graphic designer, illustrator, writer, and podcaster, who co-hosts and produces several shows on the Fire and Water Podcast Network, including JLUCast. Check out his illustrative and design work at chrisfranklincreative.com.
July 26, 2026
Maybe I just was a naive middle schooler. But I remember reading issues 184-185. I recall Peter yawning after he and Betty apparently talked all night (they’re still wearing the same clothes from the night before). Only then does Betty give him a passionate kiss. Now, I’m no pearl clutcher, but it seemed to me (given Pete’s reaction) that the kiss was the high point of their evening, not the cherry on top. But others are welcome to draw more salacious conclusions .
July 26, 2026
I watched reruns the first Spider-Man animated series as a young boy and loved it. But I was turned off by the 70s Spider-Man comics of that time, which were more oriented toward soap opera than action. But when I was about 13, I found one of the paperbacks reprinting the 60s issues and really enjoyed them. I guess it shows how tastes change as you get older.
July 26, 2026
I was a High School comics reader in the 70s when i realized the comics were kind of patterned after soap operas. (Some of them even had vampires!) Loved this! Hey, maybe Betty could hook up with Nick Knight?