| |
Background
Stunner is Angelina Brancale, a lonely obese woman who worked as a
secretary for Dr. Carolyn Trainer, the second Dr. Octopus. When Dr.
Trainer is approached by Otto Octavius with a plan to use her virtual
reality equipment to create a new body for him, the duo decide to
test the machines on a human guinea pig first. Angelina is chosen. She
is strapped into an elaborate, confining VR machine and is given a
new and virtual body... Stunner. She is so grateful to Otto Octavius
for her strong and beautiful form that she falls in love with him.
The story of Stunner (and the new Doctor Octopus) is inextricably bound with
the complex, sometimes convoluted, Clone Saga. She first appeared in
spiderman_amazing.397, walking into a bar and declaring herself to
the patrons as "every woman you've ever dreamed about and drooled over".
She is tall, muscular, blonde, blue-eyed, with a slim waist and large
breasts as only seen in comic books. She is also strong enough to tear
the bar to pieces. And, she is intimately involved with Dr. Octopus.
In a quiet moment of reflection with her lover, Stunner suddenly
vanishes; our first indication that she is not all that she seems.
At this same time, Spider-Man is dying. He has been infected by the
Vulture with a virus that has no known cure. In their first fight,
Stunner defeats him easily. Dr. Octopus soon joins her and unmasks the
helpless wall-crawler.
Strangely, Octopus is not only unsurprised that Peter Parker is
Spider-Man, he also works feverishly to try to find a cure for the virus.
Even after Peter goes into cardiac arrest, Octopus manages to save his
life. The virus is conquered and Stunner is sent to get the police.
The plan is for Octopus to be arrested and freed by Stunner. Then the
long dance between spider and octopus can begin again. Unfortunately,
the plan is upset by Kaine, the first clone of Peter Parker, who knocks
Stunner unconscious with a gas bomb, then proceeds to murder Doctor
Octopus by snapping his neck.
Things get complicated. Lots of Peter Parkers start running around.
(Including Ben Reilly aka the Scarlet Spider and the clone who eventually
becomes the evil Spidercide.) Kaine has murdered people from Utah to
New York, leaving his fingerprints, to implicate Ben (who Kaine believes
is the real Peter Parker). Kaine, bitter over his existence as an imperfect
clone means to torment the original. He thinks his plan backfires
(except that after all was finally settled, Peter was shown to be
the original) when Peter is arrested instead. (Later, things get
really complicated when Ben switches places with Peter
in prison.) Detective Jacob Raven, from Salt Lake City, has worked to
arrest Peter but now that that has happened, he has doubts. Stunner meets
up with him and suggests they work together to defeat the man they both
want: Kaine.
Eventually, Stunner meets up with Kaine while he is fighting Spider-Man.
She joins the battle but only succeeds in knocking a building down around
herself. Spidey finds her pinned in the rubble but, before he can help,
Stunner vanishes.
The truth about Stunner starts to come out in the Scarlet Spider
titles. At this point in the saga, Dr. Seward Trainer (Ben Reilly's
friend) has performed tests that show that Ben, rather than Peter is
the original Parker. Peter and Mary Jane move to Oregon and the Scarlet
Spider takes over the books. After two months, Ben assumes the role of
Spider-Man.
In these books, the Scarlet Spider finds himself in the midst of a gang
war as two groups vie for stealing virtual reality components. One
group is led by Alistair Smythe, the other by Carolyn Trainer-the second
Doctor Octopus. Doc Ock II brings Stunner into the fray by conjuring
her up in cyberspace. Ock's partner, the Master Programmer (a template
of the original Doc Ock's mind imprinted into a computer), gains
Stunner's trust. Shortly after that, Angelina is introduced for the
first time as it is revealed that Stunner is a solid virtual reality
construct. The real Angelina is completely wired into and trapped in
a huge VR machine.
Unfortunately, in the wake of the war between Doc Ock II and Alastair
Smythe as well as the rampage of the VR-created Scarlet Spider, Stunner
is lost in the shuffle. She does not appear again until Peter Parker
has re-assumed the Spider-Man role. The occasion is the resurrection
of her lover, the first Doctor Octopus.
Otto Octavius' body is stolen by the Rose, Delilah, and the Hand with
an eye towards bringing him back to life. Doc Ock II learns of this
and recruits Angelina from her job at the video store (and how she got
there from where we left her is a mystery, my friends) to assume her
Stunner persona. They end up joining forces with the would-be
reanimators. A physical essence is needed to revive Octavius and
Spider-Man is captured for that purpose. But when the web-slinger
escapes at a critical juncture, Stunner volunteers herself. Because
Stunner is a VR construct rather than a real physical being, the
results are explosive. Octavius is resurrected but the
reanimators are killed in the backlash. The Stunner body dissolves
and Angelina falls into a coma from which she has not yet awakened.
Thanks To:
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.
The assistance of the
Marvel Chronology Project is gratefully acknowledged.
|
|