HISTORY: Martha "Mattie" Franklin was the only Spider-Woman – there were two before her – who actually wanted her super-powers.

Mattie’s dad had received an offer from Norman Osborn (a.k.a. The Green Goblin), to partake in an arcane ceremony called the "Gathering of Five". Although her dad had in his possession one of the mystical pieces required to take part in the ceremony, he had refused Norman's offer. Mattie, fearing that her dad was missing out on something big stole the mystical piece from him and contacted Osborn.

The "Gathering of Five" ceremony promised to bring immortality, knowledge, and power to three of the participants, leaving the other two with death and madness. Norman Osborn, Dr. Gregory Herd (a.k.a. Override), Madame Web, a pawn storeowner named Maxwell, and Mattie were the five participants. Once the ceremony concluded, it was believed that Mattie had gotten the gift of immortality but in fact, had received the gift of power. The other participants respectively received the following gifts: Norman Osborn received the curse of madness, Override the curse of a slowly death, Madame Web, the gift of immortality and Maxwell the gift of wisdom.

An avid fan of Spider-Man, Mattie decided to use her newfound powers to mimic her idol and started posing as Spider-Man, when the latter temporarily quit his super-hero gig (Read Amazing Spider-Man Volume I, #441, Peter Parker: Spider-Man Volume I, #97-98 and Spectacular Spider-Man #263 for further details). When the real Spider-Man came back, Mattie changed her costume out of respect for him.