Betty Brant
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Betty Brant is a character in Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man series. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, she first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #4 (1963)
She was originally portrayed as the personal secretary for The Daily Bugle publisher J Jonah Jameson and a romantic interest of Peter Parker, Spider-Man’s alter ego who works as a Bugle photographer.
She subsequently enters into a disastrous marriage with Ned Leeds, a Daily Bugle reporter. After Leeds’ death and many years of turmoil, she emerges as a top reporter for the Bugle.
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character history
Betty Brant was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her mother had originally been Jameson's "girl Friday" and Betty took the position after her mother's death. Peter Parker (secretly Spider-Man) and she were attracted to each other because Betty wanted a normal, ordinary man, and they were romantically linked. However, her brother was accidentally murdered during a fight with Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus, and she blamed Spider-Man. Later she forgave Spider-Man when she realized he was trying to protect them.
A year later, Betty broke up with Peter, and she eventually married Bugle reporter Ned Leeds. However the marriage proved turbulent as Ned was often posted overseas. When he was stationed in Paris she found the life impossible and left Ned to return to New York. She turned to Peter Parker once more and the two had a brief affair. However Ned followed her home and she was caught between the two men. Peter regretted getting involved with Betty again and allowed the affair to break abruptly, driving her back into the arms of Ned.
Later on in the series, it became clear that Ned Leeds was in fact the villain Hobgoblin, although this fact was later retconned into Ned's having been a pawn of the real Hobgoblin. As Leeds became more hostile, Betty drifted into the arms of old friend Flash Thompson. A jealous Leeds framed Thompson as the Hobgoblin, but when the two battled, the Hobgoblin's mask slipped, and Betty discovered that Ned and the Hobgoblin were one and the same. This revelation, coupled with Ned's murder by the Foreigner, sent Brant over the edge into insanity.
Betty joined the Students of Love cult, led by the Teacher, before being saved by Flash and Spider-Man. Because her house had been sold during her time with the cult, Betty stayed with Flash for a time. During this, the demonic events of Inferno happened, overwhelming much of New York City. Betty and Flash were attacked by demonic duplicates of Spider-Man and Ned Leeds. Betty overcame physical and psychological barriers and succeeded in destroying the monsters.
Flash and Betty drifted apart as Betty's recovery continued. She rejoined the staff of the Daily Bugle as an investigative reporter whose newfound courageous assertiveness and investigative skill impressed her colleagues. She finally cleared Ned's name when she revealed that Roderick Kingsley was the real Hobgoblin. She remains a recurring character in the Spider-Man comics.
Currently, she has met up with one of Peter's old college friends, Debra Whitman, during a book signing event for Debra's new book "Two-Faced". The book described her relationship with Peter Parker/Spider-Man, which ended in Debra being the victim. However, when it was later revealed that the book was actually altered by the Bugle's staff to make Spider-Man look like he ruined Debra's life, Betty secretly leaked information to the Daily Globe, exposing the fraud. Her boss, J. Jonah Jameson, furious with the possible libel suit, now orders Betty to find out who had given the information.
Ultimate Betty
In the Ultimate Marvel universe, Betty Brant is once again the loyal secretary of J. Jonah Jameson at the Daily Bugle. She's a headstrong woman, trying to get by in life and having as much fun on dates as she can get. She first appeared in Ultimate Spider-Man #8, where she worked herself up into a rage while trying to build the Bugle's website. Peter took over from her and got his job at the Bugle as a webdesigner.
This version of the character has a considerably different personality, even going as far as making bets about the deaths of missing coworkers. She also lacks the brown bob hairstyle of her Earth 616 counterpart, instead sporting long black hair.
In other media
Television
The character has appeared in the Spider-Man 1960s animated series, voiced by Peg Dixon, where she was a prominent supporting character much in the manner of Lois Lane in the Superman franchise. She also appeared in the Spider-Man 1980s animated series. In the 1990s animated incarnation, she did not appear and Glory Grant was Jonah's secretary instead.
Betty Brant appears in The Spectacular Spider-Man, voiced by Grey DeLisle.
Film
As Betty Brant receded into the background in the comics in favor of other love interests, particularly Mary Jane Watson, she appears as a much more minor character, such as in the feature film series as played by Elizabeth Banks, and reappears in Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3.
As one of the Bugle's staff and J. Jonah Jameson's secretary, Betty is usually seen either passing on messages to Jonah or receiving curt orders from him. Whilst she never dates Peter, a subtle attraction to him is apparent in the first two films. In Spider-Man 3, Betty seems to have found a way of getting her comeuppance on her boss, by being tasked by his wife to inform him to avoid getting agitated and to remember to take his numerous medications, which she does to comic effect through a loud buzzer/intercom; later, she is hit on by Eddie Brock, Junior, (whom she wants nothing to do with,) and a symbiote-influenced Peter Parker (who she is visibly attracted to), only to be interrupted by Jameson, who humorously says "That's not the position I hired you for!".
