Betty Leeds

Born into the Bronze Age of Marvel in 1981, Betty Leeds made her debut in The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #3 — courtesy of David Kraft, Jim Sherman, and Alan Weiss — and has woven herself into the fabric of Spider-Man's world ever since. With over four decades of appearances spanning The Amazing Spider-Man, The Spectacular Spider-Man, and Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives, she's a figure with genuine staying power in Spidey's corner of the Marvel Universe. She keeps some seriously charged company — Peter Parker, Flash Thompson, J. Jonah Jameson, and the fearsome Hobgoblin all share her pages — which tells you plenty about the dramatic weight she carries. With a collector-significant key issue to her name and a presence stretching all the way to 2024, Betty Leeds is one of those characters who rewards the dedicated reader willing to dig into the deeper corners of Marvel's Spider-Man mythos.