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Debra Whitman was a fictional character from the Spider-Man universe, and a brief love interest of Peter Parker in the Spectacular Spider-Man and Amazing Spider-Man comic titles in the late 70s and early 80s. She is perhaps better remembered for her role in Spider-Man: The Animated Series. Marvel Comics (Stan Lee is behind many of the superheros) is an American comic book line published by Marvel Publishing, Inc. ... In comic books, first appearance refers to first comic book to feature a character. ... For the song by the Smashing Pumpkins, see 1979 (song). ... Cover to Crisis on Infinite Earths #1, which was written by Wolfman. ... Cover to West Coast Avengers #1, Art by Milgrom Allen Al Milgrom is an American comic book writer, penciller, inker and editor. ... Spider-Man swinging around his hometown, New York City. ... Spider-Man swinging around his hometown, New York City. ... Peter Parker redirects here. ... Cover for Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #132 (1987). ... The Amazing Spider-Man is the title of both a comic book published by Marvel Comics and a daily newspaper comic strip. ...

She is also one of the first characters to determine that Peter was Spider-Man, although she was later convinced she was delusional.

History

Debra Whitman was a secretary in the biophysics department of Empire State University. She met there a student, Peter Parker, and they started dating, but things kept coming up in his secret life as Spider-Man and he would keep giving her lame excuses to get out of the date. Because of Peter's rejections she started to date Biff Rifkin for emotional support, but her infatuation with Peter did nothing but grow. Empire State University (ESU) is a fictional university in the Marvel Comics Universe. ...

Debra also suffered from a mental instability that led to her idealize people and invert values. With Peter it grew further into her hallucinating he was, Spider-Man. When she told her shrink about her hallucinations, he looked for Peter and asked him to wear the suit. His plan was to give her a shocking confrontation with reality to get her out of the hallucination. Peter refused. He then talked to Doctor Sloan and he indicated Biff Rifkin as a more reliable source of information. As it turns out Biff already knew her when she was married to one Mark Whitman. One day he asked her about her black eye and she evasive answers. That night he went to their house and saw Mark beating her. He rescued her and took her to the hospital, but she insisted Mark was a kind and gentle husband, locked in denial.

Peter then wore the suit and told her he was Spidey. The shock made her come to her senses and decided to leave NY to get a divorce.

Debra made her return recently after Peter's "Coming out", where she's seen on the phone speaking to her co-writer about her new book, titled “TWO FACED: How Spider-Man Ruined My Life.” She seems discouraged about the title and tone of the book, but is committed to a book signing later in the day, which Spider-Man and the newly-released Vulture are both seen planing to crash. Civil War is a Marvel Comics summer 2006 crossover event, based around a core limited series of the same name written by Mark Millar and penciled by Steve McNiven. ... The Vulture is the name of three comic book supervillains in the Marvel Comics universe. ...

Spidey defeated Toomes, and Debra revealed to Betty Brant that the editors had forced her to exaggerate the mental damage that Peter had "done" to her in order to make for a better book. Debra's mother had been sick and the medical bills were far more than she could pay for, so when the Daily Bugle dug up all of Peter Parker's past relationships to get dirt on him, she jumped on the chance to write the book. Betty talked Debra into telling the truth to the Daily Globe, confidentially. Betty Brant is a supporting character in Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man series. ... The Daily Bugle is a fictional New York City newspaper that is a regular fixture in the Marvel Universe, most prominently in Spider-Man and its derivative media. ... The Daily Globe is a fictional New York City newspaper in the Marvel Comics Universe. ...

Other media

The character has appeared in the 1990s Spider-Man: The Animated Series, where she was a prominent supporting character and a love interst to Flash Thompson. She is portrayed as an extremely sharp intellectual. Unlike her comic appearance she has no romantic relationship linking her to Peter. Eugene Flash Thompson is a supporting character in Marvel Comics’s Spider-Man series. ...

She has long blonde hair that she keeps tied back in a pony tail, and wears glasses. Although in the comics she is a secretary, in contrast to the largely post-graduate students of the Spectacular title, in the TV series she is Peter's equal, if not superior in intellect and academia. A secretary is an administrative support position. ...

In her first animated appearance, Peter Parker describes Debra as being the little sister he never had or wanted. She usually didn't have a direct effect on Spider-Man's adventures or become involved in the plots, but at one point, she was a victim of the Vulture's youth-sucking powers, which reduced her to a frail, fragile old woman; fortunately, the effect was not permanent, and Debra's youth eventually returned to her. The Vulture is the name of three comic book supervillains in the Marvel Comics universe. ...

In an archetypal opposites attract manner, Debra developed an unlikely attraction to the jockish Flash Thompson, another classmate. However, she also had an infatuation with Michael Morbius who was her lab partner, but he gave her the brush off, though gently as he could, because he was with Felicia Hardy, who later became the Black Cat. Sometime after Morbius disappeared following his vampirism, Debra started dating Flash to ease the pain, letting her hair down, both physically and metaphorically, while trying to drown out her sorrows with lots of late night partying. In the end, even Flash had to put his foot down and tell Debra she had to ease up. Eventually Debra got her act together and resumed her more normal, studious life style though she and Flash are still aparently seeing each other (and possibly easing up more occasionally). Eugene Flash Thompson is a supporting character in Marvel Comics’s Spider-Man series. ... Morbius the Living Vampire, full name Michael Morbius, is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe, intended as a tragic anti-hero with vampire-like powers that actually had a biochemical origin. ... Black Cat (Felicia Hardy) is a Marvel Comics anti-hero and one-time foe and girlfriend of Spider-Man. ...

External links

• A profile of Debra Whitman, the 1970s supporting character
• Debra's Profile at Spiderfan.org
• Debra's Profile at the Women of Marvel Comics
• The Return of Debra Whitman at Marvel.com