Queen (Adriana Soria): the insect queen who turned Spider-Man into a giant spider

Some enemies you fight; others transform the hero from within. The Queen belongs to the second kind: with a single kiss, she turned Peter Parker into a giant spider, then she spread a spider virus across New York. The 2011 event is covered in our article on Spider-Island; here is the woman behind it, from her military origins to her downfall.

Who is Queen, the queen of insects?

In Marvel Comics, Queen (often called Spider-Queen) has the real name Adriana “Ana” Soria. She first appears in The Spectacular Spider-Man vol. 2 #15, cover-dated August 2004, in the first chapter of a story titled Under My Skin. She was created by writer Paul Jenkins and artist Michael Ryan.

Beware of a common mix-up: Humberto Ramos, often associated with the character, did not draw her first appearance. He draws part of what follows and provides covers, notably for Spider-Island. The name Spider-Queen also refers to other, unrelated characters in older comics and in video games.

The hero's other adversaries are gathered in our guide to the web-slinger's enemies, and every face in this universe is brought together in our character hub.

A Second World War soldier

In her official Marvel history, Adriana Soria is the first female Marine to fight in the Second World War. She is assigned to a super-soldier programme: soldiers are exposed to radiation from nuclear tests on Bikini Atoll, with the aim of creating more soldiers like Captain America. She is the only one to survive.

The experiment costs her her sanity: she is committed to an asylum. According to SpiderFan, this military asylum was near Miami, and Adriana Soria escaped from it in the late fifties, by which time the army had forgotten her. From this past, she keeps the conviction that she belongs to a new species.

It is this origin that links her to other enemies born of a scientific experiment, such as the Jackal, profiled in our portrait of the Jackal: their paths will cross in 2011.

The Queen's powers

The Queen controls insects, but also human beings who carry the insect gene: that is the source of the threat she poses, since she can turn passers-by into an army. She also has telekinesis and a sonic scream that she can focus to destroy. According to SpiderFan, her military training taught her hand-to-hand combat and the use of various weapons. This collective threat, a potential army of gene carriers, sets her apart from enemies who fight alone.

It is this last power that left its mark on readers. It is not Peter Parker's first mutation: in the early seventies, he had already ended up with six arms, a story told in our article on six-armed Spider-Man. But the Queen goes much further.

Under My Skin and Changes: Spider-Man turned into a spider

The Queen's first story spans The Spectacular Spider-Man vol. 2 #15 to #20, in 2004: issues #15 and #16 make up Under My Skin, and issues #17 to #20 make up Changes. The second part is written by Paul Jenkins, initially drawn by Humberto Ramos, and tied to the Avengers Disassembled crossover; the whole run is collected in the trade paperback Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 4: Disassembled.

The Queen is tied to Captain America from the very start: the programme that transforms her was meant to create more soldiers like him, and it is him she captures, along with the hero, in Under My Skin. In 2011, she goes as far as making Steve Rogers her consort. From her first appearance to her last, the super-soldier remains the shadow over her story.

In Under My Skin, the Queen captures the hero and Captain America, then kisses Peter in front of the cameras. The kiss passes on a mutagenic agent that triggers his transformation. Over the course of Changes, Peter gradually mutates until he becomes a giant spider in #19. According to Nick Peron's summary, Professor Jaffe even reveals that the hero is carrying the Queen's children.

So Peter is reborn from his own metamorphosis in #20, and the Queen, caught in an explosion at the end of Changes, is presumed dead. The great stories of this period are put in context in our hub of major story arcs, and if you want to sleep under a giant spider with no risk of mutation, there are our duvet covers.

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Organic webs, a legacy of the mutation

The mutation leaves its mark. After his rebirth, Peter Parker spins organic webbing straight from his wrists, with no mechanical web-shooters, and can communicate with insects. These organic webs are often credited to The Other, the 2005 arc, but they appear as early as the end of Changes, in 2004. No source links the Queen to The Other, which is covered in our article on The Other.

These webs don't last. At the start of the comics' Brand New Day era, in 2008, the hero has mechanical web-shooters again: according to CBR, he loses one in The Amazing Spider-Man #546 and is using them again in #547, and the disappearance of the organic webs has never been explained. According to SpiderFan, it was One More Day that erased them, the story covered in our article on One More Day.

To get hold of the tool from before and after the mutation without waiting for a kiss from the Queen, our web-shooters recreate the gadget Peter eventually got back.

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Spider-Island: the Queen returns

The Queen returns in 2011 in Spider-Island, a story told mainly in The Amazing Spider-Man: #666 serves as the prologue, #667 to #672 make up the six parts of the main story, and #673 is the epilogue. According to Wikipedia, the story was written by Dan Slott, profiled in our article on Dan Slott, and drawn by Humberto Ramos and Stefano Caselli. Also according to Wikipedia, #666 was released in the United States on 27 July 2011 and #672 on 26 October 2011, and tie-ins extend the event, including Venom vol. 2 #6 to #8 and Herc #7 and #8.

There, the Queen is the hidden power behind the Jackal, who works for her. The spider virus spreads through modified bedbugs whose bite gives New Yorkers powers like the web-slinger's: the plan is carried out by the Jackal on the Queen's behalf. During the event, Kaine is turned into a spider creature called Tarantula and spends some time in her service; sources disagree on who caused this mutation – the Jackal according to Wikipedia, the Queen according to SpiderFan. Peter's tragic clone is profiled in our article on Kaine, and the history of the clones in our article on the Clone Saga.

The Queen also mutates Steve Rogers, Captain America, into the 'Spider-King', a spider creature meant to become her consort. She tries to eliminate Anti-Venom, whose power cures the infected; the white symbiote is profiled in our article on Anti-Venom. To fight the epidemic, Reed Richards works with Horizon Labs to develop a cure for the spider virus; according to Wikipedia, this serum is derived from Anti-Venom's antibodies. The ties between the web-slinger and Reed's family are covered in our article on Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four.

The fall of the Queen

The Queen eventually turns on her ally: she kills the Jackal with a supercharged version of her sonic scream. But it later emerges that this Jackal was only a clone. According to Wikipedia, the real Jackal, disguised as a Damage Control employee, then takes some of the Queen's bone marrow for future cloning.

In the final showdown, the Queen turns herself into a giant spider. It is Kaine who deals the fatal blow in The Amazing Spider-Man #672: wearing the hero's spider armour, he has himself hurled into her jaws and kills her, saying he was only carrying out Peter's plan. According to Wikipedia, the hero then uses the Empire State Building's antenna to reverse the mutations across much of New York in one go.

It comes full circle: the creature that had turned Peter into a spider ends up as a spider herself, brought down by a clone of the man she had mutated. She is not the queen of a kingdom, but of an idea: a body that can be rewritten, Peter's in 2004, a whole city's in 2011. That is what sets her apart from the enemies who only want to beat the hero. To relive Spider-Island your own way, our masks and costumes turn anyone into a Spider-Man, no bedbugs or virus required.

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An enemy who stayed in the shadows

Yet the Queen has never left the second tier. She has carried only two major stories, in 2004 and 2011, and we found no reliable appearance in an animated series or a video game. On the big screen, her name only circulated through a 2025 fan theory, debunked by the cast of Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Her story fits into two arcs, but each has left its mark: organic webs in the first, an infected New York in the second. The enemies who deserve more of the spotlight one day, and perhaps a film, are reviewed in our article on the enemies who deserve a solo film.

Queen: your questions

Who is Queen in the comics?

She is Adriana Soria, a former soldier driven mad by a super-soldier experiment, who controls insects and humans carrying the insect gene. She first appeared in 2004.

Is the Queen dead?

She is presumed dead in 2004, returns in 2011, and Kaine kills her in The Amazing Spider-Man #672, at the end of Spider-Island.

Is the Queen in Spider-Man: Brand New Day?

No. A 2025 fan theory had Sadie Sink as Spider-Queen; the actress actually plays Jean Grey, as our article on Sadie Sink explains.

Does the Queen appear in a cartoon or a video game?

As of 9 November 2026, we have found no reliable appearance by the Queen in an animated series or a video game.

Which Queen comics should you read?

The Spectacular Spider-Man vol. 2 #15 to #20 (2004), collected in the Disassembled trade paperback, then Spider-Island, in The Amazing Spider-Man #666 to #673 (2011).

Key takeaways