Warning: spoilers ahead for Spider-Woman #18!
Much to the shock of Jessica Drew in the latest issue of Marvel's Devil's Reign event where Mayor Wilson Fisk has declared war on New York's superheroes, Spider-Woman makes the mistake of confronting the Kingpin directly. In response, he unleashes one of the Marvel Universe's most dangerous foes, who has been presumed dead since the events of Secret Invasion. Furthermore, this villain in particular has quite the history with Jessica Drew herself, intending to hit Spider-Woman where it hurts most: her loved ones.
After her friend Lindsay is attacked, Spider-Woman discovers that the Kingpin is the man responsible, and the strike was part of his grander war against all the city's heroes. Having ed legislation to ban superheroes and vigilantes from New York known as the Powers Act, the corrupt mayor is using all of the secrets he's collected over the years against the Avengers, replacing them with his sanctioned Thunderbolts (many of whom are traditionally supervillains). However, Spider-Woman #18 from writer Karla Pacheco and artist Pere Pérez reveals the villain who actually carried out by the attack, having been freed by Kingpin.
Despite recent injuries Spider-Woman sustained while fighting her brother, Jessica is enraged enough with Fisk to consider beating him into a pulp. However, his reveal of a greater villain seeking to destroy her life and loved ones naturally has her shaken. Surprisingly, the Kingpin reveals in this new issue that he's released Veranke, the former Skrull queen who kidnapped Jessica and stole her identity (powers and all) years ago, posing as Spider-Woman for a long time before the Secret Invasion event in order to destabilize the Avengers. While Veranke was shot down by Norman Osborn at the event's conclusion, this new issue reveals that she's alive and well, shapeshifting to look like Jessica once more in order to attack her friends and kidnap her son Gerry.
Apparently, Spider-Woman's evil Skull-doppelganger never died. While Secret Invasion saw Norman Osborn allegedly killing Veranke, it seems as though the reports of her death were greatly exaggerated. According to Fisk, Veranke was simply locked up by Norman and Kingpin to finally be unleashed now that the mayor has use for her. Disguising herself as Spider-Woman once more, Veranke is looking to destroy all that Jessica cares about. Jessica suffered immensely as a prisoner of the Skrulls, becoming a hated figure after her face was used to launch a global alien invasion. Attacking her family is personal enough, but once again using her form to hurt others is a cruel twist of the knife by Veranke.
Clearly, there's more to Veranke's story than has been revealed in this one issue, and fans shouldn't forget she's not a lone villain, but a powerful leader of a Skrull faction that nearly seized the planet itself. Even Veranke's death hurt Earth, redeeming Norman Osborn's public image, and now Veranke is back again and seemingly wants nothing more than to ruin Spider-Woman as Devil's Reign continues, effectively removing her from the equation as Kingpin continues his war on the rest of New York's other heroes.
