Miss Arrow
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Miss Arrow is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe. Created by Peter David and Todd Nauck, she is a nurse at Midtown High School where Peter Parker (Spider-Man) works as a teacher.
[edit] Fictional character history
Due to the events of the Civil War and the Super-Human Registration Act, Parker decided to register and release his name to the public. Peter was considering leaving the school because of this.
Flash Thompson, not wanting to believe that his idol was "Puny Parker", convinced himself that Peter was merely covering for Spider-Man and goaded him into a dodgeball fight. Peter, no longer needing to protect his identity, made quick work of Flash by kicking the ball into his face and knocking him out.
Flash was taken to the nurse's office, where he met Nurse Arrow. ("My parents were inveterate hippies", Arrow said when asked to explain her unusual name.) Flash took a liking to her and began flirting. When he asked if she would have problems with the "whole black/white thing", African-American Arrow responded, "The world's not black-and-white...just shades of gray."
Later, the school was attacked by the new Mysterio, Francis Klum, who was looking to get revenge at Spider-Man from a previous defeat. Also entering the fray were Daniel Berkhart, the second Mysterio, and even Quentin Beck, the original Mysterio, long thought dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a fight with Daredevil.
Miss Arrow found herself in contact with Beck. Beck told her that she seemed to be an innocent bystander, but inferred that she was more than that with "'seem' is such a subtle word. As in things are not always what they seem." He went on to mention that he knew about Arrow's 'superiors', and that he could easily see through her charade. He told her that she must work to keep Peter at the school because his superiors wanted it, and so did hers. Once again, Arrow claimed to not know what he was talking about.
Beck later vanished, although Arrow found herself face-to-face with Klum. Klum prepared to hold her hostage, telling that she was to become a pawn in a much larger game. Arrow then revealed her true nature, extending large stingers from her wrists. Telling Klum she was no one's pawn, she plunged one of them into his chest. Before she could finish him off, he teleported.
Arrow later convinced Spider-Man to stay at the school. However, when Peter became a fugitive for going against Iron Man, he had to use an image distorter to disguise himself as "Ben Reilly" to continue his career at the school. Later, Arrow showed more hints that she was not as innocent as she looked; in one scene, she ate a spider behind Flash's back. In another, she acted threatened when Betty Brant flirted with Flash; first she unsheathed her stingers before retracting them and holding out her hand and cryptically stating that Betty looked so good she could just eat her up.
While Flash and Betty were on a date Betty had to use the restroom. While there, thousands of spiders ran out from the toilet, frightening Betty. When Flash and the restaurant manager came to the scene after Betty had left the bathroom, only some cocaine and a straw was found, making the manager think Betty had used the cocaine. Betty and Flash left while Miss Arrow appeared out of the shadows.
[edit] Other connections
Because of her stingers, which are similar to Spider-Man's new powers that he received during The Other, some believe that Arrow could be connected to the antagonist of the latter storyline. Some have also believed her to be connected with the X-Men character Marrow due to their similar ability to sprout bones from their bodies.[1]
In a Newsarama interview, Peter David stated, "Fans believe there’s a clue to her true nature in her name. They are correct. I’m not saying, though, that the connection to 'Marrow' is necessarily the right interpretation."[2] That, and Miss Arrow has more similarities to the Other than the X-Men character; her two spikes emerging from her hand are exactly the same type from 'The Other', whereas Marrow has spikes portruding all over her body but never in the same position as Arrow's. Her fixation for eating spiders and the ability to control them is something Marrow has also never been seen doing. At the end of Marvel Knights Spider-Man #22, there is a shot of a large cocoon which presumably the Other has retired to. In Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #14, Spider-Man and Beast meet in the same old church; the cocoon is still there, but open.
