Ashley Kafka
Ashley Kafka is a female comic character who features in Marvel Comics.
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Biography
Origin
Ashley Kafka was a female human born and raised in New York City along with her sister, Norma Kafka, by their mother. Her sister was born with birth defects to her face and was mentally challenged. Their mother later died when Kafka was only 19 years old and Norma was institutionalised not long after where she ended up dying at the facility. Ashley went off the college at Empire State University where she studied psychology. (Spectacular Spider-Man v1 #178) Dr. Kafka would go on to become a professional psychologist specializing in the criminally insane and founds a maximum-security sanitarium called the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane, where she treated super-criminals. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #655)
Dead No More
A clone of Kafka was later created by New U technologies with this copy of Ashley being acquired by the secret J.A.N.U.S. conspiracy from one of Miles Warren's old laboratories. They immediately decided to make use of her where she was left by Ravencroft to resume her duties as chief scientist. (Ravencroft v1 #5) With no memories of her death, she was surprised at why everyone was shocked at her coming in for work. Tests were conducted which determined that she was the genuine Ashley Kafka where she was allowed to return as a staff member. (Ravencroft v1 #3) Unknown to anyone, her tests were forged by Karl Mallus to hide the fact that she was a clone. (Ravencroft v1 #5)
When the Sin-Eater and his followers attacked Ravencroft to get Norman, its newly appointed director, Dr. Kafka was tricked into leaving the facility's panic room by a security guard who had been corrupted by the Sin-Eater's touch. The Sin-Eater then used his corrupting touch on Dr. Kafka as well and had her open the Juggernaut's cell, enabling him to absorb the avatar of Cyttorak's sins and powers, like he had done with Mister Negative and other supervillains before him. (Amazing Spider-Man: The Sins of Norman Osborn v1 #1)
After Norman was also cleansed of his sins, Dr. Kafka and other members of the staff found him in the ruins of a hidden sublevel of the Institute and rescued him. Stricken by guilt over his past actions, Norman convinced Dr. Kafka to not hand him over the authorities so he could stop Kindred, the person behind the attack on Ravencroft. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #50) Dr. Kafka would advise Norman who wanted to save his son Harry to seek someone to act as an intermediary between them. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #50.LR) Norman ended up recruiting Mary Jane Watson for that role, as she was one of Harry's closest friends. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #52.LR)
Queen Goblin
Later on, Dr. Kafka came to be approached by the Beyond Corporation where their Super Hero Development division was looking to hire her to help rehabilitate their newest asset namely Ben Reilly. Upon learning of her patient, Ashley came to accept the offer right away and began providing psychological help to her patient as he operated as the company's corporate Spider-Man after Beyond purchased the rights to the identity. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #75) In this time, Dr. Kafka came to learn that the Beyond Corporation was conducting memo-surgeries on Reilly with the procedure resulting in the accidental erasure of some of Ben's formative memories. Ashley came to negotiate a deal with Beyond whereby she was granted total autonomy as part of the condition of her employment which meant that the company could neither interfere nor monitor her work with her patient. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #86) During one therapy session with Ben, she came to speak to Reilly about his latest mission as Spider-Man. In that time, she used a special device to help recover Ben's erased memories with this being done without Beyond's knowledge. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #86) Following a battle with Doctor Octopus, Reilly came to learn that the Beyond Corporation was involved in the creation of new supervillains as part of their attempt to grow the Spider-Man brand. Ben would share this revelation to Dr. Kafka during a therapy session though both were unaware that they were being secretly watched by Maxine Danger who was the head of Super Hero Development. This resulted in the therapy session being interrupted by Beyond security who took Reilly away to have his memories wiped again. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #86) Ashley herself was also taken away where it was decided that she would be used as part of the company's experiments. They came to forcefully bond her to the extracted sins of Norman Osborn and make the unwilling test subject cooperate with the company. As a result, she came to be mutated into a creature that Maxine Danger called the Queen Goblin who was branded as a new villain for the company's Spider-Man. Kafka was otfitted with various goblin-themed weapons and then dispatched to intercept Janine Godbe who was Ben Reilly's girlfriend and had a data drive containing Beyond's darkest secrets which she intended to expose to the public. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #88) Queen Goblin attacked Janine and her ally Mary Jane at the Daily Bugle Building, completing her mission during a fight against Ben who came to flee with his girlfriend as soon as he could. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #88) Whilst rescuing Mary Jane, Black Cat fell victim to the Queen's Goblin Gaze and was coerced into jumping to her death, but the original Spider-Man saved her life. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #89) In her ensuing battle against the original Spider-Man, the Queen Goblin attempted to cause his death by using her Goblin Gaze on him; however, Peter managed to overcome it and defeated her. Beyond subsequently took control of her glider to take her unconscious body away from Spider-Man. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #90) After regaining consciousness, Queen Goblin took shelter in an abandoned building somewhere. At this point, the sins of Norman Osborn had made it impossible for her to remember who she was before her transformation, prompting her to vow to go after Norman. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #92.BEY)
Overview
Personality and attributes
She came to be forcibly mutated by the Beyond Corporation where Maxine Danger came to refer to Kafka's new identity as being the Queen Goblin. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #88)
Powers and abilities
Notes
- Ashley Kafka was created by J. M. DeMatteis and Sal Buscema where she made her first appearance in The Spectacular Spider-Man v1 #178 (July, 1991).
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
- In Spider-Man, Ashley Kafka appeared in the 1990s animated television series where she was voiced by actress Barbara Goodson.
- In The Spectacular Spider-Man, Ashley Kafka appeared in the animated television series where she was voiced by actress Elisa Gabrielli.
Films
- In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Dr. Kafka appeared who was re-imagined as a male German mad doctor in charge of the asylum where he was portrayed by actor Marton Csokas. This version was a male German doctor and leading staff member of the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane, which was controlled by Oscorp. He conducted inhumane experiments on Electro until Harry Osborn sneaks into Ravencroft and releases the latter, who in turn subjects Kafka to the same experiment.
Video games
- In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Dr. Kafka appeared in the setting of the video game tie-in to the live-action film. This version was also a male doctor working for Ravencroft where he oversees various illegal genetic experiments on patients funded by the Kingpin and Donald Menken. He experiments on Cletus Kasady with the Carnage symbiote until Kasady learns how to control it, breaks free of his restraints, and grabs the doctor by the throat.
Appearances
- The Spectacular Spider-Man v1: (1991)
- Amazing Spider-Man v1:
- Ravencroft v1:
- Amazing Spider-Man v5:
- Amazing Spider-Man v6:
External Links
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