Affiliations: Captain Britain (Brian Braddock), Saturnyne (former employer), Technet (sub-contracted them on occasion), Gallifreyans/Time Lords (former employers);
Rassilon (possible creator); Legion (lover)

Enemies: Brilox, Fury, Newborn, Order of the Black Sun

Known Relatives: Rassilon (possible creator)

Aliases: The loom-born are also known as The Bastards of Rassilon

Base of Operations: Unrevealed

First Appearance: Dr. Who Monthly#57 (October, 1981), Daredevils#5 (May, 1983)

Powers/Abilities: Cobweb possesses telepathic abilities. In addition to standard mind reading and communication, she is in constant contact with a number of past and future versions of herself, forming the time-spanning web from which her name is derived. This ability grants her a degree of precognition, although the constant barrage of information from different time periods can be quite disorienting for her. She often confuses cause and effect and has a difficult time dealing with events in linear time. She often finishes others' sentences by predicting what they are going to say--she seems to enjoy this much more than anyone else exposed to this annoying habit. In addition, she tends to feel that time is immutable, so that even if she knows something bad might happen, she may choose to say nothing, since the events would happen anyway.

HISTORY:
(Dr. Who anthology: Walking in Eternity - p285 - 287:  "Executive Action" (fb))
Cobweb, like many of the Special Executive, is Loom-born, a new breed of Gallifreyans created in artificial wombs, Rassilon's "Looms." However, unlike the Newborn, they are the early experiments, the prototypes, parahumans imbued with time energies which give them strange abilities - the "Bastards of Rassilon". Disowned by their creator, they are used by the High Council to do the Time Lords' dirty work.

(Captain Britain II#12) - The leader of the Special Executive, "the Steward," sought to bring Fascination into his group, despite the fact that Cobweb predicted that it would not occur for another 300 years. She accompanied on the adventure and was only too happy to remind him that you cannot alter history after the mission ended in failure.

(Dr. Who#51-BTS) - Hundreds of years later (perhaps 300), the Special Executive, now led by Wardog, were working for the Gallifreyans. Wardog recovered Fenris the Hellbringer and the Gallifreyans learned that the Order of the Black Sun were their enemies in the War in Four Dimensions.

(Dr. Who#57) - Ten years later, Cobweb was part of the squad of the Special Executive which escorted Rema-Du to a negotiations ceremony for Uranium rights to the planet Desrault. These negotiations involved the Gallifreyans, the Sontarans, and an unknown third group. Zeitgeist discovered that the third party was, in fact, the Order of the Black Sun (As part of a great time paradox, the Order had come from the future to attack the Gallifreyans, who had never encountered them before (#51).
In this story, the Time Lords knew that they and the Order would become enemies, but the Order of the present had yet to meet the Gallifreyans. Got it? No? Too bad!). Hoping to prevent their future enmity, the Gallifreyans sought to achieve a healthy relationship with the Order. Rema-Du met with Lord Adamath, the representative, and the two swiftly became friends and even lovers.
However, Brilox, the Sontaran representative sought to sabotage the growing relationship between Rema-Du and Adamath, and between the Gallifreyans and the Order of the Black Sun. Brilox ambushed Millenium with a Psy-Snare, wiping her mind and allowing him to control her. Cobweb felt the psychic assault, but could not localize its origins. She sent Wardog after Millenium, but was too late to stop her as she ambushed and killed Adamath. Wardog was forced to kill Millenium by breaking her neck in an effort to stop her, but he was too late to save Adamath.
Wardog correctly identified Brilox as the perpetrator and subjected him to his own weapon, leaving him a mindless vegetable. However, the damage was done, and the enmity between the Gallifreyans and the Order of the Black Sun was initiated (Millenium, as part of the Special Executive, was seen as an agent of the Gallifreyans, and thus they were blamed for the murder of the Order's representative).

(Excalibur#47) - Coweb was with the Special Executive when they traveled back to the modern era, perhaps drawn by the energies from the Core Continuum contained within Excalibur's lighthouse, and negotiated a contract with the Technet, who had been exiled to Earth by Saturnyne. It was presumably at this time that Scatterbrain/Fascination was recruited to the Special Executive.

(Dr. Who anthology: Walking in Eternity - p285 - 287:  "Executive Action") - Two years since the death of Adamath, an ambassador for the Black Sun -
The Special Executive were attacked by the Newborn, a new, more advanced breed of Gallifreyans created in artificial wombs, Rassilon's "Looms", as a way of continuing the race since the Pythia, former ruler of Gallifrey, rendered her people sterile as a last gesture of defiance before she was driven from the planet by Rassilon's armies.  
Cobweb "remembered" the attack and rushed to warn Wardog and arrived only after he had killed his first two attackers. She did arrive in time to warn him of a third assassin, who failed because of her intervention.
Zeitgeist reported that the Newborn have risen up in revolt, and are rounding up the outnumbered Womb Born Gallifreyans. Feeling no kinship to the Newborns, and knowing they cannot turn the tide for the Womb Born, the Executive depart their homeworld, leaving the two sides to battle it out.

(Daredevils#5) - Cobweb was part of the squad led to Braddock Manor on Earth-616 to forcibly recruit Captain Britain to testify for Saturnyne. Braddock manor was hidden by a hologram that made it appear as an image of bombed out ruins. Cobweb formed an image of the manor by scanning the mental images of the people inside it and relayed the information to the rest of the Executive telepathically. Once inside the mansion, Cobweb intercepted Betsy Braddock, another telepath, to prevent her interference. Betsy's natural first intention was to scan the intruder's mind, and as a result was plunged into a world where time has no meaning--where past, present and future melt into a terrifying kaleidoscope--and a result, her midn shut down to preserve her own sanity. The mission was a success and Captain Britian was taken to the Dimensional Development Court--but not before clocking Cobweb and giving her quite a headache.

(Daredevils#6) - Braddock went berserk upon awakening in the Dimensional Development Court. Cobweb knew this would happen, but chose to tell no one. She was also present at the trial of Saturnyne, in which Mandragon obliterated the entire dimension of Earth-238 from existence. This not only killed trillions of trillions, but also wiped out any evidence of Saturnyne's innocence.

(Daredevils#7) - Cobweb watched as Braddock went berserk and attacked the DDC's security force after Saturnyne was sentenced to death. Feeling responsible for dragging Braddock into this, Wardog reluctantly sent the Executive to assist him, and Cobweb quickly joined the fight.

(Daredevils#8) - During the battle Zeitgeist questioned Cobweb about whether she had known that this conflict would occur. She told him that she had known about it for a year, but had decided not to tell them because she was angry about an insult Zeitgeist was going to hurl at her. Zeitgeist was astounded that she could be angry at him for something he hadn't even done yet, and that she would place the entire team in jeopardy over something so trivial: "Cobweb, you are the most thoroughly irrational squack-head that I have ever set eyes upon"--thus fulfilling her prophecy.
Cobweb and the rest of the Executive fled to Earth-616 and took up temporary residence in Braddock manor.

(Daredevils#9) - The events on Earth-616 began to parallel those of Earth-238, the Crooked World. Mad Jim Jaspers power and influence began to affect reality, and the deadly Fury closed in on Captains Britain and UK. If that wasn't enough, Cobweb had to suffer through the friendly hands of Wardog, and the annoyance of watching Legion play himself in chess, which ended in stalemate after stalemate.
Zeitgeist attempted to persuade Wardog that this was not their fight, since they weren't being paid for it. Cobweb disagreed, saying that the events of that world would afect them all.

(Daredevils#10, 11) - The cosmic game between Merlyn and Roma escalated out of control, and the Fury began his assault on the heroes. Cobweb, previously unable to access these events for some reason, went into a nearly fatal temporal seizure when she suddenly became aware of what was going on now, and how these events could progress. As the Special Executive attacked (and was slaughtered by) the Fury, Cobweb remained in a nearly fatal semi-catatonic state, overwhelmed by the chaos enveloping this world--her psychic trauma was mirrored by Merlyn.
Only with the reluctant involvement of Zeitgeist were the Executive and Captain Britain able to temporarily fight off the Fury. Afterwards, Wardog realized what a mistake it was to have involved the Executive in a deadly struggle in which they had no stake. Wardog led the group back to their Sidewinder to escape, lick their wounds, bury their dead, and think things over.

(Top Ten#6) - Cobweb visited Neopolis, a city of superhumans frequented by interdimensional travelers, where she met up with another Cobweb, a crimefighter who protected Indigo City in her own, unspecified, native reality.

Comments: Created by Alan Moore and David Lloyd.
His series were published in the UK as part of Marvel Comics Ltd, which I guess is what evolved into Marvel UK.

This whole Crooked World saga by Alan Moore and Alan Davis is THE BEST I have ever read, in my collection of nearly 20,000 issues.

See the profile on the Special Executive for a more detailed discussion of their timeline, and for Alan Moore's discussion on their creation.

I'd place Cobweb and the Special Executive in a distant portion of the Multiverse, if not the Omniverse.

Descriptions of time between events probably should not be taken literally when discussed by a time traveler.

Doctor Who and the related characters are the property of BBC (or at least they were in 1981).
The good Doctor has also encountered Death's Head (The Freelance Peacekeeping agent, yes?), @ Dr. Who#135 and 137--It was the Doctor who shrunk Death's Head from 30' (from his Transformers days) to @ 6' tall via his tissue compression eliminator.
In addition, Justin Alphonse Gamble, @ Power Man and Iron Fist#79 and Avengers Annual#22, is definitely based on the good Doctor.

Much thanks to Loki, Jeph York, Per Degaton, Mark Caithness, and Silver Acre Comics, who identified the Dr. Who stories, and helped me get the original issues.
Loki wrote the summary to the Anthology issue, since I don't have it, and he also helped make sense of the Special Executive's timeline.

CLARIFICATIONS: No known connections to:

• Cobweb, a demonic creature from the Dreamscape, @ Sleepwalker#3

Fenris the Hellbringer has no known connection to:

• Fenris Wolf, the giant Asgardian wolf-god, @ Journey into Mystery#114
• Fenris Wolf, a wolf mutated by Knut Caine to represent the wolf-god, @ Tales to Astonish III#1
• Fenris, Andrea and Andreas Strucker, the twin mutants and their terrorist organization, @ Uncanny X-Men#194, 200
• Fenris 2099, a gang based on Asgardian mythology, @ Spider-Man 2099#7

Appearances:
Dr. Who Monthly#57 (October, 1981)
Daredevils#5-11 (May, 1983 - November, 1983) - Alan Moore (writer), Alan Davis (artist), Bernie Jaye (editor)
Excalibur I#47 (February, 1992) - Alan Davis (writer/pencils), Mark Farmer (inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Top Ten#6 (February, 2000) - Alan Moore (writer), Gene Ha (artist), Zander Cannon (layouts), Scott Dunbier (editor)

First Posted: 08/13/2002
Last updated: 01/08/2014

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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