SISTER URSULA
Real Name: Ursula Beers
Identity/Class: Human werewolf
Occupation: Nun
Group Membership: St. Agnes Sisterhood
Affiliations: J. Jonah Jameson
Enemies: Marla Jameson, Cheryl Lansing, Spider-Woman (Mattie Franklin)
Known Relatives: Ms. Beers (Mother Superior, mother, first name unrevealed)
Aliases: "Sister Lupo", "Fuzzy-Wuzzy"
Base of Operations: St. Agnes Convent, New Orleans, Louisiana
First Appearance: Spider-Woman III#12 (June, 2000)
Powers/Abilities: Ursula was cursed to transform into a werewolf beneath the light of the full moon. As a werewolf, Ursula had superhuman strength, endurance, agility, and speed, as well as enhanced senses and sharp fangs and claws. She was immune to all non-silver or wolfsbane weaponry.
History: (Spider-Woman III#13 (fb) ) - Twenty years ago, a woman conceived a child via "a terrible sin" - that child was cursed with lycanthropy, and transformed into a werewolf every full moon. The woman joined the St. Agnes Covent in New Orleans, the residents of which had typically joined to atone for great sins, and brought her daughter, Ursula, with her. Eventually, the woman became Mother Superior of the convent, and Ursula became a nun herself. The nuns imprisoned Sister Ursula in an underground crypt every full moon to keep themselves and the residents of New Orleans safe from her transformed self. She apparently escaped a number of times, however, and committed a number of killings across the city.
(Spider-Woman III#12 (fb) ) - With the full moon imminent once more, the sisters locked Ursula in her cell. Her mother discussed killing her, for the greater good, but one of the other nuns disagreed, and they left without coming to a decision. Tourist Mattie Franklin overheard their conversation, and mistakenly believed the cell's inhabitant was to be sacrificed to the werewolf. She tore her cell door open and took Ursula up to the surface, where the nun was shocked to see that it was nighttime...and the moon was full. She transformed into a werewolf and attacked.
(Spider-Woman III#12) - The werewolf tore at Franklin, shredding her clothes and revealing her Spider-Woman costume. Their battle raged across the cemetery adjoining the convent.
(Spider-Woman III#13) - When Franklin tried to warn her friends J. Jonah Jameson, Marla Jameson, and Cheryl Lansing about the werewolf, the beast grabbed Cheryl and ran. In a tomb on the other side of the cemetery, it clawed at her, revealing the crucifix around her neck. It grabbed for it - scratching her chest in the process - but left her otherwise unharmed. Just then, the police moved in and opened fire, but the beast was unharmed, and tossed aside their squad cars like toys. Spider-Woman saved Cheryl from a flung police car, then battled the beast once more, but was totally ineffectual against her might. Finally, J. Jonah Jameson shot her in the chest with a silver bullet - one that had been cast from a silver crucifix and blessed by the Pope, no less - from a rifle the Mother Superior had been unable to use on her own daughter. Ursula reverted to human form, thanked Jameson, and died.
Comments: Created by John Byrne, Bart Sears, Randy Elliot, Andy Smith, and John Beatty.
In Spider-Woman III#18, Cheryl developed a pentagram on her hand, indicating that Sister Ursula did pass her curse on, but the book was cancelled with that issue, so we never found out for sure.
Given that the Mother Superior does not appear to be a werewolf herself, and that Ursula was apparently cursed from birth, presumably her father was a werewolf.
So Jameson shot Sister Ursula because he understood the situation, given that his son John was transformed into the Man-Wolf for a whole. This kinda doesn't jibe with the fact that John, despite turning into a werewolf a bunch of times, is totally fine now, and Jonah would be pretty put out if someone had killed his son.
The silver bullet was said to have been blessed by the Pope "more than 100 years ago"; assuming it wasn't much more than 100 years from the year 2000, it was blessed by Pope Leo XIII.
Shouldn't someone named Ursula be a were-bear?
Sister Ursula's last name was revealed in the Werewolves profile in All-New OHotMU HC#13.
Profile by Minor Irritant.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Sister Ursula, werewolf nun, has no known connections to:
(Spider-Woman III#13 (fb) ) - Twenty years ago, a woman conceived a child via "a terrible sin" - that child was cursed with lycanthropy, and transformed into a werewolf every full moon. The woman joined the St. Agnes Covent in New Orleans, the residents of which had typically joined to atone for great sins, and brought her daughter, Ursula, with her. Twelve years ago, the woman became Mother Superior of the convent, and Ursula eventually became a nun herself. The nuns imprisoned Sister Ursula in an underground crypt every full moon to keep themselves and the residents of New Orleans safe from her transformed self. She apparently escaped a number of times, however, and committed a number of killings across the city.
(Spider-Woman III#12 (fb) ) - With the full moon imminent once more, the sisters locked Ursula in her cell. Her mother discussed killing her, for the greater good, but one of the other nuns disagreed, and they left without coming to a decision.
(Spider-Woman III#13) - Learning from another nun that Ursula had escaped, the Mother Superior pulled out a gun loaded with a single ball that had been cast from the silver of a crucifix and blessed by the Pope over 100 years ago. She and another nun ventured into the graveyard, where they ran into Mattie Franklin, and learned that she had unknowingly freed Ursula. As Spider-Woman battled Ursula, the Mother Superior took aim, but was unable to bring herself to kill her own child. J. Jonah Jameson took the gun from her and fired it himself, ending the threat of Sister Ursula once and for all. The nun wept over the corpse of her fallen daughter.
--Spider-Woman III#12 (13 (fb), 12 (fb), 13
images:
(without ads)
Spider-Woman III#12, p22,
pan1 (main image)
Spider-Woman III#13, p20,
pan3 (human form)
Spider-Woman III#13, p6,
pan2 (Mother Superior)
Appearances:
Spider-Woman III#12 (June, 2000) - John Byrne (writer), Bart Sears
(pencils), Randy Elliot, Andy Smith, & John Beatty (inks), Ralph
Macchio (editor)
Spider-Woman III#13 (July, 2000) - John Byrne
(writer),
Bart Sears (pencils), Randy Elliot
(inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Last updated: 09/19/13
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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