Featuring the following heroine!

Debra Whitman
by Keith R.A. DeCandido

AKA: Deb. Debbie.

First appearance: Amazing Spider-Man 196

Favorite quote: "Oh, Peter, Peter -- THANK YOU! ... For putting on this silly mask -- for dressing up in that absurd costume!" (Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man 74, after Peter "revealed" that he was Spider-Man and, like Doc Ock before her, didn't believe it for a minute)
Team affiliation: A former teaching assistant at Empire State University. Current affiliation is unknown.

Powers: The ability to figure out that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. Actually, it was simple deductive reasoning, given the evidence she was presented with (Peter shredding a locker, Peter knocking her muscle-bound boyfriend down with a light tap, Spider-Man swinging off from a rooftop right after Peter ran out the door). At first, she thought this was a delusion. Luckily, she was so screwy in the head that, when confronted with the idea that he really was Spider-Man (by a Peter Parker willing to jeopardize his secret ID), she thought the whole idea was silly and didn't believe it anymore.

Favorite storyline: Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man 74, when she finally got a backstory (and her muscle-bound boyfriend was permitted a personality). It was a fairly standard battered-woman backstory, but at least she finally got one.

Least favorite storyline: Pretty much every other one prior to that. Deb's main function was to be Peter Parker's emotional punching bag. Peter had already gone through the always-disappears-at-important-times crapola with Betty Brant, Liz Allan, Gwen Stacy, and Mary Jane Watson. To have to suffer through it again with Debra was just tiresome, not much aided by her being convinced that she was having "fantasies" about Peter Parker being Spider-Man.
Future For the Character: Well, she hasn't been seen since she went off to put her life together back in PPSSM 74. With Peter back in ESU's grad program, it seems the time is ripe for a comeback for the character. A version of Deb -- with significantly more personality -- did appear in the Spider-Man animated series, so that may lead to something. Or not.