Jean DeWolff was one of the first law officials to openly come out in support of Spider-Man. She was an individualist in the police force, wearing '30s-style fashions and even driving her own '30s roadster. Jean and her brother Brian were quite close but she never got along with her father, Phillip, who was an ex-police commissioner. Phillip resented having a daughter, which caused problems in his marriage to Jean's mother, Celia. Six months after Jean was born, her parents split with Brian going to live with his father and Jean with her mother. Phillip was so incensed he once even told Jean she had killed her mother just by being born. Four years later, her mother remarried another cop - Carl Weatherby - but Jean kept DeWolff as her surname. Jean adored her new stepdad and wanted to follow in his footsteps. As she became more and more successful, her real father became annoyed that Jean had earned a police captain's job. Brian, also a cop, had been presumed dead after being shot but Phillip stole the body and secretly had surgeons operate, giving Brian superpowers. When Phillip discovered the surgeons were criminals, he fought back, getting caught in a revitalizing ray that melded his mind to Brian's, allowing Phillip to control his son's body. Brian became The Wraith and Phillip sent him to kill Jean but was thwarted by Spider-Man and Iron Man. Doctor Doom restored Brian to health and Phillip was jailed for The Wraith's crimes.

Shortly afterwards, as Spider-Man and the Human Torch battled the Super-Skrull, Jean's soft spot for Spidey began to emerge and she developed a crush on him. Jean showed a few hints of jealousy at Spider-Man's closeness to Black Cat but always remained focused on her job, even going so far as to arrange a pardon for her rival. Jean also had moments of incredible bravery - once storming into a Maggia mob party during a police raid and, later, using her car to swerve into Doctor Octopus. Sadly, soon after, Jean was murdered by the Sin-Eater who turned out to be her colleague and former lover, Sergeant Stan Carter. Carter's mind had been blighted by the death of his partner and he decided Jean must be killed because she upheld the legal system. It was only after she was killed that Spider-Man realized how attached he had become to her. Carter was eventually arrested due to the joint efforts of Spidey and Daredevil.