Brant, Elizabeth

Betty Brant-Leeds is the widow of Ned Leeds and ex-girlfriend of Peter Parker.
== History ==
=== Early Years ===
Betty Brant dropped out of high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in order to work and financially help her home. She became a secretary of the Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson. There she met Peter Parker when he became a freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle. After they had been attacked by the Vulture. Peter had already noticed his attraction to Betty, and was impressed when she stood up to J. Jonah Jameson over publishing slandering articles against Spider-Man. They began dating shortly afterwards, when Betty was impressed by Parker's kindness when taking care of his ill Aunt May.
Her secretarial job at the Bugle was taken to help her brother attorney Bennett Brant pay back his gambling debts which he had acquired trying to pay for their mother's medical bills. Bennett had become friendly with Betty's then-boyfriend named Gordon Savinski. Gordon was into many illegal activities and Bennett eventually took on a gambling debt that he couldn't pay back to a gangster named Blackie Gaxton. Blackie's thugs looking for Bennett came to the Brant family home, and Betty's mother got "in the way" and was violently knocked into a coffee table, resulting in permanent brain damage.
With the help of Doctor Octopus, Blackie Gaxton kidnapped both Bennett and Betty as insurance against anyone preventing him leaving the country. Bennett was double-crossed when Gaxton refused to free him of his debts and was fatally shot during a melee between Gaxton's gang, Doctor Octopus and Spider-Man. At first, Betty blamed Spider-Man for the death of her brother and told Spider-Man that she never wanted to see him again, but she realized later on that she was wrong and that he had only been trying to help. However the blossoming romance between Betty and Peter continued but was cut short, when Betty feared that Peter cared more for his classmate Liz Allan. This misunderstanding led to their relationship finally coming to an end.
Soon after Peter and Betty's break up she started dating fellow Daily Bugle employee reporter Ned Leeds. Even though he soon left for Europe, they remained in contact, writing each other regularly. Upon his return, they began dating again, and Leeds eventually proposed to Betty. There were signs that Betty still loved Peter and Peter did his best to alienate her for her own good. She eventually accepted Leeds' marriage proposal.
After their engagement J. Jonah Jameson threw an engagement party at his penthouse apartment and their wedding soon followed. Their Wedding Day was not all smooth sailing as a costumed criminal named Mirage decided to rob all the guests at the top weddings on that day. Fortunately, Spider-Man intervened, and Mirage was easily captured. They were married with Mary Jane Watson serving as Betty's maid of honor.
Soon after their wedding Jameson sent both Betty and Ned off to Paris, France on an all-expenses paid working honeymoon. Betty soon began to notice the change in Ned as he became consumed by work. She felt like a total outsider while there, not even able to speak French and while Ned covered an insurrection in Cyprus, she flew back to New York hoped to the consoling arms of Peter. After discovering Betty's disappearance Ned quickly returned to New York and confronted both Peter and Betty. Ned told Peter to take his hands off his wife and punched him in the jaw and tried to force Peter never to see her again. Having been jilted by Mary Jane Watson, Peter then said that he never wanted to see either of them again and that he was only interested in Betty to make Mary Jane jealous using these comments in the hope that this would bring Ned and Betty back together.
Ned's investigative reporting brought an incredible strain on the Leeds' marriage. Following leads on the mysterious new villain (who had styled himself on the Green Goblin) named Hobgoblin, Leeds was captured and hypnotized to think that he was the Hobgoblin. During this period Betty turned to her friend Flash Thompson but he too was framed by the real Hobgoblin and in the process, Betty saw Ned dressed as the Hobgoblin threatening Flash. Her mind already fragile was pushed over the edge. Meanwhile a mercenary named Jason Macendale asked the Foreigner for information on who the Hobgoblin was and was given Leeds' name. When Ned followed an espionage story to Berlin, under hypnosis he dressed himself as the Hobgoblin and was assassinated by the Foreigner's men. Macendale, after thinking the original Hobgoblin was dead, would later adopt the identity of the Hobgoblin for himself.
Betty suffered a complete mental breakdown after the news of Ned's death reached her and suffered denial believing him to still be alive. In her state a young recruiter from the Cult of Love was able to persuade her to join their faction under a leader called the Teacher where she was programmed in their ways. The Teacher turned out to be nothing more than a con artist conning people out of their possessions. Fortunately Flash and Spider-Man figured this out and saved Betty, though she lost everything she owned and had to take up residence with Flash Thompson. After these difficult times she returned to work at the Daily Bugle as a secretary under the city editor Kate Cushing.