Gwen Stacy
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Gwendolyne "Gwen" Stacy was a supporting character in Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man series. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, she first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #31 (December 1965)
A blonde, bookish girl, Gwen was the first true love of the nerdy Peter Parker (Spider-Man). His adversary the Green Goblin murdered Gwen in the The Amazing Spider-Man #121 (June 1973). Both the decision to kill Gwen and the method in which Marvel implemented it are controversial among fans, but it is still a pivotal point in both Spider-Man’s history and in American comic books in general. Spider-Man writers and fans disagree about who is the character’s “one true love,” Gwen or his subsequent wife Mary Jane Watson.
Comic books
Mainstream Marvel continuity
Character History
Gwen first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #31 (December 1965); Peter Parker met Gwen while they were undergraduates at Empire State University. Initially, Peter's problems as Spider-Man made him ignore her advances, and in return, she felt insulted by his aloofness. Gradually, however, a romance developed; Gwen, a science major, seemed to appreciate Peter's intellectual personality, different from that of jocks like Flash Thompson and preppies like Harry Osborn. She was Peter Parker's first true love.
Their romance became more complicated when her father, Police Captain George Stacy, was killed by falling debris from a battle which involved Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus (Amazing Spider-Man #90). Gwen blamed Spider-Man for that event, which set back their relationship for a while. Gwen left for Europe to deal with her loss. When she returned from Europe, Gwen and Peter resumed their relationship, but it would not last for long.
The Death of Gwen Stacy
In the classic Amazing Spider-Man #121 (June 1973), "The Night Gwen Stacy Died" by writer Gerry Conway and penciller Gil Kane, Gwen Stacy was held on a bridge by the Green Goblin (Norman Osborn, who is aware that Peter Parker is Spider-Man). Spider-Man arrived to fight the Green Goblin, but Spider-Man was sick and not performing as well as usual. When the Green Goblin pushed Gwen Stacy off the bridge, Spider-Man caught her by a leg with a string of web. Spider-Man initially thought he had saved her, but when he pulled Gwen back up onto the bridge, he realized she was dead. In anger, Spider-Man almost killed the Green Goblin in retaliation, but chose not to do so in the end. The Green Goblin still seemingly died anyway when he was impaled by his own Goblin Glider in an attempt to kill Spider-Man (though the Green Goblin was later revealed to have survived).
It is not clear whether it was the shock of the fall or the sudden stop which killed her. This is a controversial issue; see below. Her death became a pivotal event in Spider-Man's life; he considers it to be his greatest failure as Spider-Man. Her death is also an important milestone in comic book history; see below.
After death
Gwen Stacy’s death had enormous repercussions. Mary Jane Watson, a close friend of Gwen Stacy, was much affected by Gwen's death; her personality became much more serious. Gwen's death also drew Peter and Mary Jane into a closer friendship, and eventually a romantic relationship. The Green Goblin's status in Spider-Man's rogues gallery was much elevated by his murder of Gwen Stacy. Before the death of Gwen Stacy, Doctor Octopus had seemed to be Spider-Man's primary archnemesis, but the death of Gwen Stacy was key to making the Green Goblin, even more than Dr. Octopus, Spider-Man's primary archnemesis. Furthermore, the Punisher, who has gone on to become an important character in the Marvel Universe since his first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #129 (February 1974), was initially created as a character to hunt down Spider-Man.
The Punisher was manipulated into believing that Spider-Man had killed Gwen Stacy by a supervillain called the Jackal. The Jackal was once Miles Warren, a former professor of Gwen, who had secretly been in love with her. Following her death, Warren grew increasingly insane and adopted the persona of the Jackal; he also became completely obsessed with Gwen and created a clone of her.
Gwen Stacy’s Clone
Not long after her death, Gwen Stacy reappeared, perfectly healthy but with no memory of the time since her death. The Jackal, manipulated by Norman Osborn, had managed to create a clone of Gwen, and used her as part of a plot against Spider-Man in the original Clone Saga. At the end of that story, Gwen’s clone left to find a new life for herself.
Gwen’s clone was later captured by the High Evolutionary, who had once been Miles Warren’s teacher. He told Spider-Man that she was, in fact, not a clone, but a normal woman named Joyce Delaney whom Warren had altered with a genetic virus. One of his followers, Beautiful Dreamer, restored her memories. Later events, however, suggested that the High Evolutionary had lied and Joyce Delaney never existed.
During the second Clone Saga, Gwen’s clone, now married to a clone of Prof. Warren named Warren Miles, saw a copy of Peter Parker’s book of Spider-Man photos, ‘’Webs’‘, and remembered (to an extent) her real history and returned to New York City. During that storyline, however, she disappeared from Spider-Man’s life again. She is thought to still be alive.
In most of her appearances, Gwen’s clone has appeared somewhat emotionally unstable and confused by her contradictory and bizarre memories.
Sins Past
In the controversial story arc called "Sins Past" by J. Michael Straczynski taking place from Amazing Spider-Man #509-514 (August 2004-January 2005), it was revealed that Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin's alter ego, fathered twins, a boy and a girl, with Gwen Stacy, to whom she gave birth while she was in France shortly before her death. Feeling ashamed, she vowed that she would raise them with Peter.
Seeing her as a threat to his potential heirs, the Green Goblin killed Gwen Stacy. Norman Osborn then raised Gwen's two children, a boy and a girl Gwen had named Gabriel and Sarah, respectively. Due to Norman's enhanced blood, the twins aged about 2-3 times faster than normal and became adults within the span of a few years (They are speculated to be between 5 to 9 years old). Osborn told them that Peter was really their father and was responsible for their mother's death.
The twins then attacked Spider-Man. Spider-Man told Mary Jane about his initial encounter with Gabriel and Sarah, whereupon Mary Jane revealed that she knew about Norman's involvement with Gwen and told all to Peter. She had kept it from him all these years because Gwen was distraught and begged her not to say anything. By the story's end, Peter had told the twins the truth. Sarah believed Peter, but Gabriel did not. Gabriel took the Green Goblin formula and briefly became the Grey Goblin. His glider exploded when it was shot by Sarah and he washed up on a beach with no memory of what happened.
Straczynski later stated that he originally wanted Peter Parker to be the father of Gwen's kids but the editors nixed the idea. The powers that be felt that it would age Peter Parker too much if he had two adult kids running around. It was then decided by the whole creative and editorial team that Norman Osborn would be the father. [link]
House of M
In the House of M storyline, in which the Scarlet Witch altered reality to give as many people as possible their greatest desires, Gwen was never killed. Instead, she married Peter Parker, and the couple had a young son. She had become a scientist, a savvy businesswoman, and a peace activist -- and had a decidedly hostile relationship with chemical weapon developer Norman Osborn.
When the world was returned to normal at the conclusion of the story, Gwen remained dead and Mary Jane was again married to Peter - though Peter still had the memories of an idyllic life (and child) with Gwen. The shock of having his true life's memories restored was devastating to Peter.
Death of Gwen Stacy
Even decades after it was published, the story of Gwen’s death in Amazing Spider-Man #121 and #122 is still considered one of the most important Spider-Man storylines of all time. However, it has also been one of the more controversial.
Behind the scenes
The question arises why exactly Gwen was killed off in the first place. Gwen was a popular character on a popular comic: killing her could have easily damaged the sales and reputation of the Spider-Man comic. In a nutshell, Gwen Stacy had to die because the creators wanted her to die.According to Comic Buyer's Guide, it was a decision made jointly by Gerry Conway, John Romita Sr. and editor Roy Thomas. They killed Gwen because they did not know what to do with her anymore. Gwen and Peter had grown so close that they were bound to get married, but nobody at Marvel wanted a married Spider-Man: it would have drastically aged him and would have made plotting difficult. Furthermore, a breakup would have appeared unrealistic. [link]
In the comic book collection The 100 Greatest Marvels Of All Time: #9-6 (Amazing Spider-Man #121 was the #6 comic), Conway explained that Gwen and Peter were a "perfect couple", but taking that relationship to the next level (i.e. marriage or at least Peter revealing his secret identity to her) would "betray everything that Spider-Man was about", i.e. personal tragedy and anguish as root of Peter's life as Spider-Man. Killing Gwen Stacy was a perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: breaking up the "unfitting" relationship and reinforcing the element of personal tragedy which was, in his opinion, the essence of Spider-Man.
Peter Parker is now married to Mary Jane Watson. Most of the points which led to the death of Gwen Stacy apply to MJ, too. But unlike Gwen, MJ was allowed to marry Peter, and the marriage is very popular in fandom and has heightened Spider-Man's appeal rather than destroying it. While Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada stated in an interview with that he felt MJ's presence does lessen Spider-Man's appeal with young readers, past attempts to write out the character have been unpopular and short-lasting. While Gwen was popular, fans seemed to prefer the more vivacious Mary Jane, and when Spider-Man and Mary Jane were married in 1987, he was no longer in college and therefore seemed older anyway.
Gwen is considered the first victim of the perceived misogynist trend in comics called Women in Refrigerators.
Controversy
There are two primary points of controversy surrounding the details of Gwen's death in Amazing Spider-Man #121 (June 1973).
Bridge
First, from which bridge did Gwen fall? The bridge in the original issue of Amazing Spider-Man #121 was stated in the text to be the George Washington Bridge. The Pulse #4 (September 2004) also states the bridge to be the George Washington Bridge.
The art of Amazing Spider-Man #121 depicts the Brooklyn Bridge. Some reprints of the issue have had the text amended and now state the bridge to be the Brooklyn Bridge rather than the George Washington Bridge. Also, Amazing Spider-Man # 147-148 (1975) and Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 (1987) imply that Gwen fell off the Brooklyn Bridge. In a television interview for the Travel Channel's "Marvel Superheroes Guide to New York City" (2004), Stan Lee states that the artist for the issue had drawn the Brooklyn Bridge, but that he (as editor) mistakenly labeled it the George Washington Bridge.
Further confusing the issue, as discussed in greater detail elsewhere in this article, Mary Jane Watson was thrown off the Queensboro Bridge in both Ultimate Spider-Man #25 and the Spider-Man movie.
Cause of death
The greater source of controversy is the cause of death, which is hotly debated among fans. There are two possibilities for how Gwen died: she could have died from the shock of the fall itself, or she could have died from the sudden stop.
If it was the shock of the fall, then there was nothing Spider-Man could have done once the Green Goblin pushed her off the bridge. She would have been dead before Spider-Man reached her.
Spider-Man himself worries that it was the sudden stop, and he torments himself with the what-if question that if he had not stopped her fall, she might have survived hitting the water below (though a realistic assessment indicates that hitting the water from that height would have probably killed her anyway). Indeed, in an issue of What If?, Spider-Man saves Gwen not by letting her fall, but by being able to leap down in time to catch her.
The original comic featured a "snap" sound effect next to her head in the panel in which Spider-Man's webbing catches her. Some fans believe this indicates that her neck was broken by being caught by Spider-Man's web. Other fans do not think this sound effect implies this. Further confusing the issue, some reprints of the story take out the "snap" sound effect.
Writer Gerry Conway has admitted in recent years that he added the "snap" into the story to torture readers with the distinct possibility that Spider-Man himself may have inadvertently killed Gwen, a "snap" that neither Spider-Man nor the Green Goblin heard (hence the Goblin's assumption in ASM # 121 that the shock of the fall killed Gwen--"Romantic idiot! She was dead before your webbing reached her! A fall from that height would kill anyone—before they struck the ground!")
In Amazing Spider-Man #125 (October 1973), Roy Thomas wrote in the letters column that "it saddens us to have to say that the Whiplash effect she underwent when Spidey's webbing stopped her so suddenly was, in fact, what killed her. In short, it was impossible for Peter to save her. He couldn't have swung down in time; the action he did take resulted in her death; if he had done nothing, she still would certainly have perished. There was no way out." They also explained that Gerry Conway, Roy Thomas, and Stan Lee had decided that she had to die because Peter Parker wasn't ready for marriage, and the relationship was too often off and on again.
Several subsequent issues have contained echoes of Gwen's death when others have fallen great heights during Spider-Man's battles. On most occasions he has saved them by jumping after them and working with their momentum, rather than trying to stop them with his webbing.
This also follows with what physicist and comic collector James Kakalios has written in The Physics of Superheroes, which states that physically it was the Whiplash effect which killed her. In a later storyline, the Green Goblin once again replayed the scenario, this time with Spider-Man's present day wife Mary Jane Watson-Parker. As with Gwen, Mary Jane plummeted toward her death, (this time from the recoil from her gun when she shot at the Green Goblin). However, learning from his previous error, Spider-Man used multiple weblines and caught every major joint, thereby saving Mary Jane from suffering the same whiplash effect that killed Gwen.
Gwen's death in Ultimate Spider-Man has provided similar controversy, as she was, perhaps, a more developed character than her classic counterpart, and is generally seen as the most controversial move of the series. She was killed by the Carnage creature.
Impact
The death of Gwen Stacy had enormous impact in the world of comic book fandom. Before her, except possibly as part of their origin story, superheroes simply did not fail so catastrophically. The girlfriend of the superhero did not die suddenly without warning and so violently. Because of this, the death of Gwen Stacy is often taken as a marker of the end of the Silver Age of Comic Books and the introduction of a new, darker era.
Gwen's death has been repeatedly revisited by many writers and artists:
- The fourth issue of the 1994 milestone mini-series Marvels centers on Gwen Stacy and her death.
- Gwen and, to a lesser extent, Mary Jane, are the focus of the critically-acclaimed Spider-Man: Blue, a 2002 limited series by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale that retells the beginning of Peter's relationship with the two women.
Ultimate Gwen Stacy
In the Ultimate Marvel continuity, Gwen Stacy first appeared in Ultimate Spider-Man #14 (December 2001). She is a teenage girl at Peter's high school who soon became close friends with Peter. In big contrast to her classic counterpart, Gwen was often loud and rebellious and often dressed in risque clothing. In this continuity, her eyes are amber-colored.
Gwen arrived on the scene with a bang. In her first appearance she gave a rousing speech on 'super powers' in today's societies; in the next issue she pulled a knife on Kong, a classmate who was bullying Peter. She was suspended from school temporarily.
Gwen became friends with Peter after that (at one point stopping by his house for help after a possible suicide attempt), which led Mary-Jane Watson to believe that Gwen was vying for his affections.
Gwen was later taken in by Aunt May after her father, Police Captain John Stacy, was killed by a burglar wearing a Spider-Man costume. Her estranged mother did not want to take her in. Her living in the Parker house created more tension between Peter and his girlfriend, and lead to their temporary break-up. Peter's relationship with Gwen was further complicated by her hatred of Spider-Man, whom she blamed for her father's death.
She eventually learned that Peter was Spider-Man and pulled her father's gun on him. Fortunately, he managed to convince her that he was not to blame for her father's death, and she agreed to keep his secret.
She died in Ultimate Spider-Man #62. Before her death, she made peace with Mary Jane and assured her that she never had romantic feelings for Peter, and that she considered him just as a friend (or, in her words, "her superhero little brother"). She was killed by Carnage, a vampiric monster made by the splicing of genetic material from Peter Parker and Dr. Curt Connors, as well as possibly pieces of the Venom suit still in Peter's body. Although Peter was not in the area when she died, he still felt some responsibility for her death, as he allowed Dr. Connors to use his genetic material for experimentation, although it was used in a manner of which he had no knowledge, much less approval.
At the end of the arc, there was an issue that dealt with Gwen's death. Flash made an off-color remark about Gwen's passing, and it led to a fight that ended up with him, Peter, MJ, Kong and Liz in detention. There it was revealed that Flash had a crush on Gwen all along, and he felt bad that he never got the nerve to ask her out. Also, upon cleaning out Gwen's locker, Peter and MJ discover a photo of them smiling with Gwen hanging inside the locker, dating from a time the three skipped school earlier. "She really did like us." said MJ.
In Ultimate Spider-Man #25 (possibly a tribute to MJ, since her first appearance was in The Amazing Spider-Man #25) (October 2002), the Green Goblin tossed Mary Jane off a bridge (the bridge was identified as the Queensboro Bridge in the next issue, Ultimate Spider-Man #26) in a situation nearly identical to the death of Gwen Stacy in Earth-616, including such details as Spider-Man catching her leg with his webbing. Issue #25 ended with a cliffhanger: when Spider-Man pulled Mary Jane up to the bridge she appeared to be either unconscious or dead. The cliffhanger was resolved in the next issue when Mary Jane awoke, uninjured.
X-Universe
In the two-issue mini-series X-Universe which detailed what happened to the rest of the Marvel Universe during the Age of Apocalypse, Gwen Stacy was never killed by the Green Goblin but instead became the bodyguard of Donald Blake, who, in this reality, had never become the Mighty Thor.Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane
Gwen Stacy appeared at the end of Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane # 5.
In other media
Television
Gwen was deliberately excluded from the 1990s , as the creators felt they could neither allow her to live nor deliberately include a character who was going to die. As in the later movie, a variant of the bridge scene occurs with Gwen replaced by Mary Jane. Both Mary Jane and the Goblin are cast into a dimensional void.
Later in the series, Spider-Man visits a parallel universe, in which Peter Parker (Armored Spider-Man) is a wealthy industrialist. Gwen Stacy is his fiancée, and Spider-Man reflects that his alternate self is engaged to a woman he doesn't even know. Spider-Carnage teams up with this dimension's Wilson Fisk in a plan to conquer or destroy every parallel reality. Gwen helps Spider-Man stop the plan and defeat Spider-Carnage, who then commits suicide to free himself from the Carnage symbiote after an encounter with Uncle Ben.
In the fourth issue of the comic book based on the Spider-Man Unlimited animated series, Spidey encounters a Counter-Earth version of Gwen Stacy. She helps him escape a hidden paradise known as The Haven.
Novels
Gwen Stacy appears in the sequel to the Mary Jane novel.Film
In Spider-Man (2002), the Green Goblin holds Mary Jane above the Queensboro Bridge, not Gwen Stacy. Spider-Man is successful in saving Mary Jane when the Goblin throws her off. The last name "Stacy" appears on a headstone in the cemetery during the funeral of Norman Osborn.
The fan-film The Green Goblin's Last Stand (1992) is a very close adaptation of the story of the death of Gwen Stacy, and the subsequent "death" of the Green Goblin. Gwen Stacy is portrayed by Allison Adams.
External links
- [Profile on SpiderFan.org]
- [Gwen Stacy Shrine - history, pictures, media, and more]
- [Fan site covering Gwen Stacy's history]
- [In-depth review of Amazing Spider Man #121, featuring the death of Gwen Stacy]
- ["'The Night Gwen Stacy Died:' The End of Innocence and the Birth of the Bronze Age"] by Arnold T. Blumberg
- [An article explaining a physicists opinion of Gwen Stacy's cause of death]
- ["IMDb link for The Green Goblin's Last Stand (1992)"]
- [The Women of Marvel Comic's Gwen Stacy Page]
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