Gwen Stacy (Spider-Gwen)

Gwen Stacy as Spider-Woman in Spider-Gwen v1 #1.

Gwen Stacy is a female comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Origin

Gwen Stacy of Earth-65 in Edge of Spider-Verse v1 #2.

Gwendolyn Maxine Stacy was a female human born as the daughter of George Stacy on Earth-65 in the Multiverse. (Edge of Spider-Verse v1 #2)

Over time, she developed a friendship with her neighbor and fellow introvert Peter Parker, sharing their love for music. (Spider-Gwen v2 #1)

At Midtown High School, Gwen developed relationships with other students which included a group of girls with whom she formed the band, The Mary Janes. (Edge of Spider-Verse v1 #2) It was around this time that she came to meet a rebellious affluent student named Harry Osborn. (Spider-Gwen v2 #4)

After being bitten by a genetically-engineered spider, Gwen was granted arachnid-like super-powers whereupon she started a career as a crimefighter dubbed by the media as Spider-Woman. She was given a costume and a set of web-shooters by retired crimefighter named Janet van Dyne. During this time, Gwen spent most of her early adventures focused on exploiting and maintaining her newfound attention more than helping those in need; however, Gwen's behavior changed after her father expressed he believed Spider-Woman could easily help people. It was during this time that the biggest tragedy of her life came to affect her when her close friend Peter Parker who suffered from constant bullying decided on extreme measures. Wanting to be special like his idol Spider-Woman, he began to conduct genetic experiments on himself which transformed him into a monstrous lizard-like creature that went on a rampage at Midtown High's Senior Prom. This led to a confrontation with Gwen who was forced to enter into the fight as Spider-Woman. Despite her pleas for the creature to stop, Gwen did not restrain her full strength and came to beat down her opponent. This led to the Lizard being badly injured and dying from the injuries sustained by Spider-Woman where at that point he reverted to his human form as Peter Parker much to the surprise of Stacy whose best friend died in her arms seemingly at her own hands. (Spider-Gwen v2 #3)

After Parker's death, Spider-Woman was believed to be responsible for the youth's death with this being pushed by J. Jonah Jameson. This led to the authorities attempting to arrest her for murder making her a wanted fugitive. (Edge of Spider-Verse v1 #2) With no evidence or link to his transformation, Spider-Woman was blamed by the media for Peter's death and branded a criminal. (Spider-Gwen v2 #9) Her father NYPD Chief George Stacy was given the task of hunting down the fugitive Spider-Woman where he was aided by Captain Frank Castle and Detective Jean DeWolff. During a later confrontation with her father, Gwen decided to reveals her true identity to him thus shocking him where Captain Stacy told his daughter to run to avoid getting arrested. (Edge of Spider-Verse v1 #2)

The Gwen of Earth-65 was one of many other Spider-Totems from across the Multiverse that came to be recruited to fight against the vampiric Morlun and the Inheritors. (Amazing Spider-Man v3 #9)

Though there were several people called Spider-Women among the group, she seemed to be the only Spider who was also Gwen Stacy. This led to her gaining the nickname Spider-Gwen. During this time, Gwen came to realize that most of her counterparts in other universes were dead which included the Earth-616 Gwen Stacy who was the first love of Peter Parker, leader of the group fighting the Inheritors. During a talk with him, she would tell Peter that she likewise failed to save her version of him where they both agreed to look out for each other. (Amazing Spider-Man v3 #11)

Spider-Gwen

Gwen later returned to her reality, where she still tried to turn the public opinion against her by becoming a vigilante. With the appearance of a new villain named the Vulture, Gwen set out to catch him and deliver him to the police in order to gain their trust. However, her vigilantism strained her friendship with Mary Jane Watson and the other members of her band, as well as with her father. (Spider-Gwen v1 #1) After her first fight with the Vulture ended in a humiliating defeat, Gwen learned that her father had lost jurisdiction of the manhunt for her which had since been reassigned to Frank Castle who was a maverick police officer known for his brutal measures. An argument with her father was interrupted by the Vulture, who had been sent to find Spider-Woman by Murdock. Incapacitated by the Vulture's gas fumes, she was attacked by Castle, who managed to unmask her and was shocked to discover she was just a teenaged girl. (Spider-Gwen v1 #3)

When a gig the Mary Janes was headlining was attacked by the Hand, Spider-Gwen broke up a fight between Black Cat and Murdock, who had taken a keen interest in making Spider-Woman his apprentice and figured out her civilian identity by watching her fight and targeting her family. (Spider-Gwen v1 #5)

With the destruction of the universe, an amnesiac Gwen found herself on Earth-15513 under the assumed alias of Ms. Woodley, an employee of Ozcorp. Teaming up with the Peter Porker of Earth-8311, the Anya Corazon of Earth-616, the William Braddock of Earth-833, the Pavitr Prabhakar of Earth-50101, and the Peter Parker of Earth-90214, Gwen managed to overthrow Mayor Norman Osborn and stop him from hijacking control of the Web of Life and Destiny. Following the restoration of the multiverse, Gwen became a part-time member of the Web-Warriors, helping to protect dimensions that had lost their Spider-Totems to the Inheritors. (Amazing Spider-Man v4 #1)

Ghost-Spider

In an effort to continue her education, she decided to travel to Earth-616 to enrol at Empire State University with that reality Peter Parker helping her in admissions. (Ghost-Spider v1 #1)

Overview

Personality and attributes

Initially, she came to operate under the superhero name of Spider-Woman. (Edge of Spider-Verse v1 #2) Later on, she came to take on a new superhero identity as Ghost-Spider. (Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider v1 #10)

She was noted for being smart, talented and resilient. (Edge of Spider-Verse v1 #2)

A notable interest of hers was music with it being all she ever wanted to do in life. (Edge of Spider-Verse v1 #2)

According to her, she put on the mask to free her from responsibility. Her powers came to make her feel like she was special. (Edge of Spider-Verse v1 #2)

In her earlier adventures, Gwen relished in the attention as Spider-Woman, opting to exploit and maintain it rather than use her abilities altruistically; however, her behavior changed when her father expressed his belief that Spider-Woman could easily help people. (Edge of Spider-Verse v1 #2) After Peter Parker, who had mutated into the Lizard, died in a fight against her, Gwen harbored an immense amount of guilt, and her being blamed by the public for his death only served to worsen it greatly. Regardless, she had a strong enough will to continue being Spider-Woman, no matter how much enmity much of the world had for her. (Spider-Gwen v2 #9)

Gwen Stacy was noted for being the daughter of police captain George Stacy. (Edge of Spider-Verse v1 #2)

One of her closest friends was Peter Parker who wanted to become special like her. (Edge of Spider-Verse v1 #2)

Powers and abilities

Originally, Gwen Stacy had been an ordinary human being until she was bitten by a radioactive spider. This act gave her a range of abilities similar to a spider. These included the proportionate strength of a spider, the ability to adhere to a surface and a Spider-Sense that warned her of danger. (Edge of Spider-Verse v1 #2)

Gwen possessed superhuman strength enabling her to press lift approximately ten tons. (Spider-Gwen v2 #1)

As a hero, she came to hide her identity by wearing the Spider-Woman Suit. It included webshooters that fired webbing from the wrists. (Edge of Spider-Verse v1 #2)

Notes

• Gwen Stacy as Spider-Woman was created by Jason Latour and Robbi Rodriguez where she made her first appearance in Edge of Spider-Verse v1 #2 (November, 2014)
• The character was an adaptation of Gwen Stacy of the mainstream Earth who was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

In other media

Television

• In Ultimate Spider-Man, the Spider-Gwen Gwen Stacy appeared in the animated television series where she was voiced by actress Dove Cameron.

Films

• In Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors, the Gwen Stacy based on Spider-Gwen appeared in the animated film in the prequel Initiation where she was voiced again by actress Dove Cameron. This version had a childhood friend who went by the name of Kevin and at some point she gained her powers where she took the name of Ghost Spider. She revealed her abilities to Kevin who was excited for her as she operated as a vigilante superhero that was being hunted by her father Captain Stacy who was unaware that his daughter was this mysterious figure. When the Terrigen Mist was released, she attempted to protect Kevin who was revealed to had been an Inhuman whose powers had activated. She then helped train him in his new abilities as the two sought to be a superhero duo. At the night of their first patrol, she went to rendezvous with Kevin only to find him dead at the hands of another Inhuman who fled the scene. The police arrived on the scene where they found Ghost Spider by the body and assumed she was the killer leading to her becoming wanted by the authorities as Captain Stacy sought the arrest of the vigilante.
• In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the Spider-Woman Gwen Stacy appeared in the animated film where she was voiced by actress Hailee Steinfeld. Similar to the comics, she was native to an Earth where she was bitten by the radioactive spider and became Spider-Woman. She suffered a great tragedy in her life when her best friend Peter Parker was killed leading to her distancing herself from others. A inter-dimensional portal dragged her into an Earth where Peter Parker was Spider-Man who was killed by the Kingpin and she met his successor Miles Morales.
• In Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the Spider-Woman Gwen Stacy appeared in the 2023 animated film sequel where she was voiced again by actress Hailee Steinfeld.

Video games

• In Marvel Heroes, Spider-Gwen was introduced into the game first as a Team-Up character to support the player.
• In Spider-Man Unlimited, the Gwen Stacy Spider-Woman appeared as a playable character in the iOS video game. Her backstory mentioned her as being from an alternate reality where she was bitten by the radioactive spider instead of Peter Parker. She became Spider-Woman and fought crime but was later accused of a crime that she did not commit with her being hunted by the police led by her own father Captain George Stacy.
• In Marvel: Contest of Champions, Spider-Gwen was introduced as a playable character in the game.
• In Marvel Future Fight, Spider-Gwen appeared as an unlockable playable character in the setting of the mobile video game.
• In Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, Spider-Gwen appeared as a boss level antagonist and then as a playable character in the setting of the Switch video game where he was voiced by actor Allegra Clark.

Appearances

• Edge of Spider-Verse v1: (2014)
• Spider-Gwen v1:
• Spider-Gwen v2:
• Clone Conspiracy v1:
• Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider v1: (2019)
• Amazing Spider-Man:

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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