  So, as someone once said, --- Up --- Up --- and AWAY! - Peter Parker
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| X-31
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| Full Name: | Gwendolyne Stacy |
| First Appearance: | Amazing Spider-Man #31
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| Created by: | Stan Lee Steve Ditko |
| Home Universe: | Earth-616 |
| Alignment: | Good |
| Status: | Alive |
| Place of Birth: | U.S.A. |
| Citizenship: | American |
| Base: | New York City |
| Affiliations: | New U Technologies, Jackal; formerly Spider-Man |
| Powers/Abilities: | Gifted biochemistry student. |
| Height: | 5' 7" (1.70 m) |
| Weight: | 130 lbs (59 kg) |
| Hair Color: | Blonde |
| Eye Color: | Blue |
| Unique Features: | A single retractable adamantium blade housed in each forearm |
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"Peter, will you be my valentine?" |
Gwen Stacy (of Earth-616) was the first love of Peter Parker and a friend of Mary Jane Watson. She met Peter when they were undergraduates together, so her interest in science was a defining aspect of her character.
History[]
Beginnings[]
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. Gwen blamed Spider-Man for that event, which set back their relationship for a while. Gwen left for Europe to deal with her loss.
At some point unbeknownst to Gwen, Harry had hired Mysterio to implant his father Norman Osborn fake memories that he fathered twins, a boy and girl, with Gwen Stacy, to whom she gave birth while she was in France. In reality the children Gabriel and Sarah were clones created from Gwen and Normans genetic material. In these fabricated memories, feeling ashamed, Gwen vowed that she would raise them with Peter. In reality Gwen did not make contact with Norman and as she returned from Europe, Gwen and Peter resumed their relationship, but it would not last for long. Soon after, Gwen Stacy traveled to the Savage Land with both J Jonah Jameson and Peter in search of a monstrous man thing called Gog. She was kidnapped by the monster and Peter was believed dead but was rescued by Ka-Zar.
During this however, Gwen eventually comes to forgive Spider-Man and believe that he was not responsible for her father's death, and befriends middle-aged photographer Phil Sheldon who was searching for a way to clear the hero's name at the time.
Death[]
Gwen Stacy dies
Gwen Stacy was held on a bridge by the Green Goblin, who still under fabricated memories, saw her and her "children" as a threat to his potential heirs. Spider-Man arrived to fight the Green Goblin, but Spider-Man was sick and not performing as well as usual.When the Green Goblin dropped Gwen and Peter tried to save her, his web snapped her neck and spine, killing her. Spider-Man initially thought he had saved her, but when he pulled Gwen back up onto the bridge, he realized that she had died. 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 (the Green Goblin was later discovered to have survived).
Spider-Man holding Gwen's corpse in his arms.
Post Mortem[]
The death of Gwen Stacy had enormous repercussions. Mary Jane, a close friend of Gwen Stacy, was deeply affected by Gwen's death. Mary Jane became much more serious. Gwen's death also drew Peter and Mary Jane into a closer friendship, and eventually a romantic relationship. The Punisher tried to hunt down Spider-Man, as he wrongly believed Spider-Man to be Gwen's murderer.
The Punisher had been manipulated into going after Spider-Man 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. The Green Goblin manipulated the Jackal and the clone of Gwen and used both of them in the Clone Saga. Eventually, the clone established her own identity.
Sins Past[]
Peter encounters Gwen's clone Sarah
Norman Osborn went on to raise the clones he belived where his children, a boy and a girl named Gabriel and Sarah, respectively. Due to them being clones, the twins aged faster than normal and became adults within the span of a few years. Osborn told them that Peter was really their father and was responsible for their "mothers death.
The twins then attacked Spider-Man. Spider-Man told Mary Jane about his initial encounter with Gabriel and Sarah, whereupon Mary Jane (unknow at the time was implanted false memories by Mysterio) 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 the fabricated memories of Gwen was distraught and begged her not to say anything. Peter told the twins what he believed to be the truth. Sarah believed Peter, but Gabriel did not. Gabriel took the Green Goblin formula and briefly became a new Green Goblin.
Dying Wish[]
Peter encounters Gwen in a type of dream beside her dad after Peter faints while trapped in Doctor Octopus' body. After her dad reassures Peter that saving Octavius was the right thing to do back in Ends of the Earth, Gwen kisses him on the cheek and tells him that everything worked out.
Dead No More[]
Personality[]
Notes[]
- J.M. Straczynski 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. This would eventually be retconned in the Kindred storyline and Gwen's "children" would reveal themselves to be clones created off of her DNA.
- 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.
- 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.
- In an issue of What If?, Spider-Man saves Gwen not by letting her fall, but by leaping down in time to catch her - also, when the same is done to Mary Jane in the first Spider-Man movie, he swings down from his web to save her instead of trying to stop her in mid-air.
- It is also interesting to note that Mayday Parker in MC2 does the same thing to save Gwen during a vision Gwen's death.
- The Green Goblin's status in Spider-Man's rogues gallery was elevated by his murder of Gwen Stacy. Before the death of Gwen Stacy, Doctor Octopus had seemed to be Spider-Man's primary arch nemesis, but the death of Gwen Stacy was key to making the Green Goblin, even more than Doctor Octopus, Spider-Man's primary arch nemesis.
- Several subsequent adventures have contained echoes of Gwen's death when other women 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.
- In Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #12 a similar situation happens on the Washington Bridge, when the Green Goblin kidnaps Mary Jane this time. At one moment, Mary Jane falls from the bridge due the impact of a gun when she fired at Osborn. Then, Spider-Man states that he dreamed about Gwen's death and how he would stop it, and shoots many webs to brake Mary Jane's fall from many points, so her neck wouldn't break.
- Prior to the storyline being retconned, a discrepancy was established in a previous story "Spider-Man Revenge of the Green Goblin" (2002) that Norman Osborn stated "I have no heir, my son is dead...and my grandson Normie is much too young to carry on my stead" even though "Sins Past" (2004) revealed he had twin heirs. This would eventually turn out to be the truth as Norman's "twins" where in reality clones created by Harry using Norman and Gwen's genetic template and the affair he believed he had with Gwen were memories fabricated to him by Mysterio.
Trivia[]
- Deadpool once had Arnim Zola make four Gwen Stacy clones in exchange for sparing his life.
- In the House of M storyline, Gwen was never killed, and instead was married to Peter with a young son. The shock of having his true life's memories returned greatly devastated him. When the world was returned to normal by the Scarlet Witch at the conclusion of the story, Gwen remained dead and Mary Jane was again married to Peter.
- Gwen was first cloned in the third Clone Saga comic.