A college student and the daughter of George and Helen Stacy, she was the first romantic interest for Peter following his high school graduation before she was murdered by the Green Goblin (Norman Osborn).
Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, Gwen Stacy first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #31 (December 1965).
[14] In Superior Spider-Man #3, Peter briefly reunites with Gwen and her father in the afterlife, along with all his other lost loved ones, while in Doctor Octopus's failing body.
[17][18][19] A note on the letters page of The Amazing Spider-Man #125 states: "It saddens us to say that the whiplash effect she underwent when Spidey's webbing stopped her so suddenly was, in fact, what killed her".
In his book The Physics of Superheroes, physicist James Kakalios confirms that, consistent with Newton's laws of motion, the sudden stop would have killed Gwen Stacy.
[22] In the fourth and final issue of the miniseries Marvels (April 1994), photographer Phil Sheldon befriends Gwen Stacy, who has absolved Spider-Man of any blame for her father's death.
When the Green Goblin kidnaps Gwen and holds her hostage to bait Spider-Man, Sheldon frantically follows the resulting chase in a taxi and witnesses her death.
[12] Conway strongly objected since he felt any sort of resurrection would break the plausibility of the stories, but ultimately gave in under the condition that after reviving Gwen, he could write her out of the book as soon as he wanted.
At the end of that story, Gwen's clone, a creation of Spider-Man villain the Jackal, leaves to find a new life for herself, coming to accept that she is not really the same person who had a relationship with Peter Parker.
The whole plan was to convince him he had the heirs he always wanted, so AI Harry hypnotized Norman and Mary Jane Watson with the help of Mysterio and the Chameleon, while Mendel Stromm created the mutated twins in a lab (this explains their rapid aging, as it's not truly related to Osborn's Goblin serum).
[37] In the "Clone Conspiracy" storyline,[38] a flashback revealed that Gwen Stacy was conscious during Spider-Man and Green Goblin's battle on the bridge, and as she was falling to her death.
This flashback confirms the Green Goblin's real motivations for the murder: he clearly states that Gwen "is just a pawn", contradicting the whole core of Sins Past in which Osborn wanted to kill her to keep the twins with him and silence her forever.
Gwen tries justifying her existence by telling Peter her memories, including how she overheard the Green Goblin talking to Spider-Man before her death.
[42] Doctor Octopus pulls a switch that activates the Carrion Virus in all of the revived, including Gwen and George, and causes them to start rapidly decaying.
[47] In the two-issue mini-series X-Universe, which details what happened to the rest of the Marvel Universe during the "Age of Apocalypse" storyline, the Green Goblin never killed Gwen Stacy.
Mary Jane Watson, a popular actress in this reality, played Gwen Stacy in the film adaptation of Spider-Man's life story.
Gwen and her father read textual accounts of their deaths in the main universe, though they believe this simply to be the morbid imaginings of Peter Parker, who is suffering from mental health issues.
Shortly after Gwen begins fighting crime, Peter Parker, her best friend attempts to exact revenge on those who bullied him, becoming this universe's version of the Lizard.
After years of therapy, she was inspired to become a prison therapist to help those whose lives were ruined by super heroes and worked closely with Norman Osborn and J. Jonah Jameson.
[71] 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.
In this continuity, Gwen, whose rendition by artist Mark Bagley was inspired by an early-career Madonna,[73] has amber eyes, wears punk-style clothing, and harbors a rebellious personality.
[74] In her first appearance, she gives a rousing speech on 'super powers' and later pulls a knife on Kong, one of Peter's bullies, and is suspended from school temporarily.
[volume & issue needed] Gwen is later taken in by Aunt May after her father, police captain John Stacy, is killed by a burglar wearing a Spider-Man costume and her estranged mother does not want to take her in.
In issue #113, Norman Osborn as the Green Goblin causes a massive prison break from the Triskelion, with Gwen walking out amidst the chaos, disappearing in the shadows.
However, when the Green Goblin broke out of the Triskelion, Gwen escaped and went to Peter Parker's house in a confused and terrified state, with Carnage's face on her body.
Six months after the "Ultimatum" storyline, in Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1, Gwen is living with the Parkers again and is dating Peter after MJ broke up with him.
[83] After the two Spider-Men defeat Green Goblin, Peter tells Gwen that he intends to go on a quest to find out the truth of his mystery resurrection and leaves her and Aunt May once more, promising to return.
After Norman and Emily Osborn were among those killed during a false flag attack on Manhattan orchestrated by the Maker's Council, Gwen and Harry became the sole inheritors of Oscorp.
After Wilson Fisk appoints Oscorp to help taking care of Stark/Stane's assets, she is present when Harry, and Otto Octavius access the hidden repository and archive where Howard Stark kept his Iron Man armors and important data, becoming aware of the Council's actions as Harry takes on the role of Green Goblin against their operations in New York, as well as their subordinates, including Fisk.
Following the publication of the one-shot, an ongoing series titled The Unbelievable Gwenpool by the same creative team (Christopher Hastings and Gurihiru) was announced, starting in April 2016,[127][128] with a webtoon spin-off, It's Jeff!, premiering in September 2021.