"You put on that badge because you know if you don’t, someone who shouldn’t will. But you have to understand, this mask is my badge, and I'm trying to be good too. I was trying so hard to wear this thing the way you would want, and I didn't... I didn't. I can do all these things, but I can't help the people I love the most, and they can only know half of who I am, so I-I'm completely on my own, and now I don't even know what the right thing is anymore! I don't know what I'm supposed to do, but I know... I can't lose one more friend."
Gwendolyn Maxine "Gwen" Stacy is a Visions Academy student who was bitten by a radioactive spider which granted her superhuman abilities causing her to become the super-heroine known as Spider-Woman. She would go on to become her city's line of defence against multiple villains including Doctor Octopus and the Vulture. Unfortunately, after failing to save her best friend Peter Parker, her guilt for his death caused her to attempt to distance and isolate herself from others.
A couple of years later after these events, Gwen was pulled out of her dimension by Kingpin'sSuper-Collider into another universe where she would meet and befriend Miles Morales and alternate versions of her deceased best friend. After Miles showed he was ready to be Spider-Man, she along the rest of the Spider-Gang managed to stop Kingpin before he caused irreparable damage to the Multiverse. After this, Gwen returned to her home universe and continued with her life as Spider-Woman.
After a fight with an alternate version of the Vulture and her father attempting to arrest her, Gwen was recruited by Miguel O'Hara and Jessica Drew into the Spider-Society, managing to be mentored by the latter. As she began to protect the Multiverse from any threat, she would befriend Hobie Brown and Pavitr Prabhakar and go on various missions with them. After The Spot started to gain the abilities to travel between the alternate dimensions, Gwen Stacy was tasked by Jessica Drew and Miguel O'Hara to go to Earth-1610 and track the villain. However, Gwen could not pass up on an opportunity to finally see Miles for the first time in over a year, resulting in Spot gaining more power.
After Miles followed her to Earth-50101, he would discover that his father is going to die. Begrudgingly, Gwen would participate in the chase to capture Miles alongside the Spider-Society. After Miles escaped from the society, she would be sent back to her home universe by Miguel O'Hara. With nowhere to go, she would fix her relationship with her dad, and she would get a bootleg version of the Multiversal Gizmo created by Hobie. After realizing Miles was in a different universe and promising his parents that she'd bring their son home, she would use the gizmo to recruit all her friends to form a new incarnation of the Spider-Gang in an attempt to rescue her friend.
"All right, people! Let's start at the beginning one last time. My name is Gwen Stacy. I was bitten by a radioactive spider. And for the last two years, I've been the one and only Spider-Woman! You guys know the rest. I joined a band. Saved my dad. I couldn't save my best friend, Peter Parker... so now I save everyone else. And I don't do friends anymore... just to avoid any distractions. And one day this weird thing happened... and I mean, like, REALLY weird. I was blown into last week. LITERALLY! I landed in New York, but... not MY New York. My spider-sense told me to head to Visions Academy. Wasn't sure why until I met you."
Gwen says grace with her father and the Parker family
Gwendolyn Maxine "Gwen" Stacy was born in the 2000s in the Chelsea borough of New York City. She was born as the only daughter of police officer George Stacy and his wife Helen Stacy. Helen died early on in Gwen's childhood, resulting in George having to raise her on his own and Gwen not getting to know her mother well, if at all. George's career as a police officer would inspire Gwen to live to uphold the law and help others. George was close friends with the Parker family who were their neighbour's. Gwen met and befriended Peter Parker in her childhood, forming a close bond with him throughout the years and grew to consider him her only friend.[2]
In her teenage years, Gwen was enrolled by her father at Visions Academy. alongside Peter. At Visions, she met and befriended Mary Jane, Betty Brant and Glory Grant, and joined their punk rock band "The Mary Janes" as their drummer. Gwen became interested and in ballet, and also joined the school gymnastics team. Her father supported her in these activities. Unfortunately, Peter did not have the same luck as Gwen and became isolated due to his "nerdy" appearance and interests. This caused Peter to become an easy target for bullying from other students, especially Ned Leeds. Gwen would often stand up for Peter but instead of helping the bullying to stop, it only caused it to increase as it made Peter look weak in front of others, unknowingly furthering his humiliation and fuelling his sense of worthlessness and despair.
Gwen is bitten by the radioactive spider
In late 2016, a twelve/thirteen year old Gwen was bitten by a radioactive spider, giving her superhuman powers and abilities. These included superhuman strength and reflexes, as well as an ability to adhere to walls, and a precognitive sense that could prevent her from being hurt by any danger. Being inspired by her father's career, she resolved to use her newfound spider-like abilities to fight crime and help others as she became the vigilante known as Spider-Woman.[2][1]
Life as Spider-Woman[]
"You're in this to help people, right? Well so am I!"
As Spider-Woman, Gwen started her crime fighting career by attempting to defend New York from any threat. Due to her acts of vigilantism, she often got into disputes with her father who had no idea that the vigilante was his own daughter. She ended up saving him once from a potentially fatal gunshot wound but this would not improve her father's view on Spider-Woman at all. As Spider-Woman, Gwen would deepen her voice whenever she spoke to hide her identity. At some point during her crime fighting career, Gwen would be buried alive before managing to escape the grave.
Gwen talking with Peter
Although Spider-Woman wasn't particularly liked by her father, Peter gained a fanaticism for her. Often, Peter would talk to Gwen about the vigilante and show her pictures that he had taken of Spider-Woman. During these conversations, Peter revealed to her that he thinks that Spider-Woman is pretty, much to Gwen's amusement. Her father would often interrupt these conversations as he gave his own more critical thoughts about Spider-Woman.[2][1]
Losing Peter[]
"I just... wanted to be special, like you... Gwen."
At a Homecoming Dance, Gwen and Peter had planned to go together as friends. Upon arriving at the dance, Gwen tried to find Peter but could not find him anywhere. Before she could think much further, her Spider-Sense went off and a giant mutant creature known as the Lizard appeared and immediately attacked the party goers.
Quickly changing into her Spider-Woman suit, Gwen rushed into battle against the creature as it attempted to attack Ned Leeds. The Lizard slammed Gwen into a wall before she carelessly kicked the beast into a pillar causing the entire ceiling of the building to collapse onto him. Seeing that the Lizard had been defeated, Gwen rushed to the creature's body only to find that it was her best friend Peter. Grabbing Peter, she tried to understand what had happened but Peter simply told her that he just wanted to be special like her. Upon Peter using her real name, Gwen grabbed his hand in shock over the revelation that he knew her real identity all along, preventing him from seeing her tearful face as she begged him not to go. Peter died in her arms as she held him close and sobbed into his body.
Spider-Woman mourns the loss of Peter
Soon after, officer Stacy arrived on the scene to investigate what had happened only to see Spider-Woman holding a dead body. In fear of being confronted by her father, a tearful Gwen swung away. George realized the body that Spider-Woman had been crouched over was none other than that of his daughter's best friend. Coming to the deduction that Spider-Woman had murdered Peter and escaped from the scene of the crime, George began a massive manhunt to find and apprehend the vigilante.[2][1]
After these events Gwen distanced herself from others as a way to avoid "distractions" as well as to avoid losing someone else, assuming that anyone close to her would get hurt just like Peter. She began to take her Spider-Woman career much more seriously as she attempted to avoid making the same mistake she had made before and to somehow repay the moral debt she had gained after accidentally killing Peter. She continued to be a member of the Mary Jane's in order to release her feelings of anger, guilt and loss through her drumming but would distance herself from the band members as her guilt and depression from Peter's death grew over time. Eventually, she completely avoided talking to them and only saw them when they had to rehearse for concerts.
Although her alter ego was being sought by the law due to Peter Parker's death, she defended the city from many super villains who threatened to terrorize it. Among those villains were Vulture, who became a recurring villain for the heroine, as well as Doctor Octopus and Kraven the Hunter. She also got into brief feuds with her father as both Gwen Stacy and Spider-Woman due to his attempts to catch her at all costs.[1][2]
"And one day, this weird thing happened. And I mean, like, really weird. I was blown into last week, literally. I landed in New York, but not my New York."
Around two years after she became Spider-Woman, Gwen was fighting against Doctor Octopus. However, in the middle of her fight she was pulled into a portal. The portal pulled her into another dimension, landing her a week before the portal opened up in that world. In front of a screen, she saw the news of the Spider-Man of that world and realized she was no longer in her New York.[1]
Meeting Miles Morales[]
"I'm Gwe-aaaanda?" "You're name is Gwanda?" "It's African...I'm South African"
Not too long after entering this new universe, her spider-sense told her to head to Visions Academy. Gwen infiltrated it, managing to pose as just another student at the school. Gwen would first meet Miles in physics class after Miles had told a bad joke about Einstein and sat next to her due to her being the only person who had laughed at it. Finding him cute, she attempted to strike conversation but was interrupted by the teacher.
"Gwanda" introduces herself
The next day, Gwen intentionally bumped into Miles. She'd noticed how much Miles was sweating as he attempted to make various excuses as to why he was acting like this. Miles introduced himself by name and Gwen awkwardly introduced herself as Gwanda, not wanting to give away her real name in the event there was another version of herself in this universe. She claimed she was African before correcting herself to say she was South African and that she didn't have an accent because she had been raised in Brooklyn.
Miles attempts the shoulder touch on "Gwanda"
Attempting to hit on her with his uncle's advice, Miles initiated the shoulder touch. After the awkward attempt at flirting, Miles tried to pull his hand away from Gwen only for it to get stuck in the right side of her hair. Gwen knew Miles was experiencing his powers for the first time and told him to calm down and relax but he would not listen as he was too confused. Miles attempting to find a solution tried to aggressively pull his hand out of her hair only for Gwen to counter by throwing him over her head.
"Gwanda" is forced to shave half her head
Gwen and Miles were taken to the school nurse's office not too long after where half of Gwen's head was shaved to remove Miles's hand, leaving a giant hand print. Walking outside of the office, a livid Gwen would see Miles walking on a wall wearing nothing but a pair of pants while birds were attached to his hands.[1]
Gwen would get herself a proper haircut to remove the giant handprint that had been left in her hair, adopting a shaved side undercut. Gwen then began to follow Miles more earnestly and tracked him to Alchemax. Using the disguise of being a scientist at the facility, Gwen gained access to the lab and briefly bumped into Miles who was fleeing his universe's Doctor Octopus alongside a variant of Peter Parker.
Finding the duo in the forest, Gwen engaged in battle with Doctor Octopus as Spider-Woman and quickly defeated her. With Octavius defeated, Gwen revealed her identity to Miles and the variant of her deceased best friend who introduced himself as Peter B. Parker. Miles was shocked that she was also a Spider-Person, and he proceeded to compliment her haircut, to which Gwen responded by angrily saying he was not allowed to like it, as she was still upset over it.
The trio would get on an approximately 4 hour long bus ride as they made their way back to the city. With Peter passed out, Gwen and Miles would get to know each other better. Gwen would talk with Miles about losing her best friend. Miles would offer to be Gwen's friend if she was ever interested in trying that out again, Gwen responding by telling him that she'd keep him posted. At some point during this bus ride, Gwen and Miles would take a selfie together.
Upon arriving back in the city, the trio made their way to this world's Aunt May. After a short talk with Peter, May takes the trio to the shed in her backyard where this world's Peter had kept all his suit designs. Here they meet three other Spider-People, Spider-Man Noir, Peni Parker, and Spider-Ham, who had all been sent to this universe by the collider as well. Here, they all discussed their plan to use the Super-Collider to return them to their homes. Peter informed them that one of them would have to stay behind to destroy the machine, risking disintegration due to being in a different dimension, for which Gwen and every other Spider-Person volunteered. Miles then told them that he would be the one to destroy the machine so they could all go home. All the others, excluding Peter, questioned Miles and pressured him to the point that he fled the shed, defeated after being pushed too hard.[1]
A hurt Miles left to figure things out on his own, only to return once the others created the new goober for the machine, with news that his uncle was the Prowler and one of Kingpin's enforcers. The group asked Miles if he had been followed, as all Kingpin's enforcers, including the Prowler, burst through the door, ambushing the group in May's house. During the battle, Gwen focused on the Scorpion and she managed to lure him away from the house.
Spider-Woman and the gang prepare to hide from Ganke Lee
Some time after the battle had died down, the group tracked Miles to his dorm room and tried to console him for the death of his uncle. All the spider people spoke of how they had gone through something similar including Gwen who brought up the death of Peter. Out of nowhere, Miles's roommate Ganke entered the room and the group hid on the ceiling. Unfortunately for them, Ganke spotted them and fainted right after Spider-Ham spoke. Peter then confirmed that the decision had been made that he would be the one to stay behind. Tying Miles up, the group left. Gwen bid him goodbye and waited outside with the others, hoping that Miles would be able to prove to Peter that he was ready, to no avail.[1]
The group made their way to Fisk Tower and snuck in. Gwen called Kingpin a pig much to the dismay of Spider-Ham, Noir noticing how the waiters were dressed came up with an idea to pretend to be waiters in order to sneak into the mansion. Peter bumped into this world's Mary Jane and Gwen had to tell him to focus on the mission and avoid being distracted. They managed to arrive at the Super-Collider through Fisk's private elevator. Once there, they were almost immediately detected by Fisk's lackeys. Gwen fought them off with the others and watched Miles save Peter from Doc Ock. In the ensuing battle, Gwen was briefly knocked out by Doc Ock and almost fell into the collider's unstable portal but was saved by Miles. Once Doc Ock and Fisk's other enforcers were no longer threats, Miles took the goober from Peter and took control of the beam, allowing the others to go home.[1]
Before she left, Miles asked Gwen if he was allowed to like her haircut now. Gwen, recognizing that Miles was flirting with her, pointed out that she was 15 months older, which Miles countered with an Einstein joke (about their age difference being relative) that he knew Gwen would appreciate. When he asked if they were friends now, Gwen agreed. Gwen jumped through the portal and returned home. Two days later, Gwen looked at her selfie with Miles from the bus ride on her phone as she missed her friend and thought of their brief time together.[1]
Gwen back in her universe
After returning to her universe, Gwen continued her adventures as Spider-Woman, fighting various enemies while still being part of the Mary Janes. However, her isolation that had begun from Peter's death only got worse now as she also missed Miles. Gwen ended up keeping the haircut Miles inadvertently caused her to get to remember him by and would print out a Polaroid of their selfie, placing it in her drum-set next to her Spider-Woman suit and a birthday gift from her deceased mother.[2]
Joining the Spider-Society[]
Quitting her band[]
"I didn't join a band so I could talk about my feelings, I joined it so I could hit my feelings with sticks!"
Around a year later, Gwen and the rest of the Mary Janes were practicing for a concert. Gwen was deep in her feelings, letting loose on her drum set, and ignored the voices of her fellow bandmates as they tried to get her to listen to them. The band members confronted Gwen and attempted to get her to open up to them about what was bothering her, only for Gwen to claim that she was fine and that she only was in band to let her feelings out through drumming. Feeling extremely isolated and misunderstood, Gwen on the verge of tears angrily kicked her drum set away and quit the band. Heading home on the subway, she thought about Miles and then her old times with Peter when he was still alive.[2]
Upon arriving at her apartment, Gwen was approached by her father who asked her how her band was doing, only for Gwen to say that she had quit. Gwen put her things away and immediately began folding her clothes, thinking to herself that she might not sleep at home tonight. George wanting to lift his daughter's spirits attempted to tell her about some new leads he had found in the case against Spider-Woman, only for Gwen to angrily shut him down by telling him that it would never bring Peter back. Feeling at a loss of words, George asked his daughter if she was too punk rock to give her old man a hug. Gwen immediately rushed and embraced her dad in a tight hug, the warm colors of her universe bending to showcase the love she felt for him. She thought this could be the last hug she'd be able to give him.
George's police radio went off as a disturbance was reported at the Guggenheim Museum. Once her father left, Gwen quickly turned up the radio to get information about the whereabouts of the incident. She kicked open her drum set and suited up, glancing at the Polaroid of her and Miles before closing it. Gwen swung out of her window as she made her way to the museum.
Upon arriving at the scene, she webbed up all the police officers including her father to prevent them from getting hurt. Gwen called out to Vulture only for a completely different version of the villain to attack her. Gwen fought the Vulture variant as she guessed how he had ended up in her universe to which he agreed. Just as the Vulture was about to land a strong blow on Gwen, he was stopped by several red beams. Out of nowhere, a portal opened with a variant of Spider-Man pushing the Vulture out of the way. Gwen swung down to find out who the mysterious man was as he introduced himself as Miguel O'Hara.
The duo took on the Vulture as they attempted to stop him from wrecking more havoc on the museum. Miguel told Gwen that her interference with the collider incident had not fixed the problem but actually made it worse. Miguel reluctantly called a variant of Spider-Woman, Jessica Drew, to join the battle. Gwen was enamoured by her and asked Jess to adopt her, much to the confusion of both Spider-Women, before continuing the fight against the Renaissance-style Vulture. Miguel rode the Vulture high into the sky but unfortunately the Vulture had caused a helicopter to plummet towards the bottom of the museum. Thinking fast, Gwen closed her eyes, likened the sounds of the helicopter rotors to the beat of her drums, and leaped into action. She formed a giant web to act as a cushion to the impact of the helicopter. Gwen pulled the pilots out of the plane and tossed them to Miguel. The trio of spider people all shot webs at the helicopter as they slowed its descent and prevented any civilian casualties.
With the battle won, an exhausted and slightly wounded Gwen was ready to head home only to be warned by her spider-sense as she was ambushed by her own father. Attempting to swing away, Gwen realized she had used up all her web during the fight. George demanded that Spider-Woman put her hands in the air and get down on the ground, while Gwen pleaded that she wasn't armed. She then tried to reason with him and took a step forward, but that was a mistake, as George took it as a threat and fired a warning shot into the air, causing Gwen to freeze in shock. Too exhausted to run and out of options, Gwen reluctantly took her mask off and revealed her true identity to her father.
Gwen begged her father to understand that she didn't murder Peter, that it was an accident, but it was too late. George was too shocked by how long his daughter had been lying to him and hiding her identity from him to listen to anything she had to say and read the Miranda rights to her. Gwen teared up as her entire world began falling apart, asking her father if he was really that afraid of her, as he was still attempting to arrest her. Before George could make another move, Miguel snatched the gun out of his hands with one of his webs and locked him in an electric cage. Gwen tried to approach her father, but Jess worriedly stopped her, assuring her that she and Miguel had her back. Tear-filled and not knowing how to fix things with her father, Miguel tossed Gwen a watch, changing his mind about letting her into the Spider Society. Taking one last look at her father, Gwen entered the portal to her new life. [2]
Life in the Spider-Society[]
Spider-Woman's new suit
As a member of the Spider-Society, Gwen would be unofficially mentored by Jessica Drew. She would grow to gain a large respect for the woman and would look up to her for guidance as the mother figure she never had in her life. During one of her many missions, she would meet Hobie Brown and become close friends with him. Hobie would often let the now homeless Gwen stay in his universe, and join his band. She would also meet Pavitr Prabhakar, who's also a member of the Spider Society. During one of her missions with Hobie, they would capture a variant of the Prowler as well as do a mission in a Shakespeare dimension.[2]
Gwen would reunite with Peter B. Parker and Peni Parker, however, they were all prohibited from ever reaching out to Miles as they were told he was an "anomaly" and that he was dangerous to the stability of the multiverse. She would also learn the truth about what usually happens to Gwen Stacy if she falls in love with Spider-Man and it not ending well. Despite the society trying to insist on her avoiding Miles, Gwen would try to remember her best friend and maintained the impromptu haircut he had given her, dying the ends of it pink and letting it grow longer.
Gwen would make some changes to her suit during her time in the Spider-Society, adding long pink fingerless gloves with blue web patterns that go up to her elbows, and teal Chucks she took from Hobie, replacing her teal pointe shoes.[2]
Eventually, Gwen was tasked with a mission to Miles's universe on Earth-1610, monitoring the Spot to prevent him from damaging the multiverse any further and was under strict orders not to meet or interact with Miles. Despite the orders, Gwen couldn't stand not checking up on her friend and opened a portal in his room. Landing shoes first onto his bed, Gwen immediately hugged an extremely surprised Miles as they reunited for the first time in over a year. She complimented him on his growth spurt, and he responded by complimenting her pinker hair. Messing around with her friend, Gwen would spot a collectible and mess with it before taking it out of its packaging, much to Miles' dismay. Using her web-shooter, Gwen snatched the sketchbook from Miles' bed and flipped through it, seeing various drawings of herself, telling Miles that she missed him too. Sitting on the window, Gwen asks Miles if he wants to get out of there, and he tells her that he's grounded. Slipping out of his window, Gwen asks if Spider-Man is grounded to which Miles smiles as he decides to join her.[2]
As the duo swung through the city, Gwen told Miles all about her adventures with the Spider Society and the various Spider-People she had met. The two would stop a robber and grab food from a street vendor, Miles paying for the meal. Gwen brings up Hobie and tells Miles he would love him, and that he lets her crash in his dimension, much to Miles' jealousy. Briefly slipping away from Miles' sight, Gwen secretly plants a tracker to check on the Spot. Meeting up with Miles once again, the duo would continue their swing as they arrived at the top of the Williamsburg Bank Building. Miles would ask Gwen about her fight with her dad, to which she would respond by saying that there was nothing they could talk about.[2]
Gwen leans on Miles
Miles mentions thinking about telling his parents about his secret, to which Gwen franticly responds by saying "Don't! Trust me on that." as she doesn't want Miles to make the same mistake she did. Miles agrees, saying that some things are supposed to be just for Spider-People. and Gwen says that there are not many people you can talk to about the stuff they're going through, with Miles saying that they understand each other because they're the same in the important ways. As they sat upside down on the building watching the sunset, Gwen would tell Miles that in every other universe, Gwen Stacy falls for Spider-Man and it doesn't end well. Miles responds by saying "Well, there's a first time for everything, right?". Gwen then smiles at her friend, leaning her shoulder onto his as they continue to watch the sunset.[2]
After their talk, Gwen and Miles would make their way to Miles' father's promotion party. Miles would question Gwen about why he can't join the Spider Society, with Gwen lying to him about it being a really small, elite strike force and there not being a lot of slots. Miles would then look away disappointed and play with the multiversal gizmo Gwen had, annoying her in the process and causing her to shout at him. They apologized to each other and began to get closer to one another only to be interrupted by Rio who promptly introduced herself to Gwen for the first time. Jeff arrived soon after, briefly hitting his head. Gwen awkwardly referred to the two by their first names, much to their annoyance and she attempted to make a lighthearted comment towards Jeff's promotion in an attempt to alleviate the tension. Rio handed Gwen the sweater she left in Miles' room and asked her to not take Miles from her, making Gwen instantly take her hand off Miles' back. In the middle of the conversation, Gwen's Gizmo alerted her of the Spot's activity. Doing an impromptu dance and making up an excuse about her steps not being in, Gwen shakes Miles' hand and leaves the party reluctantly.[2]
Gwen unknowingly stares directly at an invisible Miles
After leaving the party, Gwen arrives at a building spotted with holes and retrieves the tracking device. She distracts the police in order to get inside and get a closer look at what happened. Using her Gizmo, Gwen sees a rewind of the events that had taken place inside the building as she watches the Spot create a mini-Collider in order to regain his powers. Panicking on what to do next, Gwen receives a call from Jess asking her on how the mission is going.[2]
Gwen says goodbye to Miles as she leaves Earth-1610, not knowing that Miles is following her
Upon learning that the Spot escaped, Jess gets furious with Gwen, even more so when she learns that she had been visiting Miles instead of sticking with the mission. Gwen begs Jess not to tell Miguel and she promises that she will never see Miles again. LYLA tracks Spot's location to Earth-50101 and Jess gives Gwen an hour to fix her mistake before ending the call.[2]
A lonesome Gwen pauses for a moment to bid farewell to Miles before leaving, not knowing that Miles was following her and was right in front of her the entire time. Feeling empowered by his mother's earlier words, Miles takes the jump and follows her into the portal to Mumbattan.[2]
Upon arriving in Mumbattan, Gwen immediately realized that Miles had followed her, much to her dismay and annoyance. Pavitr joined them and introduced himself to Miles, immediately noticing the romantic tension between the two. The trio engaged in battle against the Spot but were unable to stop him from getting to the universe's native Alchemax. Once they arrived at the facility, they were immediately placed behind an electric barrier by the Spot. Miles attempted to use his venom strike powers to absorb the power of the ray shield but was unable to complete the task as Hobie appeared out of nowhere using his guitar to break the barrier. Hobie introduced himself to Miles and caught up with Pavitr and Gwen. The four attempted to stop Spot again but to no avail as he escaped, absorbing the energy of the collider and showing Miles visions of his "future".[2]
Spider-Woman frantically searches for Spider-Man in the rubble
Gwen and Hobie helped a disorientated Miles as the four of them escaped from the falling building. They quickly used their combined skills to rescue as many civilians as possible from the rubble. Gwen attempted to stop Miles from rescuing Inspector Singh both for his own safety as well as the risk of ruining "the canon". Seeing the rubble collapse on her friend, Gwen immediately had flashbacks of what had happened to Peter and rushed towards him as she pulled the rubble off him. Thankful that he was alive, Gwen told him that he was amazing. Immediately after the rescue of Singh, Gwen noticed the gizmo on her wrist flashing with "Canon Event Disrupted". The Spider-Society arrived just in time to clean up "the disrupted canon". Jess asked Gwen, Miles and Hobie to accompany her to HQ while leaving Pavitr in his own universe.[2]
Upon arriving at HQ, Jess handed Miles a day-pass to prevent him from glitching. Gwen and Hobie showed Miles around the building, telling him about all the different anomalies they had caught including a variant of his uncle from Earth-19999. The trio arrived at the Go-Home Machine as they witnessed it send a variant of the Rhino back to his's own universe. Seeing Miles and Margo Kess sharing a conversation, Gwen suffered a brief bout of jealousy and tugged Miles away as they made their way to Miguel. Miles attempted to get along with Miguel but he angrily yelled at him. Gwen tried to tell Miguel to stop and that Miles doesn't know any better. Just then, Peter B. Parker arrived with his daughter Mayday and was reunited with Miles for the first time in over a year. They caught up and Miguel began his explanation about the nature of "canon events".[2]
Gwen tears up as she listens to the argument
During the "canon event" talk, Miguel noted that Gwen had attempted to prevent breaking the canon by stopping Miles from saving Inspector Singh. Gwen implied to Miles that she had tried to do both. Upon realizing his father was "supposed" to die, Miles gets furious. Furthermore, seeing how she was willing to let even her own dad die in a canon event, he angrily told Gwen that she should've never come to see him causing Gwen to tear up. Miguel locked Miles in the same electric cage he had caught Gwen's father, attempting to subdue him. With Hobie's help, Miles broke out of the containment and escaped.[2]
The entire spider society pursued Miles on Miguel's orders, including Gwen. Gwen was running on the side of a building as she told Jess that she felt very awful about this situation and felt it was wrong, Jess simply responded by telling Gwen to use her head. Soon after, a teary-eyed Gwen caught Miles with a strand of her web only for him to angrily break it apart as Gwen looked in shock. Gwen continued to pursue Miles and hurled Jess forward in hopes that she'd catch him.[2]
Eventually, Gwen and Peter managed to catch up to Miles on the high-speed train as Miguel was choke slamming him into the side of it while berating him. Peter told Miguel to go easy on the kid and that this "wasn't what they talked about". Miles realized that his friends had talked about this before to which Gwen responded by saying she didn't know how to tell him. Gwen tried to insist it was for his own good but Miles didn't care that her intentions of not telling him the truth were to protect him. Miles managed to use his venom shock to deactivate Miguel's suit and launch him off the train. Standing up, a tearful Miles said goodbye to Gwen before falling off the train himself. Gwen watched with a mix of sadness but also hope that Miles had managed to defeat Miguel.[2]
Gwen eventually caught up with Miguel back at HQ. She berated him for the way he treated Miles and told him that he should let her talk to him as she's his friend. However, Miguel was done with Gwen at this point and used the Go-Home Machine to have her sent home. Kicking and fighting against the machine proved useless as Gwen was placed inside, as she angrily told the entire Spider Society that they were "supposed to be the good guys".[2]
An angry Gwen returns back home
Once she arrived back in her home universe, Gwen immediately tried to use her watch to escape only to find that it no longer worked. Furious, Gwen threw a shipping container as she breathed heavily and tried to stop herself from tearing up, realizing she was played and now she was back to square one.[2]
Gwen made her way back to her apartment in order to get the polaroid of her and Miles, only to be met by her father, who woke up. Thinking that he was armed, Gwen shot a web at his hand, revealing he was just holding her toy penguin. George begged Gwen to talk to him even if it was something awful she wanted to say. Gwen finally decided to open up to her father as she vented about all the pain she had been through in trying to be the type of person that would make her father proud but failed to do so, that she was unable to live her life like this, saying that she can't help the people she loves the most and that they can only know half of who she is, making her feel completely alone and afraid to lose one more person in her life.[2]
Hearing his daughter's pain, George decides to quit the police force as he feels that his job no longer matters to him, telling her that she is the most important thing in his life. Realizing that he had avoided his canon event of becoming captain, Gwen immediately hugs her father. George then gives Gwen a Web-Watch Hobie made, who had stopped by their universe and gave it to him, with the universe set to Earth-1610. Gwen leaves and promises her father to be back soon. [2]
Confronting Miles' parents[]
"He loves you more than you could ever imagine. I've seen it."
Gwen arrived on Earth-1610 and ambushed Ben Reilly, sending him to her own universe and snapping his watch in half. She snuck her way into Miles' room and looked for him before her spider-sense alerted her that he was in another universe. Not too long after, he spider-sense would alert her that Miles had been incapacitated.[2]
When Jeff arrived home, Gwen overheard his and Rio's conversation about Miles' feelings for her and how he "lit up" in her presence. This caused Gwen to feel more remorse for hurting him. Hearing his parents stress about the whereabouts of their son, Gwen exits Miles' room, putting on his jacket to hide the Spider-Woman suit she was wearing. Guilt ridden for hurting their son, Gwen confronted Rio and Jeff and explained that she didn't know where Miles was and that she was going to find him. She told them that Miles had taught her that anything was possible and promised to bring their son home.[2]
Reassembling the Spider-Gang[]
Mission to find Miles[]
"I never found the right band to join... so I started my own... with a few old friends... you want in?"
Gwen Stacy is an intelligent but highly awkward and emotionally vulnerable teenage girl. Due to the trauma of losing her best friend as well as growing up without a mother in her life, Gwen attempts to mask her feelings by putting up fronts and walls to appear more confident and put together than she actually is. When she initially meets Miles during the collider incident, she puts up this front, but her emotional state deteriorates in the year between the event and the next time she meets Miles to the point she is unable to hide her more awkward side. When she meets Miles again a year later, she again tries to put up fronts but this time to try and attempt to prevent her words from hurting Miles as she is terrified about telling him about the "canon event" regarding his father and his "anomaly" status. After the talk she had with her father however, it appears Gwen may finally be ready to open herself up more to others.
Though Gwen attempted to isolate herself from others due to her own guilt and pain from losing her best friend, it did not take long for her to open up to and care about the Spider-Gang, as she grew to bond with them due to her ability to relate to them, especially Miles who her feelings for would increase over the course of the year she spent away from him. Gwen tends to bottle up her emotions and releases them when she's playing drums leading to her being particularly angry and distant. She also appears to use hugs when she is unable to clearly express her thoughts or emotions.
She cares deeply for the people close to her in her life. She is also not afraid to protect her friends and family, standing up to Ned Leeds when he bullied Peter, and defending Miles from Miguel, even though it resulted in her being kicked out of the Spider-Society. She would reassemble the Spider-Gang with the purpose of rescuing Miles and hopefully rebuilding their relationship.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
"Can you swing and flip with the grace of a trained dancer?"
Spider physiology: Having been bitten by a radioactive spider, Gwen possesses enhanced strength, durability, agility, reflexes, spider-sense, and the ability to climb walls.
Superhuman strength: Gwen possesses enhanced strength, allowing her to combat foes that would otherwise overwhelm her. She can easily lift heavy debris or hurl containers that would not be able to be lifted by any ordinary human.
Superhuman durability: Gwen's body is far tougher than a regular human as she can withstand falls from extreme heights, blunt force trauma, and superhuman blows with little damage. However, even with her super-durability, she is still able to be defeated if enough force is used as evidenced by her lack of power against the Go-Home Machine.
Superhuman agility: Gwen possesses an enhanced levels of agility beyond the natural physical limits. She combines this natural and enhanced agility with her training as a ballerina and gymnast.
Wall-crawling: Gwen possesses the ability to cling onto any surface using just her fingertips or feet, even able to walk or sit on a building upside down.
Spider-Sense: When danger is present, Gwen experiences a buzzing sensation in her head as a sort of warning system, allowing her to react accordingly. Her spider-sense offers her near complete awareness of her surroundings that, in conjunction with her reflexes, allows her to instinctively dodge or counter upcoming attacks. Her spider-sense also helps her recognize other individuals with spider-powers, making them have some sort of connection.
Spider-Connection: In addition, her spider-sense seems to more advanced that of the average Spider-Person, since it guided her to Visions Academy to find Miles even before he had been bitten. It was also able to detect Miles and sense he was in danger even though he was in a different dimension.
Abilities[]
Skilled combatant: Gwen's spider-sense and reflexes make her a capable melee fighter. Her movements and fighting style have the grace and precision of a ballerina. She incorporates various acrobatic moves into her fighting style as well as even some judo.
Trained drummer: Gwen is a trained drummer and was a member of the Mary Janes for at least 3 years before quitting and is now a member of Hobie's band.
Trained ballerina: Gwen trained as a ballerina for an unknown period of time, due to this her fighting style is very precise and pinpoint. She often walks on her tiptoes, even while wearing her chucks. Her ballet training most likely helps with her balance which is already enhanced by her spider-abilities.
Trained gymnast: Due to being a member of her school's gymnastics team, Gwen had already developed a very high degree of strength even before being bitten by a radioactive spider. After being bitten by the spider, her strength increased even more, and she incorporates much of her gymnastics training into the way she swings and fights.
Equipment[]
Weapons[]
Web-Shooters: Gwen is equipped with wrist-mounted shooters she uses as Spider-Woman. The Web-Shooters fire a synthetic, silk-like material meant to imitate the power and capabilities of a spider's web. As Spider-Woman, Gwen typically uses her web shooters in order to travel, but can also use these to grab people as seen when she saves Miles Morales and Peter B. Parker from falling when they were escaping Alchemax.
Synthetic Webbing: Gwen can generate webs that are a shear-thinning liquid, virtually solid until a shearing force is applied to it, rendering it fluid.
Other Equipment[]
Spider-Woman Suit: The Spider-Woman suit is a specialized suit used by Gwen Stacy to fight crime as Spider-Woman and keep her identity secret to prevent danger to herself and her loved ones. The suit is white and black with some pink and blue web patterns in the underarm area. It also has a hood with pink and blue web patterns on the inside. The suit is one piece and extends to her wrist, ankles and bottom of her head. The mask is white with pink eye lenses. She also wears fingerless gloves that are pink with blue web patterns and go up to the elbows. She initially wore blue pointe shoes with the suit, but now wears blue Chucks she took from Hobie.
Web-Watch: The Web-Watch, gifted to Gwen by Hobie, allows Gwen to maintain stability in alternate universes and travel to other dimensions with ease.
Former Equipment[]
Multiversal Gizmo: The Multiversal Gizmo, created by Lyla, allows Gwen to maintain stability in alternate universes and travel to other dimensions with ease as well to communicated with other members of the Spider-Society. She was unable to use it once she was sent home by Miguel O'Hara.
In the comics, this iteration of Gwen Stacy was a member of the Mary Janes who was bitten by a radioactive spider. She initially became a hero for the money and fame but after the death of her best friend due to her own recklessness she decided to become the selfless hero known as Spider-Woman. She would eventually change her name to Ghost-Spider.
Gwen has a "Protect Trans Kids" poster above her bedroom door indicating that she is an ally of the LGBQ+ community.
In the first film, Gwen states that she's been Spider-Woman for 2 years. This means in the second film, Gwen has been Spider-Woman for at least 3 years and 4 months, since Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse takes place a year and 4 months after Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Gwen is of Irish descent just like her father.
Gwen has made multiple allusions to a ballet or dance training past, such as her grace and fighting style, wearing ballet shoes, questioning Miles' ability to move like a dancer, her preference to often walk on her tip toes and one of her sections in Into the Spider-Verse's closing credits having an entire ballet troupe and audience composed of her clones.
In addition, she appears to have been a gymnast as her father wears the shirt of her school's gymnastics team as well as her swinging routines often involving banned gymnastics moves.
In Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, we briefly see various canon events that spider-people have gone through and there is briefly a shot of what appears to be Gwen going through the "Kraven's Last Hunt" canon event. The shot shows Gwen in her pre-Spider-Society suit implying that she has already faced off and defeated a version of Kraven the Hunter in her home universe during this event.
Gwen initially uses the name "Gwanda" when she introduces herself to Miles, in case that he somehow knew another Gwen Stacy. Miles would end up referring to her by that nickname again whenever referencing her to his parents. As of now, both Rio and Jeff believe Gwen's name to be Gwanda.
Gwen and her family are most likely Irish Catholic due to the flashback scene in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse in which she and her family pray at the dinner table.
Gwen owns a penguin plush which is a nod to the character of "Spider-Guin" which is the variant of Gwen Stacy from the mainline comics version of Spider-Ham's universe. This was confirmed as a reference to the character in the official script for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Gwen throws Miles to the ground while he's stuck to her hair using a tomoe nage throw, a move that is often used in judo.
Based on concept art, Gwen knows how to use a skateboard and is able to fold her clothes and type on her phone using her bare feet. More concept art of her room reveals soccer cleats hinting that she may be a soccer player.
The tracks "Self Love" and "Calling" from the ''Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse'' soundtrack both appear to be from the perspective of Gwen with Self Love featuring lyrics pertaining to Gwen leaving her universe in a search for a sense of belong and attempting to repair her relationship with Miles and Calling featuring lyrics pertaining to Gwen's feelings of hurt and guilt over the mistakes she made towards Miles in the film.
Due to her prolonged absence from her own universe, it is most likely that Gwen will have to repeat her current year of high school.
Gwen, along with Jessica, Margo and the band members of the Mary Janes all share a tooth gap between their two front teeth.
Behind the scenes:
Originally, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was set to feature a romance between her and Miles, specifically with Miles and Gwen sharing a kiss before Gwen returns home to her universe. The idea was scrapped so the film could explore both Miles coming into his powers as well as to first introduce Gwen's character for more than her romantic value. The seeds of this romance are explored in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and will be explored more in Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.[7]
The initial idea of Gwen kissing Miles before returning home was referenced in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse as during her opening montage, Gwen is shown puckering up as she returns home to her dimension, seemingly indicating that she had wanted to kiss Miles then and there but did not have the confidence to pull it off.
In addition, the shot where Gwen bids her farewell to Miles before heading to Mumbattan mirrors the iconic upside-down kiss scene in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man although the two never kiss here.
Gwen will star in the Spider-Women spin-off alongside Jessica Drew and Silk. It is currently unknown where the film will take place in the Spider-Verse saga.
In the Portuguese release of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Homem-Aranha: No Universo Aranha), Gwen was voiced by Daniela Melchior.[8][9]
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