The story of Spider-Gwen aka Ghost Spider:
Gwen Stacy was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and first appeared in Amazing Spider-man 31 in December of 1965. From the star,t Gwen was always meant to be a love interest for Peter. But initially, Peter would ignore all the moves she would put on him as Aunt May was in the hospital. This led to her dating Harry Osborn and even Flash Thompson, but it was all to make Peter jealous. Long story short, Gwen and Peter eventually started dating.
As most comic fans would know, she would later be tragically killed when the Green Goblin threw her off the Brooklyn Bridge. In the incident, Spider-man tried to save her, but when his web-line caught her, the sudden stop gave her whiplash snapping her neck and killing her, giving us one of the most tragic deaths in comic book history. She’s been dead in the 6-1-6 universe ever since, but an alternate reality version of her from Earth 65 was created in the form of Spider-Gwen. She first appeared in the Edge of Spider-verse Issue 2 in November of 2014 and was created by Jason Latour and Robbie Rodriguez.
She instantly became a massive hit with fans as most were just happy to have some version of Gwen Stacy back in the comics. Giving her spider-like powers and reversing the roles with her and Peter was super exciting to see. This version of Gwen became so popular that she’s already appeared in The Ultimate Spider-man cartoon series and made her big screen debut in Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse movie.
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Origin of Spider-Gwen
So now that you are up-to-date with original Gwen Stacy let’s take a look at Earth’s 65s Gwen Stacy’s origin. She was also the CEO of a company.
On Earth 65 the famous radioactive spider didn’t bite Peter Parker, it instead bit Gwen Stacy giving her many spider-like abilities. At this time she went by the name of Spider-Woman and just like Spider-Man of Earth-616, she initially used her newfound powers for personal gain rather than helping people.
She decided to become a professional drummer. As for Peter Parker on this Earth, he remained the weak teen that was bullied regularly. They even gave him the nickname Pathetic Parker. Gwen would often save him from bullying.
This made him develop an inferiority complex which led him to create a serum that made him more Gwen. This causes him to become earth 65s lizard and Gwen is forced to fight him. She defeats him but unfortunately due to the serum having side effects, Peter dies, and she vows to use her powers only for good. In this reality, J. Jonah Jameson blamed Spider-woman for Peter Parker’s death and started a campaign against her.
Remember I mentioned earlier that Gwen was a drummer. The band’s name is The Mary Jane’s which includes Mary Jane Watson, Laurie grant and Betty Brant. The bandmates, however, are unaware of Gwen’s hero life. The funny thing is, Gwen is targeted by the police force which is being commanded by her own father Captain George Stacy. So it’s kind of like a Batgirl Commissioner Gordon type deal as batgirls. Dad is Jim Gordon.
Captain George(Gwen’s dad) was very good at his job. Due to his success against organized crime, there was a hit placed on him by the Kingpin. Kingpin even uses his lawyer Matt Murdock to hire a hitman, Rhino to kill Captain George. Rhino tracks down Captain George at the Mary Jane’s concert and attacks him there. Gwen then steps in and can defeat him but is cornered by her father. There she reveals to him that she is Spider-woman to which he says “Damn it, Gwen, go, go on then get the hell out of here before I come to my senses.”
Also Read:
- The Story of Venom
- The Story of Loki
Story Arc
Directly after revealing herself to her father, Gwen has recruited to take part in a Spider-verse event by Spider-man UK. She became one of the many Spider totems from all over the multiverse. If you don’t know what the Spider-verse event is, It’s where spider-man from every reality is being hunted down by Moreland and his family.
During this event, she becomes one of the main 6-1-6 Spider-man’s right-hand members. However, at first, Spider-man is unwilling to risk her in dangerous situations since he couldn’t save his own Gwen Stacy. But they promised to look after each other’s backs.
So after this, Gwen is sent on a mission to recruit another alternate version of Peter Parker. But when she arrives, she realizes that after this reality’s Gwen Stacy died, Spider-man became bitter and more ruthless eventually turning into the Hobgoblin.
Gwen tries to recruit him and even gets through to him, but members of the Moorlands family attack them. Peter saves Gwen by sacrificing himself.
Gwen later returned to her own Earth, and once she was back, she continued to be a costumed crime-fighting vigilante. But if you’re a superhero protecting your city new villains are always going to rise and that came in the form of the Vulture. Gwen set out to catch him and bring him to the police to gain their trust. Her first fight with him didn’t end so well. But she did manage to defeat him the second time around.
Her father lost command of the manhunt for her. It was reassigned to Frank Castle ask The Punisher. On this Earth, the Punisher is a police officer known for his brutal tactics. Well, Castle attacked her after her fight with the Vulture and ripped off her mask and was shocked to see it was a teenage girl. His exact words were “How? You’re just a girl” to what she says “Yeah, that’s right. I’m just a girl” and then she punches him, gets her mask and runs away.
After this in Spider-Gwen Second self-titled series, the lizard had re-emerged. This lizard, however,r was Curt Connors who was the only other person who knew Peter was the original Lizard. The problem is when Gwen went to investigate this new lizard she realized Connors was just one of many. She battles the lizards, but her fight was broken up by Captain America who on this Earth is Samantha Wilson. She tells Gwen “These men are the property of shield and she’s under arrest.” Cap and Gwen will go at it for a bit before settling their differences and defeat the lizard together.
After this, she would go on to fight the Green Goblin aka Harry Osborn who wore Green Goblin Armour. Harry blamed himself for Peters death as he did nothing to stop Spider-woman from killing one of his best friends. So he decided to spend two years training as a soldier to take revenge with the help of a Green Goblin themed power armor. Wanting to kill spider woman, Harry soon after takes the lizard serum. But Gwen is able to give him a suppressant to reverse the mutation.
Eventually, Miles Morales and Gwen formed a brief romantic relationship when they were looking for his dad on her Earth. But they were forced to part ways. However, on Earth 8, the two got married and have two children who also have spider powers.
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Venom-Gwen!
Moving along, we have the time Gwen got the Venom symbiote. This took place in Issue 24 of her second self-titled series. The symbiote is created when her powered up radioactive-ness pulls the lizard DNA from Harry Osborn and created something different, which ends up being the Venom symbiote.
It initially bonds with Logan aka Wolverine but ultimately bonds with Gwen giving us Gwennom. Although, she doesn’t stay Gwennom forever.
More recently she was given a third self-titled series which is nuts considering she’s only been around for roughly four years. Her new series is called Spider-Gwen Ghost Spider, which is her new hero name. That’s right her name is no longer Spider Woman or Spider-Gwen it is Ghost Spider which I think is way better than Spider-woman or Spider-Gwen.
Powers and abilities of Spider-Gwen
Her powers are pretty similar to those of Peter Parker.
- She has superhuman strength, speed, stamina, and numerous spider-like abilities. With her strength, she can lift up to 10 tons.
- Gwen also has incredible reflexes and agility.
- She has perfect equilibrium in any position you can think of and of course she has a spider sense that alerts her of nearby danger.
- Gwen’s body is also physically tougher and way more resistant to injury than a normal person.
- She has web-shooters that were given to her by Janet Van Dyne. They trap moisture from the air to create web fluid that allows her to project web ropes, nets, gloves, etc.
- Gwen has a wristwatch size device that allows her access to other realities.
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Please let me know in the comments down below: Which Superhero/Supervillain Backstory you want next?
Thoughts on Gwen in into the spider-verse?