Gwen Stacy

Gwendolyne Maxine "Gwen" Stacy is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, usually as a supporting character of Spider-Man (Peter Parker). A college student and the daughter of George and Helen Stacy, Gwen was one of Peter's early romantic interests, the first following his high school graduation. In the story "The Night Gwen Stacy Died" (1973), the character is murdered by the Green Goblin (Norman Osborn). The story had a major impact on the series and on the audience for super hero comic books. Stories published long afterwards indicate Peter's unresolved grief with regards to her death. The story of her life and death is revisited in Marvels (1994) by Alex Ross and Spider-Man: Blue (2002–2003) by Jeph Loeb; a flashback solo miniseries, Gwen Stacy: Beyond Amazing (2020–2024), was written by Christos Gage.

A posthumous clone of the character was first introduced in the 1970s and reappeared in the 1980s and 1990s. This plotline was later expanded, and has resulted in multiple alternate versions of the character. An A.I. of Harry Osborn created the Kindreds, and Peter's clone Ben Reilly briefly resurrects Gwen in "Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy" (2016–2017), her soul drawn out of the afterlife and placed in a clone body called a "reanimation", verified by Doctor Strange and Death herself. In The All-New, All-Deadly Gwenpool (2025), she is again resurrected with Weapon X-like abilities under the designation X-31, the head of her reanimation grown a new body below the neck and opposing Gwen Poole. There are also versions of Gwen Stacy who appear in alternate universe stories. In the Ultimate Marvel (Earth-1610) stories (2000–2011), Gwen is drained and apparently killed by Carnage, before becoming Carnage, her mind overtaking the symbiote. In the Spider-Gwen (Earth-65) series (2015–2024), she becomes Spider-Woman. In a later version of the Ultimate Spider-Man (Earth-6160) series (2024–2026), Gwen becomes Mysterio, the CEO of Oscorp, who is married to the superhero Harry Osborn.