Everyone who’s even a little familiar with Spider-Man knows that Gwen Stacy–his girlfriend–died about five decades ago. Before I had read a single Spidey comic, I knew that Ms Stacy had ceased to exist within the pages of Marvel comics. Her death was adapted in the movie “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” in which future Oscar winner Emma Stone portrayed the tragic heroine. This was etched in stone the way the death of the Waynes in that dark alley is. I say “was” because of the recent news that Gwen Stacy is set to return as Gwenpool, a character who has a rather complicated real-life history but was decidedly not Gwen Stacy. To be blunt, this is a bad decision. Despite being dead longer than the average comic fan has been alive, Gwen Stacy has weirdly become one of the most popular female figures in recent history. Despite this, exhuming Gwen Stacy and turning her into something she never was is pretty tacky. To adequately explain why I feel this way, I have to clarify why Gwen Stacy and her death matter. Popularity and common knowledge aside, I think we are starting to forget just why we’re still talking about a long-deceased supporting player. Well, true believers, I think it’s time to relive The Night Gwen Stacy Died.
The Amazing Spider-Man #121 (written by Gerry Conway, with pencil art by Gil Kane and inking by John Romita Sr. and Tony Mortellaro) is the beginning of a two-issue arc that fundamentally changed American superhero comics. It starts off in a fairly standard fashion. Even with a lurid cover that teases a true, no-bullshit death of a cast member, you wouldn’t really expect it to amount to anything. After all, comics (especially those published by Marvel Comics) often make hyperbolic claims only for everything to be undone by a wizard or the physical embodiment of Eternity. These are ridiculous books that go to cosmic extremes to maintain their cheery status quo, and I love them for that. With such a bold declaration, you would still expect the unfortunate victim to be someone terribly minor. Based on how comics functioned at the time, I would’ve expected the death of Crusher Hogan, the wrestler Spidey fought in Amazing Fantasy #15.
We aren’t given the name of the story until the last page, which is an unusual move. However, Marvel was known for ballyhoo and showmanship, so the title could still be The Lonesome Death of Crusher Hogan. After Spider-Man returns from a fight with The Hulk in Montreal in #120 (comics are great), Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin (Spider-Man’s greatest enemy) suffers a nervous breakdown. In previous issues, Norman’s son/Spidey’s best friend Harry became addicted to drugs and suffered from amnesia that forced him to give up the Green Goblin persona. He was also one of the only villains to know that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, something else forgotten by amnesia. Alas, this breakdown results in the return of the Goblin persona and the regained knowledge of Peter Parker’s identity. This all culminates in a showdown between Spider-Man and Green Goblin either atop Brooklyn Bridge (depicted in the art) or the George Washington Bridge (named in the text). Poor Gwen Stacy is kidnapped and thrown off the bridge. Of course, Spider-Man saves her. That’s what happens in these stories. Nobody we know really dies in a comic… right?
Well, Spidey does try to save Gwen Stacy. He shoots a web strand at Gwen’s leg and catches her. In fact, he does believe that he saved her… until he realizes that she’s already dead. There’s some debate as to what exactly killed Gwen Stacy. Green Goblin himself argues that a fall from that height would kill anyone. But sadly, the most accepted explanation is that the whiplash from the sudden stop caused by the web is what did her in. A particularly nasty detail is the “SNAP” sound effect that appears in the panel that depicts Gwen’s final moment. In an uncharacteristic moment of rage, Spider-Man vows to kill Green Goblin. Heavy stuff for just 23 cents.
Death of that nature just wasn’t a thing in the superhero comics before The Night Gwen Stacy Died. Prior to its publication in 1973, the worst tragedy a superhero experienced was in their origin issue. After that, it was just one colorful adventure after another. The good guys lived, the bad guys went to jail, and everything was just peachy-keen. Gwen Stacy’s death brought real stakes to comics. Sometimes, an awful event would occur, and nothing could be done. That wasn’t necessarily fun, but it brought depth to these stories that were previously missing. Even re-reading #121 for this article was strangely impactful. You’re looking at a fairly standard adventure and then you’re hit with the devastating realization that these seemingly perfect figures could die at any moment. That someone as wonderful as Spider-Man could experience loss. We are these characters ,and their experiences mirror our own. Spider-Man is now a man who must deal with grief and guilt. This was present in his origin with the death of Uncle Ben, but Gwen Stacy’s death established that these things could happen at any time. Even comics could get serious.
There are plenty of interesting stories about the making of that comic, but I want to focus on what happened in the comics after this. Specifically, the fact that Gwen Stacy has mostly remained dead in the 50+ years since her death. Sure, she’s been cloned at least a dozen times, appeared in alternate timelines, and adapted in other media, but Gwen herself had never been resurrected. You could argue that defining her as just the object of someone else’s sorrow is reductive, so this is resolved by the creation of Spider-Gwen. This Gwen is an alternate version who has become an interesting and popular hero in her own right. With Spider-Gwen, we have a Gwen who is her own character without undoing the essential tragedy of The Night Gwen Stacy Died. Suffice to say that Spider-Gwen worked out well for Marvel… perhaps a little too well.
With that success, Marvel released a million variant covers for many titles that depicted Gwen as a different hero or villain. She was basically every Marvel character you could name, though it was Gwenpool who caught on. Initially, just Gwen Stacy as Deadpool, Gwenpool became an entirely different person known as Gwendolyn Poole. (Yes, that is canon.) Gwendolyn was a comic book nerd from our world/the real world who got trapped within the universe of Marvel Comics. Though that may sound gimmicky, the Christopher Hastings/Gurihiru run of Gwenpool was clever, funny, and surprisingly poignant. It played with the medium of comics in fascinating ways. Fans loved it, and Gwenpool became a third wildly popular Gwen, and now we are where we are.
If you aren’t already confused, the upcoming Gwenpool that inspired this article is not Gwendolyn Poole. As of now, she is implied to be THE Gwen Stacy, who is now an undead assassin or some nonsense like that. Now it’s possible that this Gwen will be revealed to be a clone or whatever. That doesn’t make this any less annoying. Instead of telling new stories or creating worthy new heroes, Marvel keeps messing with a figure whose demise helped comics grow up. They keep dwelling on the past and deliberately ignore why that history matters. Gwen’s death established real-world consequences. To bring her back as a zombie ninja (even if it gets undone within two issues) feels like a regression. Spider-Gwen and Gwendolyn Poole are inexplicably great, but wouldn’t it be nice to have equally compelling characters that weren’t tied to previously established icons?
Gwen Stacy’s death paved the way for comics like The Killing Joke and Watchmen. It allowed for more sophisticated storytelling in a universe of capes and spandex. Comics and their infinite impossibilities are endlessly appealing. Anything can happen, and death can often be a minor inconvenience. Some deaths, however, should remain. I really like Gwen Stacy, but her fate was a pivotal moment in the evolution of comic storytelling. We can keep Gwendolyn Poole and Spider-Gwen. We need to move on from Gwen Stacy. Marvel should create new moments instead of relying on one from over 50 years ago. If Spider-Man can move past that awful night, so must his publishers.
- The Phibes Philes: Comic Review – Zatanna #1 (2025) - April 7, 2025
- The Phibes Philes: Adventures In Animation – Scrappy’s Due - March 26, 2025
- The Phibes Philes: Hail! Hail! Shock ‘N’ Roll – The Spellbinding Story Of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins - March 17, 2025
