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Gwendolyn Stacy, also known as Gwen Stacy, made her first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man issue #31 as a love interest to Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man. Unfortunately, things didn’t end well for the love birds when Gwendolyn of Earth-616 met her untimely demise at the hands of the Green Goblin. Luckily for fans, this wouldn’t be the last time Gwendolyn Stacy would make an appearance in the MU, thanks to the introduction of the multiverse. The name would be revived as readers learned of the rise of Spider-Woman, formerly known as Gwen Stacy.
Spider-Gwen’s popularity shows no signs of slowing as she continues to captivate audiences with her humorous navigation of herodom, including the complex relationships that come with her double life, which are only slightly more complicated due to her bond with a Venom symbiote.
10 Earth-65’s Hero
Readers were first introduced to Earth-616’s version of Gwen Stacy as the girlfriend of Peter Parker. After she was captured and hurled from a bridge by the Green Goblin, fans waited in anticipation as a distraught Spider-Man attempted to save her. Unfortunately, Peter’s miscalculations lead to her tragic demise.
However, thanks to the multiverse, a different fate befell the Gwen Stacy of Earth-65. Hope was restored for many fans as they learned that, in this reality, Gwen was the one to be bitten by a radioactive spider, turning her into the crime fighter known as Spider-Woman.
9 A Woman With Many Names
As heroes grow and face trials, they also adapt their names and costumes. Gwen is no different. Introduced to fans as Gwendolyn or Gwen Stacy, she later adopts the identity of Spider-Woman – a hero of Earth-65’s reality. When the multiverse is destroyed, Gwen finds herself on a small planet known as Battleworld with a hazy memory of her prior life. This prompts her to take on the name Spider-Gwen and continue her crime-fighting duties.
Spider-Gwen eventually returned to Earth-65, only to lose her powers from an injection engineered by Cindy Moon. After losing her powers, Spider-Gwen bonded with a Venom symbiote, taking on the name Gwenom and later becoming known as Ghost-Spider.
8 Hell Hath No Fury Like A Spider Synergized
Though not inherently evil, symbiotes have been known to distort and villainize the hosts they become attached to. This includes some of our favorite heroes and anti-heroes, like Peter Parker and Eddie Brock. So, it should come as no surprise that fans learn Gwenom is no exception. When joined with the Venom symbiote, Gwen’s normally bright personality takes on a darker, edgier nature that alters her response to crime. Once benevolent, she now chooses violence. Thankfully, Gwen eventually learns to manage the symbiote’s impulses, though still has difficulty controlling them at times.
7 Misery Loves Company
The Venom symbiote wasn’t always a force of rage. In fact, its original desire was to find a host to merge with and protect. But after many years of enslavement and abuse, the alien’s own essence was corrupted by its evil hosts. Eventually, the symbiote encounters Spider-Man – a host the alien finds worthy. However, fearing for his own nature, Peter rejects the symbiote’s offer to bond, which only adds to the alien’s feelings of vengeance and isolation. Many hosts later, the Venom symbiote finds redemption with the spider version of Gwen, who accepts the alien and becomes Gwenom.
6 Spider-Woman Watched Peter Parker Die
Despite being bitten by a radioactive spider, Gwen remained a loyal friend to her peers at Midtown High, including Peter Parker. However, being a superhero doesn’t provide immunity to calamity. This is especially true when Peter, having looked up to Spider-Women, attempted to create a chemical concoction to develop superpowers and enact revenge on his high school bullies.
Peter inevitably fails and loses control at a school dance, resulting in him dying in the arms of Spider-Woman, who is then blamed for his death. This disaster and the following fallout inadvertently play a part in Gwen’s bond with the Venom symbiote.
5 Mary Jane Vs. Gwen Stacy
Over the years, both MJ and Gwen have been popular love interests of Spider-Man. However, vying for Peter’s love isn’t the only competition between these two women. On Earth-65, Gwen is your average crime-stopping super-teen who unwinds by drumming in Mary Jane’s band. However, the two headstrong women tend to clash heads over the direction of their music. Eventually, the tension between the pair comes to a head in February’s 2021 issue of King in Black: Gwenom vs Carnage #2, where MJ bonds with a symbiote that turns her into the dreaded Carnage.
4 Gwen Things Are Going Good
Regardless of person’s character, revenge can fuel anyone to do unconscionable things, turning heroes to villains and saviors to murderers. This was nearly the case for Spider-Gwen. After losing her powers, she begrudgingly accepted help from Matt Murdock, only to be deceived. Angry and seeking vengeance, Gwen allowed the Venom symbiote to bond with her so she could kill Murdock, an act that turned her into the feared Gwenom.
In the end, Gwen realized that murdering Murdock would mean she was no better than him – a realization that helped her learn to control the symbiote and become Ghost-Spider instead. Gwenom is more easily kept at bay when things are going well, which for superheroes, is no easy feat.
3 (Near) Perfect Symbiosis
Gwen has proven her ability to control some of Venom’s more malevolent traits. However, this hasn’t always been the case. When Spider-Woman initially lost her powers, she was despondent. Gwen attempted every conceivable way of retrieving her abilities, even turning to those who ended up betraying her – a betrayal that triggered her initial bond with Venom.
When Gwen first accepted the symbiote, she was overcome by her desire for revenge. As Gwenom, she fought all who stood in her way of vengeance (including some of her own allies) and nearly lost everything because of her inability to control the symbiote’s impulses.
2 Et Tu, Brute?
A poor sport tries to kick their opponent when they’re down, and when Gwen lost her spider-powers as a result of her brush with Earth-65’s Cindy Moon, she was down and out. Cindy Moon, aka Silk, fought alongside many of the multiverses Spidey’s (including Spider-Man and Spider-Gwen), but Moon betrayed Spider-Gwen by injecting her with the antidote to her spider abilities, leaving her defenseless.
The blows would continue to come as she was hunted by Frank Castle, betrayed by her friend Harry Osborne (who had become the Lizard), and Murdock, who had his henchmen attack Gwen’s father. This would be the final straw for Spider-Gwen, who soon allowed the Venom symbiote to attach to her completely.
1 She’ll Be Back
Ghost-Spider is a willful hero and one with the drive to accomplish what Spider-Man couldn’t. But she’s still a young woman in a high-stress job trying to forge a new path after losing her powers. Ghost-Spider is surrounded by enemies and remains entirely reliant on an alien symbiote for protection. She may have a handle on Gwenom for now, but it won’t be long before calamity strikes again and Gwen gives into the alien’s impulses. Since Gwenom’s debut in 2018, fans have only seen the spider-hero lose control a handful of times (like in King in Black), but it won’t be long before readers get another glimpse into this complex symbiotic relationship.
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