Origins[]

Gwen Stacy was born to George Stacy and his wife Helen Stacy in the 2000s, growing up in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. She was raised by her father due to the death of her mother sometime in her childhood. Their family was close friends with their neighbors, the Parkers, who they often shared dinner with. Gwen considered Peter Parker her best friend during that time. She'd attend Chelsea Visions Academy with Peter and befriended the members of Em Jay Watson's band The Mary Janes, becoming their drummer. She would train in ballet and joined the gymnastics team at Visions.^[2] After being bitten by a Radioactive Spider when she was twelve years old,^{[verification needed]} Gwen was granted arachnid-like super-powers and began a career as a crime-fighter. Making an outfit and web-shooters, she was dubbed by the media as "Spider-Woman." Her father did not approve of the vigilante although he had been saved by Spider-Woman on at least one occasion,^[1] while Peter found her cool and looked up to her as a sort of idol. While in costume, Gwen would talk in a lower register to hide her identity.^[2]

Spider-Woman's influence caused one of the biggest tragedies in Gwen's life. The bullied Peter Parker, desperate to be special like his idol Spider-Woman in order to defend himself from his bullies, conducted an experiment that turned him into a Lizard-like creature and caused him to lose control. Gwen arrived at the Chelsea Visions Academy Homecoming Dance and looked for Peter only to find a giant lizard version of Peter attempting to attack his bully Ned. Suiting up as Spider-Woman, Gwen engaged in a confrontation with the beast. Not knowing that it was Peter, she carelessly kicked the Lizard with all her strength into the ballroom's main pillar, ripping it out of its mountings and causing the entire structure to crash on top of him, followed by the collapse of the entire ceiling. Gwen rushed to the body of the Lizard only to find it to be a fatally wounded Peter.^[2]

Before dying, Peter told Gwen that he had wanted to be special like her, revealing to Gwen that he had known she was Spider-Woman much to her shock and dismay. Gwen held Peter's dead body as she sobbed into it before swinging away upon realizing that her father had arrived on the scene. Seeing Spider-Woman escape after holding the dead body of his daughter's best friend, Captain Stacy blamed the vigilante for his death and started a manhunt on her. In addition to the manhunt, Spider-Woman was blamed by the media for Peter's death and branded as a criminal. Although facing constant scrutiny from the press and an active manhunt, Spider-Woman would still defend the city from various villains including the Vulture and Doctor Octopus. During this time period, Gwen would isolate herself from other people as much as she could, fearing that anyone getting close to her might die because of the Spider Woman side and also to prevent going through the grief and guilt of losing another friend.^[2]

Battle for Kingpin's Collider[]

One day while fighting Doctor Octopus, Gwen was suddenly pulled into a portal and transported back a week into an alternate reality. Realizing her situation, Gwen went undercover and followed her Spider-Sense which had told her to find Miles Morales by going to the Brooklyn Visions Academy. Posing as one of the students, she first encountered Miles Morales in physics class after he sat next to her due to her being the only person who had laughed at his Einstein joke. Later, Gwen would intentionally bump into Miles who would immediately try to hit on her while sweating intensely. He introduced himself and she clumsily introduced herself to as "Gwanda" in the event that there was another Gwen Stacy in Miles' reality. Miles's own budding spider-powers caused problems when he accidentally stuck his hand to her hair when trying to hit on her with the infamous shoulder touch, forcing her to have it shaved off by the school nurse leaving a giant handprint in her hair. She would briefly see Miles as he walked on the side of a building getting acclimated to his new abilities.^[1]

Sometime after the incident at Brooklyn Visions Academy, Gwen would get a proper haircut to get the handprint shaved out of her hair transforming into an undercut. Gwen followed a lead to Alchemax facility at the Hudson Valley, where she likewise went undercover as a staff member. There she ran into Miles Morales again as he and Peter B. Parker were being chased by Olivia Octavius. Miles was too busy running to recognize Gwen in her disguise, but she quickly changed into the Spider-Woman costume and came to their rescue, retrieving Doc Ock's computer from her hands and webbing her to a tree. She then unmasked herself to Miles and Peter and gave them a recap of her origin story. The Spiders then swung away, and on their bus ride back to New York Miles and Gwen bonded together. Gwen would take a selfie with Miles on the bus ride, the photo being the only one she would have of her newfound friend.^[1]

The three made their way to house of Aunt May, whose nephew Peter Parker had died just a few days ago. May welcomes them into Peter's underground Spider-Lair, where they meet three more interdimensional travellers: private-eye Spider-Man Noir, a Japanese teenager with a robot suit named Peni Parker, and the cartoon-logic-wielding anthropomorphic pig Spider-Ham. Realizing that their only way back home was through Kingpin's supercollider, each of them offered to stay behind and destroy it, only for Miles to point out that they would then die in his dimension. Gwen and the Spiders pressed upon him to test his skills and found them lacking, causing Miles to leave.^[1]

Peni constructs a new goober to deactivate the Super-Collider, when Miles rushed back in, unintentionally exposing their location. Doc Ock, Tombstone, Scorpion and Prowler arrives to take the goober, resulting in a big fight that left Aunt May's house destroyed. Miles discovered that the Prowler was his uncle Aaron, and loses him at the hands of the Kingpin. The Spiders later went to Miles' dorm room at the Brooklyn Visions Academy to say goodbye, as Peter would not allow him to come with them. Consoling Miles over the loss of his uncle, Gwen told him that they like no others could understand what he was going through, having lost her best friend Peter in a similar way.^[1]

Leaving Miles behind, the other five Spiders went to Fisk Tower, infiltrating a memorial service of late Spider-Man by posing as waiters and gaining access to the supercollider room. However their position was exposed, and a massive fight erupted between them and the Kingpin's enforcers. Suffering from the glitching effects, the Spider-People were nearly beaten in battle, but as the collider was activated, Miles returned with a brand-new suit and better control over his powers, saving them and helping them beat back Kingpin's forces. As the supercollider's portal grew unstable, the team inserted the goober and one by one went back to their universe. Gwen accepted Miles as a friend, the only one she had made after Peter died, before going home.^[1] At this moment in time, Gwen had wanted to kiss Miles but ultimately did not do it, which she would come to regret.^[2]

Protecting the Multiverse[]

Unable to talk to Miles or to travel to his universe, Gwen was still left on her own to deal with everything going on in both of her lives. Her crush on Miles would grow everyday as she desired to see him again, keeping the undercut hairstyle she had gotten as as result of him in an attempt to remember him. Around a year after her first interdimensional adventure, she exploded in anger at the attempts of her Mary Janes band members to get her to open up causing her to completely quit the band. When she got back home, her father tried to talk to her about his job, but the topic led to the Spider-Woman case which upset Gwen. George then asked his daughter to hug her, but as she did he was called up to respond to a Vulture wreaking havoc at the Guggenheim Museum. Gwen followed the same call as Spider-Woman and webbed Captain Stacy and Yuri Watanabe to her dad's car. After taunting him and webbing his mouth, Spider-Woman rushed inside.^[2]

She called for Vulture, only to find that it was not the one from her world, but a different version from a Leonardo da Vinci reality who fell through a dimensional portal. She tried to subdue him, but Vulture was too strong and nearly got the best of her until another dimensional portal opened and another Spider-Man rushed through to join the fight. He introduced himself as Miguel O'Hara from another reality, but Gwen was fixated on his watch which she quickly deduced allowed him to easily travel between realities. O'Hara was also still angry at her for the incident at Kingpin's supercollider: instead of closing the hole in the Multiverse like they thought, they left it wide open for Anomalies like this Vulture to regularly cross through.^[2]

Vulture attacked again and proved a match for O'Hara as well, causing him to call for backup. A motorcycle-riding Spider-Woman arrived from another portal, immediately leaving an impression on Gwen. Captain Stacy led a group of cops inside, but Gwen webbed him up once again. The Vulture escaped through the roof, where Miguel took away his wings, but not before the Vulture downed a police helicopter. As it was about to crash on top of civilians which included her dad, Gwen in a split-second concocted a plan, made a web for the chopper to land onto, dodged its propeller blade and roped up a web to slow its descent. Miguel and the new Spider-Woman joined in as well, getting the pilots out and stopping the falling chopper just in time.^[2]

Gwen earned their respect with this and the issue had been dealt with. Captain Stacy seeing an opening surprised Spider-Woman and held her at gunpoint, ordering her to surrender. Gwen immediately realized that she was out of web-fluid and attempted to reason with her father only for him to fire a warning shot in the air. Not having any other options, Gwen removed her mask and tried to explain herself and the fact that Peter's death was an accident. Unfortunately for her, George was caught up in the fact that his daughter had been lying to him for something this serious for so long and couldn't see past his views on the vigilante. He started reading her her Miranda rights as Gwen pleaded as she began to break down in to tears. Before he was able to do anything, Captain Stacy was immediately disarmed and trapped in a force cage by Miguel. O'Hara threw the captured Vulture into a dimensional portal, and Spider-Woman asked him to take Gwen with them. After a brief consideration Miguel tossed the tearful Gwen a Dimensional Travel Watch, inviting her to come with him. Gwen shared a last look at her dad before going through the portal.^[2]

Gwen joined Miguel's Spider Society based on Earth-928 and was tasked with protecting the Multiverse from further disruptions. The Spider-Woman Jessica Drew became her mentor, and Gwen made friends among other Spiders such as Pavitr Prabhakar and especially Hobie Brown who became a big brother figure for her. As Gwen could not return home so she would often crash in Hobie's apartment, where she kept a jumper and a toothbrush. She, Hobie and others did twenty missions to other dimensions while hunting for Anomalies, including one in a Shakespeare dimension as well as capturing a variant of the Prowler. She also became the drummer in his band. She was also reunited with Peni and Peter B. Parker but they were forbidden to ever visit Miles or his universe as Miguel believed Miles to be the original multiversal anomaly who despite not knowing it was the reason behind the current destabilization of the Multiverse. In addition to learning this, Gwen would also learn about the fates of her variants across the Multiverse and how their relationships with Spider-Man usually ended up in misery. She'd allow her hairstyle to grow but would maintain it in the undercut style as a tribute to Miles but would dye the ends pink. She'd also begin wearing teal chucks instead of her pointe shoes with her suit and added long, fingerless pink gloves with spider web patterning to her suit as well.^[2]

War with the Spot[]

A few months after Gwen joined in, a new Anomaly was spotted that originated on Miles' home Earth-1610. Gwen was assigned to deal with the anomaly, but was forbidden from visiting Miles. Disobeying Jess and Miguel's orders, she opened a portal and landed shoes first onto Miles' bed and hugged him as soon as she could. She awkwardly messed around with him in his room, taking an action collectible out of it's packaging and looking through Miles's sketchbook which was filled with drawings of her. After convincing Miles to swing around the city with her despite him being grounded, Gwen fell back behind a building to plant a spider tracker in order to keep watch on the anomaly. They both together stopped a robber and grabbed some food from a street vendor. Gwen told Miles all about the Spider Society and the new companions she had met but was barred from telling him the truth of his origins. As a result, when Miles asked how he could join the Spider Society, Gwen had to let him down and lie, saying that the team was just a "small strike force."^[2]

Miles eventually took Gwen to his favorite spot in the city, the Williamsburg Bank Building, where the two shared a tender moment. Gwen commented on how Miles was her only true friend, with him adding that their friendship was special because they were the same "in the important ways". Gwen began talking about how in the other multiverses, nearly every version of herself ends up falling for Spider-Man. Miles moved his hand closer to hers but stopped after she added that the relationship often doesn't end well. Still, he reassured her, letting her know that there's always a "first time for everything" causing her to smile, and they shared a quiet bonding moment together as she rested her shoulder on his.^[2]

They then arrived at the rooftop party at Miles' house, where Gwen and Miles ate food while Miles attempted to play with Gwen's portal watch much to her dismay. Just as Gwen and Miles were getting closer his parents interrupted them and Gwen was awkwardly introduced to his parents Jeff and Rio. Her tracker then indicated activity in The Spot's location and forced her to bid an awkward goodbye to Miles. She arrived to the site too late, finding evidence of an explosion and the police already on the scene. Sneaking inside, she reviewed the tracker's footage and learned that Spot harnessed enough energy to jump into another reality. Noticing her failure, Jess pressed Gwen into confessing that she went to see Miles, escalating her situation even further. LYLA tracked Spot to Earth-50101 and Gwen went there to fix things, saying goodbye to Miles and promising never to visit him again not knowing that an invisible Miles was looking right at her.^[2]

On Earth-50101 however she found that Miles had followed her while invisible. Gwen tried to feign annoyance at him for following her despite the fact that she still very much wished she could have stayed longer in his universe. They met Pavitr who instantly sensed romantic tension between the two, and the three of them engaged Spot together. Spot soon located this reality's Alchemax, went inside to commandeer their supercollider and locked himself behind the force field. Gwen, Pavitr and Miles were unable to break through until Hobie arrived to reinforce them and used the power of rock to break the shield. Gwen introduced Hobie and Miles, but the four of them were unable to stop the Spot from jumping into the supercollider.^[2]

Emerging far more powerful, Spot departed Earth-50101, as the explosion of the supercollider caused the section of the Alchemax Building to collapse onto the streets. The Spiders jumped in, with Pavitr and Miles clearing the civilians while Hobie and Gwen were trying to slow the falling debris. Gwen was informed by LYLA about an upcoming Canon Event involving Inspector Singh and attempted to stop Miles from saving him, but was unsuccessful. Miles jumped in and saved Inspector Singh, ending the incident with no civilian casualties. The entire crowd applauded the four Spider-People and Gwen admitted to Miles that she found him amazing, when a dimensional rift began to grow underneath them. Jess Drew arrived with a team of Spiders to contain it and ordered everyone except Pavitr to report to the HQ.^[2]

Hobie, Miles and Gwen traveled to Spider Society HQ on Earth-928, and Gwen showed Miles around, while still keeping from him his role in what was playing out. The trio would bump into Margo Kess who would show them the Go-Home Machine in action. Miles trying to get back at Gwen for falsely thinking that she had done things with Hobie would hit on Margo and Gwen would tug him away with a web feeling jealousy. They got to the office of Miguel, who erupted in anger at both of them. To explain to Miles what he had done, Miguel had LYLA show a holographic presentation explaining the Multiverse, the Web of Life and Destiny and Canon Events, revealing that deaths of Police Captain Stacy or similar figures could not be avoided without threatening the fabric of reality, something that applied to Gwen's father as well. Miles realized that his father was about to become Captain, and Miguel confirmed that Jeff was about to die in two days and Miles was not allowed to save him.^[2]

Peter and Gwen tried to talk to Miles and angrily Miles would tell Gwen that she should have never come to see him as she began to tear up. Miguel's harsh approach had alienated him and caused him to run after breaking out of his confines with some help from Hobie, with the entire Spider Society chasing after him. Gwen was visibly confused about if she was doing the right thing but Jess would encourage Gwen to use her head. A tearful Gwen caught Miles by a web strand, but he angrily tore it apart as he continued to evade capture. Eventually, Miguel caught up with Miles and revealed the truth about Miles' status as the original Anomaly, shattering Miles' faith in Gwen and Peter for keeping it from him. After saying goodbye to Gwen, Miles escaped and used the Spider Society's Go Home Machine to transport himself back to his home dimension. Unfortunately, it locked onto his spider's DNA and sent Miles to Earth-42 instead.^[2]

With Miles gone, Gwen and Peter tried to talk to Miguel, but he exploded at Gwen and sent her home with the Go Home Machine as well, disabling her Dimensional Travel Watch and calling her friendship with Miles a liability. Back on Earth-65, Gwen went back to her apartment only to grab her only picture with Miles, but her father woke up and asked her to at least look at him. Gwen remarked that he looked skinny, and George asked where she had been, with Gwen sarcastically replying that she was out murdering all her friends. Taking it as a sign that she wasn't willing to talk, her father then dismissed it and simply went into another room. Realizing she messed up, Gwen then went after him and tried to open up the conversation, eventually going into a tirade about how her mask was the same as his badge and that she had to do the things she had to do, despite not knowing how. Midway through her speech, George revealed that he decided to quit the force, as his job and title held no meaning to him next to his daughter. He called her the best thing he had ever done, and Gwen embraced him in a warm hug. George then surprised Gwen by giving her a present that Hobie left with him earlier. It contained another Dimensional Travel Watch, and Gwen once again stepped through a portal into another universe, only this time promising her dad to come back home soon.^[2]

Emerging on Earth-1610, Gwen surprised Ben Reilly who was watching Miles' home and sent him to her own universe of Earth-65^[3] while destroying his watch. She got into Miles' room through a window. Not finding him there, her Spider-Sense told her that he was trapped in another universe as well as moments later alerting her to the fact he had been knocked out. Hearing the conversation between Miles' parents outside his room, she revealed herself to them. She told them that Miles going missing was not their fault as parents, but hers. She promised to find him and told his parents that Miles taught her that anything was possible. After leaving the house, Gwen used Hobie's watch to assemble a team of her own, starting with Peter B. Parker and his daughter Mayday. After recruiting Hobie, Pavitr, Peni Parker, Spider-Ham, Spider-Man Noir and Spider-Byte, Gwen took them on a mission to find and rescue their friend.^[2]

Gwen Stacy is intelligent, humorous and extremely awkward. Ever since the death of Peter, Gwen attempted to isolate herself from others to prevent herself from carrying the burden and guilt of losing another friend. After meeting Miles Morales, she finally allows herself to open the doors to another friendship again. During the time period between the collider incident and the time Gwen next sees him, she becomes obsessed with the idea of seeing Miles again and develops a crush on him. She keeps the undercut hairstyle that she was forced to adopt after Miles's hand got stuck in her hair so that she could remember him. Gwen's fear of losing Miles ultimately leads to her with holding information from him about his father's canon events and his status as an "anomaly" due to her fear of hurting him and pushing him away although her mistake of with holding this information inadvertently pushes Miles away from her. Upon finally making up with her father, Gwen sets on a mission to rescue and help Miles in his goal to save his father and hopefully regain his trust and friendship.^[1][2]

• Spider Physiology: Gwen Stacy gained the proportionate abilities of a spider after being bitten in her early teens by a spider on her left hand, granting her enhanced strength, speed, agility, endurance a precognitive spider sense and the ability to crawl up walls.^[1]
  • Wallcrawling Gwen possesses the ability to cling or crawl on any surface using her feet or fingertips. She is able to quite easily sit completely upside down as well as lift her own body weight with ease.^[2]
  • Superhuman Strength Gwen possesses the proportionate strength of a spider allowing her to easily lift objects that a normal human would not be able to. Although already stronger than most average humans due to her gymnastics and ballet training, after her bite Gwen is able to casually throw crates, carry people and even help hold back a helicopter from colliding from a tall height.^[2]
  • Superhuman Durability Gwen possesses durability far beyond that of a regular human and is able to withstand a lot of damage including cuts or kicks.^[2]
  • Superhuman Agility Gwen possesses an already higher than average agility to most humans due to her gymnastics and ballet training which was only further improved by the radioactive spider bite. She is able to casually dodge speeding vehicles, mechanical tentacles and hits from most average humans.^[1][2]
  • Superhuman Equilibrium Gwen possesses the ability to perfectly balance herself while walking on any object including tree branches and the sides of buildings.^[2]
  • Superhuman Reflexes Gwen's possesses faster reflexes than any regular human as she is able to fight foes with extreme ease and precision. Her reflexes were already better than most average humans due to her ballet and gymnastics training.^[1][2]
  • Superhuman Speed Gwen's possesses the proportionate speed of a spider, being able to run or swing faster than even the best physical athletes.^[1][2]
  • Spider-Sense If Gwen is in any danger, a buzzing or tingling sensation will appear in her head causing her to be able to anticipate any sort of harm to her in advance. This gives her near complete awareness of her surroundings and allows her to dodge and combat almost any attack that befalls her. As well as the regular spider sense abilities most spider people posses, Gwen is able to sense when Miles is in danger in a completely different universe to her. In addition, her spider sense had her seek out Miles before he was even bitten by a radioactive spider seeming to suggest that her spider sense has a very deep connection with Miles.^[1][2]

• Trained ballerina: Gwen trained in ballet since she was young. Her ballet training has allowed her to be incredibly precise when moving, often walking on the tips of her toes. Her ballet training is evidently incorporated into her fighting style.^[1][2]
• Trained gymnast: Gwen was a member of Visions Gymnastics Academy, a gymnastics team at her school. Due to this Gwen even before her radioactive spider bite was able to hold her own body weight and possessed an athletic build similar to that of an acrobat. The gymnastics training was incorporated into her fighting style.^[2]
• Trained musician: Gwen is able to play the drums and was a member of the Mary Janes for at least 2 or 3 years before she quit.^[1][2]
• Skilled Fighter: Gwen is a skilled and capable fighter, being able to fight toe to toe with various adversaries including Doctor Octopus, Scorpion and multiple variants of the Vulture.^[1][2]

• Limited Durability: Although Gwen's durability is higher than those of any regular human, she is still susceptible to being knocked out or restrained if enough force is applied. This is evident by her inability to fight against the claws of the Go-Home Machine.^[2]
• Emotional Vulnerability: Due to losing her mother at a young age and cutting herself off from others after the death of Peter Parker, Gwen is extremely socially awkward. This results in Gwen often doing things that could be considered socially awkward such as taking collectibles out of boxes, wearing shoes on a bed and calling parents by their last names. Gwen is also extremely terrified of losing those close to her which causes her to keep massive secrets, most notably unintentionally hurting Miles by not telling him the truth about his status as an anomaly and his father's canon event.^[1][2]

• Spider-Woman Suit
• Web-Shooters
• Dimensional Travel Watch

• Hailee Steinfeld voices Gwen Stacy in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. She will reprise the role in Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.
  • Steinfeld also portrayed Kate Bishop in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
• Gwen Stacy's age and height were listed as 17 years old and 5'8" on her Tastykake collectible card made as promotional material for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. However, because the cards also listed Spot's reality as Earth-616 and Jessica Drew's reality as Earth-404, their overall accuracy is dubious.

• Gwen has a trans pride flag above her room's door that reads "Protect Trans Kids."
• Gwen made multiple allusions to a past in ballet, both wearing ballet shoes in costume and her sections in the closing credits having an entire ballet troupe and audience composed of her duplicates. Gwen also most likely is a trained gymnast as her father wears a shirt from the gymnastics academy from the Visions Academy she attends.
• A note from her deceased mother can be spotted inside her drum set next to the only photo she has of her and Miles together. A photograph of her mother's wedding photo with Gwen's father is also visible in a few scenes.
• Gwen is left handed as evidenced in the introduction montage of Across the Spider-Verse.
• The colors in Earth-65B appear to be based on Gwen's emotional state as they change from drastically different shades depending on the mood she is feeling.
• In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Gwanda was a slip of the tongue and she quickly changed her alias to Wanda; however, in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Gwanda was the pseudonym instead becoming an inside joke between Miles and Gwen. As of now, both of Miles parents believe that Gwen's real name is Gwanda.
• Gwen's universe of Earth-65B appears to be somewhere in the late 90s or early 2000s as most dates shown in her universe appear to be from that time-range as well as the general style and look of the universe.
• Gwen appears to be from a Christian family, as in the prologue of Across the Spider-Verse, her family can be seen saying grace. Due to her Irish background, it is likely that she is Irish Catholic.
• Gwen owns a plush of a penguin which is a nod to "Spider-Guin", a variant of Gwen from Spider-Ham's universe. This was confirmed in the official script for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
• Gwen was seemingly born in May 2003 as she mentions she is 15 months older than Miles in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Miles being born on August 3rd, 2004,^[4].