Spider-Gwen: Marvel Comics Brings Spider-Man's Girlfriend Gwen Stacy Back to Life!

In an alternate universe, it was Peter Parker who died while his girlfriend was bitten by a radioactive spider and inherited its powers!

By Rebecca Macatee Feb 26, 2015 7:02 PMTags
Spider GwenMarvel

If your Spidey senses are tingling, it's for good reason: Gwen Stacy, Spider-Man's long dead girlfriend, has come back to life!

Meet Spider-Gwen, Marvel's newly revived female superhero! This week, the web-slinging, crime-fighting action star had the premiere of her own Marvel Comics comic book series.

So how, you might be wondering, is Gwen back among the living after having died at the hands of the Green Goblin in 1973? According to USA Today, Peter Parker has been Spider-Man since the '60s in the regular Marvel Universe (Earth-616), but in an alternate universe (aka Earth-65) it was actually Gwen who was bitten by a radioactive spider and received its powers. Also notable, is that in this universe (Earth-65), it was Peter who died, not Gwen.

So what's Spider-Woman been up to? Keeping New York safe, of course, along with drumming for the all-girl band The Mary Janes! She's also reportedly doing her best to avoid bad publicity from Daily Bugle, published J. Jonah Jameson, who blames her for Peter's death.

Spider-Gwen is not Peter, but she still embodies those Spidey-like superhero qualities. "The fact that it's a woman does change the meaning and subtext of everything that's going on," writer Jason Latour told USA Today. "As a creator, that's really enjoyable and it opens up the story to go in a lot of directions it wouldn't have gone before."

He added, "There was a catharsis to, well, if this character could come back and escape death because of what superhero comics are best at doing, then the sky's the limit."