Gwen Stacy

Gwen Stacy was first introduced in Amazing Spider-Man #31. The issue also illustrated Peter Parker's first day at college. Between looking for Dr. Octopus and his aunt suffering another stoke, Peter was very distracted. He kept thinking his sick aunt and seemed to be in his own world. He did not notice the other kids trying to talk to him. They thought he was simply ignoring them. As a result, Peter seemed to make enemies quickly. Gwen felt bad that the other students were insulting Peter. She tried to talk to him when he was engrossed in an experiment in science class. He did not seem to notice her. She became furious. However, she tired to talk to him a second time. This time he was thinking about Aunt May and was on the way to the hospital. As a result, he ignored her a second time. Gwen was very angry that he did not notice her. After all, everyone else had. Gwen gave Peter the cold-shoulder and was angry towards him in public. However, she still felt guilty for treating Peter badly. This trend continued. Whenever, she did not think Peter was falling all over her, she seemed angry.

Gwen would join in with Harry Osborn and Flash Thompson in taunting Peter. However, she was in fact interested in Peter. She was jealous if she saw him talking to another girl. In Amazing Spider-Man #36, she tried to accidentally bump into Peter at a science exhibit. However, the Looter attempted to steal some items and Peter had to run off to change into Spider-Man. Gwen thought Peter was running because he was scared (Talk about the typical Parker luck). She treated Peter badly after this incident. However, Peter started to get some confidence and mentioned to Gwen that she drooled over him one day and acted like an icicle the next. Gwen became angry because Peter was right. However, eventually she softened towards Peter. One particular incident helped this to occur. In Amazing Spider-Man #39, Peter had a heart to heart chat with Harry Osborn. Harry was upset because of the way his dad had been acting. Peter told Harry how he was an orphan. Gwen was thrilled that Peter was bonding with Harry. Peter started to become more forward towards Gwen. She mentioned that it was like he was seeing her for the first time.

Gwen was still jealous when she saw Peter with different women especially when he started dating Mary-Jane Watson. MJ was a beautiful girl who never took things seriously (however, her party-girl image was a façade to cover up her real emotions). Gwen and MJ competed for Peter?s affections, and Gwen won out. They seemed very much in love, but their relationship wasn't easy. They had their share of problems. One major problem was Peter's life as Spider-Man. During a battle with Dr. Octopus, Gwen?s father, George, was killed. She blamed Spider-Man for his death. Peter couldn't tell Gwen about his secret life after this occurred. There were times when Peter and Gwen seemed to break up, but they always got back together.

Peter and Gwen seemed like the perfect couple. Everyone thought they would probably get married. However, fate was not kind to Peter or Gwen. Norman Osborn, aka The Green Goblin, knew Spider-Man's secret identity. He had forgotten this for a time, but the amnesia was not permanent. In addition, Harry was battling with his drug addiction. Norman battled Spider-Man and formed a plan to get back at him. Osborn kidnapped Gwen and brought her to the top of the Brooklyn Bridge. When Spider-Man arrived, she was unconscious. No one knows to this day if she was already dead at the time. During the course of the battle between Peter and the Goblin, Gwen was knocked off the bridge. Peter tried to web her, but her neck snapped by the sudden stop. Peter was devastated and wanted to kill Osborn. He tracked the Goblin back to the hideout, but at the last moment he realized he could not murder someone in cold blood. Osborn attempted to impale Peter with his glider, but Peter ducked at the last minute. Osborn was impaled by his own glider. Miles Warren eventually cloned Gwen, which eventually led to the Clone Saga. **Note check out the Death of Gwen Stacy trade paperback. It tells the story surrounding her death. There is also a touching epilogue written by J.M. DeMatteis with John Romita Sr. as the artist.