The Gwen Stacy dilemma

Ok, I know that this subject is as old as spider-man, and it may have been discussed before.

But, I have to ask this:

Has the death of Gwen Stacy had a long lasting effect on the Spider-man series ?

We know that Gwen's death made some big changes to the character of Spider-man,

But how big and how long has it affected the series ?

Here is my take:

What I am about to say is something that I say as a personal opinion, nothing more

nothing less, and I am saying with no disrespect what so ever.

I think that Gwen's death may have affected the series from one single angle and that

is the development of some major characters, i.e Spider-man, Norman Osbourne, and

Mary Jane.

Was it big ? yes

was it long lasting ? yes

But long lasting from a character's development stand point, not plot wise.

However, I think that Marvel has given Gwen Stacy a bit more then she should have had.

Here's why.

Between Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane, who had the most impact on Spider-man ?

Mary Jane

She was his at some point his wife, and she was well known bu the Avengers, she

was involved in a story line that included Mephisto, Marvel own devil.

Gwen Stacy was involved in a relationship with the man who murdered her before her death.

And that story line was basically a flash back for us to remember the woman who was known

as Gwen Stacy, it didn't had any other reason.

The way I see it, Marvel has made Gwen Stacy's death and memories more important to

Spider-man the hero and Peter Parker the man then Uncle Ben's life, death, and memories.

Its like Marvel is telling us to believe that she was and still is more important to Spider-man

then anyone then his life.

Now, i am not apposing the idea of her having a strong and long lasting impact on Peter's life,

But this does not mean to create an entire story line focused on flash backs of Gwen Stacy having an relationship, as far as i know with Norman Osbourne, a.k.a the green goblin, the same man who killed her.

And to do that while Peter is in a relationship with Mary Jane, or just broke that relationship due to a deal with the devil; this is just confusing.

This is my opinion on the matter.

What do you think about it ?

@mister_x_1: Your formatting sucks. Work on your spelling, too.

Yeah, i know :(

I just thought of that after I heard that Gwen is the new Spider-girl, so I didn't pay much attention

to the format or the spelling.

But tell me, what do you think of what I said ?

Read Spiderman: Blue to see how much her death affected him.

It's really hard to compare Gwen and Mary Jane actually. True, Mary Jane has been a bigger part of Peter's life, but we've had years for Peter and MJ's relationship to develop (f**k you One More Day!), not to mention that she became Peter's main love after Gwen died. Before then, Gwen was the love of Peter's life and a big part of his life.

So the main difference is time, as in who was actually around for the longest time in Peter's life as his love. So MJ did have a bigger impact on Peter's life, but the reverse could be true if Gwen had not died. So, again, hard to truly compare the two.

I will agree that, while Gwen Stacy's death is the biggest trauma Peter has faced next to his uncle's death, Marvel does bring it up a little too often (even Batman in Batman and Robin (comic) showed signs of letting go of his parent's death and he is the poster boy for obsessing over death).

@mister_x_1: I think you're underestimating the effect killing someone by accident has on a person.

@jayc1324: Good call.

Actually, this subject is maybe 36-37 years old. About 17 years younger than Spider-Man.

I think its one of those things that if you weren't reading the comics at the time she died, its probably harder to understand the impact or importance she had since her only post-death appearances are related to her death and those stories can overdo it at times. You have an entire generation or two that has grown up only knowing Mary Jane. So the dilemma isn't so much who has a bigger impact in Peter's life but rather time is lessening the impact of Gwen Stacy making it feel like her importance is being overstated.

Osbourne. Hahah, i love it.

Beata

@mister_x_1: I can see where you're coming from. I wanted to go ahead and jump in and point out a few things.

Peter's relationships will always mean a great deal to him, due to the fact he's also trying to keep everyone he loves safe. Gwen and Peter definitely had chemistry going back to some of the older comics, I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm not sure if you have read them, but I think you should look into them through different issues you got to see her grow in character development. And in the comics, she never knew about his identity, or even the fact he was responsible for her father's death. It gave off a sense tragedy that she never knew. In the comics, she was definitely a woman who loved Peter Parker. (Go back and read some of the comics) ..She had just come back from London, and if you get your hands on ASM #121 you'll catch my drift on what happens next. I think it'll always be something as you had mentioned that shaped Spider-Man. I think why it has the interest or certain value it does have was because it was something that was a little twisted at the time and this love triangle was already forming, between Peter, MJ and Gwen. I think Gwen's event in Spidey's life does have the right to almost be as important as Uncle Ben was to him because overall it's just kind of symbolic of life, and his life.This was someone he loved, And I know that MJ became the guiding force in his life, you could see the changes in her main persona really the night Gwen died. I also agree that you should definitely read Spider-Man:Blue to understand how it lived on with Peter. I personally would like to read some of the ASM comics again. Peter and Gwen in an alternate (house of m) were together.That's kind of my input on it.

@mister_x_1: after reading a second time the Norman Osborn (Gwen xNorman is just hard for me to believe, it was kinda warped storyline the Sins Past..let me stop there)

It's definitely hard for someone to understand Gwen's influence on Spider-man's life if they weren't around then. Keep in mind at the time it was unthinkable that the hero wouldn't be able to save his girlfriend.