- How are you doing you wonderful nerds?
Let's talk about the real origin of Spider-Gwen.
As we wrap up our month of Spider-Man videos for Webruary,
I'm reminded just how much I've talked about Gwen Stacy,
yet also how little.
I'm confident that she has only come up in reference
to her death and no other time for anything else.
And perhaps for a good reason.
Gwen used to be one of those characters
who was supposed to die and remain dead forever.
Her death was not only a seminal moment
of Peter Parker's life in career as Spider-Man,
but also marked a turning point
in the comics industry as a whole.
Gerry Conway, who worked on the night Stacy died story,
believes that it may have contributed to the rise
of comics as an art form to apparent domination
of modern American pop media.
Of course many other factors shifted the tone
and power of comics, but there's no doubt
that the death of Gwen Stacy made an impact, oh!
That was a poor choice of words,
but that impact might have been diminished and forgettable
if she came back to life just as comic book characters
are prone to do.
That permanence secured this moment as one of the
most memorable and meaningful in Spider-Man's history.
Then Gwen Stacy did come back to life.
First as a clone, but more recently as a hero
from an alternate Earth with her own ongoing title.
But thing could've been very different
if Dan Slott got his way.
When he was planning out the expanse of Spider-Verse
crossover, not only did he have an entirely different
costume design for Gwen, but also had initially
intended to create a spinoff series revolving around
a different Spider character.
We'll get to him later, but first a little history
of Earth 65 Spider-Woman, aka Spider-Gwen.
In this alternate reality, Gwen Stacy is a drummer
in a band called The Mary Janes, when she is bitten
by the famed radioactive spider.
She was granted essentially the same powers
as Spider-Man - super strength, enhanced senses,
the ability to climb walls, et cetera.
She donned that fantastic hoodie costume
and becomes Spider-Woman,
not to be confused with all the other characters
named Spider-Woman, who we'll eventually talk about
in a future video.
But instead of immediately going out
and risking her life to save others,
Gwen first has a little fun on TV,
just like Peter Parker did in the main Marvel Universe.
Oh, and speaking of Pete, in Spider-Gwen's universe,
Peter Parker is the one who dies an impactful death.
Driven mad by his classmates bullying him,
and inspired by the idea of Spider-Woman,
Peter injects himself with a formula
that turns him into that universe's lizard,
so he can enact his revenge
and be special like Spider-Woman.
In her grief, Aunt May blames Spider-Woman
for Peter's death.
Gwen is now seen as a murderer, but instead
of allowing her identity to be shaped
by the negative press, she continues to wear her mask
and save innocent lives to make Peter's death
count for something because with great power
comes an even greater responsibility.
You didn't think we'd escape
from that line in this universe?
Spider-Gwen made her debut in Edge of Spider-Verse
number two, which was part of the huge Spider-Man event
that ran from November of 2014 to February of 2015,
and includes all kinds of colorful and unusual
Spider men, women, and pigs.
There were appearances by previously established characters
like Spider-Man 2099, Miles Morales, and Kane,
but also a bunch of brand new heroes to flush out
the entire Spider-Verse, like Lady Spider,
Spider-Man UK, and of course Spider-Gwen.
The event's writer, Dan Slott, explained
that in his mind there was always going to be
a Gwen Stacy who was bitten by the radioactive spider
instead of Peter.
That character was involved from the start
as far as he was concerned.
And while her costume design spread like wildfire
practically overnight, that already famous hoodie design
almost never happened.
In fact, Spider-Gwen would have looked entirely different
if Slott had gotten his way.
Originally Slott pictured Spider-Gwen wearing
an arachnid-fied version of the clothes she wore
in the story where she was killed.
As he describes it, quote, "The visual I had for her was
pretty much the night Gwen Stacy died outfit,
but all red and blue with web patterns and a half mask.
She had the trench coat, but instead of it
being lime green, it'd be red with webs." End quote.
If you're having trouble picturing what that costume
would look like, @Yaksiart on Twitter did me a favor
and drew up the design.
He is a real champ for putting this together
at the very last minute for me.
Definitely, definitely check out his other work
that I've linked in the description.
So what happened to this costume design?
Well a few things.
The Spider-Verse story was delayed about a year,
which changed a bunch of the details
as the creative team started digging in.
When Slott initially plotted out the story a year before,
he included these specific design notes
for Spider-Gwen's costume, but when a year passed,
and the time came to start moving forward with the event,
those notes were never sent to Jason Latour
or Robbi Rodriguez, who made
The Edge of Spider-Verse number two,
introducing the Spider-Gwen character.
Slott wasn't exactly happy with their design at first.
Not that he thought it was bad, just that it
wasn't what he had in mind.
Again, this was a project that was delayed for a year.
During that time he had a consistent mental image
of how Spider-Gwen would look like to him.
Seeing the designs come back from Robbi Rodriguez
with the hoodie and the different colors,
it just wasn't what he wanted.
Quote, "Even though these great designs came in, I was like,
'That's not Spider-Gwen!'
I was the only guy going, 'They have to change it!'
Then I got to see what they were doing, and I was so glad
no one listened to me.
Because this character is awesome.
It's so much better." End quote.
With her first appearance, Spider-Gwen became a massive hit.
The comic sold out and quickly went into multiple printings.
Not long after she received an ongoing title
once Spider-Verse had ended.
But as Dan Slott explains, that was never the plan.
In fact, a Spider-Verse spinoff was meant
for some completely different character,
and I do mean completely different.
Quote, "The original plan back with Spider-Verse
was a Superior Spider-Man story, was that when
everything went back to normal, Spider-Ham
would end up being stuck in our world.
We would do some Spider-Ham one-shots,
and it would be very much a Howard the Duck-like
take on Spider-Ham." End quote.
But as you may recall, Howard the Duck himself
was starting to run down the time
Spider-Verse was winding down,
so they figured there was no use in doing
essentially the same thing, but with Spider-Ham.
But that didn't mean they hadn't scrapped the idea
of a Spider-Verse spinoff all together.
There was one clear breakout character from the event
of whom fans desperately wanted more stories.
Quote, "The whole Spider-Gwen book happened
because, dear God, the fans made it happen.
Man, did Jason and Robbi kill on Gwen's debut issue.
With that, it was like, 'A Spider-Ham book?
Get real, we're doing a Spider-Gwen book." End quote.
The idea of continuing her story was daunting
to writer Jason Latour, who had to take a night
to sleep on it and ask himself
what he knew about Gwen Stacy.
Not just as a girl who's death affected Spider-Man,
but as a character in and of herself.
But there wasn't a lot to go off of,
which along with the story being set in
an alternate Earth, provided Latour with
an opportunity to update Gwen for a modern audience.
Gwen is not simply the love interest who died
anymore, but a fully realized character
in a super cool costume.
But I'd love to know what you think.
Do you like Spider-Gwen at all?
Was it a good idea to effectively bring
Gwen Stacy back from the grave?
Or should Gwen have just been left alone?
Also, I'm going to put up a poll right here.
Which of these two costume designs do you like more?
I'd love to know your thoughts down in the comments below.
We're going to have a big livestream this Saturday
going over your thoughts and comments
from all of our Webruary videos.
It's going to be a fun time.
Tune in for that.
Also, if you are a big fan of Gwen Stacy,
my buddy Jay over at Fancy Teeth,
did an entire month of Gwen Stacy videos
that you should absolutely check out.
He is a great guy, and he's just getting
his channel off the ground.
So hop over there and watch a few of his videos.
Maybe spam his comments by telling him,
I don't know, that he's the reason Gwen died.
That should make him real sad, or don't do that.
Either way, I've got an entire playlist
for you right here to sit back and enjoy.
You won't regret it.
You know, actually I don't want to make any promises.
After all, I did hear an Internet rumor
that he is the reason Gwen Stacy died.
Thank you guys so much for watching.
My name is Scott, reminding you to read
between the panels and grow smarter through comics.
See ya.
(bell sounds)