Spiderman: the True History

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This also follows with what physicist and comic collector James Kakalios has written in his book The Physics of Superheroes, which states that physically, it was the whiplash effect which killed her.[6] [7] [8]

One must also consider the elasticity of the webbing, which, if it were really as elastic as the comics make it out to be, would have caused a bungee effect, keeping Gwen's neck from snapping, somewhat proving that it was the Goblin who had killed her either beforehand or by throwing Gwen off the bridge.

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Replays

Several subsequent issues have echoed Gwen's death when others fell from great heights during Spider-Man's battles. On most occasions, he saves them by jumping after them and working with their momentum, rather than trying to stop them with his webbing (as he did in the What If? where he saves Gwen).

In a later storyline, the Green Goblin once again replays the scenario, this time with Spider-Man's wife Mary Jane Watson-Parker. As with Gwen, Mary Jane plummets toward her death (this time from the recoil from her gun when she shoots at the Green Goblin). Learning from his previous error, Spider-Man uses multiple weblines and catches every major joint, saving Mary Jane from suffering the same whiplash effect that killed Gwen. (Marvel Knights Spider-Man #12.)

During the Civil War[9], both Iron Man and Captain America quoted Gwen as argument. Iron Man argued that if Spider-Man had received proper training as registered heroes were given, he would have saved her. Captain America overlined that she died because the Goblin knew Spider-Man's identity, and the Superhuman Registration Act forbids secret identities.

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What If?

In a What If...? storyline, Peter managed to save Gwen by jumping after her rather than catching her with a web-line (in the same way he saved Mary Jane in the film), allowing him to cushion her from the impact as they hit the water and subsequently give her CPR. In the aftermath of this rescue, he proposed to Gwen after revealing his secret identity to her, and, in a subsequent confrontation with the Green Goblin, Norman Osborn finally fought off his evil side when Harry moved to protect him regardless of what he'd become. However, their life was not destined to be a happy one; to ensure his victory, the Goblin had sent J. Jonah Jameson proof of Spider-Man's real identity, which Jonah had subsequently published and used to acquire a warrant for Peter's arrest, thus forcing Peter to escape from the police mere moments after his wedding to Gwen. As the issue ended, Gwen departed with Joe "Robbie" Robertson, who promised Gwen that they would do whatever they could to help Peter.

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Why Gwen?

In the collection The 100 Greatest Marvels Of All Time, #21-16 (the #122 issue was voted #19 on that list), it is said that also Aunt May and Joseph "Robbie" Robertson were considered. However, Aunt May was considered too important to lose as a background character, and Gwen fit better as a victim than anyone else.

In the story itself, the crazed Green Goblin goes to Peter Parker's apartment to kill him, but finds Gwen there instead. He then takes her hostage and uses her as bait for Spider-Man.

In a controversial story arc by J. Michael Straczynski called Sins Past (The Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #509-515), it was revealed that Gwen Stacy had a one-night stand with Norman Osborn, and seven months later gave birth to twin children, Gabriel and Sarah. Norman's Goblin-formula enhanced blood had given them increased stamina, strength, and intelligence, and they grew at an accelerated rate. Gwen kept their birth a secret, but planned to tell Peter, who she was sure would forgive her and help her raise them.

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When Harry Osborn was sick after a drug overdose, Norman refused to take him to a hospital for fear of scandal. Having become more familiar with Norman's cruel personality, Gwen refused to allow him to have anything to do with the children, saying she would rather die. Norman killed Gwen — instead of another of Spider-Man's friends or family — because he wanted the children under his control.

Norman had the children raised by housekeepers and nannies in Paris, and Norman told them that Peter was their father and had abandoned them and murdered their mother. The twins grew to adulthood in only a few years, and tried to kill Spider-Man. Spider-Man saved Sarah's life after she was shot and convinced her of the truth, but Gabriel briefly became a Goblin and nearly killed Spider-Man.

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Different versions of the "bridge scene"

The "bridge scene", in which the Green Goblin hurls Gwen Stacy to her death, has remained one of the most iconic scenes in Marvel Comics and has been redone several times. Striking is the fact that in many re-imaginings, Mary Jane Watson — Spidey's future wife — plays the role of the victim, and in contrast to Gwen, always survives.

Gwen's death has been repeatedly revisited by many writers and artists: In Paul Jenkins' Peter Parker: Spider-Man - A Day in the Life, a supervillain named The Chameleon commits suicide in a grim recreation of the sequence: After tricking Spider-Man to the bridge where Gwen Stacy died, on the pretext of having kidnapped Mary Jane Watson Parker, he declared his own loneliness and love for Peter. When Peter laughed out of surprise, he threw himself off the bridge.

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    * Marvels #4: Gwen's death is seen from the point of view of the protagonist, Phil Sheldon, a photographer. He had been researching Spider-Man's involvement in Gwen's father's death, and had become quite close to Gwen herself. Her death disillusioned him and prompted him to retire.

    * Spectacular Spider-Man: In Spectacular Spider-Man #200, Harry Osborn, losing his sanity as the Green Goblin, takes Mary Jane to the top of the bridge where Gwen died. The bridge is not named, but the Brooklyn Bridge is depicted.

    * Web of Spider-Man: In Web of Spider-Man #125, the fourth Green Goblin (Phil Urich) places the Gwen Stacy clone, Gwen Miles, on the top of the George Washington Bridge after her husband crashes their car into the Hudson River; she accidentally falls off the bridge, but is saved by Spider-Man.

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    * Spider-Man: In the film, Spider-Man's webs are often much more elastic, like a bungee cord, behaving like a shock absorber. Mary Jane Watson (assuming the "role" of Gwen Stacy) is thrown off the Queensboro Bridge by the Green Goblin. The situation is especially tricky, as the Goblin also sends a cable car loaded with passengers falling to the ground at the same time. Spider-Man manages to save both by first catching Mary Jane in his arms, and then catching hold of the car's cable, before webbing the bridge to anchor himself. Also, Spider-Man then follows the Green Goblin, aka Norman Osbourn, to an abandoned building on Roosevelt Island when he then fights him (unlike in the comic where he fights the Goblin before he throws Gwen off the bridge). This fight ends in much the same way as the original, with Goblin accidentally impaling himself with his glider.

    * Spider-Man: India: With Meera Jain (the Indian counter-part of Mary-Jane) in the role as the victim. However, this version of the bridge scene has much more magical look-and-feel to it.

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    * Due to rules imposed by Fox Kids' Standards & Practices department, no characters could be killed on Spider-Man: The Animated Series. Writers excluded Gwen from the series as they felt they could not use a character who was destined to die. In the episode "Turning Point", Mary Jane fulfilled Gwen's role, but she and the Goblin fell into a portal to the Negative Zone. Due to the series' cancellation, they never returned (aside for a brief mention by Madame Web at the end of the series' finale episode) although the creators had intended to bring her back in the never-made sixth season.[10] Like Gwen Stacy in the comics, a clone of Mary Jane appears in the fifth season. In spite of the rule against death that kept Gwen out of the show in the first place and caused Mary Jane to fall into a portal instead of falling to her death, Mary Jane's clone actually dies. In the comics, the clone of Gwen Stacy lived although the original died.

    * In The Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #513, Gwen's daughter, Sarah, after being shot by police, falls off the Brooklyn Bridge, and Spider-Man swings down to save her, reflecting how he wished he could have saved Gwen if he had just one more chance at it all those years ago.

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    * In Ultimate Spider-Man, the Goblin attempts to kill Mary Jane. In an attempt to save her, Peter shoots webbing to her legs. The violent deceleration causes her to pass out. MJ survives, but suffers from deep trauma after that. Gwen herself dies in a completely different way: she is killed by the Carnage creature.

    * In Earth X, there is a scene in which Gwen pushes Norman from a great height, although it is only an illusion. Later, when the Skull kills Norman Osborn, the scene is reminiscent of Gwen's fall.

    * In Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #10, Liz Allen references to the scene by telling Mary Jane "Bet you'd love to bump her off a bridge."

    * In Spider-Man 3, a different scene is done without a bridge where Parker swoops down and fights his way through rubble to save Gwen.

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    * In the Marvel Knights: Spider-Man saga, The Last Stand, Peter saves Mary Jane from falling of the George Washington Bridge because of the kickback from her handgun. Spider-Man's rescue worked this time since he supported all of her major joints (elbows, knees, etc.) with multiple weblines so that she wouldn't suffer the same fate as Gwen. Here Spider-Man explained that he replayed Gwen's death in his mind over and over again, allowing him to come up with a correct, non-lethal way to save her. Writer Mark Millar makes a distinction between the bridges here, as the Green Goblin tells Spider-Man he chose a different bridge (the George Washington Bridge) to kill Mary Jane. The story arc concludes with Peter taking Aunt May to the Brooklyn Bridge, remembering Gwen's death.

The scene is also parodied by DC Comics in Superman/Batman #22, when the girlfriend of a hero named Bug, obviously based on Spider-Man, is thrown off a bridge before being saved by Superman, who comments on his wife being in the same situation frequently, a reference to Lois' role as a damsel in distress.

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Ultimate Gwen Stacy's Death

In Ultimate Spider-Man, Gwen died in a completely different way which happened a few issues after she found out Peter's secret identity, which never happened in mainstream continuity. Walking home after a talk with MJ, she realized she had forgotten her key so she tried to open the door to the cellar (Peter's lab) but that was locked too. She heard rustling in the bushes so she turned around and was grabbed by small tentacles coming from the Ultimate version of Carnage who killed her the way it killed its other victims: stabbed them in the stomach and absorbed their fluids. The last thing Gwen saw before being turned into a mummy-like corpse was Carnage taking the form of a more solid Peter (actually Peter's father due to Dr. Connors mixing his and Peter's DNA with elements of the Venom suit, which was used with Richard Parker's DNA.)

As of Ultimate Spider-Man #128 Gwen Stacy was reintroduced to the series. Carnage had recreated her body and her memories and essentially cloned her. After a battle with Venom, Carnage left Gwen to join with Eddie Brock. Since this battle, Gwen Stacy has been completely rid of the carnage symbiote and is now living with Peter Parker.

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Notes

    * The Clone Saga, a Spider-Man storyline published twenty years later, explains away the Goblin's death as a ruse so that the character can be used as the deus ex machina manipulating everyone involved.

    * The splash page with the title "The Night Gwen Stacy Died" actually comes at the end of the comic, so that the main event isn't spoiled.