The villain Kindred, who was seemingly revealed as Harry Osborn, has been at the heart of Nick Spencer's run on Amazing Spider-Man. Now, though, Marvel Comics has given CBR an exclusive preview of Amazing Spider-Man #73, by Nick Spencer, Zé Carlos, Carlos Gómez, Marcelo Ferreira, Alex Sinclair and VC's Joe Caramagna, which teases a totally different dead character being underneath the mask.
In the preview, Peter staggers into Kindred's mausoleum and is soon transported to what seems to be Paris, France. As he enters a mysterious door, the book switches focus to Kindred and Mary Jane Watson. Making good on Kindred's promise to reveal their identity to MJ, the villain removes their mask to reveal someone who looks a lot like Gwen Stacy.
Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Gwen Stacy first appeared in 1965's The Amazing Spider-Man #31. One of Peter Parker's earliest love interests, the young woman was killed during 1973's "The Night Gwen Stacy Died," by Gerry Conway, Gil Kane, John Romita and Tony Mortellaro. An alternate universe version of Gwen who was bitten by a radioactive spider instead of Peter was introduced in 2014's Edge of Spider-Verse #2, by Jason Latour and Robbi Rodriguez.
While Kindred certainly looks like Gwen and MJ identifies her as such, that may not be what's happening here. After MJ says, "Gwen," someone else says, "No." It's not totally clear from context who is speaking, as the writing style doesn't match what's typically used for Kindred, and seems to be part of a transition to elsewhere in the story. That being said, having a character off-page refute a revelation in this way isn't an uncommon writing technique.
If Kindred isn't the original Gwen, and there's a good chance she isn't, there are a few potential options. While there are likely still some Gwen clones floating around the Marvel Universe, Sarah Stacy -- Gwen's daughter with Norman Osborn -- is one possible candidate. That character has a close connection to Paris and was affected adversely by Norman's Goblin Formula, which could explain her altered mental state. Still, when Kindred removed his mask in front of Peter, he looked identical to Harry. As such, Kindred's true identity may be neither Harry nor Gwen, but someone capable of looking like both.
You can see CBR's exclusive preview of Amazing Spider-Man #73 below alongside the solicitation information for the issue. Releasing Sept. 8, the issue features covers from Mark Bagley, John Dell and Brian Reber; Federico Vicentini and Alex Sinclair; and David Baldeón and Israel Silva.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #73
- NICK SPENCER (W) • FEDERICO VICENTINI (A) • Cover by MARK BAGLEY
- Variant Cover by FEDERICO VICENTINI
- HANDBOOK VARIANT COVER BY DAVID BALDEON
- • We can’t tell you a single thing that happens here without spoiling just about every issue that comes out between the time you’re reading this and when ASM #73 comes out.
- 32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
