Ever since making her debut as part of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Spider-Verse event, Spider-Gwen has been one of comic’s biggest breakout characters. With a great costume, personality and history, the Spider-Woman of Earth 65 has well established her place in the larger scale of the Marvel Universe, even making her way to the big screen. Part of what makes her so intriguing are the differences between her and the original web-slinger, Peter Parker. While neither is better than the other, each comes with their own quirks and distinctions that give them certain advantages depending on the situation. To acknowledge those differences, here is our list of 5 reasons why Spider-Gwen is the strongest Spider-person and 5 why it will always be Peter.
10 Gwen is Much Younger
In her universe, Spider-Gwen is significantly younger than her main Earth 616 counterpart would have been. This version of Gwen Stacy is still young and in high school. While this may not seem like such a significant advantage for her character, being a younger spider-person helps make her more nimble, more agile and gives her more stamina than she’d likely have at an older age. While that’s not to say that Peter isn’t all of those things, Gwen can simply just go above and beyond in part, because she is younger.
9 Peter Has Much More Experience
While Gwen’s age may give her and advantage in regards to actual fighting, Peter’s age means that he has a lot of experience under his belt. This very experience has allowed him to think on his feet and given him an edge over his opponents. Peter has fought some villains so many times at this point, that many of them are no longer a real threat. This experience has only gotten stronger over the years, making some of his newer foes just as easy to take down as his classic villains.
8 Gwen Has More Support From Her Peers
Unlike Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy is significantly less awkward, meaning that she has a much broader social circle. She is constantly interacting with her bandmates, classmates, father, and even other spider-people, giving her all the more comfort when she needs to talk to someone. Regardless of whether the individual knows who she is or not, Gwen has people to turn to in times of crisis, helping her bounce back much quicker from whatever has brought her down. Peter, unfortunately, never had that advantage during his early days as Spider-Man.
7 Peter Knows His Science
Though Gwen herself is far from ignorant, Peter has still displayed a much more in-depth understanding of various scientific workings. While it may seem unfair to compare the two in this manner as Gwen is still in high school, Peter still went above and beyond in his early years in ways that she didn’t. For example, Peter had designed his own web-shooters while Gwen’s were gifted to her. Peter also went on to design his own spider-tracers as well as most of his other tech. Scientifically speaking, Peter’s mind alone helps make him a significantly stronger spider-person
6 Gwen Can Travel Dimensions
While on the subject of tech, Gwen has a device that allows her to travel to other dimensions. Gifted to her during the original Spider-Verse run, Gwen uses the tech as needed, usually to recruit another spider-person or to provide her own assistance in another dimension. Even though this doesn’t exactly make her stronger than Peter in any way, the tech certainly gives her an advantage as she can build strength in numbers. Plus, the ability to bounce back and forth between dimensions literally opens the door for Gwen to access whatever she may need in any given situation.
5 Peter Has Stronger Allies
While Spider-Gwen certainly has her fair share of allies, most of them tend to fall within the range of other spider-people. Peter, on the other hand, has far more and far more powerful allies including the likes of the Avengers, Defenders, and even some intergalactic beings. Because Gwen is still a much newer character, she could eventually come to see herself around more allies, but for now, the advantage goes to Peter. Though he may annoy some of them on a regular basis, most of Peter’s allies understand his good heart and are typically happy to assist him if the need arises.
4 Gwen Has Less Daily Distractions
Being trapped in high school can still have its advantages. For starters, you mostly have to only worry about school and relationships,which are typically the things Spider-Gwen is seen struggling with. Especially recently, Peter has been seen trying to juggle his own company, the loss of said company, relationships, college, and his new job, all while still trying to be Spider-Man. Gwen certainly has more time to go out as Spider-Woman, which helps her hone her skills even more.
3 Peter Utilizes Tech
As mentioned previously, Peter’s scientific mind has given him incredible advantages over opponents throughout the years. As a result, he has designed some of the most advanced technology in the Marvel universe. Furthermore, soon after establishing Parker industries, Peter even formed a reputation as a “poor man’s Tony Stark.” This alone goes to show just how advanced Peter’s tech became. For a time, he even had a teched-out suit that glowed green and saw all kinds of unique spidey-features.
2 Gwen is a Much Better Detective
While Peter may have the more scientific mind, Gwen would make the much better detective. For starters, her father is the chief of police, meaning that Gwen grew up from an early age knowing how to catch the bad guys. From there, Gwen is easily able to apply those same techniques used by officers to her own cases as Spider-Woman. This gives her a significant advantage especially in finding/tracking criminals that Peter especially doesn’t have. Furthermore, as Gwen ages, this knowledge will only grow stronger making her all the more ready to take out her foes.
1 Peter Has A Reputation
As the original wall-crawler, Peter has built quite a reputation over the years in several ways. His allies know of his struggles and responsibilities and his enemies know just how determined and difficult to kill he can be. Many have tried to squash the spider, yet all have failed time and time again. Gwen herself has proven to be difficult to put down, but not quite to the same extent as Peter. At the moment, Gwen has yet to accomplish things as a spider-person that Peter himself could not do. Even though she may have an edge over him in certain situations, Peter’s mind and sense of responsibility will always be the reason that he is the best spider-person of all.