For a period of time, Gwen Stacy was the love of Peter Parker's life. Her tragic death in The Amazing Spider-Man #121 is not only considered by many to be the end of the Silver Age of Comics, but it also shaped future Spider-Man stories for many years to come. While fondly remembered for her initial appearances in the comics, Gwen has seen her popularity soar to new heights in recent years thanks to the creation of Spider-Gwen, AKA Ghost-Spider.
Because of Gwen's popularity over the years, several different versions of her have appeared across multiple media platforms, so here's a look at five of the best versions of Gwen Stacy as well as five of the worst.
10 WORST: Sins Past
While this was for all intents and purposes the traditional Gwen Stacy from the comics, this storyline was so poorly received that it never once felt like anything Gwen would do.
In the story, it was revealed that Gwen Stacy had an affair with Norman Osborn. As if that weren't bad enough, the affair resulted in Gwen and Norman having children together, two twins that were raised in secret by Osborn. Gaining superpowers thanks to Osborn's altered DNA, the twins were deceived by Osborn into thinking Peter Parker was their father and was responsible for their mother's death. While the largely unpopular storyline has been mostly ignored after it's publication, it has yet to be officially retconned, leaving a bad impression for many on the Gwen Stacy character.
9 BEST: Ultimate Spider-Man
The Ultimate Marvel line was created in the year 2000 as a way to bring in new readers that may have been daunted by Marvel's many years of continuity. Ultimate Spider-Man was the inaugural title chosen to launch the new line. Written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Mark Bagley, the series was a critical and commercial success and proved the perfect choice to kick off the new universe.
In Ultimate Spider-Man, Gwen Stacy had a never before seen edge to her. She was taken in by May Parker following the death of her father, where Gwen and Peter developed a close friendship. Gwen would go on to be killed by Carnage, only to later return as Carnage, believing itself to be Gwen. Gwen was able to be reborn after Venom absorbed the Carnage symbiote during a fight and she would resume living with the Parkers, continuing to do so even after the death of Peter.
8 WORST: Spider-Man 3
Following Sam Raimi's Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, anticipation was at an all-time high for Spider-Man 3. While the movie was a financial success, it wasn't the critical success that its predecessors were. One of the problems of the movie was that it tried to incorporate far too many characters into the story. Among those many characters was Gwen Stacy.
Bryce Dallas Howard did a good job portraying Gwen based on what she was given, unfortunately, she was hardly given anything to work with. Thrust into the film largely to create an unnecessary love triangle between Peter and Mary Jane, Gwen was used strictly for her name appeal and the Gwen Stacy character would have been better served being left out of the movie.
7 BEST: The Amazing Spider-Man
Following Spider-Man 3, Sony opted not to make a fourth Sam Raimi Spider-Man film and chose to reboot the franchise with The Amazing Spider-Man. The first film was promising enough, but things quickly went downhill with The Amazing Spider-Man 2. One of the highlights of both films though was Emma Stone's portrayal of Gwen.
One of the ways The Amazing Spider-Man movies differentiated themselves from the Raimi movies was to make Gwen the love interest instead of Mary Jane. Now given the proper spotlight, the Gwen Stacy character finally shined on the big screen thanks to Stone's amazing performance along with her remarkable chemistry with Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker.
6 WORST: The Gwen Stacy Clones
Before the second, infamous Clone Saga, a clone of Gwen Stacy was created during the Clone Saga story that started it all. The Gwen Stacy clone was created by Miles Warren, AKA the Jackal, who had a secret infatuation with Gwen and was devastated by her death. He also made a clone of Peter and the rest is history.
There have been several clones of Gwen over the years, some with the same goodness as the original with others loyal to Jackal, which lands her on the list of the worsts.
5 BEST: The Spectacular Spider-Man
The 2008-2009 cartoon The Spectacular Spider-Man was one of the best Spider-Man cartoons of all time, and in turn gave us one of the best versions of Gwen Stacy of all time.
Like the Amazing Spider-Man movies, Gwen is the primary love interest for Peter Parker on the show. This series may have influenced the depiction of Gwen Stacy in Amazing Spider-Man, as Gwen was highly intelligent, interning along with Peter for Curt Connors at Empire State University. One of her most impressive feats of intelligence on the show was helping to create a gene cleanser to revert Connors back to human form after he had turned into the Lizard.
4 WORST: Clone Conspiracy
There can only be so many years until there's a new Spider-Man clone story. 2016-2017 saw the latest chapter, Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy. In the story, a masked man initially thought to be the Jackal recruits villains to work for him by reuniting them with lost loved ones. "The Jackal" brings Gwen Stacy on board with his plan, telling her that she and the others aren't clones but rather the original harvested from remains, which is why they're able to remember everything from their previous life.
Though Gwen is hesitant until convinced by seeing her reanimated father again, Gwen initially agrees to work with "Jackal." Though she later turns against him, her siding with him in the first place set in motion a lot of eventual pain and heartbreak and that lands her on the worst list.
3 BEST: Classic Gwen Stacy
This list wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the original Gwen Stacy. If not for Gwen, the world may have been deprived of go-go boots.
Seriously though, had Gwen Stacy never made another appearance after her death, she would still have left a lasting impact on comics. The character being brought back in various iterations over the years is even more evidence of her lasting popularity.
2 WORST: Gwenpool
Gwenpool is a popular yet somewhat accidental creation. The Gwen Stacy/Deadpool mashup was initially just a variant cover on an issue of a Deadpool limited series that was in response to the popularity of Spider-Gwen. She proved to be popular with fans just from her cover appearance, which led to her getting a backup story in the Howard The Duck comic followed by a holiday special and then later her own series.
Gwenpool is the worst version of Gwen Stacy because she isn't even Gwen Stacy! Despite the inspiration, Gwenpool is actually Gwen Poole, who hails from "the real world" and found herself in the Marvel Universe, where she took it upon herself to become a superhero.
1 BEST: Spider-Gwen/Ghost-Spider
Spider-Gwen took the world by storm when she made her first appearance in Edge of Spider-Verse #2. After her appearance in the Spider-Verse storyline, she quickly graduated to her own popular series. And following the Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse movie, the character's popularity went through the roof.
The character was a home run, from the spectacular design to being very well written and everything else in between, and is an amazing testament to the legacy of Gwen Stacy. Fingers crossed that one day we'll see Emma Stone playing Spider-Gwen in a Spider-Gwen movie.