Death, metatextually or otherwise, has long been something of a revolving door in superhero comics. Not even the most famous deaths have ever really stayed truly permanent–but at Marvel if there’s one that’s stayed pretty close, and stands among a rarefied group at the publisher, it’s Gwen Stacy’s. Gwen’s legacy at this point, even as it’s been carried on by alternate incarnations like Spider-Gwen in the last decade, is almost intrinsically tied up in the iconic moment of her death as it is anything else she did in the comics. Which of course, is why Marvel will find it very easy to grab people’s attention with a bit of proverbial graverobbing.
Last night Marvel released a cryptic piece of teaser art depicting an unknown figure digging up Gwen’s grave, along with a simple note that “nothing is sacred,” as well as a May 2025 release date.
True to that tease, nothing really is sacred: because this is far from the first time that Marvel has played with the shock of Gwen’s potential return after the legendary “The Night Gwen Stacy Died” storyline in Amazing Spider-Man #121. She would seemingly return just a couple of years later in Amazing Spider-Man #144, and then again decades after that in 2016’s Clone Conspiracy event, only both time for her to be revealed as duplicates concocted by the villainous Jackal (both incarnations of the villain, Miles Warren and then one of the other famous Spidey clones, Ben Reilly–Clone Conspiracy was a lot!). Gwen’s most recent resurrection, albeit far briefer, came in the pages of the X-Men/Avengers/Eternals event Judgement Day, in 2022, where the real Gwen’s soul got to say goodbye to Peter for a not-so-seemingly last time.
It’s currently unknown just what shape this return will take–whether it’s part of a standalone event, or a new storyline in the upcoming relaunch of Amazing Spider-Man under the new creative team of Joe Kelly, John Romita Jr., and Pepe Larraz, remains to be seen. But the splashy, headline-grabbing comes at a historically unpopular time for the mainline Spidey book. Although Marvel sales data is often mercurial, last year was dominated by the relaunch of Ultimate Spider-Man under writer Jonathan Hickman, with no issue of Amazing, usually a regular mainstay as one of the publisher’s best-selling books, breaking into the top 10. Zeb Wells’ run on the series, marked by regular controversies from everything like its momentary killing-off of Kamala Khan or how the book torpedoed the popular relationship between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson so soon after its return to prominence, wrapped up late last year, and the series has been in a holding pattern via a magically-infused set up for this year’s One World Under Doom event while waiting for this April’s Amazing Spider-Man #1 relaunch.
While suffice to say Marvel Comics is probably fine with the fact that at least one Spider-Man title is doing very well right now, given Amazing‘s huge legacy it’s clear there’s pressure to turn fan perception on the title around again. Will graverobbing be enough to do so, or should some things in fact stay sacred? We’ll find out more soon–Marvel is planning to reveal more details about Gwen’s return next week.
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