Ok, this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but before you grab your pitchforks and torches hear me out. Spider-Gwen is a terrible character. I’m being honest, I never liked the concept from the moment I first heard about it. What you may have not heard yet is that the film makers behind Into the Spider Verse are talking about making a sequel of all the female spider people and having Spider-Gwen be the main character, to which I say no.

What’s wrong with the Spider-Gwen character/concept? Putting it mildly, it’s lazy. Besides the fact that she’s simply a derivative of Spider-Man when you also consider that she’s Gwen Stacy under the mask says to me the creators (Dan Slott’s initial idea executed by Jason Latour and Robbi Rodriguez) took about 5 minutes to come up with it. There’s no risk in the character, because you simply married two popular characters together.

Gwen Stacy was riding high on a sea of popularity since she was just used as Pete’s main love interest in the Amazing Spider-Man films (portrayed by Emma Stone) and apparently they needed a new character to introduce in the Spider Verse comics mini series so boom Spider-Gwen. I feel like she’s best served as a one off “What If” story and left at that. She’s not a strong enough character to stand on her own.

Plus I find it offensive to Gwen Stacy’s legacy. What made the character unique to so many fans was that her death was a key moment in Peter Parker/Spider-Man’s legacy. It reinforced the meaning behind “with great power must come greater responsibility” One of the only deaths (until recently) in comic books that remained constant, because it was a fixed moment in time that defines Spider Man’s character. So bringing her back in this way spits on that legacy.

Not to mention they completely crap on Peter Parker in her universe making him a revenge oriented sociopath. Concating an elaborate scheme to get even with the bullies at school which ultimately gets him killed. So crapping on both Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy’s legacy in one comic.

But the real reason to not do it is that it will ultimately fail. Spider-Gwen is only popular with a small set of diehard fans. The book was ranked 56th last month in over all sales to comic shops. She has a slight bit of momentum due to the current Spider Verse movie, but she has no where near the fanbase of Peter Parker or Miles Morales. No one in the mainstream knows who she is and they would not go see a movie starring the character.

I’m going to leave you with this. If you wanted to create a new character using a former girlfriend of Peter Parker’s to take up the mantel instead of Pete than I would suggest Betty Brant is a better choice. You can incorporate her relationship with Ned Leeds and the sin eater into the story. Plus you can play on her as Spider-Woman fighting the Hobgoblin who is her boy friend/husband Ned Leeds and both not knowing who the other is without the mask. Building onto that the sin eater could kill Peter, who she is friends with, when she’s trying to save him and that could affect her the same way Gwen’s death affected Peter. So much more you can get out of a story like that then the Gwen Stacy Spider-Woman that ignores everything about the characters past and simply cashes in on the names.

Well that’s my 2 cents. Let me know what you think in the comments below and don’t forget to check out the latest episode of Super Hero Speak: https://superherospeak.com/wp/286-solomon-feige-sticks-the-landing/