10 Bronze Age Comics That Changed DC & Marvel Forever

The Amazing Spider-Man #121-#122 (June-July 1973)

Often cited as the signature event of comics' Bronze Age, the death of Gwen Stacy is seen as the moment that comics grew up.

Major character deaths (outside origin stories like Peter Parker's own Uncle Ben) were then incredibly rare in comics. Ones that were intended to be permanent were basically non-existent.

In showing the Green Goblin throwing Gwen from a bridge and Spider-Man snapping her neck trying to catch her with his webbing, Gerry Conway, Gil Kane and John Romita showed for the first time that a superhero can do everything right, swing heroically to the rescue, and still fail.

Even more than Uncle Ben, this failure continued to haunt Peter and the guilt drive him for years afterwards. Not to mention how getting rid of the nice-but-bland Gwen opened the door for writers to focus on Spidey's greatest long-term love, Mary Jane Watson.

While there have been ample Gwen clones and alternate universe versions like fan favourite Spider-Gwen, the fact that she has always remained dead in the main 616 Marvel continuity is testament to this story's continued importance to Spidey's character.

And, yes, too many imitators attempting to recapture the impact of what was even then a controversial and far from universally popular moment has given us the "women in refrigerators" trope. But, again, that amount of copycats must surely also be a sign of what a gamechanger the original was.

After The Night Gwen Stacy Died things truly would never be the same again for comics or their readers.