10 Most Tragic Deaths In The History Of Marvel Comics

2. Gwen Stacy

Uncle Ben's death is the one that sent Spidey on his way to becoming one of the greatest heroes of his generation - or at least one of the most unlucky - but it was Gwen Stacy's murder at the hands of the Green Goblin that really defined Peter Parker's superhero career forevermore. There are so many levels as to why The Night Gwen Stacy Died is so flipping tragic, and we're going to go through all of them methodically like we're sadistic sociopaths, as it's the only way we can without having to lie down in the dark for a while and think about things, before calling all those closest to us and letting them know we love them. But then that's just us.

The first thing are the circumstances under which Gwen met her maker. The Green Goblin has been torturing Spider-Man for years, keeping one up on the rest of the web head's enemies by knowing his secret identity pretty much from the off. Norman Osborn is a total jerk, one who delights in torturing Peter Parker whenever he gets the chance, frequently turning his nemesis' already messy life into a living hell. Making it personal felt like Osborn had crossed a line, the unwritten code of honour between enemies. That it was also Gwen Stacy, the first true love of the young Peter Parker's life who should suffer the consequences of dating a superhero, made it even worse.

But perhaps the cherry on top of all this tragedy is that we still don't actually know how Gwen died. There's been endless debates ever since the comic was published back in 1973, with most settling on the accepted explanation that the sheer velocity of being hurled from the Brooklyn Bridge was enough to kill her, or that the Goblin had already done the deed before Spidey could get there, ensuring his victory over the hero.

What's troubling, however, and something that has haunted both Spider-Man and his fans for decades, is one little thing. One little piece of onomatopoeia that appears in the scene, a sound effect that accompanies Peter desperately grabbing Gwen's leg as she falls, a little "SNAP" that appears next to her thigh as the webbing clings onto it. Some people think that's just the sound of the web attaching itself to her - others think its the sound of her neck snapping at the sudden stop. Which would mean Spidey himself killed her. Oh, yeah, it wasn't tragic enough, you had to go bring that possibility into it. Thanks, nerds.