9 Worst Things That Ever Happened To Gwen Stacy

3. The Death Of Peter Parker

Gwen Stacy Sad
Marvel Comics

While so often the name Gwen Stacy conjures up the emotional impact that her death had on Spider-Man, the alt-world Earth-65 version of Gwen saw that particular situation flipped on its head.

Rather than Gwen's demise causing Peter Parker so much torment and pain, Earth-65 saw Peter being the one to die - with that death being something the similarly hit hard for Gwen.

In this reality, Gwen Stacy is the one who ends up bitten by a radioactive spider, in turn becoming the heroine Spider-Woman (or Ghost-Spider). This world's Peter is a classmate of Gwen's and one of her best pals, but he's also a figure who is constantly picked on my bullies. Reaching his breaking point, Parker ends up becoming a version of The Lizard in order to seek revenge on those who have made his life a misery.

Unfortunately, Peter's attempts to become The Lizard ultimately backfire, with the chemicals used in this experiment leading to Parker dying in Gwen's arms.

Using this as her 'Uncle Ben moment,' the emotional impact of Peter Parker's death saw Gwen refocus her life to make sure that she was utilising her powers and abilities to do all that she could to make the world a better place.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.