We have all loved and watched and maybe even read some of the materials published by Marvel Studios. But it was not until this year when I got a Marvel Unlimited EBook Comic subscription that I realized just how many female superheroes are in the MCU as a whole. We have Captain Marvel and Black Widow, but we also have Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Mayday Parker (Spider-Girl), Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew). So there are many many more female marvel characters that I could list off. But what I am focusing on reviewing today is Spider-Gwen.
We first get an introduction to Spider-Gwen (or Spider-Woman as she is known on earth-65) in the prologue to the big crossover event to the Spider-Verse Comic series. We get her character/superhero origin story, where instead of Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy gets bitten by the radioactive spider that gives her the powers of a spider. She starts doing superhero promos and tricks on TV, but she does not reveal her identity while doing this though. Once her father, Captain Stacy of the police force, starts to say things about Spider-Woman and how this person with these abilities could be doing so much more with her talents, she starts to feel ashamed and then reconsiders her choices, while still trying to hide this secret from her father that she is Spider-Woman.
After hearing her father talk like that about Spider-Woman, Gwen decides to turn Spider-Woman (Gwen to the comic universe) into a hero that her father could be proud of once he finds out Spider-Woman’s true identity. However, things turn from kind-of-bad to worse once Peter Parker (from Gwen’s earth – 65, Multiverses and different variants o my) finds out that Gwen is Spider-Woman. He starts to experiment on himself so that he could be “special like her” because she’s his role model, hero, and best friend. He turns into the green goblin. Gwen has to do the unbelievable to her best friend. But with that choice and saving the lives of many others, there are some very big consequences that are on the line here. Like Spider-Woman (Gwen) being a fugitive and a wanted woman for the death of Peter Parker, Captain Stacy (Gwen’s father is the head of the hunt for bringing Spider-Woman in). That is the focus of Spider-Woman’s origin story.
A lot of the characters in the Spider-Verse were all introduced through the Spider-Verse crossover comic. As stated in this review, Spider-Gwen and Peter Parker (Green Goblin) are from Earth 65, If you have seen the LOKI television show, then you will be familiar with the idea of a multiverse. But there are so many fantastic characters apart of the Spider-Verse Multi-Verse both of different genders, races, and some might not be human- say hello to Peter Porker or Spider-Ham (one of my favorites next to Spider-Gwen).
When I first read the Spider-Gwen comics, I was back in high school and I wanted a superhero who was my age, had the same types of problems that I had (i.e high school, boys, clubs, etc) and of course a character who was a girl. So when I first found out about the Spider-Gwen comics I was ecstatic because it gave me an introduction in the Spider-Verse part of the MCU and also introduced me to many other spider-people/animals that also have comics written about them.
So if you are looking for a character who fits those descriptors then look no further I have just the one for you Spider-Gwen. And if you have already read that comic series then I have other suggestions for you like
Captain Marvel
Ms. Marvel: No Normal
The Runaway’s
A-Force ( love all of the characters and the diversity that is shown in this comic. I could literally not put my Ipad down while I was reading it).