Gwen Stacy (Ghost-Spider)

Gwen Stacy was born in Forest Hills to George and Helen Stacy. Following her mother's death, she was raised by George alone. Gwen's free spirit and artistic inclinations often put her at odds with the type of ethics her father worked to instill. As a result of this contrast with her father, Gwen would often retreat into quiet seclusion and play the drums. Over time, she developed a friendship with her neighbor and fellow introvert Peter Parker, sharing their love for music. At Midtown High School, Gwen developed relationships with other students, a group of girls with whom she formed the band, The Mary Janes, and rebellious affluent student Harry Osborn. After being bitten by a genetically-engineered spider, Gwen was granted arachnid-like super-powers, and started a career as a crimefighter, dubbed by the media as "Spider-Woman." She was given a costume and a set of Web-Shooters by retired crimefighter Janet van Dyne. Gwen spent most of her early adventures focused on exploiting and maintaining her newfound attention more than helping those in need; however, Gwen's behavior changed after her father expressed he believed Spider-Woman could easily help people. Spider-Woman's influence also caused one of the biggest tragedies in Gwen's life. The bullied Peter Parker, desperate to be special like his idol Spider-Woman, conducted an experiment that turned him into a Lizard-like creature. Parker crashed the Midtown Senior Prom, where Gwen fought him. Despite his pleas for de-escalation, Gwen did not pull any punches. Following Gwen’s beatdown, Peter returned to his human form but, due to the injuries sustained at Gwen's attacks, he died. With no evidence or link to his transformation, Spider-Woman was blamed by the media for Peter's death and branded a criminal. Haunted by Peter's death, Gwen doubled her efforts to fight crime to redeem herself. Additionally, Gwen's father George was tasked with conducting the NYPD investigation to capture Spider-Woman. This drew the attention of Matt Murdock - a corrupt lawyer, leader of the Hand ninja, and the right hand and successor to New York's Kingpin of crime - who sent hitman Aleksei Sytsevich to kill George in an attempt to make an ally of Spider-Woman. After thwarting the murder attempt, Gwen found herself held at gunpoint by her father, and she was forced to reveal her double identity. She pleaded her innocence, and swore to never rest until criminals like the Kingpin were stopped. Captain Stacy told her to leave the scene before he changed his mind. Later, Gwen was one of the first spider-totems to join Spider UK's Spider-Army in order to combat the Inheritors during the Great Hunt. She was sent to Earth-21205 to recruit the spider-totem of that reality, a Peter Parker who was driven to madness and grief caused by the death of the Gwen of that reality and became the Goblin; however, that Peter was killed by Verna and her Hounds. Angered, Gwen swore vengeance and warped away from that reality. On the run from Morlun, Spider-Woman found herself on Earth-41940. She was then recruited by the S.H.I.E.L.D. of Earth-41940 into the Spider-Men, a group of Spider-Man analogs assembled to combat the Multiversal Sinister Six. Morlun's failure to kill her or any of the other Spider-Men brought the Totem War to Earth-41940. She was among the Spider-Men not fond of the Superior Spider-Army's methods of with dealing the Inheritors and decided to join a rival group of spiders, Team Amazing. Spider-Woman was later present during the final fight against the Inheritors, during which the villains were finally defeated and dealt with. Gwen later returned to her reality, where she still tried to turn the public opinion against her by becoming a vigilante. With the appearance of a new villain named the Vulture, Gwen set out to catch him and deliver him to the police in order to gain their trust. However, her vigilantism strained her friendship with Mary Jane Watson and the other members of her band, as well as with her father. After her first fight with the Vulture ended in a humiliating defeat, Gwen learned that her father had lost jurisdiction of the manhunt for her, which had been reassigned to Frank Castle, a maverick police officer known for his brutal measures. An argument with her father was interrupted by the Vulture, who had been sent to find Spider-Woman by Murdock. Incapacitated by the Vulture's gas fumes, she was attacked by Castle, who managed to unmask her and was shocked to discover she was just a teenaged girl. When a gig the Mary Janes was headlining was attacked by the Hand, Spider-Gwen broke up a fight between Black Cat and Murdock, who had taken a keen interest in making Spider-Woman his apprentice and figured out her civilian identity by watching her fight and targeting her family. With the destruction of the universe, an amnesiac Gwen found herself on Earth-15513 under the assumed alias of Ms. Woodley, an employee of Ozcorp. teaming up with the Peter Porker of Earth-8311, the Anya Corazon of Earth-616, the William Braddock of Earth-833, the Pavitr Prabhakar of Earth-50101, and the Peter Parker of Earth-90214, Gwen managed to overthrow Mayor Norman Osborn and stop him from hijacking control of the Web of Life and Destiny. Following the restoration of the multiverse, Gwen became a part-time member of the Web-Warriors, helping to protect dimensions that had lost their Spider-Totems to the Inheritors. On Earth-41940, the Superhuman Registration Act was passed and then enforced by S.H.I.E.L.D. Spider-Woman was one of the heroes who opposed the act and joined the Peter Parker of Earth-32323's Secret Avengers. Their base was raided by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, with Agent Venom being shot. Remorseful, Director Fury approached Gwen with a new proposal. Nick Fury decided to make specialized deals with heroes, instead of forcing them to his side by force. Spider-Woman became a major proponent of Fury's plan, convincing Spider-Punk to register. She also talked to Agent Venom, persuading Thompson to forgive Fury and even join him. Waking up late for her new job at the Dollar Dog bodega, Gwen arrived to learn it had been attacked first by the Bodega Bandit - a small-time criminal stylizing himself after 18th century highwaymen; and then by a giant lizard-monster. Hunting down the Bodega Bandit, she learned that the Lizard had eaten his dog. Unwilling to believe the Lizard had come back, Gwen realized the culprit was Dr. Curtis Connors, the only other person aware that Peter had been the original Lizard, but that Connors had vanished after Peter's death. Haunted by her failure to save Peter, Spider-Woman located the Lizard in the sewers only to discover Connors was one of many. Her fight with the Lizards was interrupted by Captain America, who informed her the monsters were property of S.H.I.E.L.D. and that she was placing her under arrest. Despite not wanting to fight Captain America - who her father idolized, Gwen was forced into a three-way battle between her and the Lizards and was knocked out. Waking up handcuffed with vibranium, Gwen was interrogated by Captain America, who accused her of being a member of the terrorist organization S.I.L.K. Noticing Dr. Connors and the other Lizards reverted to human form, Spider-Woman asked if Captain America had a cure, but was told that only a temporary suppressant existed. Devastated that this was going to be Peter's legacy, Gwen told Captain America that Peter had been the Lizard that attacked Midtown and that she didn't have a clue what S.I.L.K. was. Connors transformed back into a Lizard and attacked, but Gwen defeated him with help from Captain America and Jean DeWolff, a police friend of her father's. Deciding to give her a chance to prove her innocence, Captain America let Spider-Woman go, and Gwen later gave the Bodega Bandit her pet hamster to replace his dog. Visiting the Spider-Woman of Earth-616 using her Web-Warriors portal device for advice and to help free her from the vibranium handcuffs, Gwen asked her what her Earth-616 counterpart was like. Saying she should talk to Peter Parker, having never personally met Gwen Stacy herself, Jessica advised her to focus on being the best Gwen Stacy she can be rather than dwelling on what happened to Earth-616 Gwen and Earth-65 Peter. With Jess distracted by her pregnancy-induced hunger-cravings, Gwen returned to Earth-65 and was shocked to discover Harry Osborn - a high school friend of hers and Peter's - has returned after two years, having vanished after Peter's funeral. Gwen was further shocked to learn that Harry blamed himself for Peter's death, having done nothing to stop Spider-Woman from killing one of his two best friends, and that he had spent his two years training as a soldier and joined S.H.I.E.L.D., later defecting to S.I.L.K. in order to take revenge. Hunted by Harry as Spider-Woman, Gwen offered to surrender peacefully, but Harry - dressed in green goblin-themed powered armor and accompanied by orange and blue goblin androids - declares he's going to kill her. Gwen tried to talk Harry down, but he drank an improved batch of Lizard serum in order to gain an edge over her, knocked her out, and unmasked her, the shock of learning her identity causing him to lose control of the Lizard mutagen. Regaining consciousness to see Captain America fighting the increasingly monstrous Harry, Gwen followed Harry into the sewers after Captain America was knocked out by a pumpkin bomb explosion and managed to talk him down, giving him the Lizard serum suppressant in order to reverse his mutation. Returning home, Gwen offered to tell her father the truth about how Peter died, but Captain Stacy told he'd retired from the force and for her to keep her secrets. While meeting with Earth-616 Spider-Woman and Silk on Earth-65, the three were attacked by the Super-Adaptoid, discovering this was merely a distraction for someone to steal Gwen's portal device and strand them on Earth-65. While Jessica told Gwen to live her life and hang out with her friends, Gwen instead followed her and saved her and Reed Richards from being ambushed by S.I.L.K. agents. Discovering that the leader of S.I.L.K. was Cindy Moon's Earth-65 counterpart, with Richards' help they managed to build a portal to Earth-616. Silk and Spider-Woman managed to track Cindy-65 to Parker Industries, but were ambushed by her. With Spider-Woman and Silk outclassed by her stolen tech, Cindy-65 revealed that she had created the spider that gave Gwen her powers, derived from the genetic material of an extraterrestrial arachnid. Incapacitating Gwen, Cindy-65 injects her with a formula that removes her spider-powers. Returning to the Fact Channel, Gwen learned of the origin story of Jesse Drew and informed him of Cindy-65's deception. Jesse defected from S.I.L.K. and provided Gwen with radioactive isotopes derived from the DNA of the alien spiders that had bitten him, enabling her to temporarily restore her powers. After enduring a brutal beat down in her powerless state from Cindy-65, Gwen realized how helpless she was without her powers. Despite Captain America's support and her father issuing a public confession of how poorly the Spider-Woman investigation was handled, Gwen became depressed at the prospect of permanently losing her powers once her eight isotopes were used up. However, being powerless gave her an opportunity to reconnect with her friends. When discovered that Mr. Alby - her boss - had been forced to sell the Dollar Dog - which had been rebuilt from a bodega into a high-priced restaurant - to pay off the repairs from her fight with the Green Goblin, Gwen almost gave up being Spider-Woman forever but was stopped by the arrival of Frank Castle, who'd figured out she was Spider-Woman and attacked her. Gwen used one of the isotopes to knock him out and flee the scene. Gwen tried to ask her father for advice, but they were attacked by Kraven the Hunter, an associate of Castle's from when he was a member of Tony Stark's War Machine mercenaries. While the isotope injector was damaged by Kraven, George Stacy stopped Castle from exposing Gwen as Spider-Woman. Gwen sought advice from Jesse Drew, who told her to take her father and run, and considered seeking refuge on Earth-616 or help from her various allies, even contemplating becoming Murdock's apprentice if it would protect her father. After receiving an inspirational speech from the Bodega Bandit - who she had stopped from robbing a burger joint while out of costume - Gwen resolved to fight and had Reed Richards repair the injector, using the last of the isotopes to fight Castle. The fight between the two caused massive amounts of collateral damage, but George Stacy and Jean DeWolfe arrived in time to stop him from killing Gwen with his War Machine gauntlet. With Gwen despairing over her inability to break the cycle of violence ruining their lives, George decided to turn himself in for aiding and abetting Spider-Woman. When Matt Murdock approached her and offered to help her in exchange for Spider-Woman's fealty, and Gwen’s help in persuading her father to work with Murdock, Gwen accepted, desperate to get legal representation for Captain Stacy. Gwen was given new hope when Jessica Drew and her babysitter stopped by for Thanksgiving. On Christmas Eve, Spider-Woman was attacked by the Hand ninja as a test of her skills, Murdock revealing he knew all about her power loss and offering her an unlimited supply of isotope samples. Gwen accepts, making Murdock Gwen’s “only hope for being Spider-Woman”. When Miles Morales' father vanished from Earth-616 and was found on Earth-65, Gwen teamed up with him and discovered that Jefferson Davis' Earth-65 counterpart was S.I.L.K. field agent known as the Scorpion. Coming across an alternate future world where they were married and had children, Gwen and Miles formed a romantic connection but were forced to part ways. With the revelation that corrupt district attorney Foggy Nelson had moved her father's trial date up, Gwen's life began to increasingly spiral out of control as her father refused to refute the charges against him, not caring that being found guilty would result in him being sent to prison and wanting to use the trial to reveal Spider-Woman's innocence. Vowing to do whatever it took to save her father, Gwen met with Murdock at Oscorp, where he and scientist Dr. Elsa Brock revealed a way Gwen could both permanently regain her powers and cure Harry Osborn: Exposing someone mutated by the Lizard serum to the radioactive spider-isotopes, both related through Cindy-65's research, would draw the mutagen out, transforming it into a black, amorphous symbiotic creature; Described as a “mutant cousin of Agent Drew’s original alien parasite” and “a hybrid [with] all of the abilities of Spider-Woman plus the regenerative power of the Lizard". Agreeing to Murdock's plan for the sake of helping Harry, Gwen travelled to Madripoor with a squad of Hand ninja. Gwen's meeting with Harry was interrupted by the arrival of Logan and Shadowcat, a pair of ruthless bounty-hunters sent by S.H.I.E.L.D. to capture Harry. Harry convinced Gwen to renege on her agreement with Murdock, and she turned on the Hand ninja sent to assist her. Growing increasingly desperate as Harry's condition degenerated, Gwen called Murdock, who berated her for going back on their deal, but she refused to take Harry to the Hand, realizing that she'd unwittingly fallen into Murdock's trap. When Harry fully transformed into the Lizard, Gwen teamed up with Shadowcat and Logan, using her isotopes to turn the Lizard serum in Harry's veins into Venom. The symbiote first bonded with Logan, whose healing factor made him immune to the radiation. Gwen and Shadowcat were able to work together to phase and separate him from Venom. The symbiote subsequently bonded to Gwen but, when Murdock arrived to gloat, Gwen stole his smartphone and played music in order to keep it under control. When she attacked him, Murdock revealed he'd stolen her portal device and revealed that her prolonged disappearance had let the Rhino beat her father into a coma. Enraged, Gwen gave in to the symbiote and swore revenge. Hunting down the Rhino as Venom, Gwen became increasingly aggressive and violent as the symbiote's influence over her grew. Otomo, Murdock's second-in-command, informed her of the Rhino's location, and "Gwenom" confronted him and Murdock, swearing to come for the Kingpin after she was done with the man who hurt her father. As she fought the Rhino, Gwen noticed police officers filming her and realized that it was a setup to discredit her father and reaffirm the notion that she was a criminal, but her desire for vengeance outweighed any misgivings over her actions, so Gwen kept fighting. Before Gwenom could strike a finishing blow on the Rhino, the Punisher intervened and separated her from the symbiote using a sonic baton before killing the Rhino himself using his War Machine gauntlet. Enraged that her vengeance was stolen from her, Gwen rebonded to the symbiote and was subsequently framed for the Rhino's murder, renewing the manhunt against her. After brutally attacking and nearly killing the Bodega Bandit, Gwen solicited Reed Richard's help in infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D.'s maximum-security prison to ask Cindy Moon for her help with controlling Venom, and to confront her over why she'd set the mutant spider that had bitten her loose. Cindy revealed that despite wanting power more than anything, she hadn't used the mutant spider on herself out of fear of failure. Cindy reveals that Gwen’s dark thoughts, anger, and thus her quest for vengeance, are not the result of Venom but were her own. Cindy challenged Gwen to let go of her rage and hatred towards Murdock, saying that seeking revenge would only play into his hands. However, Gwen's determination to take the Kingpin down was only renewed after seeing that Felicia Hardy had been thrown into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s maximum-security prison as a result of her attack on Murdock, the former Black Cat despairing that Murdock had won and anyone and anything not already under his control soon would be. Hunting down the corrupt cop responsible for letting the Rhino into her father's cell, Venom was about to kill him but was confronted by the Punisher. Rejecting his offer of an alliance to take down Murdock, she offered the cop a chance to redeem himself by turning himself in, and later approached Ben Parker and unmasked herself. Gwen would soon reveal her dual identities to May and the Mary Janes as well, professing her guilt in hiding her life from Spider-Woman from them for so long. Gwen's bandmates were shaken yet supportive, but Ben emboldened Gwen to continue on with her plan of vengeance against Murdock. As Em Jay, Betty, and Glory were berating Ben, Castle contacted Gwen who then snuck out in the midst of the fight. Gwen zipped onto the roof of Murdock's building, where a bloody, disheveled Castle was aiming his War Machine gauntlet towards Murdock. Gwen threw Murdock into the air with a webline, causing Castle to miss, but as Castle fired another blast while Gwen belittled him for descending into violence Captain America rushed in and disarmed and incapacitated Castle. Cap attempted to console Gwen, promising Gwen that Murdock "will see justice". Recalling her own experiences with the police, as well as Murdock’s sway over the courts and justice system, Gwen turns on Cap, rallying that Murdock "owns both sides of the law. He is your justice." Gwen overpowers Cap, breaks her arm, and knocks her out. Gwen dangled Murdock over the edge of the building, prepared to kill him, but when Murdock finally revealed his obsession with her—a long test to see whether or not she can be corrupted by power, just like he was—Gwen could no longer go through with killing him. As Murdock taunted Gwen, her teleportation device worn by Murdock on his wrist began beeping insistently before a por