The Death of Spider-Gwen?

By Brandon T. McClure (Cover Art by Mark Brooks)

In 2013 Marvel Comics Introduced Marcus Johnson, a previously unknown S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that was revealed to be using an alias because his real name was Nick Fury Jr. Revealed to be the son of the original Nick Fury, Nick Fury Jr. was modeled to look like Samuel L. Jackson who played Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and the Ultimate Universe Nick Fury. Marvel decided to do this to try and synergize their comics with the far more popular films, but it wasn’t the first time they did this and it wouldn’t be the last. The latest example of this synergistic mindset is Gwen Stacy aka Spider-Gwen aka Spider-Woman aka Ghost-Spider. A character that Marvel has struggled with for almost a decade because of her popularity outside of the realm of comic books.

Spider-Gwen first appeared in the second issue of the 2014 mini-series Edge of Spider-Verse, which was released in the lead up to the massive Spider-Man event, Spider-Verse. This issue was massively popular and sold out at comic shops almost immediately. It received more than five reprints, tons of variants, and is the only issue from that series to spin off into an ongoing series. The point of Edge of Spider-Verse, wasn’t just to set up the Spider-Verse event, it was also to introduce new Spider characters into Marvel's multiverse. Edge of Spider-Verse #2, written by Jason Latour with art by Robbi Rodriguez, introduced readers to a version of Gwen Stacy living on Earth-65 where she became Spider-Woman and Peter Parker became the Lizard. Her costume was immediately iconic and she would go on to have nine solo titles, appear in multiple crossovers, and multiversal team-up titles, and very quickly make the jump to the small and big screen. She was so popular that Marvel commissioned an entire line of “Gwen-Verse” variant covers that lead to the creation of Gwenpoole (no relation).

Earth-65 is populated by unique takes on familiar Marvel heroes and villains, such as the lovable Bodega Bandit. On her Earth, Gwen went up against Matt Murdock, Kingpin of crime in this universe, a Trump inspired M.O.D.O.K., named M.O.D.A.A.K. (Mental Organism Designed As America's King), and more familiar villains such as The Punisher and The Vulture. Gwen even teamed up with Earth-65’s Captain America, Samantha Wilson. Other heroes weren’t explored but a 13 year old Reed Richards, who’s no less a genius, was introduced. Gwen would even get her own Venom suit after losing her powers to Earth-65’s version of Cindy Moon. But her most iconic trait is that she plays drums for The Mary Janes, a band where Mary Jane Watson (who became Carnage once) is the lead singer with a hit single called “Face It Tiger”. All of these stories were told by Jason Latour, the character's co-creator. Earth-65 started to look a lot less special after he left.

After Jason Latour, who would later be accused of sexual misconduct, left the title, the character fell to Seanan McGuire who would have Gwen hop back and forth between Earth-65 and Earth-616, the main Marvel universe where all their comics are set. In the two series that McGuire wrote, Gwen would go up against Earth-616 threats like The Jackel, a villain historically obsessed with Gwen Stacy. But the new series did set up new antagonists for Gwen in her home dimension in the form of Sue and Johnny Storm. The siblings were celebrities who were captured by Dr. Doom, only to return to New York City as superpowered heroes. It’s heavily implied that Sue is the new Dr. Doom and she demands that Gwen leave Earth-65 permanently. This story has never been followed up on, and was possibly ignored by the time of her next solo title. Not to say that Seanan McGuire didn’t do good work on the two Spider-Gwen titles she worked on. She was restricted by Marvel editorial in what she could do and only had a total of twenty issues that ended at the start of the COVD-19 pandemic.  

Spider-Gwen’s popularity led her to be adapted into many shows, which, along with her film appearances, began to reveal a problem with how Marvel was handling this once popular character. In 2018, Marvel released a multi-media series called Marvel Rising. This series focused on teenage heroes and introduced Gwen Stacy as Ghost-Spider. Since Spider-Gwen would begin interacting with the larger Marvel universe, she could not be called Spider-Woman (there were already three female heroes with that name), even though that was the name she went by in her home universe. She could also not be called Spider-Gwen by the other characters she interacted with because that was the title of the comic book and not her codename. That same year, Marvel launched a new ongoing series titled Ghost-Spider to try and get that name to stick. Considering the current ongoing series is called All-New Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider, it’s safe to assume that it still hasn’t stuck. If two heroes can hold the moniker of Spider-Man, then two heroes can be called Spider-Woman.

2018 was a big year for Spider-Gwen as she also appeared in the Academy Award winning film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman and written by Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman. This film saw multiple Spider people from across the multiverse, including Peter B. Parker, Spider-Man Noir, Penny Parker, Spider-Ham, and Spider-Gwen, team up with Miles Morales to stop the Kingpin from destroying the multiverse. This film plays with the idea of Gwen and Miles forming a romantic bond, something that Marvel tried to capitalize on by crossing Gwen over into Miles’ comic book series. This was the start of what would eventually lead to Spider-Gwen’s downfall. Marvel Comics felt that the popularity of Spider-Gwen came from her crossover appeal. It’s the same reason why Marvel Comics revisits the Spider-Verse storyline every couple of years. In the case of Spider-Gwen, they began to chase what made the movie popular.

Marvel Comics has a habit of trying to align their comic book characters with the ones in the films. It makes a certain amount of sense when you think about it because movies make millions or even billions of dollars and are seen by millions of people. By contrast, comic books are read by thousands. How do you get movie viewers to become comic book readers? Comics can feel impenetrable to the general audience so if someone wanted to pick up an Avengers comic and the team didn't look like the one on the big screen, they might decide to skip it. This mentality is the only reason why Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley launched Avengers Assemble in 2012, or why Marvel just released The New Avengers by Sam Humphries and Ton Lima, which was originally announced as Thunderbolts*. It even happened to Blade after the film came out in 1998. Marvel loves synergy. They feel like it will help ease the general public into becoming comic book readers despite most evidence pointing to the contrary. It’s not to say that it doesn’t happen, but it hasn’t happened in a way that significantly moves the needle. So in order to make it easier for Spider-Gwen to crossover with the other spider heroes of New York City, Marvel has removed her from Earth-65 and placed her on Earth-616. 

There’s potentially another reason for this move, just to play devil's advocate. For ten years, Marvel published a line of comics called The Ultimate Universe. What started as an immensely popular line of comics that lead to the creation of Miles Morales, began to dwindle in popularity. It came to an end with Secret Wars, an event created by Jonathan Hickman that forced every Marvel comic to be either cancelled or placed on hold. At the end of the event, the Ultimate Universe was gone and some heroes and villains had been folded into Earth-616 such as Miles Morales and The Maker (an evil version of Reed Richards). Publishing a series set in an alternate reality probably creates some confusion with readers and considering it was the only series like that post-Secret Wars, it was probably causing a headache for Marvel publishing. It probably made sense to fold her into Earth-616 because Miles regained his popularity when it happened to him.

Recently Marvel Comics launched All-New Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider, the ninth solo title for the character, written by Stephanie Phillips with art by Paolo Villanelli. The new series reveals that Gwen has made Earth-616 her new permanent home. Gwen has now permanently left Earth-65, the villains, the heroes, and the friends behind in favor of the all too familiar cast of Earth-616. She is no longer a unique spider in a world that can be explored and expanded upon indefinitely. She’s now just another spider hero in a world with far too many spider heroes. The hard part for fans was how slow it happened. It was inevitable, but it started small. Just one off crossovers at first, then she was going to school in Earth-616 with Peter Parker as her professor, then she teamed up with Loki to rewrite the universe, and now Ghost-Spider has moved in. It’s not to say that the character can’t flourish under the watchful eye of a talented writer like Stephanie Phillips, it’s just hard to watch a character lose all they’re potential in favor of the Marvel synergy that comes for everyone, even Tony Stark (they were writing him like RDJ for about 10 years. No one was happy about it).

In fairness the series had a hard time maintaining the momentum of her debut issue. The ongoing series was fast tracked to come out before Secret Wars but was then cancelled after five issues, then returned after Secret Wars. But while the new series went for 34 issues, the book struggled in sales and then Marvel decided to make things confusing by trying to make “Ghost-Spider” happen. There’s a reason why whenever The Amazing Spider-Man gets a reboot it doesn’t change its title. Changing the title of a series confuses longtime and new readers. Nine solo titles in ten years is a hard sell for readers. Eventually they stop trying. But Marvel is constantly chasing the first issue bump in sales. Basically they noticed that new number ones make more money, so they try to capitalize on that whenever they can. Spider-Gwen became a shell of the character that fans first fell in love with and every subsequent series took her away from her world and the stories fans were invested in. Or perhaps she was never meant to have this popularity and should have stayed within the pages of Edge of Spider-Verse #2.

Her popularity doesn’t seem to ever translate to her comics. Spider-Gwen has a flourishing merchandise line for girls of all ages. Her iconic design persists through popular culture and has broken through to the mainstream. It sometimes feels like she’s passed Jessica Drew, Spider-Woman, as the most iconic female Spider hero. Hot Topic is littered with jackets, sweaters, shirts, skirts, bras, and more sporting the white, pink and black of Spider-Gwen. But does this translate to comic book sales? Sadly no. Spider-Gwen may not actually be a popular comic book character but is instead a popular design or brand. Her merchandise sales are likely the only reason why Marvel keeps publishing her comic and keeping her on Earth-616 is the only way they could think to boost her popularity. But in doing so, she’s basically become nothing more than a brand ambassador for Marvel and not a character with a rich comic book history. Just a Frankenstein monster of a character kept alive through the power of merchandise. A cynical way of looking at it for sure.

Rather than exploring a rich new world of possibilities Marvel has chosen to ignore all of that in favor of easy crossover with other spider heroes. It's almost like they’re ashamed that she's from another universe and would rather everyone forget that. Perhaps her new title will ignite her popularity again, and Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse is just around the corner which will see Hayley Steinfeld reprise her role as the most popular version of the character. But the potential she once had is gone. Her supporting cast is gone in favor of Peter Parker and his gang. Her world is gone. Now fans have to watch as a character who burst on to the scene with excitement dies a slow and painful death into obscurity, overshadowed by the more popular spider heroes. Her life on Earth-616 just isn't as interesting as what could have been on Earth-65.

MARVEL & FoX-Men

By Brandon T. McClure

In a comedically long announcement, Marvel Studios announced the cast of the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. The next Avengers film will see new and old heroes face Robert Downey Jr. 's miscast Doctor Doom. Yet, they won’t be alone. Almost half the cast is made up of actors who haven’t been in a Marvel movie in a decade. Indeed, the X-Men are finally going to make their MCU debut, just not in the way that fans were expecting, and certainly not in the way they should be. It seems that Kevin Feige can now realize a nearly 20 year old dream and all it took was Disney buying 20th Century Fox. The cast from 2000s X-Men and 2003s X2: X-Men United are back (plus Kelsey Grammer from X3: X-Men United).

Since Disney purchased 20th Century Fox in 2019, fans have been wondering when the Fantastic Four and the X-Men will make their MCU enternance. While the Fantastic Four have made that debut this year, news of the X-Men has been sparse. The internet is littered with fan theories and rumors ranging from the mundane to the ridiculous. This question has obviously been on the mind of everyone at Marvel Studios as well. Many fans felt that the X-Men were too big of a property to introduce in the same way that every character or team has been previously introduced. How do you explain their long absence when they have such an expanded history? This is the same scrutiny that the Eternals fell into back in 2001. If they have been around so long, why didn’t they help defeat Thanos?

Eternals is likely why the multiverse approach was taken. For example, Fantastic Four: First Steps is set in an alternate timeline to get away from the “Thanos” question. While comic book audiences are accustomed to not questioning why past events didn’t include newly introduced heroes, the same cannot be said for film audiences. The MCU has trained general audiences to accept “silly” ideas or concepts that comic book audiences have been accepting for decades, but this was a hurdle they couldn’t get over. So the multiverse was needed. While Namor (Tenoch Huerta) in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Ms. Marvel (Iman Vilani) in Ms. Marvel were introduced as MCU mutants, major characters like Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Beast (Kelsey Grammer) were relegated to the multiverse with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and The Marvels. However, this highlights a growing concern within Marvel Studios.

Rather than recasting the X-Men, Marvel Studios has chosen to bring back the original actors who burst onto the screen clad in black leather. A team that people don't even remember fondly and constantly talk about how misguided the films were. Marvel Studios is looking for the instant gratification of feeling like they're the biggest franchise in the world again. They know that the secret ingredient to making a quick billion dollar hit is to add aging former Marvel stars like in Spider-Man: No Way Home and the aforementioned Deadpool & Wolverine. The sad thing is that it's going to work. Avengers: Doomsday will be the biggest movie in the world regardless of how good it is because of all the returning actors that are known and unknown. The only film that will be bigger is Avengers: Secret Wars which comes out the following year.

Interestingly, this seems to be the realization of a major dream of Kevin Feiges. Having been part of the production of almost every Marvel film from X-Men to the formation of Marvel Studios, Feige probably has a lot of affection for the casts of these earlier films. In an alternate take for the post-credits scene of Iron Man, Nick Fury alludes to the X-Men and Spider-Man, which seems to imply that Feige, at some point, thought that he could connect all the Marvel films being produced by different studios under one universe. Rights issues don’t work that way and since Marvel sold the rights to various heroes, including the X-Men and Spider-Man in the 90s, Feige had to settle and build the Avengers with what he had. The rest is history, as they say.

Deadpool & Wolverine was supposedly meant to be a farewell of sorts to the pre-MCU era of Marvel films. Faced with the destruction of his entire universe, Wade Wilson aka Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), is sent to the wasteland, the TVA’s dumping grounds (This makes sense if you’ve seen Loki). Here he meets dozens of heroes and villains from across the Marvel multiverse such as Chris Evans as the Human Torch, Wesley Snipes as Blade, and Dafne Keen as X-23. Channing Tatum is also there as a version of Gambit that only exists in an ambitious cast photo from a Comic Con long past. Wade has to find a version of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to replace the one that died in Logan so that his universe can be saved. Sadly the film ultimately collapses under the weight of its references and only continues to muddy the already complicated X-Men timeline (is it the same timeline from the end of The Marvels? Because Beast should be dead). No one believed that it would be the promised “farewell” since everyone figured most, if not all these characters would show up in Avengers: Secret Wars. Frankly, they should have committed to the film serving as an ending to those characters and used the goodwill to move on.

There’s been a trend in the 21st century of older actors returning to roles many many years after their initial time as the character. Star Trek: Picard, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Terminator: Dark Fate, Top Gun: Maverick and so on and so on. There’s value to seeing older actors reprise these roles because it has destigmatized age and allowed older audiences to realize that there is no such thing as aging out of something. But, this trend has become so successful that it has begun to overshadow new and upcoming talent; creating an environment where younger audiences don’t have heroes of their own and are forced to relate to the heroes of a bygone age. Rather than giving a new generation an X-Men team to relate to, Marvel Studios has decided to give older fans their X-Men back. Although, it’s arguable over whether or not these older fans even want to see “their “ X-Men back. At a time when the MCU should be focusing on new heroes, they’ve doubled down on old ones which speaks more to how they’ve done a poor job cultivating a new generation of heroes (where are the Young Avengers Feige??)

That original X-Men cast are getting quite old at this point with none of the announced returning cast members younger than 51. Fans have always enjoyed seeing returning actors in outfits they didn’t wear when they were initially cast. Patrick Stewart in the yellow hover chair, Hugh Jackman in the yellow and blue, and Kelsey Grammer as a CGI Beast that looked closer to his comic book counterpart then he did in X-Men: The Last Stand. The internet got very excited when the announcement of these returning actors dropped. Curiously so. Is the excitement just so 60 year old Alan Cumming will look closer to his comic book counterpart? Or perhaps fans are excited to see James Marsden (51 and looking good by the way) in blue spandex, Ian McKellen (87) with a slightly different looking helmet, or Rebecca Romijn (52) in a white sleeveless dress with a belt made of skulls? Should Marvel Studios go all in on nostalgia and put them in black spandex again? Is that really all it takes for people to get excited? Or do fans want to see new actors take on these roles with a new director that actually likes the X-Men (this is a snipe against Bryan Singer, not the Russo Brothers). It’s too late to stop the juggernaut (heh) of Avengers: Doomsday. But the smell of desperation is all over it. A new cast of X-Men should have been the priority, and not whatever this is.

Recently Kevin Feige has confirmed that Avengers: Secret Wars will lead to a soft reboot by saying there are plans to “reset singular timelines” and promised that classic superheroes will begin to get recast. “X-Men is where that will happen” he said to a crowd of journalists. So there are plans to recast the X-Men as he also confirmed that Jake Schreier, director of Thunderbolts* will be directing whatever they’ll call the first X-Men film produced by Marvel Studios. But you can’t help but wonder if this is a little late for Marvel. Perhaps they’ve overthought it and in response to the questions posed by Eternals (why didn’t they fight Thanos?) and their desire to regain their notoriety in pop culture, they’ve dug themselves deeper into a hole of unoriginality and nostalgia. Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars feel like desperate pleas for an audience's affection where Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame felt like a victory lap.

COUNT DOWN #27: Iron Man’s PTSD

By Brandon T. McClure (@btmcclure @fakenerdpodcast)

The MCU, specifically the Infinity Saga (2008-2019) has meant a great deal to me, as I am sure it has for many people. What first started as a book pitch is now a series of essays of mine that will be (hopefully) published every week. The goal is to pick a specific moment within The Infinity Saga and share with you why I believe it’s a defining moment. To revisit previous posts, visit our site HERE.

Enjoy the ride as we count down from 50 of the most defining moments and share your thoughts in the comments. 

• Iron Man’s PTSD •

MOMENT# 27

MOVIE: Iron Man 3

DIRECTORS: Shane Black

WRITERS: Drew Pearce & Shane Black

Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) in Iron Man 3.

Marvel is often considered a comic book company with more relatable superheroes. Readers point to Spider-Man’s struggles or Iron Man’s alcoholism as examples of this. The heroes of the Marvel universe would often go through similar personal struggles that the readers would. This allows readers to relate to the characters in a way that they felt they couldn’t with characters like Superman or Green Lantern. Translating this to the MCU was instrumental in the long-running success of the franchise. In the third Iron Man film, Tony Stark is reeling from the events of The Avengers and can’t find a way to move past his near-death experience. In short, he had PTSD.

Iron Man 3 is a curious anomaly in the MCU. While Marvel had already been sold to Disney by the time of The Avengers, Iron Man 3 was still produced by Paramount Pictures. Shane Black stepped in to direct this film when Jon Favreau declined to return. It was the first of the solo franchises to finish their trilogy, which left the future of Iron Man in question until Avengers: Age of Ultron. The hype coming off of The Avengers also propelled this film to $1 billion. Finally, while it’s seen somewhat of a reevaluation over the years, it’s still not remembered all that fondly by the larger fandom. All this is to say that the history surrounding Iron Man 3 is kind of weird. Seriously, it’s the only film in the Infinity Saga that had a separate cut screened for Chinese audiences (But that’s a whole other thing).

In Iron Man 3, Tony is having trouble moving on from the Battle of New York. During the battle, Tony took a nuclear bomb through the portal and nearly didn’t make it back. Now that things have gone back to normal, he’s having trouble going back to his life. “You experience things and then they’re over and you still can’t explain them,” he says to Pepper after she confronts him. While this is happening, a series of bombings are taking place around the United States that are being linked to a terrorist known as The Mandarin. Tony takes it upon himself to uncover The Mandarin’s true plans but he’s having a difficult time due to his undiagnosed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. 

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in Iron Man 3.

PTSD is largely considered to be a disorder that only develops in soldiers that have seen combat. But it’s far more common than that. PTSD can develop in any person who’s been exposed to a traumatic event. Sexual assault, car crashes, domestic violence, or emotional abuse can all result in PTSD or its symptoms. It stands to reason then that any man who suffers a near-death experience would develop this disorder. Tony experiences all the hallmark symptoms and doesn’t know how to handle them. During one severe anxiety attack, he denies it happened and runs away. He can’t sleep because his nightmares are plagued with the memories of the battle and the move that almost cost him his life. Of course, this is also a science fiction superhero movie, so the movie uses Tony’s suits as an allegory. He’s trying to make sure that he’s prepared for next time, rather than dealing with the issue he’s dealing with now.

These days, mental disorders like PTSD are taken more seriously than they used to be and this is actually where Iron Man 3 fails. Pepper and Rhodey don’t take Tony’s illness seriously. Pepper’s reactions are pretty common for partners of people who suffer from PTSD in fairness. She loves Tony but can’t understand why he’s changed. Rhodey’s reactions are a bit more questionable since he’ll sometimes make a joke at Starks expense. It’s only strange because Rhodey is a soldier, but this was indicative of the time. Things have gotten better over the years, but these misgivings don’t negate the importance of Iron Man 3 showing Tony with PTSD. Art has a profound effect on the world and can lead to a path of normalization for things that aren’t considered “normal” (for lack of a better word). Iron Man 3 proudly made it known that the battle didn’t end for Stark when the Avengers went for Shawarama, it continued into his everyday life.

Tony Start/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) in Iron Man 3.

Throughout the movie, Tony learns to open up about his problems which aren’t easy. Luckily the trials that Tony is put through in the movie, send him on a clear path of healing and he’s able to learn to cope and live with the disorder (although it does lead to him making Ultron…). By destroying all his new Iron Man suits, Tony symbolically learns that he doesn’t need them anymore and that there is a clearer and safer path to healing. Something that every person who suffers from PTSD would like to learn. Through this hero, PTSD victims see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Iron Man 3 is a far more important entry in the Infinity Saga than people are willing to give it credit for. Truthfully it’s time for the narrative around Iron Man 3 to change. It’s a well-shot, well-written film, with great action set pieces, and a story about a hero struggling with a disorder that millions struggle with. Marvel likes to say it’s home to the relatable hero, and Iron Man 3 delivered one of the most relatable stories that had ever been seen in a superhero film at that point. Because of this, Iron Man’s PTSD remains an important moment in the Infinity Saga.