The Night Gwen Stacy Died featured the death of Gwen Stacy when she was thrown off a bridge during a battle between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin. In this version of events, Spider-Man saved Gwen's life by jumping down after her and catching her mid-fall, but the Goblin's follow-up attack results in Spider-Man's death. Regaining consciousness in time to realise Peter's identity, Gwen takes action to protect his identity, and then sets out to avenge the death of the man she loved.
Tropes include;
- Badass Normal: Gwen dons Spider-Man's costume and webbing to avenge his death despite having no powers herself.
- Batman Gambit: Gwen lures the Goblin into a trap by playing on his ego, guessing just how he would react to even the idea that Spider-Man is still alive.
- Covers Always Lie: Two of the comic's covers feature Earth-65 Gwen on them, implying that the Gwen of this comic will don her white-and-pink suit, but she ends up wearing something inspired by Peter's suit instead.
- In Spite of a Nail: Someone still dies from a broken neck in this story; in this case it's Peter, who ends up hitting his head on a bridge pillar.
- In the Hood: Gwen wears a green hoodie (based on her signature peacoat) over her Spider-Man suit, in an obvious nod to Ghost-Spider.
- Legacy Character: The tale ends with Gwen and Harry taking on the identities of Spider-Woman and the Green Goblin to honor Peter and avenge Norman respectively.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Harry is horrified when he learns the Green Goblin's identity only after shooting him.
- Never My Fault: After Harry shoots the Goblin and learns the villain was his father, he then blames Gwen for "making" him shoot the Goblin, when Gwen just chose to spare him and it was Harry's choice to pull the trigger.
- Point of Divergence: Rather than try to catch Gwen with his webbing, Spider-Man jumps after her, allowing him to save her from the fall but he dies in the process.
- Self-Made Orphan: Harry shoots the Green Goblin and only learns afterwards that he killed his father.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Gwen finds Peter's spare Spider-Man costume and web-shooters, donning both with the intention of taking up his identity to honor his memory and avenge his death, but stops herself actually going swinging as she's naturally scared at the idea (the fact that Gwen, as a normal human, likely wouldn't be able to repeat Peter's acrobatic feats is never explicitly brought up).
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: Although Gwen takes her father's gun with the intention of shooting the Goblin to avenge Peter's death, she ultimately chooses to honor what Peter stood for and expresses her intention to have the Goblin arrested... only for Harry to shoot the Goblin instead.
