Line #4 YMMV/TheNightGwenStacyDied


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2	* BrokenBase: The moment word got out that Marvel had decided to kill Gwen Stacy, fans sent loads of letters into Marvel HQ. Some letters commended Gerry Conway and the other writers for killing Gwen, others... well, weren’t so nice (one letter made a few theatrical curses, for one). Even today, fans are still arguing if Gwen should have died or not.
3	* FairForItsDay: While modern takes usually accuse this story of using of the StuffedIntoTheFridge trope, others give the story a GrandfatherClause treatment. The story is often cited as one of the earliest and most famous instances of "fridging", predating the TropeNamer by 21 years. It embodies many of the misogynistic hallmarks of the trope: Gwen has no agency of her own, barely has any lines before she dies, her plotline gets completely unresolved, she's not even the most important female character of the titular story (that's Mary Jane), it was done by [[ComicBook/NormanOsborn Green Goblin]] to spite ComicBook/SpiderMan, and Spidey even ([[ValuesDissonance rather uncomfortably for modern audiences]]) refers to her as "my woman" even after she dies.. However, unlike the many, ''many'' derided examples it inspired, ''The Night Gwen Stacy Died'' is still seen as a good story even still for two primary reasons. The first is that Gwen's death has meaningful consequences for Spider-Man, both the mythos and the character, becoming a ShockingDefeatLegacy that inspired Spidey to become a better hero. It even has a big impact on Mary Jane and the rest of Peter's social circle. Gwen herself is treated as TheLostLenore and ''not'' a DisposableLoveInterest, as it took years for Peter to fully accept her death, and even after Mary Jane became his SecondLove, he still mourns Gwen with the utmost respect, compared to the usual example of a fridged character being mostly forgotten and replaced. There's a ''very'' good reason why the story named the trope ILetGwenStacyDie, instead of "StuffedIntoTheFridge" being known as "Dropped From a Bridge".
4	* FranchiseOriginalSin: In retrospect, this story anticipated many problems that would plague Spider-Man in later issues.
5	** Part of the original impetus for the story, at least according to writer Gerry Conway, was to resolve the Gwen Stacy romance since she had become too close to Peter and realistically, as an OfficialCouple, they would eventually marry. This bleeds into the larger idea of whether Spider-Man should grow up past ComicBookTime, or remain young and hip and relatable; Conway firmly believed in the latter, hence this story. [[note]]Conway also saw Gwen as uninteresting compared to Mary-Jane and he stated later [[http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=47030 that the only reason people remember Gwen was because of her death]].[[/note]] Conway was a decent writer and the storyline worked out pretty well in the short-term, becoming a stunning WhamEpisode that was considered one of the best ''Spidey'' stories for decades. However, this just set the precedent for future writers who shared Conway's mindset to create increasingly convoluted ways of maintaining that status quo, since replacing Gwen with Mary Jane caused [[DidntThinkThisThrough the same problem to resurface]], only now love interest Mary Jane had PopularityPower which led to them getting married in the following years (much to [[http://www.geekcrusade.com/news/gerry-conway-interview/9923 Conway's dismay]]). The most well-known examples of this are the various retcons within ''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga'' and the universally reviled DealWithTheDevil in ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay''. [[https://www.spidermancrawlspace.com/interviews/mackie4.htm As a later writer]], Howard Mackie pointed out:
6	---> "Now many people would say that the biggest mistake of the Spider-Man continuity was the marriage. I would argue that things went askew earlier on with the Death of Gwen Stacy. One of the best stories ever written, but I think from that moment on Mary Jane and Peter were destined to get married. We had the perfect triangle between Gwen, Peter and Mary Jane. One which could have been exploited for years to come. No death = no marriage = no baby = no clones."
7	** Likewise, by having Peter fail to save his LoveInterest, the writers set up such a ShockingDefeatLegacy for Peter that they couldn't add on to it without making him too much of a FailureHero. Conway's idea of killing Gwen was merely a [[ItOnlyWorksOnce one-time solution]] to the problem of whether or not Peter should age. Later writers tried to mimic it, with the death of at least one would-be love-interest ("The Death of Jean [=DeWolff=]") whose connection to Peter and circumstances of her actual death added to SurvivorsGuilt for Peter but not the same sense of failure. Likewise, after Peter and MJ got married, they tried to spin a story that Mary Jane had actually been killed in an aircraft accident, albeit in a NeverFoundTheBody manner that added to Peter's frustration ''and'' his failure, making him such a sad-sack that it made his books cross into TooBleakStoppedCaring.
8	** The storyline also becomes a problem for adaptation due to Gwen Stacy herself. The main reason it happened was because the writer and Marvel's editorial team considered Gwen bland and uninteresting, and thus expendable. Later writers would treat her as Peter's TheLostLenore, giving her more characterization posthumously, but it doesn't stop the fact that her very appearance in any piece of Spider-Man media has the audience just wondering [[ForegoneConclusion when she's going to be killed off]], to the point where one of ComicBook/SpiderGwen's major worries is whether or not she's equally doomed to that fate like so many other Gwens across the multiverse. ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'' writers said they had no plans to use Gwen as she would be "fated to die," only having an AU version of her in the final episodes. When ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderManSeries'' made Peter and Gwen's romance a centerpiece of the films, her death in the second film was criticized for both being predictable and as a standard status quo shake-up. Meanwhile, Greg Weisman had no plans to kill Gwen Stacy in ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'', while ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'' did kill off their Gwen Stacy before later bringing her back as a clone-but-not-really that was treated as the real Gwen.
9	* FanDislikedExplanation: The idea that Peter caused Gwen's death by himself which was floated by later editors and columns, and which outright contradicts the dialogue (Norman saying that the fall killed her from that height) and is liked by some fans for its daring SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome is not one popular among others. They point out that this effectively makes Gwen's death not as a result of actual tragic decisions and circumstances (Goblin knowing Spider-Man's identity, Peter sparing him and giving him a second chance, Gwen not knowing about the double life and the danger she was in) that led up to it, but an accident of incompetence on Peter's part. It outright contradicts a number of moments in earlier comics where superhero physics were played straight, and it also means that the righteous fury and anger Peter falls into in Issue 122 is not merited. Conway himself says that the "snap" sound-effect is meant for readers only and that on a narrative level Goblin did kill her and there was no way Spider-Man could ever have saved her by doing anything different.
10	* HarsherInHindsight:
11	** When, at the end of ASM #122, Mary Jane attempts to console the grief-stricken Peter and mentions how she herself is torn up by Gwen's death, he tries to brush her off by saying she would not even care if her own mother died. About ten years later, she would reveal that her mother had already died prior to their first meeting.
12	** The fact that [[spoiler:Flash Thompson]] is on the cover art of this issue becomes this when the 2018 story line ''ComicBook/GoDownSwinging'' ends with the character dying at the hands of Norman Osborn's Red Goblin avatar.
13	** Let's see, a famous comic book about a prominent female ally of a superhero being attacked by his most prominent enemy, [[NotSoHarmlessVillain a colorful but dangerous character]] defined by a color scheme of green and purple and known to be prone to [[LaughingMad fits of cackling]], in an infamous crossing of the MoralEventHorizon to spite said hero and his other allies? [[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke Does that sound familiar to you?]] (What makes this connection even tighter is the fact that after Gwen Stacy is killed, Spider-Man, [[UnstoppableRage in a fit of rage]], swears to kill the Green Goblin. [[ComicBook/TheJoker "All it takes is one bad day..."]], indeed!)
14	* HypeBacklash: On account of its status as "the best Spider-Man" story and so on. By the 2010s, ''Spidey'' fans began seeing it less as a daring SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome, and more as the first of Marvel's WriterOnBoard attempts to keep Peter from maturing and growing up; not to mention being the precursor, if not a straight example of the StuffedIntoTheFridge trope. Between the popularity of ''ComicBook/SpiderGwen'' and Creator/EmmaStone's performance in ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderManSeries'', some have called for the mainline universe Gwen Stacy to be resurrected for good.
15	* ItWasHisSled: Gwen Stacy's death, though it was not as well-known by general audiences as other parts of the ''Spider-Man'' mythos until ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' films. This isn't helped by the [[SpoilerTitle spoiler being the title itself]]. While the title isn't shown until the [[CloseOnTitle end of the issue]] in which she dies, any trade paperback collection that includes the plotline will definitely have it listed as such.
16	* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: Fans on seeing the cover of the comic with the portraits of different members of Spider-Man's supporting cast would have scoffed at seeing J. Jonah Jameson and Flash Thompson as the list of people whose death could upset Spider-Man since obviously killing off these SitcomArchnemesis would erode tension and impact from the stories going forward and the loss of neither would grieve Spider-Man greatly except in the token sense.
17	* MisBlamed:
18	** According to Gerry Conway, he, [[ImprobableAge at the age of around 19 when he wrote this story]], became this for killing Gwen Stacy where Marvel received a bunch of comments, and vitriol, and Stan Lee passed the buck by saying that he wasn't involved and that it was Conway who came up with the story... which is true. However, Conway insists that while Stan Lee wasn't involved with the actual story, he ''was'' fully aware of the idea and approved it from the start.
19	** Conway also pointed out in a 2016 Podcast for Spider-Man Crawlspace that there were plans well underway before he came in to kill of a major supporting character (something which needed the approval of not only the writer but the artist, lead art director, EIC and others), and that he didn't necessarily set out to kill Gwen. He merely tossed her name into the debate and everyone agreed that she was the best choice in being simultaneously emotionally significant to both Peter and audience while also being expendable. He stated that had there been no plans for CharacterDeath he would have merely broken Peter and Gwen up and have her PutOnABus and make way for Peter and MJ, leaving later writers to come in and develop Gwen and built the LoveTriangle if they wished.
20	* MoralEventHorizon: The Goblin's murder of Gwen is perhaps ''the'' best known example for a Moral Event Horizon in the history of comic books. Not only because of the act itself, but because of his utter dismissal and even contempt for the value of Gwen's life.
21	* NeverLiveItDown:
22	** Some fans define the character of Norman Osborn by the crime he committed in this story, and less-informed fans define Gwen Stacy by this moment/her characterization during this moment. She's almost always remembered with the GirlNextDoor type characterization that she had [[CharacterizationMarchesOn at the time]] and is remembered as the "one who died", with many forgetting or being unaware of other aspects such as the fact that she ''hated'' Spider-Man but loved Peter (and was known for quoting Jameson positively), and that she blamed Spider-Man for her father's death. At least in Gwen's case, ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'' cartoon and ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' films reemphasized these forgotten character traits, while ''ComicBook/SpiderGwen'' carved out a completely different personality for the Gwen of that universe. An attempt was made in 2020 to rectify this with the (canon) five-issue ''Gwen Stacy'' miniseries, focusing on Gwen's life in high school before she met Peter.
23	** For a long time, this became one for Peter, cementing his FailureHero status. In ''ComicBook/{{Civil War\|2006}}'', Iron Man even refers to this instance as something that could have been avoided had Peter been registered and given training when he was young and inexperienced, while Alex Ross' ''ComicBook/{{Marvels}}'' elevates Spider-Man's failure to save Gwen as the ultimate EndOfAnAge.
24	* OlderThanTheyThink: According to Blake Bell's biography of Creator/SteveDitko (''Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko''), Ditko proposed to Lee a plotline to kill off Betty Brant for shock value and melodrama. Lee turned down Ditko, and Ditko later admitted that Lee was right about this, that such a move would make the stories too dark and add more emotional baggage on top of Uncle Ben's death. Ditko said that his idea would have had Betty die in an accident and not in a criminal situation.
25	* OnceOriginalNowCommon:
26	** At the time the story was released, TheHero failing to save the LoveInterest and said love interest getting killed for shock value was considered an unprecedented and bold move, especially since the ''Amazing Spider-Man'' comics at the time were known mainly for its low-stakes stories where there wasn't so much violence and death.[[note]]Though it's not ''actually'' unprecedented even within Marvel itself - about two years prior, [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor's]] love interest Lady Dorma had been killed off by a villain.[[/note]] It introduced real stakes and consequences, giving a sense that AnyoneCanDie, and this was a good decade before Creator/FrankMiller's ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'', ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke'', and ''ComicBook/ADeathInTheFamily''.
27	** Peter dealing with the grief and moving on with his life is considered a hallmark for his CharacterDevelopment to this day, as well as ComicBook/MaryJaneWatson and the other supporting cast, who were changed by this single event. Since then, killing love interests solely for the sake of giving the protagonist a hard time has become so cliché that an [[StuffedInTheFridge entire trope]] is dedicated to it, and this story can come across as somewhat bland and even insulting for modern readers.
28	** Gwen's death itself became so famous and influential that it spawned [[FollowTheLeader many more stories of superheroes' wives or girlfriends getting]] KilledOffForReal, which eventually lead to the StuffedIntoTheFridge trope that's so polarizing now to many readers, especially female ones. With the shock value now [[ItWasHisSled gone forever]], and with all the imitations since then, it can be hard for newer readers to understand what was so great about this story in the first place, as it serves as a textbook example of the trope: Gwen's barely in the issue that kills her off, the emotional drama of the story is centered around Peter, MJ, and Harry Osborn rather than Gwen's death, and the revived Green Goblin kills her just to hurt Peter Parker. It doesn't help that most people read this story as a standalone (as it's so often reprinted) divorced from the context of the prior five years worth of ''Spider-Man'' issues, thus finding it hard to see why Gwen was so important and special to Peter aside from being the DesignatedLoveInterest.
29	* ProtagonistTitleFallacy: Gwen Stacy is not the protagonist of the story of her death. She's not even the most significant female character (Mary Jane is).
30	* SignatureScene: The comic has three well-known scenes:
31	** The first is of course the bridge scene leading to Gwen falling down and Spider-Man trying to catch her with his webs, and the infamous "Snap" panel.
32	** The second is Green Goblin's death scene, being impaled by his own glider, recreated in the ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy''.
33	** The third one is the final panels with MJ and Peter, with MJ staying by Peter's side even after he lashes at her out of grief.
34	* TearJerker: Gwen's death and everyone's reaction to it. Still remains the ''second'' greatest loss in Peter's entire life.
35	-->'''Spider-Man''': I saved you, honey... don't you see? quietly I saved you...
36	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Even those who like Gwen Stacy's death and want her to stay dead point out that the tragedy of her passing feels hollow by the fact that she died both without knowing Peter is Spider-Man and lacking catharsis for her father's death. Later storylines such as the first Clone Saga and ''ComicBook/DeadNoMoreTheCloneConspiracy'' try to provide this CatharsisFactor, but these instances are more for Peter's benefit rather than her own character.
37	* ValuesDissonance: Peter refers to Gwen as "[[PropertyOfLove my woman]]," even in death, which wouldn't fly with modern sensibilities.

Context YMMV / TheNightGwenStacyDied