The
Spider-Man franchise has played with
I Let Gwen Stacy Die in different ways,
being the origin of the trope. And it all starts with the comic...
Comic Books
- Gwendolyn "Gwen" Stacy is the Trope Namer. In the story The Night Gwen Stacy Died, after Gwen (Spidey's Love Interest at the time) is thrown off a bridge by the Green Goblin, Spidey tries to use his webbing to save her... but pulls too quickly and snaps her neck. Her death had a particular impact on comic book fans because it was a rare and early example of an important character dying (and a subversion of Not the Fall That Kills You… to boot). As if the preventable death of Uncle Ben wasn't enough, Gwen's possibly preventable death sent Spider-Man spiraling into a whole new level of angst. He learned from Gwen's death to play out his web-lines so people he rescued would decelerate gradually, including Green Goblin trying it again with Mary Jane.
- Captain George Stacy (Gwen's father) found out Peter was Spider-Man, but died as a bystander during a fight Spider-Man had with Doctor Octopus. Peter's feelings of guilt strained his romance with Gwen.
- In the alternate-future mini-series Spider-Man: Reign, Peter falls into a deep, long depression after accidentally causing the death of his wife Mary Jane. The depth and duration of his despair keeps him from putting on his costume again until her ghost (or something like a ghost) tells him that her final words to him ("go...") were actually cut short. She really meant to say, "Go get 'em tiger" one more time so he would know she was proud of him and didn't blame him for her death.
- In Edge of the Spider-Verse #2, Gwen Stacy is bitten by a radioactive spider and becomes Spider-Woman, and Peter Parker dies on her watch in a Death by Origin Story. Peter decides to try to be more like her so she'll no longer have to protect him, but he ends up becoming the Lizard and going on a rampage. After Gwen subdues him, Peter dies in her arms after turning back to normal, as her toying with him during the fight allowed more time for the poisonous Lizard serum to fatally damage his organs. Gwen quickly becomes a fugitive who the general public believes killed an innocent teenage boy, and remains one for the majority of the Latour/Rodriguez/Renzi run of her solo series.
- A interesting version of this occurs in The Death of Jean DeWolff. However, the reason it's interesting is despite being a Spider-Man story, it isn't Peter himself blaming himself for Jean's death, but Daredevil when Judge Rosenthal is killed by the Sin-Eater after a brief tussle Matt had with the killer.
Films - Animation
- Spider-Man: Spider-Verse:
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse:
- Miles's uncle, Aaron Davis, a.k.a. the Prowler, dies at the hands of Kingpin after he refused to harm his nephew. The rest of the Spider-Gang also went through this trope, as they talk about the people they lost. The Gwen Stacy of Earth-65, Spider-Gwen, lost her Peter Parker when he became the Lizard and she had to kill him. While Spider-Ham doesn't share who he lost, he is the one to tearfully sum up this trope, quoted above, proving that no matter the Spider-Person, there will always be that Gwen Stacy.note A deleted scene showed that Spider-Ham lost his Uncle Frankfurter, but it was removed for being funny but inappropriate.
- Miles himself also has survivor's guilt after the Peter in his universe died to save him. While Miles is too inexperienced to be of actual help to him, he is still haunted by the death of his childhood hero and is determined to help his fellow Spiders in any way he can.
- Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: This trope is discussed throughout the movie. According to Miguel O'Hara, this trope is known as a "Canon Event", which is an event that each Spider-Person must go through in their hero journey, and has been prominently demonstrated as a Spider losing a loved one in the line of duty, with many examples such as the previously mentioned Uncle Aaron, the live-action Spider-Man films, and Spectacular. Part of the reason Gwen keeps her distance from Miles is that she knows a Gwen Stacy falling in love with a Spider-Man is a death knell, and Spider-Man India comes very close to losing either his girlfriend or Inspector Singh before Miles interferes (having not known about Canon Events at the time). Miles then realizing that his father is set to become the captain of the police force — and thus fated to be next in line — is what drives him to defy his fate, in spite of Miguel's claims that he can't change fate without his universe collapsing in on itself. Spider-Ham's line even echoes through Miles' head as he escapes from the enraged Miguel.
Films - Live-Action
- After Captain George Stacy died helping Spider-Man stop the Lizard in The Amazing Spider-Man, Peter's guilt over this event essentially plays out in this manner in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, as he struggles with his love for Gwen and his fears that his being Spider-Man will lead to her death. Towards the end of the film, Spider-Man finds himself trying to save Gwen from falling to her death in a clock tower whilst fighting off the Green Goblin; at the same time he knocks out the Goblin, however, the webline that Gwen is hanging from snaps and Spidey dives after her. Realizing he won't reach Gwen before she hits the floor, Peter fires a webline to Gwen and grabs hold of a pole to stop their falls, but the webline only reaches her right as she hits the ground, killed instantly. Peter's guilt and depression over not being able to save Gwen sees him quit being Spider-Man for 5 months.
- Really this trope is Peter's guiding principle in general, probably to a higher degree than in other adaptations. Peter starts out his superhero career because he believes he brought about Uncle Ben's death by forcing Ben to look for him on the streets of New York, resulting in the incident that got him shot (the incident he could have prevented). The Raimi-verse Peter sought revenge against the thug who shot his uncle but his actual heroic motivation is derived from wanting to honor Ben's last words whereas the Amazing universe Peter pushes on due to personal commitment (this explains his more crude and savage early attempts at being a hero, since he was more in it for himself, and what allows his Character Development to take place further on).
- This is discussed in Spider-Man: No Way Home when the other Spider-Men console Peter after Aunt May's murder by the Goblin. Webb Spider-Man states that he was in a dark place after Gwen's death and never forgave himself, and eventually stopped pulling his punches. Raimi Spider-Man recounts when he killed the thug he thought was responsible for Uncle Ben's death, and both of them assert that Revenge Is Not Justice and the best thing to do is keep moving forward. Webb Spider-Man later manages to save the MCU Peter's M.J. from a similar fate and is brought to tears, finally learning to forgive himself.
- Spider-Man Trilogy: Averted. Mary Jane is put in a situation similar to Gwen Stacy's in The Night Gwen Stacy Died, but Spider-Man saves her in time. In Spider-Man 3, Gwen Stacy almost falls to her death from off of a building, but stops herself from falling before Spider-Man saves her.
Western Animation
- In Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Mary Jane instead received the Gwen Stacyesque treatment, but through the less permanent method of being dropped into a portal. Spider-Man goes through similar emotional torment. The adaptation is taken even further: Mary Jane appears to return, and things proceed as normal and the two become Happily Married... and then MJ's revealed as a clone with the original's memories and dies in that two-parter and there is nothing Peter can do (clones don't live very long). The same thing that happened some years after Gwen's death in the comics: she returned, and was then revealed to be a clone made by the Jackal (meaning, the real Gwen was still dead and did not really return). During the final scene of the Grand Finale, Madame Web took him along so that they could find her, as a reward for saving The Multiverse; we don't see the actual reunion, but finding her is well within Madame Web's abilities.
- Word of God said that if they'd done another season, he'd have found her in Victorian England. He was satisfied with the conclusion though, so no Wangst about that on his end.
- Ironically enough, this was averted with Gwen Stacy of The Spectacular Spider-Man. The question of whether or not she would die was one of the most frequently asked of the fandom. Word of God stated after the series ended that they hadn't intended to kill her.
