Before Spider-Gwen Before the beginning of
Spider-Gwen, high school student Gwen Stacy was bitten by a radioactive spider. This granted her all of the quintessential Spider-Man powers, and Stacy began her career as Spider-Woman. In her regular life, she begins a relationship with Peter Parker, forms a friend group with Parker, and ostracizes new student
Harry Osborn, who is later revealed to have had a crush on her. Meanwhile, Peter becomes infatuated with Spider-Woman without knowing that she is Stacy. The bullied Peter's suffering worsens, and eventually, he creates a formula that turns him into a lizard mutant. On
prom night, after he is being bullied yet again, he injects himself with the formula and transforms, going psycho. Gwen Stacy dons her Spider-Woman costume and fights Peter, defeating and accidentally killing him. Peter regresses to his human form in Gwen's arms, telling her he just wanted to "be special" like her and prompting her to realize what she has done. She runs from the scene, creating the public misconception that Spider-Woman has murdered Peter Parker and is a menace to society and setting up the
Spider-Gwen series.
Volume 0 Before the "
Spider-Verse" storyline that introduced Spider-Gwen, Stacy's father
George Stacy was ordered as captain of the NYPD to hunt down and detain Spider-Woman, considered a public menace. Captain Stacy—unaware of Spider-Gwen's secret identity—is more than happy to do so. Upon hearing about this, the
Kingpin, one of New York's most prominent crime bosses, decides to ally himself with Spider-Gwen—for reasons unexplained—and apparently has his lawyer
Matt Murdock (
Daredevil on
Earth-616, the main Marvel universe) send the assassin
Aleksei Sytsevich to kill Captain Stacy. Gwen arrives and saves her father, who corners her at gunpoint. To avoid getting shot, she reveals to her father that she is Spider-Woman. After the "Spider-Verse" storyine, Gwen goes back to her ordinary life of bumming around by day and Spider-Woman-ing by night. Her father passes the Spider-Woman investigation on to Detective
Frank Castle. Suddenly, the villainous
Vulture appears, secretly working for the Kingpin, and causes trouble for Gwen (Spider-Ham appears for a short time as a hallucination because of an attack). Gwen defeats the Vulture and in the end, he is put away, Murdock continuing to influence him from behind bars. Frank Castle increases his efforts against Spider-Woman, becoming more and more ruthless. Castle eventually makes the connection with Spider-Woman's identity and enlists the help of
Kraven the Hunter to perform a siege on the Stacy house. Castle and Kraven brutally beat down Gwen after she gets her father to safety. The volume concludes when Gwen decides to take a stand against Castle and not run any longer, blindsiding him as he unmasks her while trying to get away.
Volume 1 Gwen is unsure of how secure her secret identity is as she hides from her father and awaits the recollection of Frank Castle. Her problems are put to the side when a Lizard appears on the streets, seemingly having taken something similar to Peter Parker's formula. The dog of Spider-Gwen's "arch-nemesis", the Bodega Bandit, is eaten by the Lizard. Tracking the Lizard into the sewer, Spider-Woman encounters a pack of Lizard-Men. Earth 65's
Captain America, Samantha Wilson, shows up to capture the Lizards and Spider-Gwen as well. Gwen battles the Captain while avoiding the Lizards. Gwen saves CA from the Lizards and they part ways on good terms. After a quick chat with
Jessica Drew of Earth-616, Gwen and the Mary Janes go on a camping trip where Harry Osborn makes a surprise appearance. He explains his connection with
S.H.I.E.L.D. and his motive to go after Spider-Woman. He appears nights later in a green mechanical suit accompanied by an army of orange robots to kill Spider-Woman. After an issue-long battle, Harry sets off an explosion to even the playing field. As Gwen lies on the floor, Harry drinks a vial of the Lizard formula and unmasks her to his surprise. After an issue break from the fight, involving a story line of George Stacy conversing with Matt Murdock, Gwen resumes her fight with a now-mutated Harry Osborn with the assistance of Captain America. Gwen eventually convinces Harry that he is in the wrong and allows him to run from S.H.I.E.L.D. Gwen reconciles with her father in the end and he quits his job.
Volume 2 autographing copies of
Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider at an April 2026 signing at
Midtown Comics in Manhattan Following the events of the 2016 "Spider-Women" storyline, Gwen is left limited to seven temporary uses of her powers, which she can activate through a device on her wrist. She attends a rock concert with her friends, then visits the recently reconstructed Dollar Dog. While there, she is attacked by Frank Castle, and left with no other choice, uses one of her power-ups to take him down, before fleeing the scene, and spending the night at her father's place. The next day, Gwen and her father are attacked by Kraven the Hunter and Frank Castle. During the fight, Gwen's device is damaged by Kraven, and although she and her father escape, Frank Castle makes off with one of her six remaining power-ups. After having her device repaired by Earth 65's Reed Richards, Gwen suits up and prepares to go after Frank Castle. In an intense fight, Frank Castle manages to escape, and after coming to her aid, Gwen's father turns himself in for assisting Spider-Woman. Two weeks later, Gwen is approached by Matt Murdock, Earth 65's Kingpin, who she makes a deal with. He will defend her dad in court as a lawyer, but in return, Spider-Woman will work for him. To celebrate halloween, and get her mind off her problems, Gwen and her friends go trick-or treating, and explore an abandoned carnival. Here, Gwen is confronted by a zombified Peter Parker, calling her out on her failures. However, this is revealed to be a hallucination caused by a strange gas. ==Characters==