It all started with a pun. In 2015, Marvel spun off the Gwen Stacy of Earth-65 into her own comic, Spider-Gwen, set in an alternate reality where Peter Parker died and Gwen was the web-slinging superhero Spider-Woman. That same year, Marvel launched a Spider-Gwen-inspired Gwen Variants cover series imagining Gwen — Peter Parker’s first true love who tragically died at the hands of the Green Goblin in 1973’s classic The Amazing Spider-Man #121 — as a variety of Marvel heroes.
But one mashup proved to be as popular as Spider-Gwen herself: Gwenpool. Amazing Spider-Man and Deadpool artist Chris Bachalo’s cover for Marvel’s Secret Wars tie-in series, Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars #2, imagined a Gwen Stacy-Deadpool character lounging in a pool. She made a splash with cosplayers, so Marvel had Gwenpool make her official first appearance in a backup story included in the Chip Zdarsky-penned run of Howard the Duck in 2015.
The three-part “Ms. Poole if You’re Nasty,” from writer Chris Hastings and artist Danilo Beyruth, revealed that Gwenpool was from a world (the “real world”) where the inhabitants of the Marvel Universe were comic book characters, and that she wasn’t an amalgamation of Spider-Man’s dead girlfriend and the regenerating degenerate Wade Wilson. In fact, she wasn’t a Gwen Stacy or a Wade Wilson at all: Gwenpool was Gwendolyn “Gwen” Poole, and so her name was a portmanteau.
When Marvel announced in February that Gwen Stacy would be resurrected in a new five-issue comic series titled Gwenpool, fans were confused. Why bring back the original Gwen Stacy as a Gwen-Deadpool hybrid if the original Gwenpool is neither a Gwen Stacy nor a Deadpool?
Gwenpool #1 (2025) variant cover by greg land
“What an absolute honor! To tear both Gwenpool AND Spider-Man’s worlds apart? Yes please,” writer Cavan Scott said when announcing Gwenpool. “Gwen Stacy is back from the grave and deadlier than ever. Weapon-X style abilities? Check. A line in killer put-downs? You’ve got it. “This is NOT the Gwen you remember. But just who is behind her miraculous resurrection? And what has happened to the original Gwenpool’s usually careful existence? Add Kate Bishop and Jeff the Land Shark to the mix and you have the Marvel series of my dreams!”
On partnering with Batman artist Stefano Nesi in his Marvel Comics debut, Scott added, “I couldn’t ask for a better partner than Stefano Nesi on art! Mega-violence has never been so much fun, each frenzied attack brought to dark, brooding life by Matt Milla’s blistering colors. Monsters, mayhem and murder await as Spider-Man and Kate learn that nothing—or no one—is sacred!”
Below, get a look at the soon-to-be-undead Gwen Stacy in Gwenpool, which guest stars Spider-Man, Kate Bishop’s Hawkeye, Fin Fang Foom, and Jeff the Land Shark. The five-issue series is on sale monthly starting May 14.
GWENPOOL IS BACK AND MORE DANGEROUS THAN EVER! Everyone’s favorite reality-twister’s life is changing, becoming darker…grittier…and bringing her own brand of hyper-violent justice to a battle-strewn NYC! Who is this dark Gwenpool? And what has she got to do with the Spectacular Spider-Man? Guest-starring: Fin Fang Foom AND Jeff the Land Shark – this one will shock you to your core!
On sale: May 14
ENTER…WEAPON EX! Gwenpool faces her deadly doppelganger as New York burns. Who is the mysterious Architect, and what are his plans for the Marvel universe? Guest-starring: The Spectacular Spider-Man and Kate Bishop!
On sale: June 18
WORLD WITHOUT A GWENPOOL! The funeral of Gwendolyn Poole. Two graves. Two bodies. Two restless souls. Peter Parker finds himself trapped in the past as Kate Bishop faces a future without her friend. The new Gwenpool’s world takes a dark turn…toward vengeance!
On sale: July 23
It all started with a pun. In 2015, Marvel spun off the Gwen Stacy of Earth-65 into her own comic, Spider-Gwen, set in an alternate reality where Peter Parker died and Gwen was the web-slinging superhero Spider-Woman. That same year, Marvel launched a Spider-Gwen-inspired Gwen Variants cover series imagining Gwen — Peter Parker’s first true Read More