Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has just concluded its excellent first season. And already we’re getting a reveal of a major character to come in season two. Series showrunner Jeff Trammell revealed on his Instagram that iconic Marvel character Gwen Stacy will join Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man in season two. And she won’t just be one of Peter Parker’s supporting cast. She’ll be a superhero herself. This is far more in keeping with Gwen’s role as Ghost Spider/Spider-Gwen in modern Marvel Comics. This is in contrast to her original version, where she was Peter Parker’s girlfriend, who eventually tragically died.
Gwen’s new costume design has some similarities to her comic book counterpart, as well as her costume from the Spider-Verse films. They’ve kept her pink, black, white, and blue color scheme, but she’s now wearing a jacket as part of the ensemble. With the confirmation that this Gwen Stacy is herself a superhero, it probably answers the question of “Where did the spider go that bit Peter Parker?” In the first episode of the series, we saw it crawl into another student’s backpack. We just didn’t know which student. We suppose Gwen could receive her powers another way, but we suspect that spider is the culprit.
Gwen being a Spider-hero alongside a young Peter Parker is a departure from most versions of the character. In the mainstream 616 Earth, the Green Goblin kills Gwen Stacy. A different Gwen Stacy emerged from another universe in 2014 from Earth-65. In that reality, the radioactive spider bit her instead of Peter Parker. That is more or less the same version of the Into the Spider-Verse Gwen, voiced by Hailee Steinfeld. Only the Spidey and His Amazing Friends cartoon, which is aimed at pre-school age kids, has Gwen getting her powers alongside Peter and Miles Morales, who are all the same age. We look forward to Jeff Trammell’s spin on the character when the series returns for season two.