Gwen Stacy (The Amazing Spider-Man Films)

Note: This page was for the incarnation of Gwen Stacy from 2012 movie and 2014 sequel. The various other versions can be found here: Gwen Stacy
 
Gwendolyne Maxine "Gwen" Stacy is the deuteragonist of 's . 
She was the classmate and deceased girlfriend of Peter Parker, and the daughter of the late chief police officer, George Stacy. Gwen was also a senior research officer at Oscorp industries.
She was played by who also played Olive Penderghast in Easy A, Eep Crood in The Croods, Skeeter in the 2011 film adaptation of the novel The Help, Cruella De Vil in the 2021 black comedy crime film Cruella, and Natalie Williams in The House Bunny. In The Amazing Spider-Man video game, she was voiced by .
==Biography==
===The Amazing Spider-Man===
"You see a lot of things when you work at Oscorp," Gwen Stacy once told Peter Parker in the midst of her internship under the tutelage of Curt Connors. At that point, the two were merely flirtatious classmates; Gwen once stopped high school bully Flash Thompson from beating up Peter just because he wouldn't take a picture of another boy getting bullied. However, their relationship was one that would truly blossom in the months to come. Just as things were getting interesting, however, the Lizard incident occurred.
When the Lizard planned to use reptilian DNA to turn the entirety of New York into humanoid lizards, Gwen helped Peter stop his plan by firstly, clearing out Oscorp when Lizard was on his way to get the serum he had made and then making a cure for the serum. Gwen hid in a small vent to prepare for the Lizard's arrival.
When the beast arrived, it sensed Gwen's presence and started searching for her. After finding her, Gwen jumped and, out of reaction, pulled out a small blowtorch and fired at the Lizard. He left, leaving Gwen unharmed, having already retrieved what he needed and left.
Soon, Peter revealed to Gwen his secret identity of Spider-Man and, soon after, the Lizard would take the life of her beloved father, Captain George Stacy, whose dying wish to Peter was that the two remain apart for her own protection. Peter had chosen to trust Gwen with his identity, mainly because, at the time, he thought she was the only friend he had.
Gwen later confronted Peter about her father's wish for them to be apart, but Peter was unresponsive to everything she had to ask at the moment. Despite this, Peter still chose to talk to Gwen and stay friends.
===The Amazing Spider-Man 2===
While Spider-Man is in pursuit of criminals through the city, Gwen calls Peter on the phone who tells him that he is late. Gwen then makes a speech to her fellow class-mates and their families. Afterwards, Peter meets Gwen at their high school graduation ceremony where the two share a kiss. Gwen and Peter talk where she invites him to dinner before she is called by her mother for a family photo. Later in the evening, Peter tells Gwen about the visions he's been having and insists that he needs to keep his promise which as a result, Gwen breaks up with Peter.
Gwen is seen then working at Oscorp and meets Max Dillion in an elevator which she finds out is his birthday and is obsessed with Spider-Man. Peter later meets Gwen in attempt to maintain a friendship which they establish some 'ground rules'. Gwen tells Peter that an opportunity to Oxford means she has to move to England. Before the two can discuss it, Max accidentally shuts off the power to Times Square whilst looking for electricity to power himself. As Electro reveals himself as Max, Gwen recognizes him and later tries to find his file at Oscorp, but the file has been erased. Gwen is then chased by security for trying to find his file and runs into Peter who says he was with Harry. As Gwen goes to the elevator, Peter distracts the security guards and Gwen then meets Harry who tells her that Peter is always complicated, but that is why he needs her. 
Peter then receives a voicemail message from Gwen, telling him that she got into Oxford University and was heading to the airport to fly there earlier than expected because of an earlier class. Peter manages to catch her and professes his love for her, and the two agree to go to England together. They are interrupted by a blackout caused by Electro. Peter takes Gwen down where the police are and Gwen helps him with his web-shooters to go against Electro. Peter heads off to fight with Electro having the upper-hand. As Electro has Spider-Man in the air and is electrocuting him, Gwen comes in a police car and hits Electro, against Peter's demands. 
The two plan to defeat Electro by overloading his electricity supply. Just after they do so, Harry Osborn arrives, now as the Green Goblin, and figures out Spider-Man’s identity and that he wants revenge for being refused the life saving blood transfusion. Goblin takes Gwen and drops her where Spider-Man catches her. The two fight at the top of a clock tower, and Spider-Man manages to subdue the Goblin. However, during the fight, Gwen falls and is supported by a web connected to one of the gears. The gears gives way which causes to cut the web, and Gwen again falls. Goblin is then defeated and Peter tries to save Gwen using his web. As Peter webs to catch her, she hits her head on the floor, dying instantly from the impact.
Five months pass and Spider-Man is nowhere to be seen in New York, as Peter spends every day at Gwen's grave. Peter is inspired by a recording of Gwen's graduation speech and makes his return as Spider-Man to fight Rhino.
===Spider-Man: No Way Home===
When Peter was transported to the MCU universe, he would recall losing Gwen, referring to her as his "MJ" to his alternate selves. He also told MCU Peter that her death was the reason for his bitter personality and that he stopped punches. Though he failed to save Gwen, Peter managed to save MCU Spider-Man's girlfriend Michelle Jones, allowing to him receive some closure from his previous failure and so MCU Peter won't lose another loved one, as well as going through the same pain he went to.
=== Potential Survival in an Alternate Reality ===
Peter's experience in Earth-199999, in which he helps cure Max and Dr. Connors and gives Harry his blood, preventing his transformation into the Green Goblin, creates a branched timeline/universe. It is possible that Gwen survives in at least one of these branched timelines/universes, which could give Peter a chance to be with Gwen.
==Trivia==
*Although dying in the actual film, in the non-canon video game Gwen isn't killed by Green Goblin or is present during Peter's confrontation with him therefore is still alive in that continuity.
*Gwen Stacy was also signed up to appear in The Amazing Spider-Man 3, although her role is unknown. In the end, as Sony made a deal with Marvel to reboot the Spider-Man franchise to include the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
*Ashley Greene, Mia Wasikowska, Scout Taylor-Compton, Teresa Palmer, Amber Heard, Dianna Agron, Brooklyn Decker, Imogen Poots, Lindsay Lohan, Emma Roberts, Emily Browning, Lily Collins, Anna Kendrick, Ophelia Lovibond, Sara Paxton, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Georgina Haig, Hilary Duff and Dominique McElligott were considered for the role of Gwen Stacy, but were beaten out by Emma Stone.
*Gwen Stacy had blue eyes in the comics, but in this movie, she has green eyes.
*Emma Stone was originally considered to be in 21 Jump Street (2012) but in order to be in The Amazing Spider-Man, she had to drop out.
*Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone got to know each other in a coffee shop, which would eventually lead them to be dating in real life.
*Emma Stone normally wears her hair red, but as Gwen Stacy she appears in her natural blonde. Her The Help (2011) co-star Bryce Dallas Howard, who played the same role in Spider-Man 3 (2007), is a natural redhead who had to dye her hair blonde.
*Emma Stone personally wrote Gwen's graduation speech.
*When asked about Gwen's relationship to Peter, Emma Stone told Total Film that: "She saves him more than he saves her. She's incredibly helpful to Spider-Man. He's the muscle, she's the brains".
*Gwen says to Spider-Man, "What are you, a caveman?" (She's suggesting he's a male chauvinist pig). This may be a nod to Emma Stone's role in The Croods (2013) where she played a caveman's daughter.
*When Spider-Man ties Gwen's hand to the cop car hood with a web and swings away, Gwen yells "Peter!" after him and covers her mouth with her hand. This was a genuine mistake by Emma Stone, who was supposed to say "Spider-Man" instead of "Peter", and covering her mouth at the mistake was the genuine reaction of the actress, not the character. Director Marc Webb called it a happy accident and left it in because it was so well performed that it did not break character.
*Towards the end of the film, Gwen Stacy wears a mint colored coat and a purple skirt, very similar to what she was wearing when she died in the comic book.
*When asked whether or not Gwen Stacy would survive in this film, Marc Webb commented: "There are times where we feel obligated to follow the source material, and there are times where we feel the need to deviate from it, and besides, Emma Stone is a very talented actress, and we like having her around".
*Marc Webb originally was going to change the ending and let Gwen live but had to give credit to Stan Lee and directly followed Gwen's death scene. This particular scene became very hard for Andrew Garfield to watch because according to him "it felt so real it hurt me to watch someone I love so dearly - die!".
*According to emails leaked during the 2014 Sony Pictures hack, prior to the cancellation of the series in favor of a Marvel Cinematic Universe reboot, Gwen Stacy would have been resurrected in sequels to The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as an amnesiac antagonist, Carnage, with Emma Stone in negotiations to reprise her role.
*Originally, there were plans to bring back Emma Stone for her to appear in Spider-Man: No Way Home and Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson, alongside Rosemary Harris and Sally Field as the variants of Aunt May respectively. However, this never came to fruition due to both the COVID-19 pandemic and Stone's pregnancy at the time.
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