The following contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, now playing in theaters.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse pulls liberally from all sorts of characters and stories from Marvel Comics, serving as the cinematic debut for a whole host of multiversal Spider-Man variants. One of the most comics-accurate storylines belongs to the version of Gwen Stacy often referred to as Spider-Gwen. The fan-favorite character gets an extended focus in the film, playing a role as a romantic interest, reluctant foil, and determined friend to Miles Morales.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse gives Gwen Stacy an extended showcase, exploring the origins of the cinematic version of the character. It turns out her backstory follows many of the same beats as her original comic book counterpart but with one major tweak: her father discovering her identity becomes a far more complicated issue than it did in the comics. It's a clever addition to her backstory and plays into the overall themes of the surrounding film.
How Across the Spider-Verse Changes Spider-Gwen's Origin
The opening segment of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse explores the origins of Gwen Stacy, aka the Spider-Woman who appeared in Into the Spider-Verse. Her backstory largely follows many of the same story beats as her comic book counterpart: after being bitten by a radioactive spider, Gwen becomes a masked hero instead of her best friend, Peter Parker. His lingering self-doubt propels him to become the Lizard of this timeline, and an accident during his first face-off with Gwen gets him killed.
The world at large -- and George Stacy in particular -- come to believe it's Spider-Woman's fault. This gives Gwen additional motivation in keeping her identity a secret from her father. However, the comics and the film differ on how this secret plays out. Gwen's first full comic appearance in Edge of Spider-Verse #2 (by Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez, Rico Renzi, and Clayton Cowles) saw her reveal her identity to her father after defeating the Rhino of her timeline. Shaken by the revelation, her father kept his trust in her and allowed her to escape. This led to a greater character depth for George as he wrestled with this information, and what it meant for him and his daughter. By contrast, a similar beat happens in Across the Spider-Verse.
After working alongside the multiversal Jessica Drew and Miguel O'Hara to defeat the Renaissance-inspired Vulture, George Stacy corners an exhausted and injured Gwen. She reveals her identity to him, but this only gives him a brief pause before he continues his pursuit of her. Refusing to believe her claims of innocence, George is only prevented from arresting his daughter by Miguel and Jessica bringing her across dimensions. This leaves Gwen in a far more emotionally wounded place and is a clever tweak to her story.
The Tweaks To Spider-Gwen's Origin Improve Her Story
Tweaking Gwen's backstory in this manner is a great twist on her comic origins. It gives Gwen a real desire to remain with the Spider-Society since returning home risks ruining her whole life. Thus, Gwen becomes willing to follow the orders of Miguel and Jessica, even going so far as to avoid Miles for months on their orders. This is despite now having the perfect means to be reunited with him. It also gives Gwen genuine stakes by remaining part of the group.
The risk of being sent home to an antagonistic father serves to keep Gwen largely in line with the morally gray rules of allowing Canon Events to come to pass, even when they kill people. It plays into the film's overall themes of confronting the cost of being a hero, and the impact it can have on one's life. It also adds complexity to George when the film does bring Gwen back to her home reality. George has clearly been forced to confront what he did, why he did it and why he kept it a secret from the rest of the force.
Across the Spider-Verse ultimately resolves this emotional beat by bringing things closer in line with Gwen and George's comic relationship. After a conversation about responsibility and heroism, George and Gwen share a tight embrace that highlights their enduring familial love. George expresses his faith in her, even if her path as Spider-Woman leaves him concerned. But by adding complexity to their relationship and making that acceptance a part of their character growth instead of just a quick development, Across the Spider-Verse adds a great touch of drama to a storyline that has to quickly cover the pain of Gwen's situation.
To see the changes made to Spider-Gwen, Across the Spider-Verse is in theaters now.