GWEN-VENGERS

First appearance: Debatable

Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #1 is when the first two members team-up, the name is coined in Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #3 by an enemy Black 13, used by the group formally in Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #5

Membership: Ghost Spider, Thorgwen, Captain America, Wolverine, Iron G.W.E.N., Nightbird, Erma

Leader: Ghost Spider
Associates: Spider-Zero

BEFORE

• In an alternate timeline, the villainess Finale was born. Her mother was a gifted poet, though she never found success. Finale had the ability, seemingly from early childhood, of precognition. She found herself searching various future timelines but could not find anyone other than her that remembered her mother's art. All alternate timelines, instead, seemed to rotate around super-heroes. While she was using her powers to view the reality of “Ghost Rider 3000,” her mother suffered a stroke and died. Rejecting the possibility of obscurity for herself, she used her “foresight” to garner wealth, understand trends and become an influencer/popstar.
• [Note: Finale's mother had a striking familiarity to Gwen Stacy. Potentially, her mother was intended to be Gwen's own late mother or alternatively she was a “Gwen” herself. If Finale is a variant of Gwen, which seems more likely, she may have been a Gwen Stacy/Destiny or Gwen Stacy/Madame Web combination as her powers seem to mirror these women. [Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #3]
• Due to too much multiversal travel and the Chrono Wars, Finale's timeline was on the verge of collapse and likely to take the rest of the multiverse with it. [Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #1] Finale believed that time would reset though and wanted to project templates of herself back through time, taking on the roles of iconic superheroes of the past (Thor, Captain America, Wolverine, Captain Marvel, Iron Man). To this end, through undisclosed means, she managed to rescue Dr. Cephalopod from his dying universe. She funded Cephalopod's arcane research on time and space etc. She also rescued five other super-villains from dying universes to serve as her henchmen. Their group was called the Terminal Six.
• Ghost Spider (or Spider-Gwen) hails from Earth-65. She is an alternate reality version of Gwen Stacy, the late love of Spider-Man. In this reality, she was the one bitten by the radioactive spider and became Spider-Woman (though she later changed the name). She is also a drummer in the band the Mary Janes. [Edge of Spider-Verse #2] During the Spider-Verse event, Ghost-Spider made superhuman friends on Earth-616 and later acquired the tech to transport through dimensions so she could see her peers. Her own reality, in her words, is “low super” and she often feels misunderstood by her father and her “local” friends. Her identity as “Ghost Spider” is public knowledge on Earth-65.
• Nightbird was created during a reality warp on Earth-616 by Phil Coulson and Mephisto, using the Pandemonium Cube. In this reordered world, the Squadron Supreme of America were the premier superhuman team and everyone worshiped Mephisto. Gwen had a friendship with their founding member, Nighthawk, and his original sidekick Falcon, in their civilian identities. After her father and Falcon both died, she became Nighthawk's new protege. Seemingly, she was a very effective heroine, apprehending many criminals, despite having no super-powers. She also led a dual life as a psychiatrist at the Ravencroft Asylum, in which she tried to rehabilitate the criminals she caught. After some time as a hero, she was exposed to Goblin Gas by Norman Osborn and corrupted/went insane. Her fate after this was not revealed, however the changes made to reality were eventually undone by the Avengers and her world was apparently erased. [Heroes Reborn (2nd Series) #5, Heroes Reborn: Marvel Double Action #1, Heroes Reborn: Night-Gwen #1]

REAL WORLD

• Following the successful introduction of “Spider-Gwen,” Marvel issued a wave of covers in 2015, featuring Gwen Stacy versions of other popular Marvel heroes. The variants were a big hit and most of the Gwens in Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #1 had some sort of precursor version from this cover series. A further group of “A-Gwen-Gers” was seen in Gwen Stacy #1. This group of Gwens were based on a number of male Avengers who “fight for your right to party across the multiverse.” These Gwens were also apparently a musical group. They were a likely inspiration for the series as well.

CHRONOLOGY

At the end of time, Finale, the Ultimate Artist, was giving a goodbye concert to all her fans. In the audience were the pet Erma and her owners Zuck and Toob. Finale asked her fans to plug in their emoters to see her penultimate meme. Zuck and Toob were delighted to see that Finale had used an image of Erma, making her instantly a star. With the end of time approaching, Finale announced her plan to copy herself into the place of several heroes throughout history (Wolverine, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and Captain Marvel) using a device called the Finalizer. As she finished speaking, the Terminal Six returned to her universe with the time-related artifacts that were required to power the Finalizer, such as the Exiles' Tallus, Dr. Doom's time platform, the Sphinx Ka Stone, Kang's timeship and the Pidgeon's time egg. One artifact missing was Cable's sentient chronoputer; Finale's agent Kid Carcass had failed to retrieve it (Cable shot him in the head). Dr. Cephalopod advised Finale not to activate the Finalizer as, without this final piece, the results could be unpredictable. Finale went ahead anyway and announced to her fans she had modified their emoters. Over the years, she had given them a piece of her, now it was time for them to repay her. The emoters drained the fans of their lifeforce, petrifying them all and powering the Finalizer. Erma was the only survivor of the massacre, being able to do nothing else but hide. 

Finale started to walk towards a portal, expecting to be immortalized throughout time. However, as Cephalopod predicted, something went wrong. Ghost Spider had just opened a portal to Earth-616 and was hit by a temporal blast. Falling through reality, she was saved by Spider-Zero, who caught her. Spider-Zero brought her home to Earth-65 but it was radically changed. There was Norse iconography everywhere, superhumans were banned, New York had become a police state with even her own father becoming a robotic cop. Spider-Zero was able to figure out (though she was still unaware of the cause) that Ghost Spider had been hit by a temporal blast, which had fragmented her timeline causing different versions of “Gwen” to have appeared throughout history.

Spider-Zero sent Ghost Spider to Norway approximately 800 C.E. She had traced the first disruption to this point in time. As Ghost Spider arrived, the villagers started chanting “Thor” at her. Clearly, she was in the right place. She found Thorgwen drinking in the local tavern. It would have been hard not to find her, as she was incredibly loud, boastful and narcissistic. Ghost Spider even witnessed her criticize a local artist for failing to capture her posterior correctly. As Thorgwen was about to demonstrate her powers to the masses, fearing that this moment caused the deviation, Ghost-Spider leapt from the shadows and stole her hammer. [Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #1] Ghost-Spider was unable to defeat Thorgwen through raw power but she was able to manipulate her by exploiting her greatest weakness, her vanity. She explained the concept of photography and that there was potential in another time period of creating an accurate representation of her caboose. Successfully convinced, Thorgwen and Ghost Spider were off to 1951 to meet the next Gwen.

In this revised timeline, Gwen Rogers, an orphan, was inspired by the missing Captain America (Samantha Wilson). She became a scientist and managed to recreate the super soldier serum, becoming the second Captain America. Captain Gwen represented Ghost-Spider’s more philanthropic nature and wanted to help people. However, she came into her power in peacetime and was relegated to things like appearing at state fairs and signing autographs. Given her love of comic books, she quickly accepted Ghost-Spider and Thorgwen's tale and was willing to team-up. However, she was just as quickly derailed. A nude calendar was being circulated of her. She knew she had not posed for the photographs and couldn't comprehend its existence. Thorgwen, meanwhile, was delighted feeling someone had correctly captured “her” derriere. The delight enraged the Captain and the two soon sparred, which resulted in the Captain leaving the area.

The Captain journeyed to the publishing house in New York City to try to solve the mystery. The company was in the midst of a costume party, so it was easy to sneak in. She confronted the publisher but was attacked by yet another Gwen, this variant one of Wolverine. Wolverine had posed for the photos to humiliate the Captain. She was disgusted by her as she had turned herself into a weapon by recreating the super soldier serum, whereas Wolverine, as a mutant, had been turned into a weapon against her will by the Canadian government. As Wolverine appeared to be attempting to deliver a killing blow to the Captain, she was snagged by Ghost-Spider and Thorgwen, who had tracked them down. Before any conversations could take place, two of Finale's agents, Roach-Man and Fossil, teleported into the party. Finale had sent the Terminal Six to different time periods so they could kill the copied Gwens. She believed their deaths would allow her the opportunity to usurp their places in the time periods. Roach-man impaled Wolverine but, given her healing factor, she survived. The Captain actually leapt to her defense and took on Roach-man, while Thorgwen destroyed Fossil. Wolverine soon got her second wind and impaled Roach-Man with her claws. The Gwens were now a foursome and teleported back to Spider-Zero's pocket dimension. [Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #2] The Gwens were at disarray and constantly bickering, much to the frustration of their de facto leader, Ghost-Spider. Luckily, Spider-Zero located their next time period/Gwen before they came to further blows.

It was 1983 and the Gwens were going to Las Vegas! The fourth Gwen went by Toni Stacy. She was one of the founders of the OSS tech company along with her adoptive father, Howard Stark, and their business partner, Norman Osborn. The Gwen's snuck into the convention and witnessed as Toni was unveiled in a futuristic battle suit. Her triumph was quickly soured, as two other members of the Terminal Six had arrived too. Black 13 used a voodoo doll to have Toni attack the crowd, while she and Glam Goblin engaged the rest of the Gwens. The situation became even more dire when Norman Osborn suffered a breakdown, apparently traumatized by seeing Wolverine. He had been inadvertently injured by her as a child during the battle in 1950s New York. The Glam Goblin took advantage of this and convinced him to abscond with Toni. Through undisclosed means, Norman had actually gained superpowers and had been more unstable than anyone in this life had realized. As he raged, Toni had no choice but use her new power suit on him, inadvertently killing him. Tearfully, she left with the rest of the Gwens back to Spider Zero's pocket dimension. The battle in Las Vegas had been witnessed by the Kree, who assumed the Skrulls were active on Earth. Their best agent, Captain Marvel, had recently passed away. The Supreme Intelligence of the Kree ordered for a clone to be created from Marvel's DNA but choose the image of Gwen Stacy, considering her just as pervasive as the Skrulls, given her many iterations active in this timeline. [Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #3]

Tired of simply reacting, the Gwens decided to take the fight to the remaining members of the Terminal Six, Dr. Cephalopod and Nightbird. Unfortunately, due to infighting, the Gwens were unable to take out Dr. Cephalopod. Meanwhile, Ghost Spider fought with Nightbird, shocked to see that she too was yet another alternate Gwen Stacy. Due to the team’s inner discord, Nightbird and Cephalopod managed to escape to the next time period, the modern day before the Gwens.

Captain Marvel (Gwen Jones) was a beloved heroine and lead guitarist of the Gwen Jonesss. She was fighting the villain Yon Rogg on a rooftop, completely unaware that she was prey and being watched by Cephalopod and Nightbird. Rogg had activated the device called the Psyche Magnitron and turned the Daily Bugle's staff into Mandroids. Captain Marvel was battling them when the Gwens arrived, though she was trying her best to not harm them. The Gwens were unaware that they were humans and began attacking without abandon. Captain Marvel had been injured by the mandroids but had enough strength to open fire on her doppelgangers to try to protect the staff. Meanwhile, Cephalopod teleported in and attacked the Gwens from behind. Nightbird took this opportunity to get the jump on Captain Marvel, who was still groggy. Nightbird had been further ensorcelled by Cephalopod and magically showed Captain Marvel her true purpose on Earth, which was to destroy it. This realization was detected by the Supreme Intelligence, who increased the power to Captain Marvel's Nega Bands to critical mass. Captain Marvel tearfully flew upwards, trying to get as far away from the Earth as she could to protect lives. Ghost Spider was still fighting Nightbird but, as they were the same person, her suit stuck to Nightbird's skin. As Ghost Spider's suit was made of synthetic spiders, it managed to heal Nightbird from her goblin gas exposure. Finally, she was herself again, a hero. It was too late, however, as Captain Marvel exploded and Spider Zero pulled the Gwen's out of time again.

It was at this moment that Ghost Spider realized that it was actually the death of Captain Marvel which had caused the major changes to the timeline. Her demise caused the destruction of New York. Humanity turned to the old gods for answers for the tragedy, banned superhumans to prevent further disasters like this and turned into a futuristic police state, thanks to the technology of OSS Tech. The Gwens landed on the web outside of time and space, spun by Spider-Zero. She pleaded with them to get over their differences and work as a team as the fate of the multiverse was at stake. With no more Gwens to recruit, it was time to face Finale. [Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #4]

The Gwen's arrived at Finale's future and immediately went into battle. While they were trying their best and attacking in force, they still were not functioning as a team. Finale knocked Ghost-Spider into the crowd of stone statues. She then overheard Erma talking to the remains of Zuck and Toob. Erma was guilty about their demise, feeling that they were only there because they wanted to be special like her. Hearing this finally triggered Ghost-Spider's realization of what was wrong with the Gwens. She rejoined the battle with Erma on her back and used her webbing to temporarily incapacitate Finale. She confronted the Gwens with the truth that, as they were all aspects of her, she knew they were all battling some form of severe self-hatred, that they needed to confess to try and resolve. After a heart to heart and attempts at self-forgiveness, the Gwens were ready to fight again. Ghost-Spider gave the rallying cry “Gwen-Vengers” assemble! It worked. With no more infighting, they were finally fluid, working as one. Unfortunately, they were too late and time was cascading. Nightbird realized the only option was to send Ghost-Spider and Erma back before Finale had first used the finalizer but to do so they would need to use the life forces of the rest of the Gwen-Vengers. Ghost-Spider was tearful and didn't want to but, given the stakes, the others convinced her there was no other choice.

Ghost-Spider and Erma arrived from the sky, just as Finale unveiled her penultimate meme. Erma leapt on her back and told the crowd to take off their emoters. They listened, as she too was famous. Finale started to flee but was intercepted by Ghost-Spider, who punched her out. The time cascading rift had caught up with her though and it all seemed futile. Finale died in her arms. Unmasked, they saw she was actually an old woman. Before she passed, however, she recited one of her mother's poems and begged Ghost-Spider to survive, as she wanted someone to remember her mother. The multiverse was now hanging by a thread, but it was a thread that Ghost-Spider could see. She had been empowered by the lifeforces of her five counterparts, all of which were from alternate timelines, even if most of them had merely branched off from her own. This connection made her a multiverse in her own right and she could reach out and sew reality back together. After she accomplished this, she was exhausted and Spider-Zero dropped her home. [Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #5]

AFTER

• Ghost-Spider used Finale's mother poem as song lyrics for her band the Mary Janes.
• She tried to use the experience of meeting so many heightened versions of herself as a type of therapy to try to overcome her own neuroses. 
• Presumably, the two Ermas are still with Tuck and Zoob in the future.
• Black 13 and Glam Goblin may still be alive in the 1983 divergent Earth-65, as they were the only two members of the Terminal Six not to be confirmed dead on assignment.
• It’s unclear if the other Gwen-Vengers permanently perished, given Ghost-Spider's “deus ex-machina” moment. The dialogue could be interpreted as she also restored their timelines while empowered. 
• Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse had a spiritual successor in Spider-Gwen: Shadow Clones in which clones of Gwen Stacy were made using DNA from the five members of the Sinister Six (Kraven, Vulture, Sandman, Doctor Octopus, Rhino) by Dr. Lyla Bennett. While initially all clones were controlled by Bennett, they eventually rebelled and, though Dr. Octopus “Gwen” perished, the others were on to live free lives on Earth-65.

MEMBERS

Ghost-Spider (Gwendolyn “Gwen” Stacy)

First Appearance: Edge of Spider-Verse #2
All “Gwen-Vengers” Appearance: Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #1-5
 

Powers: Artificial symbiote grants her superhuman strength, speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, leaping ability, accelerated healing, wall-crawling, "spider-sense" to detect danger, and its fluid material can mimic webbing or any set of clothing, and disassemble into small, individual spiders to swarm or scout

Notes:

• She was given a device called the “ticket to the multiverse” by one of her counterparts in Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider #3. It essentially does what its name implies and allows her to travel the multiverse.
• Ghost-Spider had a close relationship with her father, George Stacy, who worried about her life as a super-hero.
• Ghost-Spider's Peter Parker was her best friend but he died tragically when he mutated himself in an attempt to be “special” like her. This death was formative for Gwen and drove much of her self-hatred/guilt. This experience very much mirrors Spider-Man of Earth-616’s connection to his Gwen Stacy.

Thorgwen (Gwendolyn Janus)

First Appearance: Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #1
All “Gwen-Vengers” Appearance: Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #1-5

Powers: Wielded Mjolnir, imbuing her with the power of Thor, including superhuman strength, endurance, reflexes, and durability, and used the hammer for flight, a throwing weapon that returned to her grasp, and for summoning and directing lightning

Notes:

• Thorgwen, like most Thors, was a fan of mead.
• Thorgwen claimed that she was a mere farm girl before she lifted her uru hammer. She said Odin preferred her to Loki, despite her not being his daughter. The implication was that Loki in her reality was his natural born son. She also referenced Loki “leering” and implied an attraction on his part but, given her profound ego, she was not quite a reliable narrator. Still, she felt some guilt about Odin's favoritism and thought it made Loki descend into madness.
• Her surname “Janus” was an interesting choice. Janus was the two-faced god from Roman mythology. Writer of Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse, Vita Ayala is a self-admitted big Vampire the Masquerade fan, where Janus was referenced.

Captain America II (Gwen Rogers)

First Appearance: Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #2
All “Gwen-Vengers” Appearance: Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #2-5

Powers: Super-Soldier Serum provides her with peak human strength, speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, and recuperation, carries a metallic discus shield

Notes:

• While Gwen Rogers is obviously intended to be a version of Captain America, she actually has a lot in common with another Avenger, Mockingbird. Mockingbird was originally a biologist like Gwen Rogers and took part in research to try to recreate the super solider serum. Years later, she would be exposed to the same serum herself. It was noted that it took Gwen Rogers seven years to revive the Super-Soldier Serum on her world.
• She was a huge comic book fan and read the tales of Samantha Wilson's Captain America, which inspired her to follow in her footsteps.
• She also mentioned a particular love of Jack Kirby. Kirby is the real-world co-creator of Captain America and plethora of other recognizable comic book characters, such as Black Panther, Thor, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man and the X-Men.
• As Captain America came up in peacetime, she was mostly used for branding and had several sticker ads on her shield.
• In Iron G.W.E.N.'s time period, the company Digitek was making a video game about Captain America's exploits.

Wolverine (Gwen Howlett)

First Appearance: Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #2
All “Gwen-Vengers” Appearance: Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #2-5

Powers: Test subject from the Weapon X Program, possessing enhanced strength, speed, agility, stamina, and reflexes, hyper-keen senses, healing factor, adamantium skeleton and retractable claws

Notes:

• Wolverine was presumably Canadian, as it was referenced that she had been an asset of the Canadian government.
• She had done “bad things” in her past, of which she was ashamed, though the specifics were not revealed.
• Ghost-Spider thought Wolverine's fragment represented her own short temper.
• Wolverine was curious why Ghost-Spider hadn't just killed the other Gwen's to prevent alternations to her timeline. She said it's what she would have done.
• Another Wolverine (Gwen) was seen in Secret Wars: Battleworld #3. This appeared to be the Gwen who debuted on the variant cover of Old Man Logan #2. It is certainly possible they were one and the same but highly unlikely, given the different costume and that this Wolverine was created in the new multiverse post Secret Wars.

Iron G.W.E.N. (Toni Stacy)

First Appearance: Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #3
All “Gwen-Vengers” Appearance: Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #3-5

Powers: Guardian Ware Exo-Network armor provides her with exoskeletal strength, armored durability, electro-shock gauntlets, and rockets for flight

Notes:

• Toni mentioned she was a big Manga fan, though she was also familiar with the Captain America comics.
• She named her battle armor, Guardian Ware Exo. According to Ghost Spider this was a reference to an old Anime.
• Toni had been orphaned after her father (also a police officer) had died.
• She considered Norman Osborn and Howard Stark to be the parents she never had. The implication was that perhaps they were romantically involved, though legally she appeared to be just Howard's daughter. Toni felt guilty about her closeness with Howard, as she felt it had driven a wedge between him and Norman. Still, Norman did appear to have love for Toni, as he tried to rescue her from Wolverine when he thought she was in danger.
• Her name Toni is an obvious reference to Tony Stark but also is probably a nod to Toni Ho, who wore the Iron Patriot armor for a time.
• The tech convention in which Toni was debuting her battle armour was called "Transmode". This was a likely nod to Cable, who had been infected by this techno-organic virus as an infant.

Nightbird (Dr. Gwendolyn "Gwen" Stacy)

First Appearance: Heroes Reborn (2nd Series) #5     
All “Gwen-Vengers” Appearance: Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #4-5

Powers: Trained acrobat and psychiatrist, questionable sanity after Goblin Gas exposure

Notes:

• Gwen's mother was a psychiatrist in the Ravencroft Asylum. She was a real inspiration for Gwen, who followed in her footsteps.
• As Nightbird, she faced such enemies as Bullseye, Mr. Negative, Black Mariah, Hammerhead, the Lizard, Jackal I (Miles Warren) and Jackal II (Flash Thompson).
• Nighthawk was apparently a grueling mentor and made her chase the Ricochet Killer (Bullseye) through Washington D.C. in heavy rain while reciting the pledge of allegiance in Latin.
• Norman Osborn exposed Nightbird to his Goblin Gas, which caused her to lose her mind and be corrupted. While she does eventually get healed by Ghost-Spider's costume, she did still feel that her actions and thoughts were still part of her shadow self.
• Nightbird was a pastiche of DC Comics’ Batgirl, though there were also elements of Harley Quinn.

Erma

First Appearance: Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #1
All “Gwen-Vengers” Appearance: Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #5

Powers: Talks.

Notes:

• Erma appeared to be a combination of a cat and a fox. Possibly, she was from an animal species from the future that was genetically engineered for maximum “cuteness.”
• Erma was the only member of the Gwen-Vengers who was not a version of Gwen Stacy.
• The villainess Finale used Erma in photo in her penultimate meme. Presumably, she was being “retro,” given that it was mirrored “Woman yelling at a cat.” The meme is famous, as it depicts Real Housewife of Beverly Hills (Taylor Armstrong) screaming at a confused/smug white cat.
• Finale told Erma her life story as she thought that, as Erma was also famous, she would empathize with her.
• By the conclusion of Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #5, there were now two versions of Erma in her alternate future timeline.
• Despite her animal status, Erma can speak but usually prefers to just say “meh” to everything.