Though only introduced a few years ago, Spider-Gwen has quickly become one of the more popular characters in Marvel Comics -- introduced as a spider power-possessing version of Gwen Stacy who sports a cool, hooded white and pink costume. As a result, fans are highly anticipating her big screen debut later this year in the animated Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse... but not much has been revealed about her role. Fortunately, I recently got the scoop on her part from the filmmakers behind the movie, including co-director Bob Persichetti:
She is a very capable Spider-person. She is a peer of Miles. Miles has Peter Parker as his mentor - a Peter Parker that's older; there's a generation gap there. [Miles] is 13; our Gwen Stacy is 16. So they're almost peers. She's a little bit older, but he can relate to her. And she's a very capable Spider-person.
Fans got their first look at the movie version of Spider-Gwen earlier this year in the second trailer for Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse... but she was only featured for a few seconds at the very end of the spot. As a result, many (including myself) were left hungry to learn more about her - and I had the opportunity to do so when I sat down with directors Bob Persichetti and Peter Ramsey, as well as producer Rodney Rothman, at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend. They couldn't say too much about her role -- it's noteworthy there is a good amount of secrecy surrounding the film -- but Persichetti painted her as a hero he definitely knows what she is doing.
Spider-Gwen, or more accurately Spider-Woman, was created by Jason Latour and Robbi Rodriguez as part of Marvel's big Spider-Verse crossover event that stretched from late 2014 into 2015. She possesses many of the same skills as the Peter Parker version of Spider-Man (super strength, spider-sense, and ability to stick to walls), and she also works with specially-designed web-shooters for combat and swinging around. After the events of Spider-Verse in the comics she holds on to a wristwatch that allows her to travel between dimensions, but it's unclear if that will be a part of her character in Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.
The animated movie will feature Academy Award-nominee Hailee Steinfeld as the voice of Spider-Gwen -- and it should be noted that just because she hasn't been in the trailers much doesn't mean she doesn't have a key role in the film. In fact, Rodney Rothman emphasized just that in our interview, noting that her arc works into some of Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse's most prominent themes. Said Rothman,
[She's] very important in our story. On some level the story is about, beyond Miles, it's about a group of characters who thought they were alone.
You can watch the Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse filmmakers discuss Spider-Gwen and her part in the upcoming film below:
Spider-Gwen will be one of many important Spider-People swinging around the screen in Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, and San Diego Comic-Con revealed some very special characters. In addition to Gwen, Miles Morales (Shamiek Moore) and Peter Parker (Jake Johnson), the movie will also feature Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage), Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn), and Spider-Ham (John Mulaney). That being said, we expect more than a few surprises when the finished film arrives in theaters, so be on the lookout come December 14th.
