On The Reckless Way that Stacy Was Killed Off

ASM 121. To add support to my last entry, note how terrible the death of Gwen Stacy was written. The story begins with Parker catching a cold, having been in cold-weather Canada the day before. The Goblin, who knows Parker's secret identity, goes to his apartment to kill him. He stumbles upon Stacy, who happens to be there, waiting for Pete. The Goblin takes her to the top of a bridge, where we next find her unconscious. When Spidey comes to the rescue, a fight ensues. The Goblin manages to throw the unconscious Stacy off the top of the bridge. Spiderman tries to save her by shooting webs. He connects around the feet or ankle area, causing Stacy's neck to snap with whiplash. It appears that the cause of death is therefore a broken neck.

See this video involving the physics of the death: VIDEO

Several things bother me about this. The writers kept it so that Stacy never even found out that Parker was Spiderman. They made her be unconscious. Captain Stacy, Gwen's father, was treated much better in his death. There are no parting words with Gwen. There is no disclosure of the identity, no explanation of why it was hidden, no explanation to Gwen for Captain Stacy's death. There is nothing told to her. She's just abducted, blanks out, and gets her neck snapped by a well-intentioned web slinger with the flu, home from Canada. Of course, she would have died anyway had she hit the ground. This has got to be the dumbest ending I've seen. It's amateur hour at Marvel right now.

The only creative aspect to the death is that Spideman's own behavior plays a part in it. Had he known more about how to rescue falling people, he perhaps could have done something different to avoid the problem (better rescue technique). This is the only part that has any continuity. The reckless way he fought Doc Ock, for example, is what allowed bricks to fall over the ledge of a skyscraper, leading to circumstances that killed Gwen's father. So at least there is this aspect.

But truth be told, this was a terrible ending. Written, as I say, by a bunch of amateurs who clearly lacked Stan Lee's creativity.