The Instant Success of Spider-Gwen

 Here's a theory (and one that will undoubtedly gain LESS traction as time goes along). Let me know what you think.

There are three components to the instant success of Spider-Gwen. One is that perfect costume, so classic-looking it looks like Steve Ditko designed it. (There is a hidden spider. There's only one other superhero costume named after an animal where the motif is hidden throughout the costume, and it's Ted Kord.) One is the times. Obviously in the last decade or so, it's been easier to sell the audience on superheroines AND legacy characters AND multiverses (she fits all three). And one is the SPECIFIC timing.

Gwen Stacy, Spider-Woman, came out in 2014, only a few short months after the release of Amazing Spider-Man 2. The Amazing Spider-Man movies, while critically, um, mixed, had two good points, and their names were Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. And one point - Emma Stone - was much less debated than the former. I don't think it's a stretch to say she was the favorite component of those movies.

And she dies in ASM2, gruesomely, explicitly, and in a way that was uncalled for. It didn't matter that it happened in the comics - no one wanted to see it.

In 1971, Gwen's death was new. In 2014, it was a trope that involved a refrigerator. And I think SO MUCH of the success of Spider-Gwen was the fans, especially maybe younger fans who only knew Gwen through the ASM movies, were ready to see this character, who in the movies was a strong, empowered character, come into her full potential.

Spider-Gwen isn't as big as she is without her perfect costume, and she wouldn't have been as big as she is had she debuted 10 years prior. But I argue that she simply wouldn't have been as big as she is if she didn't show up at the perfect time - straight off the heels of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, ready to pick up that slack that the killing of Emma Stone's character had left behind.