Development on the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming is in full swing, and it's possible Gwen Stacy will join the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the next Spidey movie. As a fan favorite character and major Spidey love interest, Gwen would be a welcome arrival to the MCU. That is, unless the only reason they bring in Gwen is to kill her off - again. Adding Gwen Stacy to the MCU just to kill her is something Marvel Studios definitely shouldn't do.Spider-Man: Homecoming was a breath of fresh air to what had been a Spidey movie mythos dragged down by too many villains and repetition of scenarios fans had seen ad nauseam: Oscorp and the Osborn family as villains, Peter Parker's romantic worries, his origin and Uncle Ben dying recycled, Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) being kidnapped, and all of New York City being threatened so that Spidey has to save the day. Homecoming instead placed Peter Parker (Tom Holland) squarely in the MCU, kept his scope smaller and more intimate, and gave him an endearing supporting cast of high school chums to banter with. The results speak for themselves.Related: Jon Watts Returning to Direct Spider-Man: Homecoming 2Doing fun new things with Spider-Man in a movie that fans hadn't seen before is one of the reasons why Homecoming was so enjoyable. Bringing in Gwen Stacy for the sequel would be a great idea - as long as they don't just kill her again.

GWEN STACY MUST DIE?

It's true that dying is Gwen Stacy's claim to fame in the Spider-Man mythology. She is like Jor-El and Lara, Thomas and Martha Wayne, and Uncle Ben - characters who are most famous as tragic figures in their respective superheroes' lives. She has died in the comics and in the movies; in fact, teasing her death in Spider-Man movies even became as much of a trope as her actual death.

Gwen was introduced in the comics as Peter's college love interest, but became a pawn in the Green Goblin's scheme for revenge against Spider-Man. Her death in Amazing Spider-Man #121 when the Green Goblin kidnapped her and threw her off the George Washington Bridge, only for Spidey to fail to save her, is one of the most famous moments in Spider-Man history.

The death of Gwen Stacy is such an iconic moment that its been depicted several times already in Spider-Man movies. Sam Raimi's first Spider-Man did a version of it when the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) threw Mary Jane Watson off the Brooklyn Bridge, though Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) saved her. When Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard) was actually introduced in Spider-Man 3, Raimi surprised fans by not killing her off, though she was still sent plummeting from a building before she was saved by Spidey. Finally, Mark Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man 2 did the fatal deed and killed Gwen (Emma Stone) at last. Along with Gwen's death came the end of the largely unloved Andrew Garfield Spider-Man films.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-GWEN

Spider-Gwen - Spider-Man Characters We Want to See In Sony's Shared Universe

While the Spider-Man movies kept repeating the cycle of Gwen's death, Marvel Comics reinvigorated Gwen Stacy and rewrote her story. In the Spider-Verse event, an alternate universe Gwen was the one bitten by a radioactive spider and became a superpowered crime fighter struggling with great power and great responsibility. Peter Parker was the one killed off, and Gwen became Spider-Woman, though she's known to fans by the more endearing sobriquet 'Spider-Gwen'.

Spider-Gwen immediately struck a nerve and became a fan favorite character. Gwen was part of an all-girl band, struggled with her secret identity and her duty to use her powers to fight evil and help innocents, and her beautifully designed costume became wildly popular with cosplayers.

Marvel Comics have pioneered a new way to depict Gwen Stacy that not only worked like gangbusters, but is as refreshing a reboot as Homecoming was to Spider-Man movies. Spider-Gwen proved Gwen Stacy can be much more than just a doomed damsel-in-distress; she is a vital and fascinating character whom female and male fans have embraced. Gwen is a hero in her own right.

Spider-Man Homecoming Cast are squad goals

GWEN STACY'S MCU HOMECOMING

While it would be, yes, amazing, to see Spider-Gwen in the MCU, introducing Gwen Stacy to the Marvel movie universe doesn't mean director Jon Watts and his team must follow the traditional path that leads to another on-screen death for Gwen. Just as they found multiple ways to avoid showing fans things that have been tropes of previous Spider-Man movies, they can and must buck Gwen's tragic tradition and not just draw a straight line to killing her again.

Homecoming featured an engaging revamp of Peter Parker's high school cast of characters. For instance, Flash Thompson (Tony Revolori) became an entirely different kind of bully than the dumb blond jock Flash was in the comics. Liz Allen became Liz Toombs (Laura Harrier), the daughter of the Vulture (Michael Keaton), and the centerpiece of the third act's surprising reveal. Michelle Jones (Zendaya), who also likes her friends to call her 'MJ', was a snarky outsider who serves as a sly reboot of Mary Jane Watson (though a more traditional Mary Jane could still someday appear in the MCU). Ned Leeds turned into Ned (Jacob Batalon), Peter's wide-eyed best friend and 'man in the chair'.

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Whether or not Gwen is brought in as a comic book-traditional blue-eyed blonde the way Bryce Dallas Howard and Emma Stone played her or her casting is re-imagined the way Peter Parker's Homecoming cast was re-imagined, Marvel must take the same opportunity to do entirely new things with Gwen Stacy. Peter already pined for Liz, who was a brainy girl and the head of the Midtown School of Science and Technology academic decathalon team. Gwen could be introduced as spin on her Spider-Gwen character, a cool drummer of an all-girl band. In the comics, Gwen was part of a band called the Mary Janes, so maybe MJ starts a band and Gwen joins as drummer and meets Peter that way.

WHY GWEN SHOULDN'T DIE

Gwen Stacy looking upset while the Green Goblin flies behind heri

Besides the fact it's predictable and it's been done to death (so to speak), seeing Gwen Stacy die again would be a complete waste of a great character. Emma Stone's Gwen was arguably the best character in The Amazing Spider-Man series, and killing her off was the final straw of all of the elements of Mark Webb's films fans weren't enjoying. The unwelcome trope of the girlfriend dying so as to fuel the resolve and mission of the male hero is hackneyed and doesn't need to be rehashed for Spider-Man in the MCU, just as guilt over Uncle Ben's death isn't the driving force of Tom Holland's web-slinger.

Though the MCU's Spider-Man universe is filled with lots of great characters, Gwen shouldn't automatically be considered expendable just because she's Gwen Stacy. Spider-Gwen established that Gwen isn't just Peter's equal as a character, she is more than capable of taking Peter's place. Though we're not advocating a scenario where Spider-Gwen replaces Spider-Man in the MCU (which wouldn't happen anyway), Gwen can finally be introduced as a female character who is an equal to Peter Parker in the MCU. Emma Stone's Gwen was a better character than Andrew Garfield's Peter, but Tom Holland's Peter has yet to meet his female foil. Gwen could be that one ideal and indispensable girl in the life of the MCU's young Peter Parker.

Or maybe the MCU will surprise fans and turn Gwen into Spider-Gwen after all. That is certainly something that hasn't been done in the movies: Spider-Man having a superpowered female equal as a love interest and/or antagonist. All of Tobey Maguire's super villains were male, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 completely wasted Felicity Jones as 'Felicia' by giving her little to say and nothing to do, when fans expected to become the Black Cat. It's high time Spider-Man faced a female enemy who can challenge him. Gwen Stacy, whether or not she's Spider-Gwen or is somehow re-imagined, could be that femme fatale to complicate Peter's life and teach him a few new things on his path to adulthood.

The idea of Gwen Stacy as a doomed tragic figure is best left to Marvel's past. Gwen Stacy is alive and more relevant than ever in the comics as a superhero in her own right. The MCU should take their cues from Gwen's emergence as one of the most popular new female heroes in Marvel and do her the same type of justice.

The next time we see Gwen Stacy in a Spider-Man movie, she'd better not find herself at the top of a bridge or NYC skyscraper unless she's wearing a costume and swinging down from it under her own power. The last thing fans want is to see Gwen Stacy die again - not when she can and should be the hero of her own story.

NEXT: IS DOVE CAMERON PLAYING SPIDER-GWEN IN AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.?

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