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So, I was thinking about this one former plot I had. I maybe got a good four pages into the fanfic but then life got in the way.
I wanted to put to rest the story of the Gwen clone in Spider-Man, and in the process kill Gabriel Stacy, who -- even though I liked the first four parts of Sins Past -- I consider maybe J.M.S.'s worst contribution to the Spider-mythos. We had evil Son of Osborn before, and he at least had a personality. Plus, father-switcheroo in the editorial room aside, I hate how he's an Osborn but looks like Peter.
As a little bit of background, the Gwen clone has been around since the 70s, and in that time has served no function other than getting pulled out of obscurity so that writers can fuck with the canon, usually because some bastard has fucked with her brain. She was first the clone slave of Miles Warren, then she went away, then she came back and it was revealed that due to the High Evolutionary she was actually some other lady named Joyce Delaney, and then she was Gwen again and got married to clone-Warren and then he melted and but ...
Anyway, the short version of this is that she's had her memory fucked with by evil middle-aged white guys pulling her strings to suit their own weird purposes ever since her creation.
So my story was the reason that Gwen-clone never remembered that she had children is actually not due to the fact that Sins Past doesn't really make sense at all in continuity, but because Warren couldn't bear that she would do something so irresponsible and kept the whole matter super-repressed. Her memories come back when she meets up with Sarah Stacy in the present.
After the initial shock Gwen-clone decides that all of the crap being done to her over the years is JUST. NOT. ON. and decides to fuck the "I-never-really-could-have-killed-the-mutated-Joker-clone-Jackal" moral code. It is time for VENGEANCE, specifically against Norman Osborn, for all the obvious reasons. But, knowing she probably couldn't kill him herself, and at this point wanting him to feel equal pain, she decides to kill those close to him. She manages to off Kolina (the nurse Osborn fell in love with) by poisoning her, and tries to kill little Normie in some tense scene but for whatever reason (either Peter or Liz would stop her) it doesn't work out. Eventually this leads to TENSE situation somewhere ... at any rate not on the bridge. And before Sarah and Norman can make it, Gwen-clone kills Gabriel. Gwen-clone then tries to go for Sarah, but for whatever reason it doesn't work. Norman tries to kill Gwen-clone but she's not going to let him do that again, and she shoots herself. After this Sarah goes evil ... at least temporarily.
I liked the idea for this story for a few reasons:
1.) End to Gwen-clone story once and for all. Plus, I'm tired of all the not-Gwens in the Spider-verse. They basically exist so Peter can go all "No, my lost love!" and Mary Jane can have a kind-of friend but also feel bad and they never actually end up contributing to the story for themselves. And they've done this THREE TIMES if you consider the Gwen-clone, Sarah and Gwen's cousin Jill. So it narrows the field.
2.) No Gabriel. Haaaallelujah!
3.) Like the revenge-fantasy aspect. Gwen-clone is wrong and evil, but she has also been wronged. So there's the nice "We can sympathize her ... but fuck, she tried to kill a three-year-old!" aspect.
4.) Sarah as evil villainess. Spider-Man needs good villainesses. He hasn't had one since the Black Cat and I've always wanted a girl goblin. Yeah, there's Fury in MC2 but ... more girl-goblins are good! Plus, I never really liked how she got shoved off to Interpol. You make a decent new character, you might as well use her.
But I do see the problems:
1.) Getting Gwen-clone to actually be a threat. Sudden ninja training or whatever isn't very plausible. I thought of having her just (or attempt to poison) all her victims through use of coercion, but her being able to stay alive during the confrontation with Norman as an average person would have been really stretching the suspension of disbelief. Another thing I thought of was hiring hitmen, but that kind of lessens the personal impact.
2.) More deaths on Spider-Man's conscience, blah. Tired of this.
3.) Spider-Man just doesn't have much to DO throughout this story. That's also kind of lame.
4.) I think at this point the Jean Loring story has sort of really soured people off the otherwise-good-characters have gone crazy plot. Or at least I feel like it now. And actually, considering that Deb Whitman and Black Cat both went crazy when they learned Peter Parker was Spider-Man, and how I often hate to see women-will-only-go-bad-because-they're-fucked-in-the-head. (Like how EVERY girl had to have a mental breakdown before she died in the Battle Royale manga). I just ... I don't know if it's a good idea.
But what do any of you think? And what would you do with the Gwen clone? Or is it best to just leave her in comic book purgatory?
I wanted to put to rest the story of the Gwen clone in Spider-Man, and in the process kill Gabriel Stacy, who -- even though I liked the first four parts of Sins Past -- I consider maybe J.M.S.'s worst contribution to the Spider-mythos. We had evil Son of Osborn before, and he at least had a personality. Plus, father-switcheroo in the editorial room aside, I hate how he's an Osborn but looks like Peter.
As a little bit of background, the Gwen clone has been around since the 70s, and in that time has served no function other than getting pulled out of obscurity so that writers can fuck with the canon, usually because some bastard has fucked with her brain. She was first the clone slave of Miles Warren, then she went away, then she came back and it was revealed that due to the High Evolutionary she was actually some other lady named Joyce Delaney, and then she was Gwen again and got married to clone-Warren and then he melted and but ...
Anyway, the short version of this is that she's had her memory fucked with by evil middle-aged white guys pulling her strings to suit their own weird purposes ever since her creation.
So my story was the reason that Gwen-clone never remembered that she had children is actually not due to the fact that Sins Past doesn't really make sense at all in continuity, but because Warren couldn't bear that she would do something so irresponsible and kept the whole matter super-repressed. Her memories come back when she meets up with Sarah Stacy in the present.
After the initial shock Gwen-clone decides that all of the crap being done to her over the years is JUST. NOT. ON. and decides to fuck the "I-never-really-could-have-killed-the-mutated-Joker-clone-Jackal" moral code. It is time for VENGEANCE, specifically against Norman Osborn, for all the obvious reasons. But, knowing she probably couldn't kill him herself, and at this point wanting him to feel equal pain, she decides to kill those close to him. She manages to off Kolina (the nurse Osborn fell in love with) by poisoning her, and tries to kill little Normie in some tense scene but for whatever reason (either Peter or Liz would stop her) it doesn't work out. Eventually this leads to TENSE situation somewhere ... at any rate not on the bridge. And before Sarah and Norman can make it, Gwen-clone kills Gabriel. Gwen-clone then tries to go for Sarah, but for whatever reason it doesn't work. Norman tries to kill Gwen-clone but she's not going to let him do that again, and she shoots herself. After this Sarah goes evil ... at least temporarily.
I liked the idea for this story for a few reasons:
1.) End to Gwen-clone story once and for all. Plus, I'm tired of all the not-Gwens in the Spider-verse. They basically exist so Peter can go all "No, my lost love!" and Mary Jane can have a kind-of friend but also feel bad and they never actually end up contributing to the story for themselves. And they've done this THREE TIMES if you consider the Gwen-clone, Sarah and Gwen's cousin Jill. So it narrows the field.
2.) No Gabriel. Haaaallelujah!
3.) Like the revenge-fantasy aspect. Gwen-clone is wrong and evil, but she has also been wronged. So there's the nice "We can sympathize her ... but fuck, she tried to kill a three-year-old!" aspect.
4.) Sarah as evil villainess. Spider-Man needs good villainesses. He hasn't had one since the Black Cat and I've always wanted a girl goblin. Yeah, there's Fury in MC2 but ... more girl-goblins are good! Plus, I never really liked how she got shoved off to Interpol. You make a decent new character, you might as well use her.
But I do see the problems:
1.) Getting Gwen-clone to actually be a threat. Sudden ninja training or whatever isn't very plausible. I thought of having her just (or attempt to poison) all her victims through use of coercion, but her being able to stay alive during the confrontation with Norman as an average person would have been really stretching the suspension of disbelief. Another thing I thought of was hiring hitmen, but that kind of lessens the personal impact.
2.) More deaths on Spider-Man's conscience, blah. Tired of this.
3.) Spider-Man just doesn't have much to DO throughout this story. That's also kind of lame.
4.) I think at this point the Jean Loring story has sort of really soured people off the otherwise-good-characters have gone crazy plot. Or at least I feel like it now. And actually, considering that Deb Whitman and Black Cat both went crazy when they learned Peter Parker was Spider-Man, and how I often hate to see women-will-only-go-bad-because-they're-fucked-in-the-head. (Like how EVERY girl had to have a mental breakdown before she died in the Battle Royale manga). I just ... I don't know if it's a good idea.
But what do any of you think? And what would you do with the Gwen clone? Or is it best to just leave her in comic book purgatory?
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Honestly, I like Sarah and would like to see her taken in a positive, non-destructive direction, and while I would totally be for the "Gwen-clone on revenge-spree against the meta-white-male-manipulation" aspect, I feel like this plot really just plays into their hands, y'know?
But I'm ALL for killing Gabriel, for exactly the reasons you cited. WHY does he look like Peter, and why is he so duuuuuuuull?
From:
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(I would love to go non-sexual with Gwen-clone when she went evil, though. And I agree with you on the villainesses could stand to be less sexy. I was so bummed out when I heard the original concept for The Queen was to have her be a middle-aged woman.)
Good!Sarah is okay. But I would like to be at least active instead of ... well, exiled to France. And I'd like to see them go in a new direction with her and have her come into her own and not just be surrogate!Gwen.