Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Ultimate Spider-Man #4!
Before Mary Jane, Peter Parker was in love with Gwen Stacy all the way up until the moment she was killed by the Green Goblin, dying in Spider-Man’s arms. However, Spider-Man’s history is currently being rewritten in an all-new Ultimate Universe continuity, where Gwen Stacy was never with Peter Parker at all, but instead ends up with someone truly shocking: Harry Osborn.
In a preview for Ultimate Spider-Man #4 by Jonathan Hickman, David Messina, and Matt Wilson, Peter Parker and his wife, Mary Jane, are meeting Harry Osborn and his wife (who they haven’t met yet) at a restaurant for dinner. Harry greets the Parkers when they arrive, and apologizes that his wife will be running a little late. However, the group doesn’t have to wait long, as immediately after Harry explains his spouse’s tardiness, she arrives.
In the previously-released preview for Ultimate Spider-Man #4, fans are shown a number of pages (art only, no dialogue) depicting the Parkers having dinner with Harry Osborn and Gwen Stacy. Since there were no word-bubbles in this preview, readers were given no context as to the nature of everyone’s relationship (minus that of MJ and Peter, since earlier issues confirmed they’re married). But now, with the added context of the latest preview, fans can be sure that Gwen Stacy is, in fact, married to Harry Osborn in Ultimate Spider-Man.
In the original continuity of Marvel Comics’ Earth-616 universe, Harry Osborn was famously in love with Mary Jane Watson, and the two even dated for a time. This, as Peter Parker was also finding himself falling in love with MJ following the tragic death of Gwen Stacy. Peter, MJ, and Harry made up one of the most iconic love-triangles in Marvel Comics history, one that even transcended the pages of the comics themselves in the form of animated and live-action adaptations.
With this revelation that Gwen Stacy is married to Harry Osborn in the Ultimate Universe (Earth-6160, not the original Earth-1610), Marvel Comics has effectively erased every aspect of the once-iconic love-triangle. Peter and Harry are no longer pining for the same woman, but are instead happily married to their respective partners. Similarly, MJ is committed to her marriage with Peter, while Harry is in a relationship with Gwen, and all the while neither Harry nor Peter are romantically attracted to the other’s spouse, thereby washing away all the muddled romantic history between these people that existed in Earth-616.
Ultimate Spider-Man #3 revealed that Earth-6160’s original Green Goblin is Harry Osborn as opposed to Earth-616’s original Green Goblin being his father, Norman Osborn. However, no matter who’s behind the mask, it’s undoubtedly strange that Gwen Stacy’s fate in the Ultimate Universe is to be married to the very same villain who murdered her in Earth-616. It’s as if Gwen’s fate is forever tied to the Green Goblin across multiple universes in one way or another, sometimes as his victim, other times as his partner, but always in a way that has a permanent impact on her life.
Regardless of the comparative oddities between Earth-616 and Earth-6160, the fact that Gwen Stacy is married to Harry Osborn in the Ultimate Universe is absolutely mind-blowing in its own right, as it’s a pairing that’s never happened in Marvel Comics before, and opens the door for captivating storylines in future Spider-Man comics.
Ultimate Spider-Man #4 by Marvel Comics is available April 24, 2024.