Turns out that there was a Gwen Stacy Variant in plain sight all along within Sony Pictures' Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
With the Spider-Verse’s popularity and the MCU’s Multiverse Saga, alternate takes on similar characters are all the rage. The end of the second installment even included a look at the Miles Morales of Earth-42.
But what about someone like Gwen Stacy? While she’s a Variant of the classic character, the Spider-Verse movies have yet to focus on any of them outside of Hailee Steinfeld's leading take.
A Stealthy Gwen Stacy Variant In Spider-Verse 2
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse character designer Kris Anka shared some of their artwork on the film, specifically on a Gwen Stacy Variant that many might have missed.
The person in question was Gayatri, who was the love interest of Earth-50101's Pavitr Prabhakar. While it's hard to miss her in the film, most might not have connected the dots to her being a direct parallel to Gwen herself.
In one of their posts, Anka noted that they had "an absolute blast" working on the Gwen Stacy Variant, including incorporating "hints to classic Gwen color schemes:"
"For something a little different, here is Gayatri One of the last designs I did on the movie, an absolute blast. Had a lot of fun working in little hints to classic Gwen color schemes."
It looks like Anka was really looking to put this Variant of Gwen into a skirt look, with a dressier and more casual look—and one fashioned with a hip beanie.
These below looks are the furthest removed looks from classic Gwen attire and do lean Gayatri more towards a completely original character.
More Gwen Stacy For Beyond?
The producers for Across the Spider-Verse did recently confirm that the current plan is to include Gwen Stacy Variants in the next film.
But were they talking about Gayatri? After all, the final moments of Across show Pavitr Prabhakar as part of the new squad.
Hopefully, fans will get more than just one, as seeing a handful of other Gwens who got sent down the same road could be really fun to see. The same goes for any of the other characters in the movie.
Though, at a certain point, these Variants would become pretty far removed from Peter Parker himself. Perhaps that’s what the Beyond in the next installment’s title is referring to.
Across the Spider-Verse is playing in theaters worldwide, while Beyond the Spider-Verse lands on March 29, 2024.
