Gwenpool

Gwendolyn "Gwen" Poole is a fictional character who appears in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, originating as an amalgam of Gwen Stacy and Deadpool from a variant cover of "Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars #2".,^[1] one of twenty variant covers published due to the popularity of Spider-Gwen from June 2015.^[2]

As a result of the character becoming popular with fans, used as a basis for cosplay, Marvel produced two stories featuring Gwenpool as a character, a backup story in the series "Howard the Duck", and a one-shot "Gwenpool Holiday Special #1".^[3] Despite the name "Gwenpool", the character in fact has no relation to either Deadpool or Gwen Stacy. A retcon in the Howard the Duck #1 backup revealed her name to actually be "Gwen Poole", not Gwen Stacy, or even an alternate version of Gwen Stacy. Following the publication of the one-shot, an ongoing series titled The Unbelievable Gwenpool by the same creative team was announced, which started in April 2016.^[4]

Publication history

Gwenpool first appeared in Howard the Duck Vol. 6 #1 and was created by Chris Bachalo.

Fictional character biography

Backstory

Through means yet to be revealed, Gwen Poole arrived to the Marvel Universe from what she claims to be "the real world." Unwilling to be an "extra," she went to a tailor for super-heroes and requested her own costume to stand out. The tailor (named Ronnie) complied, but misread Gwen's application form, and thought Gwen went by the alias of "Gwenpool".

Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars #2

Gwenpool on the cover of Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars #2

The character design that eventually would become the character of Gwenpool originated as an amalgam of Gwen Stacy and Deadpool from a variant cover of Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars #2 by Chris Bachalo.

Meeting Howard the Duck

Gwenpool's first appearance as a character was in Howard the Duck Vol 6 #1, when she was involved in stealing a humanity-destroying virus from Black Cat and selling it to Hydra to get money easily, believing that the Avengers would simply deal with any consequences, unaware that they were in space at the time. In order to prevent Black Cat's Gang from finding her, Gwenpool killed a corrupt member of the NYPD whom the Black Cat was going to ask for help. Believing (correctly) that Black Cat was going to resort to blackmailing Howard the Duck into helping her, Gwen broke into Howard's office and hid under his desk. Gwenpool then revealed herself after Hardy left, and attempted to assassinate Howard, reasoning that as Howard was a fictional character, he would most likely come back even from death. When she revealed the item she had stolen from Hardy and to whom she had sold it, Howard scolded her and informed her of the Avengers' location. She then set out with Howard to retrieve the virus from a Hydra base. Gwenpool and Howard assaulted the Hydra base storing the virus and made their way to a laboratory where an agent was testing on it, with sights on releasing the virus. Gwenpool took the virus' container and drank it all, mistakenly believing it was the mumps, a virus she had been vaccinated from in her home reality. The virus started to mutate Gwenpool, and the Hydra agent gave her the cure to prevent her from infecting the base. When Howard met up with Hardy to return the box that supposedly contained the virus, Gwen appeared dressed up as one of the members of the organization that had sold the virus to the Black Cat, pretending to desire the box back. Using the money obtained from the transaction with Hydra, Gwen bought the box from Hardy, preventing her from discovering it was empty.^[5]

Gwenpool Holiday Special #1

During the Gwenpool Holiday Special, Gwenpool is hired to kill Orto, a snake/human hybrid assassin. She encounters him in his building and then kills him with a bomb. Gwenpool then attends a Christmas party hosted by She-Hulk, where she's seen talking to Ms. Marvel. They later go to the karaoke machine.^[6]

Solo series

Gwenpool Unmasked

Gwenpool then became a mercenary, getting the news of different freelance jobs from her tailor, Ronnie. When she attempted to open a bank account with the money she earned from killing Orto, she was unable to do so due to lack of proper identification. When the bank is assaulted by robbers, she springs into action, killing all the robbers. After getting arrested along with Cecil, a hacker who was with the robbers, the cop who was transporting them attempts to take Gwenpool's money to start a new life, being fed up with his job. They then take the cop's car and she enlists a reluctant Cecil as her sidekick. After taking the credit of a job from MODOK Superior's best agent, during which she killed said agent, M.O.D.O.K. tracked Gwenpool down and murdered Cecil in order to force her to become his henchman and an agent for his Mercenary Organization Dedicated Only to Killing. MODOK Superior then sends his squad to find and kill the Seed of Pains, an evil Asgardian wizard who was under police custody. Upon getting the wizard away from the cops, they're ambushed by Thor, who needed him to save a dying elven colony from a rare root that infected them. During the battle, Gwenpool attracts her attention by yelling her real name (Jane), causing Thor to question her about it. While Thor was distracted, Gwenpool killed the Seed of Pains by blasting him with a bazooka. Her teammate, Mega Tony, extracts the wizard's powers, places them in a spray bottle and gives it to Thor, who leaves to save the elves. While MODOK Superior and his squad celebrate, an upset Gwenpool is approached by Batroc the Leaper, who discovers that she doesn't have superpowers or training and threatens to expose her to MODOK Superior. Gwenpool then got Ronnie to set up a meeting between herself and Doctor Strange, in which she explained to him that she was from a reality where all Marvel characters are fictional characters in comic books. Amused to find out that Benedict Cumberbatch was playing him in a film about him, Doctor Strange agreed to create a fake background for Gwen in the Marvel Universe, so that she could have a driver's license and a passport. However, MODOK Superior, researching Gwen's background at this moment, seeing the ordinary fake background, swore to destroy Gwen. Gwen continues to be trained by Batroc the Leaper and starts buying weapons online. After discovering that Gwen is just a normal girl, MODOK Superior sends the other mercenaries on a mission, refusing to allow Gwen to go. When she questions why, he reveals that he knows who she is and demands to know how she killed his finest assassin. MODOK Superior attempts to kill her with a laser, but is blocked by a shield generator. Gwen and M.O.D.O.K. then engage in battle, with Gwen using the skills she learned from Batroc to gain the upper hand. Eventually MODOK Superior activates a rocket chair and sends a barrage of weapons against Gwen. MODOK Superior is defeated after Gwen reveals that Doctor Strange had enchanted Cecil's skull and brought him back as a ghost, allowing Cecil to hack into MODOK Superior (who doesn't have ghost defense) and sending him into space. She then heads to a meeting with MODOK Superior's mysterious client until she meets Miles Morales, the second Spider-Man, in the subway train. After an awkward introduction, Gwenpool follows Miles to his school until an explosion happens in one of the classrooms. Gwen and Spider-Man manage to rescue the students in time. Returning home, Miles finds Gwen in his house, who convinces him to investigate the explosion. Meanwhile, Batroc and the others receive a call from aliens, who seem to be looking for Gwenpool. Gwen then tries to convince Miles that she's from another universe, though he thinks she's crazy. They later go to the home of Damian, the kid who blew up the classroom. After confessing to Spider-Man, Damian tries to escape only for Gwenpool to appear in front of him with a gun. When she tries to kill him, Spider-Man saves him, accidentally knocking him unconscious. Spider-Man scolds Gwen for trying to kill Damian and, after a brief fight, he webs her and leaves her for the police. While in jail, Gwen is busted out by Batroc and reunited with the others, who worry about losing the client Gwen was supposed to meet. Later, the aliens, known as Teuthidans, attack New York while chasing a pig wearing Gwenpool's costume. It is then revealed to be a trap that Gwen set up so she can meet the mysterious client, who lives in an ordinary suburban house, while the others remain hidden in the base, which they moved. After entering the office room, she talks to Cecil, who has trouble accepting his current status as a ghost. The client, named Vincent, enters the room and asks Gwen to assume command of the organization and kill the Teuthidans. Meanwhile, the Teuthidans force the Captain of the NYPD to reveal Gwenpool's true identity. After the meeting, Gwen goes to the subway and sees cops looking for her. She puts her mask on and tries to fight them until some of the aliens arrive, forcing her to retreat. During the confrontation, Gwen discovers that the NYPD have joined forces with the Teuthidans to catch her and escapes by jumping on a moving subway train. Back at the base, she forms a plan to defeat the Teuthidans: while the others distract the cops with a fake crime wave, Gwen will kill the Teuthidans. Arriving at Times Square, Gwen tries to call the others until Vincent appears behind her. When Cecil arrives and tells Gwen that the others were captured by the Teuthidans, Vincent reveals that he told them, believing that the M.O.D.O.K. mercenaries were the real problem with the world and is somehow obsessed to learn about Gwenpool's world. Gwen then grabs her gun and shoots him in the face, revealing that Vincent is a Doombot who survived the events of Secret Wars.^[7]

Powers and abilities

Unlike other Marvel comic book characters, Gwenpool has no real superpowers, but has vast knowledge of the Marvel Universe from comic books in her universe, such as every secret identity of heroes and villains. She has used this information to take down Black Cat's criminal empire and to stop Jane Foster from attacking her.

Equipment

Gwenpool's knowledge of the Marvel Universe and its unique, fictional nature makes her reckless and irresponsibly violent. Thus, she prefers to use large guns and other extreme weaponry. For example, she has used rocket launchers and katanas in the past.

In other media

Video games

The Unbelievable Gwenpool Promotional Art for Marvel Future Fight

• On August 16, 2016, Gwenpool was introduced as a playable character in the FTP phone game Marvel Future Fight.^[8]
• In October 2016, Gwenpool was announced as the newest character in the match-three mobile game Marvel Puzzle Quest to celebrate the third anniversary of the game's release.

Collected Editions

The series has been collected into trade paperbacks:

See also

• Cosplay
• Gwen Stacy
• Deadpool
• Howard the Duck

References