Warning! Spoilers for Darkhold: Spider-Man #1 by Marvel Comics
Peter Parker was just shown a more twisted path he could have taken after reading the Darkhold, which somehow makes Spider-Man's loss of Gwen Stacy even more twisted. In Darkhold: Spider-Man #1 by Marvel Comics, Spider-Man is keeping a world that's been unraveled together with his webbing - including Gwen Stacy, whose body he's preserving with his web-fluid in hopes of finding a cure to her problem.
Few Marvel Comics stories are more tragic than The Night Gwen Stacy Died by Gerry Conway, Gil Kane, John Romita Sr., and Artie Simek. The two-issue story occurred in Amazing Spider-Man #121 and #122 and featured the surprise demise of Peter Parker's first love interest, Gwen Stacy. In the comics, Gwen is captured by the Green Goblin and thrown off the Brooklyn Bridge. Spider-Man, who's mid-fight with the supervillain, tries to save her by shooting his web and catching Gwen before she hit the ground. However, Spider-Man is too late, as she doesn't survive. The tragic moment was brought to life on the big screen in The Amazing Spider-Man #2. Stacy's death still impacts Spider-Man to this day.
In Darkhold: Spider-Man #1 by Alex Paknadel, Dio Neves, Jim Charalampidis, and VC's Clayton Cowles, readers learn the dark vision Spider-Man sees after reading the Darkhold after ing Scarlet Witch in trying to stop the elder god Chthon. The Darkhold shows him a much more twisted path, where Manhattan has become mysteriously unraveled - as one day, everything, including people's bodies, started falling apart. In response, Spider-Man (who survived thanks to his powers) uses webbing to keep the city and its people together. However, as a depleted Spider-Man spends his remaining energy on keeping the city together, he's racing to get back home to celebrate his anniversary with Gwen Stacy. But, readers learn Stacy is also unraveled, as she's a corpse held together by webbing.
The scene is reminiscent of Norman Bates in Psycho keeping his mother's corpse long after her death. Peter talks to Gwen throughout the issue, as he's become so disillusioned and overworked, it appears he's just talking to himself or hearing what he wants to hear from his own mind.
Ultimately, the Darkhold vision Spider-Man sees makes Gwen's death even more twisted than her original demise in The Night Gwen Stacy Died. In this case, Peter Parker refused to let go of Gwen, promising to find a cure for his partner, despite his sense of reality being completely warped. Thankfully, Spider-Man chose a different path and the reality the Darkhold showed him is just a twisted version of how things could have gone in a much darker timeline. Darkhold: Spider-Man #1 is in comic book stores now.
