InsaneJournal

Whiteshark was observant enough to notice the boots of the person who appears to be sitting on the tombstone of Kraven the Hunter, in the cover image for Amazing Spider-Man #612:



Whiteshark's first thought was that those boots are being worn by the wife or daughter of Kraven, since a female Kraven has already been shown recruiting members of the Gauntlet for the title's upcoming story arc.

But then, Whiteshark remembered that Gwen Stacy traditionally wore very similar boots, as seen in the cover for Amazing Spider-Man #144:



Even as recently as a few months ago, with the NuSpidey status quo well underway, if anybody had seriously argued to me that Gwen Stacy might actually be coming back, I would have laughed in their faces, because while I may well be a tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist with regard to Quesada's Marvel, even I would have given them more credit than that.

Some points to consider, though:

1. Quesada stated in interviews immediately following "One More Day" that he wanted to use OMD to bring Gwen back, but he was overridden by his own "brain trust." Since then, though, almost all of the original members of the "brain trust" have rotated out, and ... well, as with J. Michael Straczynski, we've already seen what happens with writers who override Quesada's will, because while they might succeed in the short term, Quesada always gets his way in the long run.



2. For the first time in more than a decade, not only is Marvel heavily acknowledging the existence of the "Clone Saga," but it's also made the "Clone Saga" a key plot point in current continuity. For those who might have forgotten, Miles Warren, a.k.a. the Jackal, cloned Gwen in the original clone story that became the basis of the "Clone Saga" during the mid-1990s.



3. In this title's most recent story arcs, we've seen three different writers basically adopting the exact same (very likely editorially mandated) approach to portraying Peter Parker's love life, which is to show him falling in and out of quasi-romantic relationships with multiple women at a time. Bringing back Gwen would, for the first time in the published history of the 616 version of the character, allow all three of the franchise's most memorable "Spider-Man's girlfriends" to coexist at the same time, in the same stories. I suspect this would hold an equal appeal to nostalgic fans and Marvel marketing alike.



4. Quesada has stated in relatively recent interviews that his previous pronouncement, that "everything stayed the same, except for the wedding," has since become false, in that "one other thing" has changed in the character's pre-OMD continuity.



5. During the "American Son" storyline, the art in one issue showed what appeared to be a clone gestation tank, with the label "G. Stacy."

Bottom line, Marvel has the means, motive and opportunity to do this. It could be as simple as saying that Warren had already cloned Gwen, and replaced Gwen with her clone, shortly before Norman Osborn killed her, which would mean that Norman mistakenly killed Gwen's clone instead of Gwen herself. As for where the original Gwen has been all this time, Warren could have kept her in a stasis tank, which would have been appropriated by Norman after the end of the "Clone Saga."

Yes, this explanation would create some continuity questions, but no more so than the explanation that was eventually given for Harry Osborn's resurrection. The point being, we've long since reached the point where this wouldn't even be the stupidest retcon that's been committed during the current Spider-Man status quo.