Silk (Cindy Moon) and Spider-Gwen. Two new heroines that swung their way into the world of comics through Spider-Verse portals. Both were critically welcomed by comic readers around the world, despite what people may think about Silk, with Spider-Gwen instantly gaining a fan following. And following the events of the battle with the Inheritors, both of these strong women find themselves in similar situations: trying to find their place in the world as heroes, whilst lacking a fallback net or strong relationships. I’d like to take a closer look at these two and see what qualities they share, and how they differ.

As with most beginnings, let’s start with their origin stories. Gwen Stacy’s origin begins as most Spider-Totems’ stories begin, with the bite of a radioactive spider. She donned her awesomely designed spider-costume and seem to become a pop culture phenomenon, that is until Peter Parker died. In her universe, Peter Parker -inspired by Spider-Gwen to stand up against bullies and be special, injected himself with a serum that turned him into the Lizard. In the end, he died in Gwen’s arms and Spider-Woman was declared a menace by Jameson and declared a criminal.

Her criminal status makes life complicated; between balancing hero work, playing drums for her rock band The Mary Janes, and dodging the police, Gwen has to deal with her soon to be strained relationship with her father Captain George Stacy. Obviously Captain Stacy isn’t too happy to find out his daughter is the notorious Spider-Gwen.

Silk’s origin begins in a method even more similar to Peter-616’s origin. The radioactive spider that bit Cindy Moon, is the exact same spider that bit Peter Parker. She underwent the same process as Peter albeit gaining a different power set. Unfortunately, the rest of her origin consists of only one setting -Sims Tower. After her powers spiraled out of control, Silk’s family was approached by a man named Ezekiel. He took Silk to Sims Tower, trained her in the use of her powers, and sealed her inside to protect her (and all the Spider-Totems) from Morlun. This was to be her final fate, until Peter Parker discovered her existence.



Obviously living alone in a tower for years sets her apart from Gwen, but there’s similarities to be found in their lives both before and after she was locked up. For one, Silk also had an estranged relationship with a parent (her mother) before she was locked away, and each fight with their parents over their desires and choices in life. Both Cindy’s mother and Gwen’s father think their children should focus on school rather than the things they enjoy, which causes friction between them.

This extends to relationships in general, though their struggles have separate causes. Silk no longer knows where her family is, and after being out of the world for so long feels a disconnect to everything and everyone but Peter -whom she actively avoids. On the other hand, Gwen has to actively deal with her father who was very recently intent on taking Spider-Woman down, and also feels a disconnect with the masses who either demonize her or idolize her. No one knows Silk, but everyone knows Spider-Gwen.

Now we’ll take a look at their fighting strength and power sets. Spider-Gwen seems to have the traditional Spider-Man 616 ability tree. The proportional strength and agility of a spider is a given, as well as the ability to shoot webs and swings. It has yet to be explicitly stated whether she has organic webbing or uses web shooters in the comics -and where she gets her tech if she uses the latter isn’t mentioned either. In addition to this, she has a predictive spider-sense that predict’s danger, you might have seen something similar before.



As we’ve seen from the Spider-Verse and her solo Spider-Gwen series, Gwen’s no pushover when it comes to hand to hand combat. She takes down a Green Goblin 1v1 on the Loomworld, and expertly incapacitates Aleksei in Spider-Gwen #1: just look at the accuracy of her strikes, those are no random punches! She’s also shown spider-savvy with classic spidey moves such as weaving web wings so as to glide.



This is where the two Spider-Women differ the most. Silk was given an alternate set of abilities from her spider bite. She maintains a higher spider-speed than her cohorts, able to move swiftly and nimbly. Whereas Peter, and presumably Gwen, have the edge in spider-strength, Silk has an extremely heightened spider-sense. This is shown on numerous occasions where she senses dangers an ample time earlier than her Spider-Friends do, much to their awe. As Peter says, it’s Matrix/Bullet-Time good.

What really defines her powers and sets her apart is the fact that she produces organic webbing from her fingertips, and rapidly. She has yet to run out, able to emit copious amounts of webbing which she can control so finely it almost seems alive. This versatility and control is exhibited in an incredibly cool thing she can do with her powers: weave her costume and other clothing out of her fingertips. Inexplicably, she can even change the color! (She creates a black/red outfit for both her costume and work clothes). With these webs she can swing, subdue, and do classic moves much more efficiently such as the web-shield. And to top it all of the tip of her webs are barbed. (Perhaps this doesn’t count as a power but she’s also irreversibly attracted to Peter Parker!) She also has an eidetic/photographic memory!



Though there is variation between the two heroines, one thing remains true between them. They’re both trying to find their place in the heroic/regular world, and they’re unafraid to jump head into danger to save their friends or accomplish a goal -like when they teleported directly to the dangerous Loomworld in the Spider-Verse to save Jessica Drew Spider-Woman. Either way, these two characters are poised to be important heroes in the Marvel/eventual Battleworld universe, and if you want to read a comic featuring a strong, but vulnerable and developing female hero, then these are two great choices for your pull list.

Well there you have it! Let me know in the comments which of these two Spider-Women you like better, and pick up some of their titles if you’re so inclined.

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