Gwenpool

Origin

Originally from the real universe, ordinary dropout Gwen Poole retreated from her daily struggles and failures by obsessing over the media that she loved, particularly the Marvel Universe. Together with her brother Teddy, she was accidentally sucked into the comic book world, and, believing her brother to be dead and uncertain of how to make her way back to the real world, she settled in to become Marvel's newest hero, the unbelievable Gwenpool.

Creation

Gwenpool was initially created by Chris Bachalo as part of the Gwen Stacy Variant Cover event. She appeared on the variant cover of Deadpool's Secret Secret War #2. She proved popular, and was introduced into the comics proper in Howard the Duck Vol.4 issue 1 (2016), written by Christopher Hastings and drawn by Danilo Beyruth.

Major Story Arcs

Ms Poole If You're Nasty

Gwenpool robs Black Cat of a virus and sells it to HYDRA, believing that the consequences of her actions will be minimal due to the fictionality of the universe in which she currently resides. Initially attempting to kill Howard the Duck, she is convinced by him that her actions may actually have negative repercussions. She joins him in stealing the virus back from Hydra, and repays Black Cat out of her Hydra wages.

Agent of MODOK

Deciding to become a mercenary, Gwen begins to take jobs given to her by her tailor, Ronnie. Aided by her hacker friend Cecil, Gwen carries out several barely successful jobs before stumbling across an alien massacre that had been carried out by a much more skilled mercenary. Killing him, she takes credit for his work, drawing the attention of MODOK, who kills Cecil and forcibly recruits her for his team. She carries out several jobs for him, bringing her into conflict with Thor and with her own teammate, Batroc, who trains her to have some fighting skill. During an encounter with Doctor Strange, the hero helps her to establish an identity in the comic book universe, which brings to MODOK's attention to the fact that Gwen has been lying about her qualifications. Desperately fighting him, she manages to summon the ghost of Cecil, who possesses MODOK and strands him in space.

Head of MODOK

Now in control of MODOK's team, Gwen incidentally runs into Miles Morales, who initially helps her before, disgusted by her cavalier and dangerous attitude, he turns her in to the police. Rescued by her team, she discovers that the alien race she had claimed the credit for killing, the Teuthidians, have come seeking revenge. She dresses a pig up in a version of her costume and goes to meet Vincent Doonan, who has sought to hire the team to maintain peace and normalcy in his neighbourhood. Becoming increasingly unsettled by the growing danger and reality of her new universe, she agrees to destroy the Teuthidians on Vincent's behalf. She plans to distract the aliens and the police, who have joined forces to capture her, but is sold out by Vincent. She shoots him in the face, revealing him to be a rogue Doombot. They fight through the streets of New York City and Gwen, hopelessly outmatched, flees. She discovers her team of Poole Boys and mounts an attack on the Teuthidian headquarters, successfully freeing her teammates but losing what little remains of their faith in her.

Interim

Adrift, Gwen comes into contact with several teams and groups, including Rocket Raccoon and Groot, the Champions, and Blade.

Team MODOK

Captured by Arcade, Gwen finds herself imprisoned in one of his Murderworlds with the rest of her team. Agreeing to work together, they make their way through the RPG-themed dungeon until they encounter Deadpool. She is nearly defeated by him, but at the last minute convinces him to join forces with her against Arcade. Escaping with her team, she makes it her mission to help them all better themselves. She convinces Mega Tony to get a job at Parker Industries and, after a series of incidents involving Hawkeye and Ghost Rider, manages to find Cecil a new, if slightly monstrous, body.

Beyond the Fourth Wall

Becoming curious about the potential existence of a version of her family in the Marvel universe, she finds her brother Teddy to be alive and well. Horrified at what his sister has become, he attempts to drag her back to their home universe. Initially convinced by the world around her, Gwen soon begins to notice the cracks in reality, literally becoming aware of, and able to interact with, the fourth wall. Slowly it becomes clear that they are not truly back in their home universe, but a pocket universe created by future versions of Miles Morales, Vincent Doonan, and the Terrible Eye, who have travelled back from the future to stop her from becoming the villain she is destined to become. Her reality manipulation powers having manifested as a result of their tampering, Gwen easily escapes and attempts to reason with the time travellers. They resist, and she is captured by Morales, who begins to recount her future crimes, accidentally allowing her future, villainous incarnation to enter reality. Evil Gwen reveals that if she does not go evil her comic will be cancelled, and she will fade into obscurity. Unwilling to believe it, Gwen fights and defeats her future self by refusing to become her, thus writing her out of existence. Resolving to travel down a new path, Gwen decides to become a full-time hero.

Doom Sees You

Determined to be the best hero she can be, Gwen begins dealing with villains and threats by throwing them into the void beyond the comic book page. Desperate to become an Avenger, she calls out Doctor Doom. He traps her and points out that he is now a hero but, enraged, she uses her powers to summon forth an old, villainous version of him. She forces this version outside of reality, believing him to be defeated until he re-emerges. They fight until the current version of Doom returns and destroys the old Doom. Outside of the panel, she reveals that her time is drawing short and that cancellation looms unless she is willing to become a villain.

Lost in the Plot

Gwen asks Batroc to help her commit a crime, and together they pull off a heist at a flying casino. Resigned to her life of villainy, she discovers that Batroc specifically selected a criminal target. Realizing her title is coming to an end, Gwen meets the future version of herself and undertakes several missions to wrap things up and improve the lives of her friends. Using her powers, she protects a little girl who dressed up as Gwenpool for Halloween, and visits the girl several times over the course of her life. Making her peace with her life, Gwen goes back to comfort her past self.

West Coast Avengers

While visiting her friend Kate Bishop in Los Angeles, Gwenpool ends up drafted to the newly reformed West Coast Avengers. She instantly gets at odds with teammate Kid Omega, who she later gets in a relationship with. During one their adventures she also adopts a baby landsharks who she names Jeff.

Gwenpool Strikes Back

Gwenpool tries to stay relevant so that they won't cancel her. She first gets some help from Deadpool and then also goes on to create a tournament involving many major superheroes but none of it works. In the end during a conversation with Kamala Khan she is retconned to be a Mutant, she then ends up in Krakoa where she finally gets to continue existing.

Deadpool (2019)

Gwenpool makes a brief appearance at the beginning of the series, here she gives Jeff the Landshark to Deadpool because she feels her popularity is fading and if Deadpool takes him he will be featured in more comics, Deadpool accepts and Gwenpool goes away.

M.O.D.O.K.: Head Games (2021)

In M.O.D.O.K: Head Games Gwenpool is hired to take out M.O.D.O.K., she succeeds in her mission but immediatly feels guilty after seeing M.O.D.OK.'s memories with his family, she then proceeds to rewrite the story and erase what she did so that it's as if he never died.

Love Unlimited

In 2023 Gwenpool appears in the Infinity Comic Love Unlimited, while her goal is initially to get a romantic companion to boost her sales she laters starts discovering her sexuality more and concludes that she is both asexual and aromantic.

Alternate Versions

Edge of Venomverse

Following a near-death experience, Gwen merges with the Venom symbiote.

Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe Again

Gwenpool is enlisted by Moon Knight to investigate the villains, during which time she learns that the villains are controlling Deadpool with trigger words. She fights Deadpool and is killed by him, but with her dying breath is able to trigger him to attack the villains.

Powers and Abilities

Gwen has vast reality manipulation powers. She is aware that the world in which she exists is a comic book, and is able to interact with these comic book elements to a variety of effects; for example, she is able to step out of and between panels to facilitate travel between great distances and even backwards or forwards in time, to throw others into the "void" beyond panel borders, or to interact with scene elements such as word bubbles or sound effects. However, her ability is somewhat constrained by the medium: she cannot eliminate any person or object that the higher ups want to keep in canon, and her ability to jump between panels is limited by whether a scene has occurred or will occur in the issue she is in. She possesses an encyclopaedic knowledge of all events, facts, and secrets of the Marvel Universe up to the point at which she entered it; though she is aware that she is in a comic book, she is unable to acquire new extraordinary knowledge as she no longer has access to new comic books. Gwen has minimal training in hand to hand or armed combat, and is not particularly athletic, though she is protected by her status as a main character.

Weapons and Equipment

Gwen carries two katanas, with which she is barely trained, as well as having access to a vast arsenal of guns and various other weapons, some of which she is slightly familiar with.

Other Media

Video Games

• Marvel Future Fight - Gwen appears as a playable character in this game.

• Marvel Contest of Champions - Gwen is a playable character and Skill Champion in this game. And alternate version, called Gwenperion, is a non-playable character.

• Marvel Puzzle Quest - Gwen appears as a playable character in this game.

• Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 - Gwen appears in the game, voiced by Becca Stewart. She replaces Deadpool as the host of the bonus missions, and is also a playable character.
• Marvel Duel - Although Gwen is a non-playable character she is prominently featured in the game, the game's story mode focuses on Gwenpool working with different heroes to get their equipment back after it was stolen by her evil future self.
• Marvel Battle Lines - Gwen appeared in the game both as a character card and as an action card
• Marvel Strike Force In 2023 Gwenpool is added to the mobile game Marvel Strike Force

Merchandise

• Gwenpool was featured in Funko Pop!'s line of bobbleheads and Funko Rock Candy.
• Gwenpool was featured in Hasbro's Marvel Legends line as part of the Lizard Build-a-Figure wave.
• Sen-Ti-Nel produced two Gwenpool statues.
• Diamond Select produced a Gwenpool statue, as well as an unmasked variant and also a Gwenpool 'Super Hero Illuminate' statue.
• Gentle Giant Ltd produced a Gwenpool animated statue.
• Medicom produced a Gwenpool figure for the MAFEX line of figures, variant depicting Evil Gwenpool was also released.
• Good Smile Company released a statue with both Masked and Unmasked Gwenpool and also a Nendoroid Gwenpool.