Things Don't Look Good For Gwen Stacy

Welp, the new trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 seems a bit cryptic. If you have no interest in knowing a big thing out of the Spider-Man comics out of an attempt to maybe preserve yourself from possible plots that might come up in the sequel? Now would be the time to RUN AWAY FROM THIS POST, because, well, spoilers.

Whether you're a comics buff or just someone who runs towards spoilers at every opportunity (I feel you, bro), here's a thing that happens in the comics: Gwen Stacy falls from the George Washington Bridge. Hey boyfriend Peter Parker uses his spidey-webs to save her from falling into the water and dying — but, well, the force of the catching snaps her neck. He pulls her up thinking that he's saved her (even cracks a couple jokes), before he realizes what's happened. It's pretty brutal.

So Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker being all "What if something happens to you and it's because of me????" in this trailer? For those who know what happens it rings less as vague crypticness and more as "Well, shit, that's definitely happening." Followed quickly by "dammit, does this have to happen?"

Even if Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy does not meet some sort of end in this film, it's been made clear that there's a very familiar narrative being played out here. That narrative is the damsel in distress, the woman on the verge of being fridged, the male hero distressing because his job's just too dangerous to let his girlfriend anywhere near it. And ugh, it's exhausting.

Do we really have to go through this? Doesn't Emma Stone deserve better? Do we really have to martyr her? Can we just not?

Emma Stone always deserves better than this:

*sigh*

Image: Sony, Marvel