Gerry Conway, the Brooklyn-born writer who co-created The Punisher, wrote the death of Gwen Stacy, and shaped the trajectory of American superhero comics across five decades, died Monday at the age of 73. Marvel Comics announced the news on behalf of his family. He is survived by his wife, Laura Conway. No cause of death was disclosed.
Conway’s fingerprints stretch across virtually every corner of the Marvel and DC universes. He broke into publishing at 16, contributing horror shorts to anthology titles, then landed the most high-profile job in superhero comics just three years later — replacing Stan Lee as writer of The Amazing Spider-Man at age 19. Starting with issue #111, Conway wrote the flagship title for over three years, taking the book all the way through issue #149.
That run produced two of the medium’s most consequential moments. In Amazing Spider-Man #121, the Green Goblin abducted and killed Peter Parker’s girlfriend Gwen Stacy — a story widely credited with ending comics’ Silver Age and opening the darker Bronze Age of the 1970s and ’80s. Then, in issue #129, Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru introduced Frank Castle — The Punisher — a grieving vigilante originally hired to kill Spider-Man who grew into one of Marvel’s most enduring anti-heroes.
Conway gave the Punisher a tragic, blood-soaked backstory that sent the character on a revenge quest for his family. Jon Bernthal, who plays Castle on screen, will reprise the role this summer in a Disney+ special and in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
His DC work carries equal weight. Conway created heroes including Firestorm, Power Girl, and Jason Todd as Batman’s second Robin, and also created classic villains like Killer Croc, Killer Frost, and Cheetah. He also penned episodes of Batman: The Animated Series and wrote the first-ever Marvel/DC crossover, Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man.
Earlier this year, it was confirmed that Conway would be inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame.
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Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige said Conway’s work “inspired so much of what we’ve done on screen, from Werewolf by Night to Daredevil to Spider-Man and Punisher.” Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski called “The Night Gwen Stacy Died” a story that “affects Spider-Man to this day.”
Conway announced in 2022 that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, then declared himself cancer-free the following year.
