'Spiderman' rumors: Marvel trademark filing indicates big plans for superhero

Artwork for Gwen Stacy and Spiderman romanceMarvel

Marvel may be planning something big for "Spiderman" in the future, as a new trademark has been filed by the comic book studio for a character in the franchise.

Six separate trademarks have been filed by Marvel for the character Ghost-Spider or otherwise known as Spider-Gwen, which is essentially the character Gwen Stacy taking on the responsibility of her love interest Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spiderman. The notion, however, does not occur in the same reality as Peter's Spiderman since Spider-Gwen is supposed to be exclusive to Earth-65 from an alternate reality.

Although it is not yet known what Marvel or Disney plans to do with this character origin in the movie adaptations, or whether there will be a solo movie adaptation for her at all, Comic Book explains that the name Spider-Gwen is actually just an informal moniker for her since that's not what she is called in costume, and it would be a dead giveaway of her secret identity. The official moniker for her is Ghost-Spider.

Fans expecting her on the big screen may want to tone down their excitement, though, since there is a bigger chance that Ghost-Spider will be used to cartoons and animated movies instead of AAA live action ones. This means that she might also not get to stand side-by-side with the Avengers, unlike her male counterpart.

Meanwhile, the six separate trademarks mentioned above were filed for (1) Education and entertainment services, (2) Toys, games and playthings, (3) Bags and other handheld paraphernalia, (4) Clothing, footwear and headwear, (5) Paper and paper articles as well as other paper-based products, and (6) Apparatus for recording, transmission, processing, and reproduction of sound, images, or data. These mean that all the rights for any adaptation for Spider-Gwen are now held by Marvel. With ownership this big, the studio may be planning something equally big for her as well.

There is, however, no trademark filing of Ghost-Spider for the comic books, which could indicate that the comic books may get to keep the Spider-Gwen issue titles.