Comic book artist Kris Anka was among those tasked with working on Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and if you follow him on social media, you'll know he was responsible for designing many of the sequel's spectacular characters.
However, what we didn't realise is that one of those, Gayatri, was a Gwen Stacy Variant!
The love interest of Earth-50101's Pavitr Prabhakar/Spider-Man India, her police captain father very nearly died until Miles Morales intervened. While she was obviously meant as a proxy for Gwen in that reality, we never expected her to actually be an alternate version of the character.
"For something a little different," Anka says, "here is Gayatri. One of the last designs I did on the movie, an absolute blast. Had a lot of fun working in little hints to classic Gwen color schemes." It's fascinating to see where that evolution took Gwen/Gayatri, though some early designs veer greatly from what ended up on screen.
You can take a closer look at Earth-50101's "Spider-Gwen" below.
Miles Morales returns for the next chapter of the Oscar-winning Spider-Verse saga, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. After reuniting with Gwen Stacy, Brooklyn's full-time, friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man is catapulted across the Multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence.
But when the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles finds himself pitted against the other Spiders and must redefine what it means to be a hero so he can save the people he loves most.
The movie stars Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Jake Johnson, Issa Rae, Daniel Kaluuya, Karan Soni, Jason Schwartzman, Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Velez, Greta Lee, Rachel Dratch, Jorma Taccone, Shea Whigham, and Oscar Isaac.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now playing in theaters.