<P> The Green Goblin abducts Peter's girlfriend, Gwen Stacy, and lures Spider - Man to a tower of either the Brooklyn Bridge (as depicted in the art) or the George Washington Bridge (as given in the text). The Goblin and Spider - Man clash, and the Goblin hurls Stacy off the bridge . Spider - Man shoots a web strand at her legs and catches her . As he pulls her up, he thinks he has saved her . However, he quickly realizes she is dead . Unsure whether her neck was broken by the whiplash from her sudden stop or had been already broken by the Goblin prior to her fall, he blames himself for her death . A note on the letters page of The Amazing Spider - Man #125 states: "It saddens us to say that the whiplash effect she underwent when Spidey's webbing stopped her so suddenly was, in fact, what killed her ." </P> <P> The Green Goblin escapes, and Spider - Man cries over Stacy's corpse and swears revenge . The following issue, Spider - Man tracks the Green Goblin to a warehouse and beats him but cannot bring himself to kill him . The Goblin uses the opportunity to send his glider to impale Spider - Man from behind . Warned by his spider - sense, Spider - Man dodges, and the glider instead impales the Green Goblin, seemingly killing him . Later, a devastated Parker, back at home, encounters an equally shocked and saddened Mary Jane Watson, who has lost her close friend Stacy, and the two attempt to comfort each other in the wake of their loss . </P> <Ul> <Li> The death of Gwen Stacy shocked the American comic book community . Previously, it had been unthinkable to kill off such an important character--the girlfriend of a title character with a large fanbase . Generally, a superhero did not fail this disastrously unless it was part of his or her origin story . This story arc has been proposed as a marker of the end of the Silver Age of Comic Books, and the beginning of the darker, grittier Bronze Age . </Li> <Li> The frequent tendency for the wives and girlfriends of male superheroes to meet grim fates was referred to as "The Gwen Stacy Syndrome" by the Comics Buyer's Guide . </Li> <Li> A fan poll conducted by Marvel Comics for their series The 100 Greatest Marvels of All Time voted The Amazing Spider - Man (vol. 1) #121 and 122 to be the 6th and 19th greatest issues of all time, respectively . </Li> </Ul> <Li> The death of Gwen Stacy shocked the American comic book community . Previously, it had been unthinkable to kill off such an important character--the girlfriend of a title character with a large fanbase . Generally, a superhero did not fail this disastrously unless it was part of his or her origin story . This story arc has been proposed as a marker of the end of the Silver Age of Comic Books, and the beginning of the darker, grittier Bronze Age . </Li>

What did peter parker say to gwen stacy at the end