Despite what movies like “The Amazing Spider-Man” would have you believe, according to the comics Gwen Stacy first met Peter Parker in college.
In “The Amazing Spider-Man” issue 31, Peter enrolls at Empire State University and gets introduced to classmates like Gwen and Harry Osborne. In the issue, Peter is preoccupied because Aunt May is in the hospital and villains are on the loose, but the other students attribute his aloof behavior do a dislike for them.
Peter manages to recover from his awful first impression, but his relationship with Gwen is rarely smooth sailing. More often than not, it’s Peter’s secret life as Spider-Man that pulls the two of them apart. Their first-ever date is at a science symposium hosted by their professor Miles Warren, but when Doc Ock attacks, Peter goes MIA, so Spider-Man can save the day. The two of them manage to patch things up, and they keep seeing each other.
Over time, Peter gets closer not just to Gwen, but also her father Captain George Stacy. But dating a police captain’s daughter makes hiding his secret identity harder than ever. At one point, Peter decides to come clean about his side-hustle as Spider-Man, but he later blames his confession on being confused and feverish. Peter and Gwen’s relationship would have gone a lot smoother if he’d really told her his secret, but by the time anyone in the Stacy family knew Peter’s real identity, it was too late.