GWENPOOL

 

GWENPOOL

Real Name: Gwendolyn Poole

First Appearance: Howard the Duck (Vol. 6) #1, January 2016

Powers: Gwenpool is a dimensional traveler from a world (Earth-TRN565) where the Marvel and Ultimate Universes (Earth-616 and Earth-1610, respectively) were chronicled in mass media comic books known as Marvel Comics. Upon entering Earth-616, she therefore had an encyclopedic knowledge of facts and events that weren't public knowledge, as well as a general understanding of the meta-narrative structure that defined the laws of that dimension (also known as "comic book logic").

As a normal human, Gwen would have been a "background character" and therefore vulnerable to being a casualty statistic in superhuman battles. Therefore, she adopted a costumed persona to adopt the special benefits of being the "hero of a story", such as decelerated aging and unrealistic application of the laws of physics to a degree. She uses her knowledge of tropes and story narrative to predict the outcome of events from a higher-dimensional (aka "the fourth wall") perspective. For instance, she helped Miles Morales identify a kid in his school as responsible for bombing it. Gwen's reasoning was because that kid was introduced pre-Secret Wars in a sub-plot that had no resolution, and the Molecule Man only transferred over the "relevant" aspects of Miles' life to Earth-616, then the fact that that kid still existed in Miles' life post-Secret Wars meant his plot was continuing.

Over time, Gwen developed the ability to actively interface with comic book reality structure. She could "see" word balloons, thought bubbles, sound effects, or flashback sequences when someone was explaining something. Gwen could interact with these literary devices physically, like getting forced out the window by an oversized stream of consciousness thought bubble, or "gather up" the sound effects of Batroc beating down a door, so no one else could hear the sounds.

By perceiving the fourth wall, Gwen could move into the equivalent of extra-dimensional space. From the perspective of someone still in the comic book, it would appear as if Gwen was fully or partially disappearing before their eyes. By traveling into the "gutter space", Gwen existed outside the flow of space and time in the comics themselves. From this vantage point, she could observe events happening in the comic panels at her leisure, then return to the narrative flow an instant later. She could travel to anywhere in time and space, provided it was depicted somewhere inside the comic book panels. If she imagined being in a different location, she could physically travel to that point because the "thought bubble" of her imagining herself there was in the pages.

Although incredibly powerful from the perspective of the Marvel Universe, Gwen's abilities were limited by comic tropes and editorial oversight as well. A future version of Gwenpool learned the limits of her powers: She could not bring a friend of hers back to life because editorial decreed that character must remain dead. So, if she killed an important character like Miles Morales, her actions would be explained out of existence by new pages stating it was all a dream, etc. A new ability she discovered was the power to create new information that imposes a different interpretation on previously described events (also known as “retroactive continuity” or “retcons”) virtually at will. By vividly imagining something or telling a story about something that happened in the past, Gwen would create flashback panels appearing in her comic. These flashbacks (though dreamed up by Gwen) would create retroactive continuity that actually affected reality off-panel up until that point.

While trying to understand Gwen's claims that they were all comic book characters, Ms. Marvel offered an alternate explanation: She posited that Gwen was a mutant with the power to alter reality. And when it manifested, she couldn't fully grasp its potential or contain it. To compensate, her mind created a false set of memories and guidelines through which she would use her power to interact with reality. Gwen couldn't stop her vivid imagination from "flashback paneling" Ms. Marvel's story idea, and inadvertently may have retconned herself into being a mutant. As a result, Gwen now remembers being a mutant and not being a mutant at once.