Mary-Jane Watson

From Spider-Man Wiki

Mary Jane Watson is a supporting character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics]]. The character primarily appears in the Spider-Man titles as a friend, love interest, and in some continuities wife (as Mary Jane Watson-Parker) of the title character (specifically, his alter-ego, Peter Parker). Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Romita, Sr., after a few partial appearances and references, she finally first fully appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #42 (November 1966).

She is depicted as a gorgeous, Eye color|green-eyed red hair|redhead and has been the primary romantic interest of Spider-Man’s alter ego Peter Parker for the last twenty years, although initially competing against others for his affection, most prominently with Gwen Stacy and the Black Cat. Mary Jane's relatively unknown early life was first explored in Amazing Spider-Man' #259 and finally established by Gerry Conway's graphic novel The Amazing Spider-Man: Parallel Lives (January 1990).

Today, Mary Jane is considered an important part of the Spider-Man series and has been featured in most other media adaptations of the character. She has even been the main character of some comics and novels aimed at young, female readers. Actress Kirsten Dunst portrayed her in the recent film series.

Contents 1 Fictional character biography 1.1 Early years 1.2 Marriage 1.3 Pregnancy 1.4 Marital problems 1.5 Civil War 1.6 One More Day 1.7 Brand New Day 2 Controversies 3 Skills and equipment 4 Other versions 5 In other Media

[edit] Fictional character biography

[edit] Early years

Mary Jane Watson comes from a severely troubled family. Her father, a professor and frustrated writer, takes his stress out on his family in the form of spousal and child abuse. Coping with her hellish family life, Mary Jane develops a facade as a superficial party girl to avoid the embarrassment, which may have cast her as a forerunner to the archetype of a wily, feisty redhead. Her parents would eventually divorce, and Mary Jane and her sister lived with her mother, often staying with relatives. She also frequently babysat a cousin of hers, Kristy Watson, who had minor appearances throughout the Spider-Man titles. Her favorite relative, her Aunt Anna, lived next door to the Parkers.

The accuracy of Mary Jane's early feelings towards Peter are constantly reinterpreted with different writers putting their own stamp on the titles. At one point, it was revealed she was unimpressed by Peter, a bookish nerd, but this was contradicted in a 1990s Marvel "Valentines Day" issue, where she admits she fell in love with the considerate, but reserved "bookworm".

It should be noted many one-shots and ongoing issues continue to redefine and retcon various periods of MJ's life to reflect a different opinion of her character, from intellect to durability. Many fans have found this a constant irritation, and feel it "cheapens" MJ's love for Peter on his own merits without becoming aware of his powers. Other interpretations (such as the movies, Spider-Man: Reign and Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane), have since attempted to reaffirm that Mary Jane fell in love with a "nerdish" Peter Parker long before she discovered his secret identity.

Mary Jane's name was first mentioned in Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #15 (August 1964), but she was originally an unseen character. The early issues of Amazing Spider-Man featured a running joke about Peter dodging his Aunt May's attempts to set him up with "that nice Watson girl next door", whom Peter had not yet met and assumed would not be his type, since his aunt liked her. (In the Parallel Lives graphic novel an identical scenario is shown between Mary Jane and her Aunt Anna.) Mary Jane made her first actual appearance in Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #25 (June 1965); however, in that issue, her face was obscured. It is not until Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #42 (November 1966) that her face is actually seen. In that issue, on the last page, Peter finally meets her, and he is stunned by her beauty even as she speaks the now-famous line: "Face it, Tiger... you just hit the jackpot!"

Peter begins to date her, much to the annoyance of Gwen Stacy. However, her apparent superficiality proves to be an irritation to Peter that her rival did not share. Peter eventually learns to cope with this, and Mary Jane becomes an occasional flirtitious interest as well as a close friend to Peter, Gwen, and others.

Despite her enjoyment of life, her friendships, and dating, Mary Jane refuses to be tied down for too long. When her relationship with Harry Osborn comes to an end, it has significant impact on Harry, driving him to a drugs overdose. This in turn creates a boomerang effect, driving his father Norman Osborn to the brink of insanity, temporarily restoring his memories as the Green Goblin. Mary Jane only realizes the true consequences of her lifestyle when she learns of Harry's predicament

Later, when the Green Goblin murders Gwen, MJ stays with Peter during his mourning, though he initially tells her to leave him alone, he becomes interested in her as he recovers. Following the events of the original clone saga, Peter realizes that Mary Jane is the girl he has always loved, and the two begin dating again.

However, despite loving Peter, MJ does not wish to be tied, and when she allows the relationship to progeress too far, she is left with a difficult decision when Peter proposes to her. After taking a short time to consider, she turns him down. Following a series of traumatic experiences involving Peter's absences and his costumed alter-ego endangering his Aunt May, a spiritually-exhaused MJ leaves New York for several months. Peter meanwhile dates other women as his adventures continue, with the most noticeable being Felicia Hardy

MJ eventually returns, her behavior showing a marked change with her abandonment of her false front. Following an attack on Peter by Puma, she breaks down and admits her knowledge of Peter's secret identity in Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #257. After learning of her own family history in Amazing Spider-Man#259, Peter finds a new respect for her and begins to truly understand her. MJ however, makes it clear to Peter that knowing his identity changes nothing about her feelings, and that she only loves him as a friend

Despite the one-shot graphic novel "Parallel Lives" revealing that Mary Jane discovered Peter's secret when she noticed Spider-Man climbing out of Peter's bedroom window, many comics published before this revelation claimed that she had simply "figured it out", with the details of how and when left ambiguous to the reader.

After yet another period of reconsidering his priorities in life, Peter contemplates letting go of the Spider-Man mantle, with Mary Jane backing the decision, but his relationship with Felicia Hardy soon resumes. Feeling lost and guilty, Peter visits Mary Jane and apologises with an awkward kiss before heading to Berlin with Ned Leeds.

Following Ned Leed's murder at the hands of The Foreigner, a changed and bitter Peter returns to New York, where his lack of direction in life is not helped when Ned is framed as The Hobgoblin, and Felicia elects to leave Peter behind as she is tied to the Foreigner. Mary Jane returns to Peter, presumbly to patch things up, but Peter surprises her with a second proposal of marriage, which MJ again turns down. She returns to her family to settle old debts with her father, with Peter following her. After aiding her sister in having her crooked father arrested, and aiding Peter against a Spider-Slayer, Mary Jane has an epiphany on marriage, and agrees to become Peter's wife.

[edit] Marriage

In spite of Peter and Mary Jane's mutual worry that they were marrying too early, Peter's concern for MJ's safety, and Mary Jane's unwillingness to give up her "party girl" lifestyle, they married in Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) Annual #21 (1987). She attached Peter's surname to her own, making her Mary Jane Watson-Parker. Spider-Man wore his black costume around this time, but after Mary Jane was frightened by a stalking Venom, she convinced him to change back to his old costume in Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #300 (May 1988).

Mary Jane continued to model after her marriage, but was stalked by her wealthy landlord, Jonathan Caesar. When she rejected his advances, he had her blacklisted as a model. She got a role on the soap opera "Secret Hospital," but was unhappy with her character's air-headed and mean personality. Although she successfully petitioned her boss to adjust her character's personality, a deranged fan tried to kill Mary Jane out of hatred for the actions of her soap opera character. Mary Jane quit her job out of fear for her own safety.

Due to this stress, the recent death of Harry Osborn, and the seeming return of her husband's parents, Mary Jane began smoking (a habit she had quit in high school), only increasing the tension between her and Peter. Peter ultimately convinced her to stop smoking when he tricked her into visiting an old friend suffering heavily from lung cancer. When his parents were discovered to be fakes, Peter was unable to cope with the knowledge and disappeared for a time. Mary Jane visited her sister Gayle and her father for the first time in years, and finally reconciled with them. Meanwhile, Peter overcame his problems on his own. When she and Peter reunited, both were happier than they had been in a long time.

[edit] Pregnancy

Shortly afterward, Peter's clone, Ben Reilly, appeared. Mary Jane discovered that she was pregnant. While she experienced some complications in her pregnancy, Reilly's scientist friend Seward Trainer helped her. Peter and Ben were told by Trainer that Ben was the real Peter Parker, and Peter was the clone (which later proved to be a lie). Peter, acting on hypnotic suggestion by the Jackal, attempted to kill Mary Jane, but was prevented by Ben Reilly (as the Scarlet Spider), his teammates the New Warriors, and Kaine. Later, while arguing with Ben, Peter accidentally struck Mary Jane. After this, he decided to quit as Spider-Man, because the stress of his double life was endangering his wife and unborn child.

Peter and Mary Jane left New York and moved to Portland, Oregon. While there, he lost his powers in a lab accident. They lived there peacefully for several months, adapting happily to normal life. However, they missed New York City and their friends, and moved back. Peter became unexpectedly ill and nearly died, but instead regained his powers. During the Onslaught crisis, Mary Jane was scanned by a Sentinel robot, who detected genetic abnormalities in her fetus.

Soon afterward, when Mary Jane's baby was already past due, she was poisoned by Alison Mongraine, an agent of the Green Goblin. Mary Jane's baby was stillborn. The baby has not been seen since in the normal 616 continuity, but appears in stories set in the alternate-timeline Spider-Girl series. Ben Reilly died at the Green Goblin's hands the same night.

In the alternate timeline of MC2, Mary Jane and Peter Parker are reunited with their child by Kaine. When Kaine shows them that the child had been living with Mongraine all along. They assume responsibility of raising the child and later she becomes Spider-Girl.

[edit] Marital problems

The couple managed to survive this tragic turn of events and Mary Jane managed to return to college to major in psychology, but the stress of the ongoing manipulations of Norman Osborn took their toll. After the Gathering of Five incident and the return of Aunt May, Mary Jane begged Peter to quit being Spider-Man.

He was happy to do so for several months, but soon felt the tug of his great power and great responsibility to be a hero. Meanwhile, Mary Jane was offered a new modelling contract and reached new heights of success. Peter became Spider-Man again behind Mary Jane's back, which put strain on their marriage yet again. At the same time, she began receiving lewd and threatening phone calls from an anonymous stalker. Mary Jane was flying across America when her airplane exploded in midair. Peter was shocked and went into deep denial over her death. Although he was set up with several other women, and his friends encouraged him to move on, he was unable to believe she was dead. He was proven right when her mysterious stalker, an unnamed, telepathic mutant, made himself known. This stalker had telepathically connected to Peter in some way, and wanted to take over his life. He kidnapped Mary Jane as part of his plan and held her hostage for several months. The stalker, however, killed himself after finally gleaning enough of Peter's personality and morality to discover that he had done terrible things. Peter and Mary Jane were reunited.

However, the stress of her captivity drove Mary Jane away. She moved to Los Angeles and immersed herself in acting -- starring as the doomed love interest in the film Lobster-Man. Although missing Peter after he failed to meet her on a visit back to New York, she refused to talk to him; it took Aunt May to get Peter to visit her in Los Angeles, where the two reconciled. However, when the villainess Shathra claimed to have had an affair with Spider-Man, Mary Jane had to be assured by Peter that it was a lie. After he defeated Shathra, Mary Jane and Peter ended their separation.

[edit] Civil War

When Peter and Mary Jane's apartment and Aunt May's house were burned down by Charlie Weiderman, and Spider-Man joined the New Avengers, Mary Jane and Aunt May accompanied him to live in Stark Tower. Mary Jane immediately felt at home with the New Avengers and was happy to finally be a part of Spider-Man's world.

With a bit of strain at first, a jealous Peter swore to himself that he would find a new home for his family, but when his initial jealousy subsided, the Civil War events forced him to stage a secret transfer of Mary Jane out of Stark Mansion, feeling that with the loss of his secret identity and his doubts about Tony Stark's ideas, Mary Jane had become a hostage in a luxurious house. Now residing in a cheap motel, her whole life had been affected, from her increasing difficulties in finding a new job as an actress to her being an easy target and prey, along with Aunt May, for the superpowered foes of Parker. Nevertheless, MJ remained supportive during the whole ordeal. She later proved her devotion to her husband when she was arrested by a former acquaintance, now an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and refused to surrender Peter to the authorities. (Sensational Spider-Man Annual #1). Fortunately, she was immediately rescued by her spouse, after she signaled him using the Spider Tracer she always carried with her.

As the superhuman civil war reached its conclusion, Peter, Mary Jane, and Aunt May were targeted by an assassin working for Spider-Man's old foe, The Kingpin. The assassin's primary target was Peter, with MJ and May designated as secondary objectives. When Peter returned to the Parker family's motel hideout and stood in front of a window, the assassin took aim at Peter and fired, but missed - shooting Aunt May. Peter and MJ scrambled to save her life, rushing her from hospital to hospital while trying to maintain their fragile cover of anonymity. In trying to keep May alive and hidden from Spider-Man's enemies, they truly became fugitives on the run.

[edit] One More Day

During the climactic One More Day storyline of fall 2007 in which Peter had to decide whether he would accept Mephisto's deal of saving Aunt May in return for Mephisto wiping the knowledge and memory of Peter and MJ's life together as husband and wife from the face of reality, leaving only a single, subconscious piece of their souls to remember, allowing Mephisto to feast on those pieces' pain for eternity.

Peter and MJ grappled with their unspeakable choice with MJ telling the demon that "the answer is yes!". As part of the bargain MJ made Mephisto promise to restore Spider-Man's secret identity which he agreed to do without question. She also asked to put his life back as it was and have a chance at happiness. Mephisto asked why he should do that, and MJ answered that it was because of what she could offer him. MJ whispered something to Mephisto, striking a devil's bargain, and then urged Peter to "save May. Be the hero. Be my hero." The penultimate frame was Mary Jane whispering the famous line, "face it, tiger...you just hit the jackpot."

[edit] Brand New Day

In the "Brand New Day" timeline, which began at the end of Amazing Spider-Man #545, and was further depicted and explained in the following issues, MJ and Peter were never married, but instead "dated seriously for years". Apparently, they nearly married some time ago, but something happened.

According to interviews conducted with Marvel EIC Joe Quesada, every story prior to BND remains canon, implying that MJ and Peter, in this timeline, refused to let the obstructed wedding hinder their love for each other. Quesada also claimed that a six month gap occurred between One More Day and Brand New Day, in which Aunt May's house was rebuilt and the couple separated.

By the conclusion of those six months, MJ has moved to California to become an actress, but continued to visit New York from time to time. She attended a "coming home" party held by Harry Osborn at the conclusion of One More Day during one such visit, with Peter catching a small glimpse of her before she left. Whether she was there for Harry or to check on Peter is unknown.

At the end of Amazing Spider-Man #560, Mary Jane makes her return as the girlfriend of actor Bobby Carr, having earlier in the issue been referred to as Carr's "mystery girl." After Carr walks into his apartment, Mary Jane is seen lying on a couch in his living room with the book Faust in her hands, a book that ironically features a character who made a deal with the devil (a tip back to the One More Day storyline.)

In Amazing Spider-Man #561, Mary Jane is seen in bed with Carr, and is later attacked by Paperdoll. Concealing herself in the panic room, Mary Jane observes a battle between Spider-Man and Paperdoll, and communicates with Spider-Man over the intercom. Mary Jane says that Spider-Man knew her "in another life", implying that she may remember the events of "One More Day". Peter does not learn that Mary Jane is the girlfriend of Carr nor that she was the voice on the intercom, Mary Jane is seen at the conclusion of the issue contemplating a phone call to Peter, but is hesitant to do so. She is asked for an autograph by Sara Ehret, who is allegedly Jackpot.

Mary Jane will also be a major character in Dan Slott's July story arc "New Ways To Die", which will be illustrated by John Romita Jr. The story arc will be a "reunion" of classic and modern Spider-Man characters, including Menace, Mr. Negative, Eddie Brock, Mac Gargan, Norman Osborn, Mary Jane and a new adversary Anti-Venom.

[edit] Controversies

According to Stan Lee, Mary Jane was originally intended to be simply a rival for Gwen Stacy for the affections of Peter Parker. Lee had always intended for Gwen Stacy to be Spider-Man's one true love, although fans vocally supported the feisty Mary Jane over the non-offensive Gwen Stacy.^[1] The pairing of Mary Jane and Peter Parker has become one of the most prominent couples in the superhero genre.

Marvel Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada said that he feels the marriage ages the characters, making them less appealing to young readers, and lessens the dramatic, "soap opera" possibilities, but also stated that "divorcing or widowing, or annulling the marriage...would only be worse,"^[2] ostensibly putting the matter to rest. He has also pointed out that the marriage itself was editorially-mandated; Stan Lee decided to marry the characters in his daily newspaper strip and, even though the two were not even dating at the time in the comic book series, it was decided to marry them in the regular Marvel Universe as well. Despite these points, Quesada remains an avid fan of the Peter and MJ relationship, and in several interviews has claimed that the MC2 canon is the "natural progression" of the characters, which has led many fans to dispute whenever or not One More Day and Brand New Day are mere sales ploys with the intention of ultimately restoring the marriage and increase it's significance.

In 2007, Quesada presided over the controversial "One More Day" storyline, which he also drew, in which Peter and Mary Jane's marriage is erased from history and everyone's memories by the demon Mephisto. This undoing has been accompanied with Peter now using his original mechanical webshooters and the revival of Harry Osborn.^[3]

[edit] Skills and equipment

Template:Refimprovesect Mary Jane has no special powers, but due to her relationship with Spider-Man and her job as an actress and model, she has found herself in danger many times. Having learned of the risk at the expense of her friend Gwen Stacy's life, she is unwilling to be completely dependent on others for her safety. Her intelligence and tenacity make up for her lack of superhuman abilities.

Mary Jane has some training in self-defense with teachers including Captain America. She has been able to fend off attackers of normal strength and skill, including the Chameleon using a baseball bat, one obsessive stalker using a can of hair spray and a heavy purse, and another using a cue stick. On another occasion, she knocked out a kidnapper with a lamp and electrified his bodyguards with it. Furthermore, there were several occasions in which she saved her husband's life from his super-powered enemies when they had the upper hand: she distracted Alistair Smythe and his Spider-Slayer with a baseball bat, set fire to Hobgoblin's cape, and drove off Styx and Stone as they were about to kill Spider-Man. Recently, she managed to defeat Swarm, a supervillain even her husband had trouble defeating, by using sprinklers.

Mary Jane also carries a gun (although Peter dislikes the idea) which she uses against the Green Goblin in Marvel Knights Spider-Man #12. After Peter developed organic webshooters, he modified his original webshooters into bracelets that she could wear discreetly, giving her an additional defensive weapon. She also carries a modified spider-tracer with an amplified signal that can be traced over long distances.

Mary Jane has used her fashion design and sewing skills on many occasions to make and repair Spider-Man's costumes. She also designed the Hornet, Prodigy, and Ricochet costumes. She is usually the person who provides first aid when Peter is injured.

On one occasion, she was possessed by Red Sonja and battled Kulan Gath, but she has no memory of those events (Marvel Team-Up vol. 1 #79). During the earlier issues of "The Other" story arc, she borrowed Iron Man's old armor temporarily.

In the "Brand New Day" story arc, the registered superhero Jackpot is strongly implied to be MJ. This is due to the character having long, flowing red hair and green eyes, just as MJ. She also tells Spider-Man, when the two were confronted by the authorities enforcing the registartion act, "Face it tiger, you're under arrest", which references MJ's very first line of dialogue, "Face it tiger, you just hit the Jackpot." This line is also seemingly referenced in the character's name itself.

Peter himself suspects Jackpot to be MJ, which Jackpot steadfastly denies, stating (after a moment of hesitation) that her name is "Sara Ehret".

Whether MJ really is Jackpot remains to be seen as Sara Ehret has been a fan of MJ's work on drama TV and queried about her "Tiger" line in the soap Opera as well as her autograph. Upon her leaving NY, Sara Ehret askes her if she'll come back. To which she replied "The hell if I know."

[edit] Other versions

In addition to her mainstream incarnation, Mary Jane Watson has been depicted in other fictional universes.

[edit] In other Media

Cite error: <ref> tags exist, but no <references/> tag was found