Mary Jane should stop being Peter's "Iconic" Main Love Interest

[SpideyCeo]

Before you say, because I like Peter alone or I like Peter with other women. I come to the conclusion, the character revolving around romance(on fundamental level of tying a context definition of his whole character on a meta level as a hero) is what kills his appeal for me as a relatable human on more than a social standpoint, I believe Peter Parker should be the totality of human experiences, not just the best of people who represent human shortcomings and progress. Mary Jane Watson is a character that grew the most based off the latter and became mandatory to Peter as a main standard to the stories. MJ to me should be demoted to a main role emphasizing the highlights of Peter's life but she shouldn't be the focus of the story of Peter and his experiences, the story of Peter should be fundamentals about himself and only himself narrating about the good(became a avenger, getting married, made alot of friends, saved millions of people) and the bad(got his uncle shot, got mistrusted by people, people die in his behalf, nearly gets killed and got killed, letting his wife con him in agreeing to sell his marriage to satan) by just going through life a superhero. MJ is a varying part of what makes Peter and the Spider-Man comics great(one of the most popular at best), the character is best when she and other cast members serve to the main character while he moves the plot around which is about him(what ever the plot is). The books and future media shouldn't stick MJ in everything fundamental about Spider-Man, especially not as the main love interest because thats not all relevant to Spidey in context as a superhero plot nor does it have to be the epicenter for soap opera tension and drama(like Spider-Man losing a job, feeling insecure when he has little respect from heroes, and of course the parker luck), it's optional.

I feel Spider-Man needs to define the franchise without the key roles for a change, and go back to being about the experience and changes than the foundations that the character experienced in the past. MJ being his wife is one of those experiences and doesn't really need to stick because it's not Amazing Spider-Man and Mary Jane, it's just Amazing Spider-Man. It doesn't matter whos dating Peter its about keeping the eyes on Peter as a storyhook for anything he experiences, develops and goes through. The only thing that should stick to fundamental default as a experience for Spidey's concept is getting bitten, uncle bens death and being peters motivation, his awkwardness, his funny banter and jokes and many times the determination to do whats right even if it sucks. The marriage and even MJ herself, the girlfriends, the jobs, the suckiness he experiences, the villains he fights outside of the main villains and even the age of his aunt is all subjective variables in the largers scope of things that define Spider-Man itself. To me that is.

Especially the marriage, it's overhyped nostalgia that was never masterpiece work and a overrated experiment that served to let writers self insert being Peter having a hot wife as a nerd. I gave more a damn abut felicia and peter than MJ since him and black cat have more chemistry and stuff in common than a nerd and a tomboy hedonist turn spunky house wife.

[Miles To Go]

I gave more a damn abut felicia and peter than MJ since him and black cat have more chemistry and stuff in common.

Ha. No.

And you kind of contradicted yourself with that...you said you did'nt make this thread because you did'nt want Peter with other women, yet at the very end of the post you say you prefer Peter to be with Felicia. Which is it? What makes Felicia different from MJ? Hot girl, nerdy superhero. Same thing.

Felicia doesn't care about Peter either. Only Spider-Man.


And the marriage, when written well, was fine. There's a reason people demand it's return, and a reason why it has actually stood the test of time in other mediums.

[Kevinroc]

She hasn't had this role in years. She's even been hanging out as a supporting character in a completely different comic book series. But the fact that she's still thought of as such should show how prevalent she is as a character in Spider-Man's world.

So, yeah... Easier said than done.

The fact is Spider-Man was built to be a soap opera. And soap operas are at their best when they are filled with drama, intrigue, and playing off the characters established history. Nobody fills that role like MJ. So, yeah, a future writer will play off that. Despite your very long, very sexist post, saying how much you dislike the character.

[SpideyCeo]

Ha. No.

And you kind of contradicted yourself with that...you said you did'nt make this thread because you did'nt want Peter with other women, yet at the very end of the post you say you prefer Peter to be with Felicia. Which is it? What makes Felicia different from MJ? Hot girl, nerdy superhero. Same thing.

Felicia doesn't care about Peter either. Only Spider-Man.


And the marriage, when written well, was fine. There's a reason people demand it's return, and a reason why it has actually stood the test of time in other mediums.

She learned to like Peter for who he is eventually and has expressed dating him even though he was married.

I'm just saying like MJSpidey shippers and me being a SpideyCat, I don't let my perception of who ends up with Peter keep me from enjpying Peter, I just don't care. I read this for Peter. I don't need to see him with anyone to enjoy reading his books.

[Miles To Go]

She hasn't had this role in years

In 616, yes, but she remains his wife in the newspaper strip and RYV, and will be the love interest in the new video game.

[SpideyCeo]

She hasn't had this role in years. She's even been hanging out as a supporting character in a completely different comic book series. But the fact that she's still thought of as such should show how prevalent she is as a character in Spider-Man's world.

So, yeah... Easier said than done.

The fact is Spider-Man was built to be a soap opera. And soap operas are at their best when they are filled with drama, intrigue, and playing off the characters established history. Nobody fills that role like MJ. So, yeah, a future writer will play off that. Despite your very long, very sexist post, saying how much you dislike the character.

I should have said iconic main love interest. It's not an issue with me disliking mj, it's just I don't acknowledge it in the bigger picture for Spider-Man's character and stories, it exists(her relationship with Peter) like the Spider Mobile exists, she can replacable for any woman Spidey's with but won't impact much in key situations he's Spider-Man. Gwen has more public acknowledgement than MJ as the official icon pairing to Peter thanks to the ASP movies but it's been faded into obscurity through time, and given time MJ x Spidey will or has.

[Kevinroc]

I should have said iconic main love interest. It's not an issue with me disliking mj, it's just I don't acknowledge it in the bigger picture for Spider-Man's character and stories, it exists(her relationship with Peter) like the Spider Mobile exists. Gwen has more public acknowledgement than MJ as the official icon pairing to Peter thanks to the ASP movies but it's been faded into obscurity through time, and given time MJ x Spidey will or has.

The MCU films gave a character the nickname of "MJ" and acted as if the audience was expected to understand what that nickname meant who this character was supposed to be.

So... No... Your very premise is incorrect.

Also, we see the new PS4 Spider-Man game coming out soon. MJ is looking pretty prominent in a game that could potentially reach millions of people.

So... No... Your very premise is incorrect.

[Lukmendes]

I should have said iconic main love interest. It's not an issue with me disliking mj, it's just I don't acknowledge it in the bigger picture for Spider-Man's character and stories, it exists(her relationship with Peter) like the Spider Mobile exists, she can replacable for any woman Spidey's with but won't impact much in key situations he's Spider-Man. Gwen has more public acknowledgement than MJ as the official icon pairing to Peter thanks to the ASP movies but it's been faded into obscurity through time, and given time MJ x Spidey will or has.

That's funny considering that the Gwen from that movie is closer to MJ than Gwen herself .

Either way, I'd say MJ can stop being seen as the main love interest with time, because the vision people have of a character can change, like Batman for example, once upon a time he was a campy character with silly adventures, now he's a dark brooding character, and with Spider-Man himself, after Ultimate happened, some details about him changed, since before he was seen as an young adult and a competent super hero, then after Ultimate he's seen more as a teenager who's not that talented as a super hero. So MJ can stop being seen as the main love interest to the public, but they'd have to make an entire generation of her not being that and pushing other females just to start that, it would take a really long time, and just like Gwen, even if she was not seen as a main love interest anymore, she'd still be remembered as one (Though Gwen is only really remembered pre Spectacular cartoon and ASM movie for dying, as a love interest she was nothing special since it was just generic romance), since she's his longest love interest and the only one Spidey married (Or if he gets married afterwards, she'll be his first wife), so she'll never stop having some big relevance.

Edit:

Felicia doesn't care about Peter either. Only Spider-Man.

This argument is ad hominem, since Felicia not caring about Peter was gone from her character for almost 20 years until OMD happened, granted, she wasn't in a relationship with Peter anymore, but mentioning that as an argument to belittle Felicia is like saying that MJ is a bad love interest because she's bitch who hates Spider-Man, meaning, it's focusing only on the "worst" parts of the character.

[Celgress]

Takes a look at the thread. Poor SpideyCeo you pushed the MJ as irrelevant character button you shouldn't have done that, as I've learned from personal experience.

PS I agree with you regarding pairing Peter with Gwen, especially say with a Spider-Gwen variant, given both the resonance of the pairing as presented in the movies and the character of Spider-Gwen with the mainstream public btw.

[Kevinroc]

They're pushing Gwen as a satellite character (or as a general spin-off type character).

[Miles To Go]

given both the resonance of the pairing as presented in the movies.

Which had to lift plenty from MJ.

[Kevinroc]

Takes a look at the thread. Poor SpideyCeo you pushed the MJ as irrelevant character button you shouldn't have done that, as I've learned from personal experience.

PS I agree with you regarding pairing Peter with Gwen, especially say with a Spider-Gwen variant, given both the resonance of the pairing as presented in the movies and the character of Spider-Gwen with the mainstream public btw.

The movies that Gwen died? The movies that will serve as the lowest grossing Spider-Man films ever made? Those movies?

[Carabas]

I should have said iconic main love interest. It's not an issue with me disliking mj, it's just I don't acknowledge it in the bigger picture for Spider-Man's character and stories, it exists(her relationship with Peter) like the Spider Mobile exists, she can replacable for any woman Spidey's with but won't impact much in key situations he's Spider-Man. Gwen has more public acknowledgement than MJ as the official icon pairing to Peter thanks to the ASP movies but it's been faded into obscurity through time, and given time MJ x Spidey will or has.

That's all very well, but the thing is, Mary Jane IS Spider-Man's iconic love interest. That is how it is.
Marvel really can't change that. They tried very, very hard.

That's what iconic basically means: carved in stone in the pop-cultural subconscious.

[Kevinroc]

The thing is Marvel COULD if they really wanted to. But they don't REALLY want to. They always want to keep MJ a certain distance so they can pull her back in at a moment's notice (re. in case a writer wants to pair her up with Peter).

[Celgress]

The movies that Gwen died? The movies that will serve as the lowest grossing Spider-Man films ever made? Those movies?

Yup, those movies. Well, them coupled with the fact Spider-Gwen is huge with the general public right now. I don't see half heck even a quarter as many people cosplaying MJ, dressing up as her for Halloween, writing fanfiction about her being paired with Peter or buying her merch (which barely exists as is) as I do Spider-Gwen. If I was in charge of Marvel or better yet on the board of Disney, and the company okayed giving Peter a long-term love interest again, it would be a no-brainer for me to pick a version of Gwen over MJ. Such a pick would make the most sense from a marketability standpoint.