Mary Jane Watson/Parker Appreciation 2019

[Revolutionary_Jack]

To be honest after Bendis' made her a supporting character in Iron Man's corner it would be more unbelievable than ever if she was uncomfortable. When working with Iron Man and all the crossovers Iron Man was involved with, she dealt with Tony Stark, Doctor Doom, the POTUS, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Thing, Ironheart and others. She basically dealt as Stark's PA with all kind of earth, global, geopolitical and galatic stuff. Sitting down for dinner with the Lizard Connors' is the least of it.

I always thought Bendis making her a supporting player in Iron Man was part of a long-term gambit on the part of a guy who is I think a Peter/MJ shipper. He made sure there was no relationship, the one scene where MJ and Tony might have something became an exercise for MJ to mock Tony for slumming it, and by making MJ a business executive at the same time Peter became one in Slott's Worldwide he made sure that MJ remained the only person to truly equal Peter.

[WebLurker]

I always thought Bendis making her a supporting player in Iron Man was part of a long-term gambit on the part of a guy who is I think a Peter/MJ shipper. He made sure there was no relationship, the one scene where MJ and Tony might have something became an exercise for MJ to mock Tony for slumming it, and by making MJ a business executive at the same time Peter became one in Slott's Worldwide he made sure that MJ remained the only person to truly equal Peter.

Could be. The man did write Ultimate Spider-Man after all. That said, there could very well be other reasons.

[Frontier]

MJ is amazing. She puts up with so much for Peter. I imagine most non-powered women wouldn’t be caught dead eating dinner with a Lizard family.

Frankly, it's well past time 616 MJ moved past being uncomfortable with these situations. I mean, c'mon, the newspaper and RYV MJs don't even flinch at this sort of stuff anymore.

It's not the Lizard part I think she'd be uncomfortable with.

It's the "cannibal lizard trying to revive his family through lizard clones" thing that I think would be really awkward to think about.

[Huntsman Spider]

It's not the Lizard part I think she'd be uncomfortable with.

It's the "cannibal lizard trying to revive his family through lizard clones" thing that I think would be really awkward to think about.

Through clones that he then exposed to the Lizard formula to save them from degenerating because the new Jackal had an apocalyptic fit over Peter refusing to join his well-intentioned crusade to conquer death through cloning.

[Miles To Go]

That time MJ was a brief part of Carol Danver's supporting cast


https://www.cbr.com/mary-jane-ms-mar...rol-danvers/2/

[Digifiend]

What happened there was that Conway simply had Carol share Peter's supporting cast - that being MJ and the Bugle staff. When Claremont came in, he nixed the Spidey elements. Carol's never had a steady supporting cast to this day - it switches out whenever the writer changes.

[Huntsman Spider]

That time MJ was a brief part of Carol Danver's supporting cast


https://www.cbr.com/mary-jane-ms-mar...rol-danvers/2/

What happened there was that Conway simply had Carol share Peter's supporting cast - that being MJ and the Bugle staff. When Claremont came in, he nixed the Spidey elements. Carol's never had a steady supporting cast to this day - it switches out whenever the writer changes.

Which is probably the reason she's had such a hard time sticking the landing when it comes to ongoing series. Without well-developed and well-written other characters and relationships with those characters to play off, there's hardly a reason for readers or viewers to get emotionally invested in the main character of a work.

With that said, I see this as very much a missed opportunity for Mary Jane to branch out into the wider Marvel Universe. Given her time as a fashion model and actress, she could have modeled a Van Dyne original, or even met Janet Van Dyne, the Winsome Wasp herself, not to mention maybe met Simon Williams/Wonder Man when he was trying to make it into the Hollywood big time. Other Marvel Universe interactions could've been with Jennifer Walters or Matt Murdock representing her in a court case against Jonathon Caesar (for example), or the Heroes for Hire and/or Daughters of the Dragon defending her from other psychopathic stalkers, or Jessica Jones investigating something to do with Mary Jane's family (given some of the shadier crap her father got up to when he wasn't being an abusive jerk). Maybe even a fleeting encounter (nonsexual, mind you) with Tony Stark/Iron Man at one of those fancy parties, or getting treated in a hospital or clinic by Jane Foster and/or Donald Blake, or even (one of) the Night Nurse(s). I could go on, but I guess this is the goldmine Marvel chose to sit on because so many of the upper echelons had an axe to grind with Mary Jane's character for whatever B.S. reasons they had.

[LordUltimus]

Which is probably the reason she's had such a hard time sticking the landing when it comes to ongoing series. Without well-developed and well-written other characters and relationships with those characters to play off, there's hardly a reason for readers or viewers to get emotionally invested in the main character of a work.

With that said, I see this as very much a missed opportunity for Mary Jane to branch out into the wider Marvel Universe. Given her time as a fashion model and actress, she could have modeled a Van Dyne original, or even met Janet Van Dyne, the Winsome Wasp herself, not to mention maybe met Simon Williams/Wonder Man when he was trying to make it into the Hollywood big time. Other Marvel Universe interactions could've been with Jennifer Walters or Matt Murdock representing her in a court case against Jonathon Caesar (for example), or the Heroes for Hire and/or Daughters of the Dragon defending her from other psychopathic stalkers, or Jessica Jones investigating something to do with Mary Jane's family (given some of the shadier crap her father got up to when he wasn't being an abusive jerk). Maybe even a fleeting encounter (nonsexual, mind you) with Tony Stark/Iron Man at one of those fancy parties, or getting treated in a hospital or clinic by Jane Foster and/or Donald Blake, or even (one of) the Night Nurse(s). I could go on, but I guess this is the goldmine Marvel chose to sit on because so many of the upper echelons had an axe to grind with Mary Jane's character for whatever B.S. reasons they had.

I think a lot of this could be retconned in. Maybe in an annual or something.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

...Maybe even a fleeting encounter (nonsexual, mind you) with Tony Stark/Iron Man at one of those fancy parties...

That actually happened in Bendis' run on Iron Man. MJ recalls meeting Tony Stark in the period of her first breakup with Peter during her time as a runway model. And Tony drunk flirts with MJ (who refuses to drink, staying sober and tells anyone who tries to pick her up to "ask her agent").

Tony Stark: Do you like your dad?
MJ: Not particularly.
Tony Stark: Y'have a mean dad?
MJ: Yeah.
Tony Stark: Me too. He was soooo mad at the world. And my general existence wasn't helping him get over it. He sees you standing there and instead of seeing legacy...all he sees are missed opportunities. @#$% you, Howard.
MJ (pause): I left home the second I could.
Tony Stark: So did I.
MJ: Yeah, but you did with a big duffel bag full of cash.
— Invincible Iron Man #11, (2016), written by Brian Michael Bendis

How cool is that? MJ called Tony Stark for slumming it.

Remember that way back then, Marvel didn't have a supporting character get that much traction and crossover with the sole exception of Rick Jones. And doing it to MJ would have felt weird then...though it doesn't feel weird now. Having Mary Jane run into and know every superhero by one degree of separation would beggar disbelief. And as it is, MJ got more than most. How many other supporting characters were so famous that they were basically used to launch a minor heroine like Carol Danvers, a sign and acknowledgement that Mary Jane was more famous and popular than many of Marvel's potential superheroines.

When Peter, Aunt May and MJ moved into Avengers Tower, it worked because you know Aunt May was dating Jarvis. Then Post-OMD, Flash Thompson becomes Agent Venom or Anti-Venom and has intergalactic adventures as part of the Guardians of the Galaxy. So coming after that, MJ working for Stark and interacting with the POTUS, Doctor Doom, the Guardians, the Thing did not stand out anymore.

[Huntsman Spider]

That actually happened in Bendis' run on Iron Man. MJ recalls meeting Tony Stark in the period of her first breakup with Peter during her time as a runway model. And Tony drunk flirts with MJ (who refuses to drink, staying sober and tells anyone who tries to pick her up to "ask her agent").

Tony Stark: Do you like your dad?
MJ: Not particularly.
Tony Stark: Y'have a mean dad?
MJ: Yeah.
Tony Stark: Me too. He was soooo mad at the world. And my general existence wasn't helping him get over it. He sees you standing there and instead of seeing legacy...all he sees are missed opportunities. @#$% you, Howard.
MJ (pause): I left home the second I could.
Tony Stark: So did I.
MJ: Yeah, but you did with a big duffel bag full of cash.
— Invincible Iron Man #11, (2016), written by Brian Michael Bendis

How cool is that? MJ called Tony Stark for slumming it.

Remember that way back then, Marvel didn't have a supporting character get that much traction and crossover with the sole exception of Rick Jones. And doing it to MJ would have felt weird then...though it doesn't feel weird now. Having Mary Jane run into and know every superhero by one degree of separation would beggar disbelief. And as it is, MJ got more than most. How many other supporting characters were so famous that they were basically used to launch a minor heroine like Carol Danvers, a sign and acknowledgement that Mary Jane was more famous and popular than many of Marvel's potential superheroines.

When Peter, Aunt May and MJ moved into Avengers Tower, it worked because you know Aunt May was dating Jarvis. Then Post-OMD, Flash Thompson becomes Agent Venom or Anti-Venom and has intergalactic adventures as part of the Guardians of the Galaxy. So coming after that, MJ working for Stark and interacting with the POTUS, Doctor Doom, the Guardians, the Thing did not stand out anymore.

Ah, thanks for the reminder. That was a good bit of character interaction. And yeah, Mary Jane knowing all those superheroes on her own and not necessarily through Peter alone back then would've been hard to believe, but given some of her more recent career choices, like owning and running a nightclub, it wouldn't be too out of the realm of possibility for some superheroes looking to relax and unwind to pick her club to do that in. Now that I think about it, "the Lookups" as introduced by Nick Spencer would also be a very great opportunity for her to interact with the wider Marvel Universe via other superheroes' supporting cast members.

[The Kid]

Re-reading some old ASM issues makes me remember how much I love this pair. Easily my all-time favorite in all of comics. I'm glad the current book seems to be in a upswing for them. I need to eventually catch up

[Miles To Go]

Lot of PB Parker and MJ fanart kicking about lately

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Lot of PB Parker and MJ fanart kicking about lately

To be honest in ITSV I kind of find it unbelievable that MJ would take Peter B. back. This guy divorced her against her objections and intentions and put her through hell, and now he wants a do-over?

[WebLurker]

To be honest in ITSV I kind of find it unbelievable that MJ would take Peter B. back. This guy divorced her against her objections and intentions and put her through hell, and now he wants a do-over?

Hard to say, given that we don't know much about that MJ's perspective on things, beyond that she looked upset at the signing and happy to see Peter B. on her doorstep at the end.

[Miles To Go]

To be honest in ITSV I kind of find it unbelievable that MJ would take Peter B. back. This guy divorced her against her objections and intentions and put her through hell, and now he wants a do-over?

MJ would understand Peter had been in a dark place, and they would take it slow.