Where do you want the Peter and MJ relationship to go next?

[Mister Mets]

The very first images of Spencer's run is a homage to Fraction's ''To Have and To Hold" which is very obviously a story about a married Peter (and which Spencer hints isn't in continuity, since Peter says "he had a dream about how things should be"...thereby destroying the whole "Every story before happened" trash that Quesada and others sold).

I'd like to see you run rings around the Fraction story to make a case of how it could be the same without the marriage. And how Spencer alluding it isn't referring to the obvious fact that Peter and Mary Jane are one of the most iconic married couples in all of superhero comics.

At best, you can say that Spencer's run depends on the fact that Peter and MJ were married and that OMD happened, if only because he has consistently alluded to OMD and made that a key undercurrent of his entire run. It's a meta-commentary which Spencer does like to do, and does well. But that's not the same as saying it's the same as a Peter and MJ who never married or were always single and so on.

JMS mined the same fears and ideas, that Peter could lose Mary Jane multiple times in his run. It was what Doomed Affairs was all about. In fact, the whole Peter trying to make it to the airport to see off MJ alludes to Doomed Affairs, that later issue where Peter dropped off MJ at the airport and avoided saying goodbye to her outside the airport which also highlighted the changes in security after 9/11. That also alludes to the Peter and MJ's first kiss at the JFK airport lounge (obviously Pre-9/11 since nobody would be let in that way now).

One line of "To Have and to Hold" would have to be changed to something like "He's the love of my life; you're just some guy." And then that story would work with a single Peter Parker.

Spencer's first issue still requires Peter and MJ to be single to work.

[TinkerSpider]

One line of "To Have and to Hold" would have to be changed to something like "He's the love of my life; you're just some guy." And then that story would work with a single Peter Parker.

Spencer's first issue still requires Peter and MJ to be single to work.

no spencer's first issue requires peter and mj to have been previously married and to have their marriage taken away from them by the devil in a deal that left their souls screaming for each other and for their conscious selves to be aware that something important is missing.

[Mister Mets]

no spencer's first issue requires peter and mj to have been previously married and to have their marriage taken away from them by the devil in a deal that left their souls screaming for each other and for their conscious selves to be aware that something important is missing.

You could think that, but it still requires Peter and MJ to not be married.

[TinkerSpider]

You could think that, but it still requires Peter and MJ to not be married.

i can say that with confidence because it is in the issue by having peter referring to something missing and showing mj's bare left hand. it still requires peter and mj to have been married and to know deep down something is wrong. that is not the same as being single as in never been married which is what omd was supposed to bring about.

also peter and mj could be married but separated like they were in doomed affairs and the story would play out the same. this was basically doomed affairs with a mephisto twist. same result, peter and mj get back together.

as for the rest of the issue if peter and mj were married then randy and fred could live in the apartment next door. the same tension of being near fred would play out the same. even funnier if fred just walks into peter's and mj's apartment as if he lives there and helps himself to their stuff. also with peter and mj single peter spends a lot of time in mj's apartment so less opportunity for fred interactions. if they lived next door there would be more opportunities for fred hijinks.

[powerpackers90]

There's a whole panel of MJ's hand missing a ring and Peter mentioning that he feels like something is missing. So Him being married to her before is still kinda a driving force of this run.

I think Spencer is going to play the long game with the relationship. If they do get engaged it will be a while before we hear webbing bells again. As one of the anti marrige complaints was how he was single one month and married the next.

Plus its a have your cake and eat it too scenario. He's not married, but in a committed mature relationship with MJ.

[Starrius]

There's a whole panel of MJ's hand missing a ring and Peter mentioning that he feels like something is missing. So Him being married to her before is still kinda a driving force of this run.

I think Spencer is going to play the long game with the relationship. If they do get engaged it will be a while before we hear webbing bells again. As one of the anti marrige complaints was how he was single one month and married the next.

Plus its a have your cake and eat it too scenario. He's not married, but in a committed mature relationship with MJ.

Good points
I actually like the committed relationship for a long time that includes a long engagement period and then get married.
It would seem more natural.

[KangMiRae]

I think he and MJ should share Felicia. Get as freaky as the X-Men apparently are going to get.

[NC_Yankee]

That story was seriously a dark time for Spider-Man fans. You’re not exaggerating when you say those effects are still felt to this day. There were plenty of fans that just flat out gave up on the title around that time myself included. Joe Q regressed the character so much and the sick obsession that he has with keeping Peter his personal man child just got too weird for me. To this day, it still stands out as the single worst Spider-Man story ever and nothing else even comes remotely close.

Hopefully these recent events in ASM aren’t just another way for Joe Q and Marvel to tease fans and lead them
on only to to leave them hanging at the end.

One of the worst things that can happen in fiction is for the audience to get played as suckers, and I am certainly hoping thst Marvel is not doing that with Pete and MJ. Do I expect the marriage to be restored? Yes I do, But I think we have a couple of years to wait.

[Lee]

It would be fun if Mary Jane got a new boyfriend and ended up marrying him.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

One line of "To Have and to Hold" would have to be changed to something like "He's the love of my life; you're just some guy." And then that story would work with a single Peter Parker.

It's a lot more than one line. Peter refers to Mary Jane as his wife multiple times. Notably in that conversation to Lamont. Then MJ tells that Shield guy "Let me introduce you to my husband", and then the finale you have Mary Jane saying this,

"Maybe the rest of the world thinks marriage is something people do between other marriages, but it means something to me. You’re my partner and my husband and I love you."

That sentence literally can't be rewritten...unless of course you want to appoint yourself a better writer than Matt Fraction.

Spencer's first issue still requires Peter and MJ to be single to work.

Spencer's first issue requires
-- Peter to be an adult and not a teenager, notably someone who is in his mid-20s.
-- It requires Spider-Man to be published serially with prior events in continuity that Spencer has to allude to since he isn't doing a reboot from scratch.

And of course Spencer's first issue would be different if events in Slott's continuity didn't happen since his first issue is devoted to destroying as much of Slott's changes as possible.

This kind of moving...not so much goalposts, as opposed to putting the football field on a treadmill and so on....can lead to all kinds of hair-splitting.

[Starrius]

It would be fun if Mary Jane got a new boyfriend and ended up marrying him.

fun for you
not fun for me

[Starrius]

I think he and MJ should share Felicia. Get as freaky as the X-Men apparently are going to get.

Peter and Mary Jane aren't into threesomes
if you want that, I suggest getting some porno

[Mister Mets]

It's a lot more than one line. Peter refers to Mary Jane as his wife multiple times. Notably in that conversation to Lamont. Then MJ tells that Shield guy "Let me introduce you to my husband", and then the finale you have Mary Jane saying this,

"Maybe the rest of the world thinks marriage is something people do between other marriages, but it means something to me. You’re my partner and my husband and I love you."

That sentence literally can't be rewritten...unless of course you want to appoint yourself a better writer than Matt Fraction.



Spencer's first issue requires
-- Peter to be an adult and not a teenager, notably someone who is in his mid-20s.
-- It requires Spider-Man to be published serially with prior events in continuity that Spencer has to allude to since he isn't doing a reboot from scratch.

And of course Spencer's first issue would be different if events in Slott's continuity didn't happen since his first issue is devoted to destroying as much of Slott's changes as possible.

This kind of moving...not so much goalposts, as opposed to putting the football field on a treadmill and so on....can lead to all kinds of hair-splitting.

I'll take it back on "To Have and to Hold" in that there are going to be several specific lines that would be different if they weren't married. But I main the basic arc works without the marriage, if it's just two fugitives who love one another.

The basic gist of the latest ASM 29 doesn't work if Peter and MJ are married. You could have a story where a married Peter Parker misses some important event because he's fighting the Chameleon (IE- his baby's first steps) but it's going to be a different story.

[Celgress]

Why I think I lack interest in Peter's relationship with MJ is because we know there is a limit on where it can go (same for any of his romantic entanglements Post-OMD). The situation reminds me of a quote by old-time Pro Wrestling personality Jim Cornette. I'll clean it up a bit as Jim has a colorful way of speaking lol -

"The problem with an overly dominant champion who squashes (easily defeats) every foe for a long time is it ruins the illusion of realism. We all know Pro Wrestling is scripted, but when one side is perceived as having no chance of victory why should anyone become emotionally invested in the match (struggle)?"

[KangMiRae]

Peter and Mary Jane aren't into threesomes
if you want that, I suggest getting some porno

A writer can make them