I know that MJ is Peter's main squeeze...

[Miles To Go]

It may be true, but you are brave for saying it out loud

That's a good point in itself. MJ's went through much worse with Marvel character wise over the last decade but often retained her popularity through some means or another. Jean hasn't been that lucky with the 05 era being a base breaker for a lot of her fans.

[Snoop Dogg]

Everybody likes that Jean, of course...

[Miles To Go]

Everybody likes that Jean, of course...

Well your name is Snoop, so you have an affinity for characters who snoop around

[emmafrosting]

Thing is- I love Felicia and MJ as individual characters. I love their relationships with Peter too. But in my honest opinion, the Felicia/Peter relationship has run its course. I get the appeal of that relationship to some fans and other newly initiated from other media like PS4 but haven't read much of comics. It's sexy. He's a hero while she's a thief. They're both costumed adventurers together. It's clear that they also deeply care for each other underneath.

But the romance has closed its chapter years ago when it's obvious they won't work long term. Peter at his core wants something normal and stable in his life. They have very different values and Felicia works better as an ally and a friend he can count on and that's more interesting to me than rehashing a doomed romance that's not meant to last. I love Felicia and I just want her to stand on her own again and form other meaningful relationships again than continuing the same thing with Peter, that's why I'm optimistic for the Black Cat solo because there is a focus again in her interior life without being forcibly romantically attached again to Peter by some writer who haven't moved on from that relationship when it sailed years ago.

I do agree though, I also want some alternate universe where they're endgame. I thought Noir universe of them was interesting but that got cut short.

[emmafrosting]

Even if you want Felicia and Peter to have a different, progressed dynamic where they'll try to make it long term, there will always be a factor that we need to discuss and that's MJ. Peter and MJ just have so much history and decades of content together. I don't understand how some can question her place and undermine her role when she's one of the most complex women in comics and Peter/MJ have, in my opinion, one of greatest and best developed love stories in the medium ever written. Despite Marvel's many attempts to sabotage it, MJ's just the Lois Lane and THE love interest for Spider-Man known in pop culture. It'll be egregious for to just forego the relationship alltogether in comics too when Mephisto himself said they are soulmates. Nobody can replace MJ's importance to the mythos because there's just too much history and public recognition of her/Peter. It's like trying to convince people that Lois Lane shouldn't end up with Superman. It's a waste of everyone's time and it's just far too late. They won't be able substitute anyone who can eclipse MJ's role.

and well, she's just one of the beating hearts of Spider-Man world. She's an emotional center and the best developed supporting character. JMS' Peter said it best - everything is harder for him when she isn't there. Her being a normal civilian makes it more profound. He looks up to someone like her despite being somebody who can crush a car with his bare hands. Her "parallel lives" thing with Peter is just one of the many reasons why they work well together. They matured so much individually and have survived so much together. It's like what Peter says in the 2nd issue of Spencer's run, it's an unnamed bond so powerful and he has never known anything like it. To be honest there's no pairing I really hate, heck, Carlie was bearable for me. But to completely flush MJ and MJ/Peter down the drain is..just not right for me in narrative standpoint.

Much as I love Felicia and Peter together, I'm not eager at the prospect of Felicia having to change her values and lifestyle just so writers can make her "right" for Peter because that's what they'll probably do. It's a disservice to Felicia and also simultaneously erases MJ..who has been stated countless times as the "right" one for him anyways. I love the Black Cat/Spidey for what it is: unfit, messy, but with respect and love for each other. I enjoy and I'm satisfied with that without needing them to be "endgame" just to replace Mary Jane and Peter.

[Snoop Dogg]

Alas, Peter and Felicia truly has died. 'Twas simply fate. For Felicia/Beetle is truly endgame, and I'm not letting go of the idea until Spencer confirms otherwise.

[CTTT]

Yeah I guess I'll have to read those issues to see how the MJ/Peter relationship works. I just feel like, once you marry two characters, how to make the relationship interesting?

[LoganAlpha30X33]

Nobody likes Jean and Logan together though

I love them together...and if Felicia and Peter were a pair then they'd have time to develop a history like Peter has with MJ...though I'm a fan of both pairings, to bad the trio can't just go all in together

[Agent Z]

Alas, Peter and Felicia truly has died. 'Twas simply fate. For Felicia/Beetle is truly endgame, and I'm not letting go of the idea until Spencer confirms otherwise.

Felicia and Silk is the true Endgame.

[Miles To Go]

I love them together...and if Felicia and Peter were a pair then they'd have time to develop a history like Peter has with MJ

They have a history, but it will never replicate, match, nor succeed the bond Peter has with MJ, nor will it ever be allowed to.

[Zeitgeist]

They have a history, but it will never replicate, match, nor succeed the bond Peter has with MJ, nor will it ever be allowed to.

Oh please, in comparison they haven't had as much of a history.
You give any other female character as much time in the sun - 20 years ball and chained, right? Not counting other universes and publications? - and they're guaranteed to have the same success. Gwen, Felicia, Betty, anyone.

Hell, I'll call it now: watch Spider-Gwen. With enough sustained time and continued momentum, she'll be the new Spider queen bee. Luckily, y'all have your back issues, where all the re-runs of old stories and old flames should stay.

(Also, to the general population, she's an imitation Catwoman. And if people want such a thing, they'll go to the source.)

People who read Spider-Man will go to read Batman? Yeah sorry, that doesn't track.

Don't you all get bored? I am so very bored of this.

[Miles To Go]

and they're guaranteed to have the same success. Gwen, Felicia, Betty, anyone.

ROFL at the notion anyone can fill MJ's shoes based off of their character traits which have always diminished their stock in Peter's life.

Also...ROFL, Betty.

Hell, I'll call it now: watch Spider-Gwen. With enough sustained time and continued momentum, she'll be the new Spider queen bee.

Yeah...as Miles' queen, not Peters'

Unless you want to pull a Chris Hanson.

Luckily, y'all have your back issues, where all the re-runs of old stories and old flames should stay.

You mean all the stories future writers continue to bring up and mine to inform the background of their stories, and where the most iconic love interest can be drawn from and used to enrich the life of the main character? Fat chance mister.

People who read Spider-Man will go to read Batman? Yeah sorry, that doesn't track.

I read Batman and Spider-Man, so...

[Agent Z]

Oh please, in comparison they haven't had as much of a history.
You give any other female character as much time in the sun - 20 years ball and chained, right? Not counting other universes and publications? - and they're guaranteed to have the same success. Gwen, Felicia, Betty, anyone.

Hell, I'll call it now: watch Spider-Gwen. With enough sustained time and continued momentum, she'll be the new Spider queen bee. Luckily, y'all have your back issues, where all the re-runs of old stories and old flames should stay.




People who read Spider-Man will go to read Batman? Yeah sorry, that doesn't track.

Don't you all get bored? I am so very bored of this.

Eh, I see a lot of overlap between Spider-Man and Batman fans. It's one of the reasons the Black Cat/Catwoman comparisons happen so often.

[Zeitgeist]

ROFL at the notion anyone can fill MJ's shoes based off of their character traits which have always diminished their stock in Peter's life.

But Miles, isn't it the writer's job to write said characters so that their stock doesn't diminish (whatever that means)? That's your argument for why we should get another 30 years of Peter and MJ right, it's funny how it only applies to one character you like and no one else though...?

Also...ROFL, Betty.

Yes, I would honestly rather get 10 years of Betty.

Yeah...as Miles' queen, not Peters'

Unless you want to pull a Chris Hanson.

It's comics baby, anyone can get magically aged up if they think the sales will be there!

And Peter will still have those 32 years of marriage to MJ under his belt that not one of those flames can ever deprive him of.

Exactly. You got 32 years, and yet the MJ defense force is regularly and aggressively in people's grills for anyone ever daring to have a preference for anything different, like some dog growling as if their well worn chew toy is about to be taken away. Y'all need to take a chill pill and let people express what they like without trying to shout them down 24/7.

I read Batman and Spider-Man, so...

Eh, I see a lot of overlap between Spider-Man and Batman fans. It's one of the reasons the Black Cat/Catwoman comparisons happen so often.

Not what I was saying, and not what he was either. You read Spider-Man for Spider-Man characters. No one sees Black Cat on a page of an issue and goes "oh, I'll go read Catwoman". That's a silly argument.

[Kevinroc]

Oh please, in comparison they haven't had as much of a history.
You give any other female character as much time in the sun - 20 years ball and chained, right? Not counting other universes and publications? - and they're guaranteed to have the same success. Gwen, Felicia, Betty, anyone.

Hell, I'll call it now: watch Spider-Gwen. With enough sustained time and continued momentum, she'll be the new Spider queen bee. Luckily, y'all have your back issues, where all the re-runs of old stories and old flames should stay.

Do you feel this way about Superman/Lois? Batman/Catwoman? Hal Jordan/Carol Ferris? Barry Allen/Iris West? Ben Grimm/Alicia Masters? Tony Stark/Pepper Potts?

Why are you reading super hero comics if you feel this way?

People who read Spider-Man will go to read Batman? Yeah sorry, that doesn't track.

Don't you all get bored? I am so very bored of this.

I'm sure there's quite a bit of overlap between Spidey comic readers and Batman comic readers.

We went about 10 years (Renew Your Vows being an exception during this period) of Peter/MJ not being the focus of the main comics. Nah, this stuff's fun.

(There will come a time when they aren't the focus again. And then a time when they will. Because comics.)