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

[CTTT]

but I like the moments when Peter plays the field like with Black Cat. By the way does she factor in the current run? I don't know but I feel like once two characters get together and married the relationship can get boring. Felicia and Peter have way more heat. MJ and Peter are like leftover meatloaf.

[Miles To Go]

I don't know but I feel like once two characters get together and married the relationship can get boring.

Ah, the long outdated Moonlighting defence. As old as I am.

Peter and MJ are many things together. Boring is never one of them.

Hell in the last decade or so, the continuities that kept them married (newspaper strip, Renew Your Vows) managed to make them lively and engaging all without petty squabbles or worries over Peter being Spider-Man.

Felicia and Peter have way more heat. MJ and Peter are like leftover meatloaf.

Peter and Felicia don't really have much in common either to make a long-standing relationship work. They have chemistry, but do not posses one tenth of the understanding and connective bond Peter shares with MJ.

MJ is a meal that sustains you every day in life. Felicia is fast food, fills a spot, but is ultimately hazardous

[KB06]

Not worth arguing this point with Mary Jane loyalists. Many of them believe in the fictional sanctity of Peter and Mary Jane's relationship regardless of how plodding and monotonous it can become. Despite her compelling chemistry with Peter, Felicia is often dismissed as a "side-chick" or written off as the villain/loser. Few ever consider the positive influence Peter has on Felicia, preferring the supportive role of Mary Jane instead.

[Kevinroc]

Not worth arguing this point with Mary Jane loyalists. Many of them believe in the fictional sanctity of Peter and Mary Jane's relationship regardless of how plodding and monotonous it can become. Despite her compelling chemistry with Peter, Felicia is often dismissed as a "side-chick" or written off as the villain/loser. Few ever consider the positive influence Peter has on Felicia, preferring the supportive role of Mary Jane instead.

Felicia's problem is she wasn't (co-)created by Stan, so she hardly rates.

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

[Miles To Go]

Not worth arguing this point with Mary Jane loyalists.

Because you'd lose

Few ever consider the positive influence Peter has on Felicia, preferring the supportive role of Mary Jane instead.

Mary Jane understands Peter better than anyone, Felicia may have been influenced by Peter's kind heart and actions, but she never allowed it to change her morally greyer attributes, which is what makes her an ill-fit for a long-term partner.

[KB06]

Because you'd lose

A battle not worth fighting and a victory I'm not after. I encourage the OP to express his or her own opinion without the immediate scorn of others. It's fiction—pursue your own interests instead of a majority consensus.

Mary Jane understands Peter better than anyone, Felicia may have been influenced by Peter's kind heart and actions, but she never allowed it to change her morally greyer attributes, which is what makes her an ill-fit for a long-term partner.

I am not interested in arguing or even debating the merits of fictional relationships; I'm interested in new and compelling storylines. This is the stuff of fantasy and imagination spanning decades. If you're invested in relationship critiques and comic marriage counseling, so be it. Ultimately, I'm just tired of reading/watching/hearing the same "Mary Jane Loves Spider-Man" narratives.

[MajorHoy]

. . . Ultimately, I'm just tired of reading/watching/hearing the same "Mary Jane Loves Spider-Man" narratives.

Well, then, should you buy / read something else?

[Kevinroc]

Ultimately, I'm just tired of reading/watching/hearing the same "Mary Jane Loves Spider-Man" narratives.

Stan Lee openly discussed a concept known as "the illusion of change."

[Revolutionary_Jack]

but I like the moments when Peter plays the field like with Black Cat.

To quote former EIC and curent CCO Joe Quesada, "Peter Parker playing the field is absolutely out of character".

By the way does she factor in the current run?

Black Cat is actually getting a lot more focus under Spencer's run then she did during the entirety of Slott's run. It's maybe her best turn as a character since the '80s. In addition there's PAD's Symbiote Spider-Man which is an Untold tales set between ASM #252-#257.

Spencer is a huge Black Cat stan.

There's a difference between liking the character, and liking that character in a relationship with another. There's nothing connecting the two.

For instance, Roger Stern is a fan of Mary Jane as a character and has written excellent stories that flesh her out and was the one who invented her background and backstory, but he's not a fan of Peter and Mary Jane in a relationship.

Not worth arguing this point with Mary Jane loyalists.

Says the person trying to pick a fight or making this about Felicia vs. Mary Jane.

There's an entire thread devoted to Felicia Hardy here, still running and continuously posted and not everything there is about the relationship between Peter and Felicia or shipping wars. You can post there.


Obviously taste is subjective and so on. I will say that there's a reason that Mary Jane continues to remain popular and constantly reappears and gets updated and reinvented in different runs no matter repeated attempts to write her out of the titles. She is simply a more original character than Felicia Hardy. Felicia Hardy at the end of the day will never escape the shadow of Selina Kyle, which by the way is the stated reasons multiple producers have been reluctant to introduce her into live action. Whereas Mary Jane Watson is easily the most complex and interesting female character Stan Lee ever created across all the superhero titles he oversaw, edited and wrote in the golden period.

[KB06]

Says the person trying to pick a fight or making this about Felicia vs. Mary Jane.

There's an entire thread devoted to Felicia Hardy here, still running and continuously posted and not everything there is about the relationship between Peter and Felicia or shipping wars. You can post there.

Please do not lecture me. I want to emphasize I would never "pick a fight" over something so trivial and I will not be engaging "shipping wars." The label MJ loyalists is meant with no insult or snark, but rather to refer to the segment of fans who prioritize Peter's relationship with Mary Jane above all else. Moreover, I would not be so quick to discount the popularity of Black Cat considering she recieved an ongoing publication of her own.

Let's all agree this entire discussion is subjective and for the most part fruitless—in other words, "This was fun; let's do it again."
Ciao.

[Miles To Go]

I would not be so quick to discount the popularity of Black Cat considering she recieved an ongoing publication of her own.

..Which took them decades. and which we cannot be certain will even be ultimately profitable.

[Annie Parker]

No one gets Peter more than MJ and he knows it.

Peter dating other women makes no sense when he knows who his perfect match is.

[NC_Yankee]

To quote former EIC and curent CCO Joe Quesada, "Peter Parker playing the field is absolutely out of character".



Black Cat is actually getting a lot more focus under Spencer's run then she did during the entirety of Slott's run. It's maybe her best turn as a character since the '80s. In addition there's PAD's Symbiote Spider-Man which is an Untold tales set between ASM #252-#257.



There's a difference between liking the character, and liking that character in a relationship with another. There's nothing connecting the two.

For instance, Roger Stern is a fan of Mary Jane as a character and has written excellent stories that flesh her out and was the one who invented her background and backstory, but he's not a fan of Peter and Mary Jane in a relationship.



Says the person trying to pick a fight or making this about Felicia vs. Mary Jane.

There's an entire thread devoted to Felicia Hardy here, still running and continuously posted and not everything there is about the relationship between Peter and Felicia or shipping wars. You can post there.


Obviously taste is subjective and so on. I will say that there's a reason that Mary Jane continues to remain popular and constantly reappears and gets updated and reinvented in different runs no matter repeated attempts to write her out of the titles. She is simply a more original character than Felicia Hardy. Felicia Hardy at the end of the day will never escape the shadow of Selina Kyle, which by the way is the stated reasons multiple producers have been reluctant to introduce her into live action. Whereas Mary Jane Watson is easily the most complex and interesting female character Stan Lee ever created across all the superhero titles he oversaw, edited and wrote in the golden period.

The reality is Felicia will never be Peter's soul mate. This applies to 21st Century ladies like Cindy Moon or Michelle Gonzalez ( who I really like by the way) like it applied to Gwen and Betty. Why? :She understands Peter in a way no one else has before or since. How? She is tough but sensitive. Peter needs an ear to listen to or a kick in the ass depending on the situation, and she has done both down through the years.

[PCN24454]

The only Black Cat that I would honestly pair up with Peter is the TAS version. Much more stable a relationship.

[MajorHoy]

but I like the moments when Peter plays the field like with Black Cat. By the way does she factor in the current run? I don't know but I feel like once two characters get together and married the relationship can get boring. Felicia and Peter have way more heat. MJ and Peter are like leftover meatloaf.

MJ hasn't always been Peter's "main squeeze"; she didn't even have a major role like that for over a decade of Spider-Man's beginning run.

But as to how good or how "boring" the two of them are together, it has nothing to do with the characters themselves: the fault lies within the abilities and the whims of the writers (and the editors).