Mary Jane Watson-Parker Appreciation 2020

[Frontier]

So he's like the Fourth World at DC ?

[Lukmendes]

So he's like the Fourth World at DC ?

I guess, only a lot more boring in every way lol.

[Prime]

How do you guys feel about "Lois Lane"Mary Jane that has been a bit dominant in media so far?

[Frontier]

How do you guys feel about "Lois Lane"Mary Jane that has been a bit dominant in media so far?

I don't care for it. At all.

Reporter MJ just feels kind of boring and uninspired to me.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

How do you guys feel about "Lois Lane"Mary Jane that has been a bit dominant in media so far?

As long as Spider-Man outsells Superman who cares. Give enough time and people will associate the girlfriend reporter with MJ over Lois.

There's never been a good Superman game, in a great Spider-Man PS4 game you got to see the girlfriend reporter archetype and it's Mary Jane, and you play as her. So Mary Jane has defined that in the videogame medium in a way Lois never has and likely never will (if the upcoming Suicide Squad game by Rocksteady set in Metropolis is any indication).

[Frontier]

As long as Spider-Man outsells Superman who cares. Give enough time and people will associate the girlfriend reporter with MJ over Lois.

Lois Lane is too much of an icon for that to happen. And why would we even want that to happen? MJ doesn't have to be a girlfriend reporter.

There's never been a good Superman game, in a great Spider-Man PS4 game you got to see the girlfriend reporter archetype and it's Mary Jane, and you play as her. So Mary Jane has defined that in the videogame medium in a way Lois never has and likely never will (if the upcoming Suicide Squad game by Rocksteady set in Metropolis is any indication).

Considering the reception to said MJ sequences, maybe Lois lucked out .

Although now that I think about it, I think the Superman game for the DCAU had Clark Kent stealth sections.

[Prime]

As long as Spider-Man outsells Superman who cares. Give enough time and people will associate the girlfriend reporter with MJ over Lois.

There's never been a good Superman game, in a great Spider-Man PS4 game you got to see the girlfriend reporter archetype and it's Mary Jane, and you play as her. So Mary Jane has defined that in the videogame medium in a way Lois never has and likely never will (if the upcoming Suicide Squad game by Rocksteady set in Metropolis is any indication).

Well I care cause it's not really Mary Jane.its just Lois Lane on Spiderman. Which makes her less unique. And kinda harsh on Superman dude.

[Alkaeus]

How do you guys feel about "Lois Lane"Mary Jane that has been a bit dominant in media so far?

I get the feeling it stems mostly from a reluctance in modern adaptations to make her an actress/model for whatever reason, starting with Bendis' Ultimate run. If it's about the Insomniac version in specific, I think the stated reason was that her being a reporter puts her closer to the action in a way she wouldn't be otherwise.

EDIT: grammar

[Starrius]

Which is the group you have to worry most about. They have the power to instantly derail any long-term romantic reunion on a childish whim.

I am not going to worry about those people. I am just going to keep having a positive frame of mind.

Peter and Mary Jane all the way until I die!

[Kevinroc]

How do you guys feel about "Lois Lane"Mary Jane that has been a bit dominant in media so far?

Feels more like a DC move, to be honest. Lois Lane, Iris West, Linda Park, Vicki Vale.

[NC_Yankee]

How do you guys feel about "Lois Lane"Mary Jane that has been a bit dominant in media so far?

I do not care about Lois Lane. As long as Mary Jane is in Amazing, written well, and is over Felicia, Carlie, Cindy, Mockingbird, Original Gwen or any other “Parker Woman” i am happy.

[TheCape]

I don't care for it. At all.

Reporter MJ just feels kind of boring and uninspired to me.

This is how i feel too. I kind of get it, but is still annoying.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Reporter MJ isn't any more a dealbreaker for me than Peter Parker working at the Daily Bugle.

The reason why Stan Lee and Ditko had Peter work at the Daily Bugle, a big newspaper with a cantankerous editor was as a kind of tribute to Superman, Daily Planet, and Perry White. Since people don't make an issue for the Daily Bugle making Peter Parker a "little too Clark Kent" I don't see why the same thing doesn't apply here.

With MJ as reporter at least the Daily Bugle and its staff, Robbie and others, come into play in the story, right. And that's what counts. Marvel have tried to keep Peter out of the Daily Bugle in adaptations and since BND and so on, so that means that people needed to find another way to bring that stuff into play.

And ultimately the core objections to MJ is simply "being a reporter". The actual character in Spider-Man PS4 is very much a composite of her 616 and Ultimate origins. So if the issue is just "Being a reporter" then I kind of think those complaints are silly and childish. At least you need to look at other stuff. Mary Jane would be a Lois Lane clone if for instance she like Spider-Man but dislikes Daily Bugle co-worker Peter Parker and so on (and don't @-me about how Post-Crisis Lois isn't this, not important).

And kinda harsh on Superman dude.

There's this phrase "Elections have consequences". Well Publicaton and Adaptations also have consequences, and failure to adapt and failure to maintain a certain iconic status also has consequences. Especially in the teeth of competition. Mary Jane has become an iconic enough character in her own right that Lois is no longer the defining instance of comics love interest anymore. This isn't to say Lois isn't famous or well known just that this single character no longer has monopoly on her own archetype.

Remember that Mary Jane was so popular that in the '80s, fans asked explicitly for her and Peter to get married. They didn't want Peter to get married in general, but to her. And Peter and MJ getting married in the '80s was a major comic event that went into the news and created hoopla that anticipated the Death of Superman. It was the biggest comics event of the '80s in terms of mainstream news coverage. Whereas when Superman and Lois got married in the '90s, it was comparatively speaking a damp squib. More people cared about 'the Death of Superman' than the return of Superman and the marriage of Superman.

Let's also keep some things in mind, Mary Jane in the '80s knew Peter's identity and when she and Peter got married she was supportive of his double life. In other words the characterization that Post-Crisis Lois Lane has...that's basically borrowing from, or following on from '80s Mary Jane. So Mary Jane is far more the defining and original and innovative figure so much so that Post-80s Lois Lane resembles MJ more than hers, kind of like a vampire feeding on the young. Post-Crisis Lois Lane also became a light-heared brunette with reddish hair (see the covers of Funeral for a Friend) and kind of looked like "keeping up with the MJs" (at least until STAS came with Timm-Dana Delany's Lois which led to the purple-eyes and black hair look that's now her default). So why is it such a big deal that MJ becomes a reporter when Lois borrowed far more substantially from her in the past.

A lot of people don't like the idea of pitting MJ and Lois and so on. I accept that but again there's a contingent of writers and fans (Roger Stern, Karl Kessel) who support the Superman-Lois marriage but denounce Spider-Man and MJ, and I think this whole "MJ is a reporter like Lois" stems from the same sense of misplaced inferiority. So I think it's useful to push that back.

Spider-Man is a far more lucrative property than Superman, his merchandise sells more, his movies have made more money, his games are better, and in general there are more great Spider-Man stories and great runs than there are in the case of Superman. So let's not act like we are little leagues anymore.

[TheCape]

That's probably because Peter isn't a reporter but a photograph and has a different dynamic with his boss than Clark has with Perry.

[Frontier]

That's another thing, I care way more about Peter being at the Bugle than I do about MJ working there. Peter has a dynamic there, people he knows, cares, and gets along with. I don't really get that sense with MJ working there.