Zendaya's "MJ": Future as a Comics Character?

[Frontier]

Yeah I think we've gotten to a point where nothing is really "sacred" with the character anymore. spoilers:

We've now had two adaptations with Aunt May's death; one with Peter Parker's death and another Spider-man taking over; two with middle-aged Parkers, and several involving multiple Spider-characters coming out of the woodwork

end of spoilers

But there's definitely a "classic" status quo that the character will always cycle back to, and MJ has been cemented as being part of that. It's just a shame that, outside of maybe Spectacular, we haven't gotten an adaptation that really embodied her personality from the comics. And I doubt we'll be getting one anytime soon.

I really hope Marvel starts doing some adult Direct-to-Video animated adaptations of their comics like DC.

I want a more comic-accurate MJ in media (and definitely not a reporter) although I think the closest we've gotten since Spec was Marvel's Spider-Man cartoon MJ for how little they developed/featured her.

[Confuzzled]

I wonder if the original plan with Zendaya's MJ was to do something similar to the comic books where she is introduced as a supporting character and then becomes a love interest over time culminating in a 'you just hit the jackpot' moment. Only, instead of her face, they obscure her name to keep the audience until the last minute.

My head canon has always been that Phillip being an ******* father figure is the reason why she doesn't acknowledge that she is 'Mary Jane Watson'. I hope future movies expands on this.

I hope this is how she's reintroduced with maybe someone like Betty (assuming Peter starts working at the Bugle now) trying to set him up with 'Mary Jane'. He assumes she's a different person because of the name and so doesn't even try to look her up online.

[Agent Z]

Gwen's snarkiness in general is far closer to the way 616 MJ acts than any other version of Gwen.

MJ doesn't have a patent on being snarky. Peter and Felicia's interactions also fit this description.

A scenes where she bandages up Peter or somethin' like that.

That's it? I thought it was something actually major or iconic to Peter and MJ.

Well not surprising, Raimi's MJ is far closer to Gwen as a character, and it's pretty ironic and annoying those movies made them be so interchangeable.

Aside from the bridge thing, she really isn't anything like Gwen. She's not a cop's daughter, she isn't rich, doesn't meet Peter in college, doesn't hate Spider-Man and, most importantly, doesn't die. The comparisons between her and comic Gwen are as shallow as the comparison between ASM Gwen and comic MJ.

[The Kid]

ASM Gwen does kinda remind me of Brainy Jane from Ultimate Spider-Man but that character was already very far removed from 616 MJ. I did like her relationship to Peter a lot though and they did a good job of developing it and it's a dynamic that lends itself well as also seen by PeterGwen in the ASM movies

[Frontier]

MJ doesn't have a patent on being snarky. Peter and Felicia's interactions also fit this description.

But if we're talking civilian love interests and the dynamic MJ has with Peter, it's more of an MJ thing than a Gwen thing.

That's it? I thought it was something actually major or iconic to Peter and MJ.

For the amount of time's it's happened? I would say it's fairly major/iconic.

Aside from the bridge thing, she really isn't anything like Gwen. She's not a cop's daughter, she isn't rich, doesn't meet Peter in college, doesn't hate Spider-Man and, most importantly, doesn't die. The comparisons between her and comic Gwen are as shallow as the comparison between ASM Gwen and comic MJ.

I think it's more the emotional vulnerability, girl next door vibes (not that Gwen was really a girl next door, but she's sometimes seen that way), or the lack of MJ's patented vivacious personality in favor of drama.

ASM Gwen does kinda remind me of Brainy Jane from Ultimate Spider-Man but that character was already very far removed from 616 MJ. I did like her relationship to Peter a lot though and they did a good job of developing it and it's a dynamic that lends itself well as also seen by PeterGwen in the ASM movies

I think the best part about the ASM movies is the PeterxGwen relationship, and that's a common consensus, but they also had to make Gwen more viable as a love interest to accomplish that.

[Mistah K88]

Gwen's snarkiness in general is far closer to the way 616 MJ acts than any other version of Gwen.

Wasn't Gwen snarky when it came to being in MJ's presence? She always seemed to have smoke for other women.

ASM Gwen does kinda remind me of Brainy Jane from Ultimate Spider-Man but that character was already very far removed from 616 MJ. I did like her relationship to Peter a lot though and they did a good job of developing it and it's a dynamic that lends itself well as also seen by PeterGwen in the ASM movies

I thought smart ASM Gwen was more based on the Spectacular cartoon...which in turn was based on her simply being in the same classes as Peter in college.

[Frontier]

I thought smart ASM Gwen was more based on the Spectacular cartoon...which in turn was based on her simply being in the same classes as Peter in college.

I think that's most peoples' takeaway.

[Zeitgeist]

I think you're happy to downplay MJ's role in the franchise when it's pretty clear it is what it is.

Mate with all due respect, just because someone doesn't subscribe to how you see MJ doesn't mean they're trolling. I'm not oblivious, I'm very aware she's the most well known spider-beau - I just don't think she's the be-all and end-all character some clearly do. As important as she has been as a supporting character in the comics, I don't think she's as integral to adaptations as say, Aunt May or Uncle Ben. There's been instances where the place of Peter's squeeze has been filled by someone else because he does have a nice little beau's gallery going on (hell, comic-wise the recent Darkhold AU event had Gwen as Peter's wife) and it won't be the last time. Variety is the spice of life, if it was 'always MJ, all the time', it'd be pretty monotonous.

(Ironically though that's why I like Zendaya's MCU MJ, because while she's clearly MJ she's also somewhat different)

Wasn't Gwen snarky when it came to being in MJ's presence? She always seemed to have smoke for other women.

1000000%. She was downright ice cold.

[Frontier]

Mate with all due respect, just because someone doesn't subscribe to how you see MJ doesn't mean they're trolling. I'm not oblivious, I'm very aware she's the most well known spider-beau - I just don't think she's the be-all and end-all character some clearly do. As important as she has been as a supporting character in the comics, I don't think she's as integral to adaptations as say, Aunt May or Uncle Ben. There's been instances where the place of Peter's squeeze has been filled by someone else because he does have a nice little beau's gallery going on (hell, comic-wise the recent Darkhold AU event had Gwen as Peter's wife) and it won't be the last time. Variety is the spice of life, if it was 'always MJ, all the time', it'd be pretty monotonous.

(Ironically though that's why I like Zendaya's MCU MJ, because while she's clearly MJ she's also somewhat different)

She was literally his wife who had to be undone by a devil and a dead aunt, and the only girl said aunt ever really approved of, I feel like even with a bevy of love interests that makes her as definitive and integral as Lois Lane if you're depicting the mythos properly.

And I say this as a fan of his other love interests.

[OptimusPrime114]

That could actually work. Here is my question besides being a love interest for someone what exactly would Zendaya do in the 616 Universe? The closest comparison is Theresa. Is she actually Peter’s sister and equally important what role ( beyond SHIELD and spying) will she play in Peter’s life ( if any) going forward?

Well, I was thinking maybe she could be a supporting character to Miles Morales, as an NYPD rookie assigned to Jefferson Davis.