Mary Jane Watson-Parker Appreciation 2022

[Kevinroc]

Two things that I believe to be true.

1: Zendaya is a massive star in the making (particularly back when they first cast her), and the producers were right to cast her.

2: MCU romances are, in general, terrible.

[Tabs]

I don't think MCU MJ's characterization is as difficult to fix as some here believe. Michelle is a teenager. She also had a large portion of her life tampered with, and writers willing, the MCU can do something with that. If Peter Parker is interested in Liz in Freshman year, that's fine. Mary Jane Watson wasn't his ready-made soulmate in canon and I'm glad for it. Some details about Michelle's persona outside her existence as Peter's love interest would help the character and could help develop Jones' personality into a better match for the character she's meant to represent. That doesn't mean anyone should invest actual trust in the series, but there are opportunities to improve.

Part of what I like with forums are that here some people have a different way of looking at things. I am one who don’t believe in evergreen ongoing stories. No matter how much you tweak them. I can certainly enjoy long stories. Like the manga One Piece witch I still periodically read. But I appreciate stories with an end. A end that makes sense.

Progress and a end goal. Even if it might be decades away.

I suppose so! Preference can contrast starkly between fans as a trend and I enjoy reading the views of every poster here. I believe the "Death is cheap" trope can work, mostly as a deconstruct or for drama, but I respect your cup of tea. Personally speaking, Higurashi: When They Cry was the first anime I've ever watched and Re:Zero is a guilty pleasure. Both series involved frequent repeated deaths of the same characters in a relatively short span of time, but prove interesting. I agree with your point for a series written by one person or conceived by a limited group of people with a foreseeable end goal. I'm less critical of endings when they make logical sense for the medium, limited-run Elseworlds, and/or when the creators plot out the ending of the characters they create. I don't think Marvel currently has a concrete plan on how they intend to conclude Peter Parker's story so contrivances that permanently end characters when I know Marvel still intends to drag the series out until Spider-Man stops earning them money are met with more skepticism. Doesn't help that the arc was protracted before revealing a retcon I greatly disliked. I enjoy when the protagonist interacts with his supporting cast, because it helps distinguish who Peter Parker is as as a man beneath the costume.

[Confuzzled]

Two things that I believe to be true.

1: Zendaya is a massive star in the making (particularly back when they first cast her), and the producers were right to cast her.

2: MCU romances are, in general, terrible.

She's even bigger now being the youngest actress to win a lead Emmy, having one of pop culture's biggest shows, being in the Dune franchise, becoming a major fashion icon (this part is particularly painful because the MCU forces a glamorous individual to deglam and play an "MJ" in their films for Sony), one of the social change leaders of Gen Z, and of course, being part of the internet's favorite couple with Tom Holland. Like Garfield/Stone before them, Tom/Zendaya's real-life chemistry reflects on and uplifts their weakly written on screen Spidey romance. TIME included Zendaya in this year's list of their 100 most influential people in the world.

When celebrities of color break out like this, they gain a legion of fans who pin their hopes and dreams on that one celeb, like the other phenomenal MJ and Selena Quintanilla in the 90s. Not saying Zendaya has reached that level yet but she is steadily getting there. Honestly she was/is perfect to play Classic Mary Jane and I seriously feel a lot of her fans would have started reading the comics to know more about the character if Zendaya had been given a more faithful role. If that were the case, Marvel would have heard it from them (and I mean how ) if MJ still received the same treatment in the comics as she is now.

[Lukmendes]

I don't think MCU MJ's characterization is as difficult to fix as some here believe. Michelle is a teenager that had a large portion of her life tampered with, writers willing, the MCU can do something with that. If Peter Parker is interested in Liz in Freshman year, that's fine. Mary Jane Watson wasn't his ready-made soulmate in canon and I'm glad for it.

I mean, her characterization can be fixed by having enough screen time lol.

I can't speak for Spidey Home 2, but in 1 and 3, she's just kinda there, she has more to do in the third film, but what I remember of her personality in the third movie is just "snarky" and "love interest", which's more interesting than the first one I guess, which's just "Friendless loser" and "rude" lol.

Then again it's not like MCU characters are deep (And for me, generally really boring), but even if I ignore that she's an MJ adaptation, I can't get interested in her characterization at all, feels like they play too safe and made her boring.

She's not as bad as Raimi's MJ, Michelle does kinda have chemistry with Peter, at least lol.

and I seriously feel a lot of her fans would have started reading the comics to know more about the character if Zendaya had been given a more faithful role. If that were the case, Marvel would have heard it from them (and I mean how ) if MJ still received the same treatment in the comics as she is now.

I really don't think so, comic sales have been universally unaffected by everything since always, they're just a niche market, and when they have to compete with series, video games and movies while being grossly expensive, younger fans who don't have the habit of buying comics have no reason to start, and if they do wanna read comics, they'll most likely go for the far easier to get into mangas.

[Frontier]

You shouldn't. A Spider-Man series that can't use most of the Spider-Man lore doesn't sound terribly interesting. It is also forced to position the characters and their relationships based on where Civil War/Homecoming started, so the relationships by their very nature can't change.

Expect Peter to be crushing hard on Liz.

Yeah, other than MCU-hype I'm not sure if anyone was asking to see more of Peter pre-Homecoming.

(I'm tired of everything but an X-Men revival needing to tie-in to the MCU).

[Kevinroc]

Yeah, other than MCU-hype I'm not sure if anyone was asking to see more of Peter pre-Homecoming.

(I'm tired of everything but an X-Men revival needing to tie-in to the MCU).

At least there's Insomniac's game universe with reporter MJ.

[Matt Rat]

[Kevinroc]

No. They've made that abundantly clear.

[Matt Rat]

No. They've made that abundantly clear.

They can't restore what they've never really taken away anywhere else.

[Frontier]

At least there's Insomniac's game universe with reporter MJ.

You had to go there .

[Lukmendes]

(I'm tired of everything but an X-Men revival needing to tie-in to the MCU).

X-Men revival is only not tied to MCU 'cause there are no X-Men project in MCU itself anyways lol.

At least there's Insomniac's game universe with reporter MJ.

And baby faced Spidey .

They can't restore what they've never really taken away anywhere else.

Like it really matters if other random, dead universes kept the marriage lol.

[Mercwmouth12]

X-Men revival is only not tied to MCU 'cause there are no X-Men project in MCU itself anyways lol.



And baby faced Spidey .



Like it really matters if other random, dead universes kept the marriage lol.

Yet it's so powerful it's in multiple universes

[Lukmendes]

Yet it's so powerful it's in multiple universes

Cool, but most of the non-random universes don't have it, it matters little if random Spider-Man from Earth-69 has the marriage if he shows up once and never again.

Whatever major universes people get to see with some consistency have Spidey being single, at best, dating MJ.

OMD made sure to tone down the marriage's importance to the franchise, we do get a married Spidey in random stories like Dark Ages, and at least Spider-Verse's movie had Peter B. being divorced with MJ and that's one of the many things that is made clear that his life is screwed over, but that's about it, most universes that matter have him being single, and that tones down the marriage's importance, pretending otherwise is naíve.

[Kevinroc]

Spider-Man from Earth-69

[Matt Rat]

OMD made sure to tone down the marriage's importance to the franchise

Oh really, then explain why Benjy and Annie are of vital importance to the Spider-Verse if the marriage 'isn't important'? Considering neither exist without it.

pretending otherwise is naïve.

And denying there is still importance is asinine.

MC2 and RYV mattered to core storylines. Therefore the marriage still matters.