Do you think fans would accept anyone except MJ as the love interest?

[CaptainUniverse]

I think it's ok to feel like the argument has been settled, but dont sweat about the futility of the discussion because the point of these forums, for me at least, is to be able to Express your point of view and get to read other peoples' as well, in spite of it changing opinions or convincing anybody of anything.

I for one have enjoyed your takes, and now you got me curious about the rant you were writing lol, i love a good, clean, fun rant

Oh, you know, typical rant stuff and reiterating my point that no character, new or old, will ever replace MJ. Especially not superheroines who have their own status quos and offices which want to take those characters in other directions. Stuff like that, but I was really going into it.

Not dumb at all.

We're all just chatting and exchanging our thoughts and ideas. People are going to have strong, long held opinions and they're all valid. Spidey's been around a LONG time, with lots of iterations both in comics and outside media, so don't expect a consensus or for anyone to change their position. It's just a bit of fun.

it's not like this conversation, or any we have here, will in any way influence what marvel does regardless of the outcome.

...unless you're secretly Zeb Wells or Nick Lowe?

(You're right, I am probably just overthinking things.)

W-What? W-Why would you say such a thing? D-Don't be ridiculous! You readerrr...fellow fans and your crazy conspiracy theories!

[Celgress]

If done correctly MJ could be replaced as the primary love interest. Like it or not I know a lot of younger fans who are lukewarm on MJ as "the one" at best. I feel the MJ stan phenomenon is a generational thing. As we continue to move forward from OMD her status continues to delude in the minds of many fans especially casual fans and newer fans sorry but it is true.

[Aura Blaize]

Given the reception the current run has gotten to the idea of Peter and Felicia, I honestly don't think that's possible.

A big reason it's gotten such a terrible reception is probably because it was done so terribly. We literally went from "Peter and MJ in love and going through hell together" to "Peter and MJ broken up, her having kids with someone else and Felicia being the rebound".

The best time to do something like this would have been at the beginning of Spencer's run. Peter and MJ hadn't been official in years. Spend that time working and developing Peter's relationship with Felicia and yeah, it could have totally worked.

[Matt Rat]

Like it or not I know a lot of younger fans who are lukewarm on MJ as "the one" at best.

And I know younger fans who have soured on post-OMD comics and think everything prior to it is better, like it or not.

As we continue to move forward from OMD her status continues to delude in the minds of many fans especially casual fans and newer fans sorry but it is true.

We moved forward from OMD and they ended up together again for three to four years, and the story still revolves entirely around where they stand in their relationship, on or off. In the meanwhile we get movies which promote them as having a child and still have comics published set in times where they were together. This is their story, sorry, but it's true.

The best time to do something like this would have been at the beginning of Spencer's run. Peter and MJ hadn't been official in years. Spend that time working and developing Peter's relationship with Felicia and yeah, it could have totally worked.

No it wouldn't. Peter and MJ were still being promoted together in other comics at the time, and there was the matter of Peter B Parker in Into The Spider-Verse who's arc is defined by his relations with her. Again, the marriage never ceased being promoted after OMD.

[Kevinroc]

A big reason it's gotten such a terrible reception is probably because it was done so terribly. We literally went from "Peter and MJ in love and going through hell together" to "Peter and MJ broken up, her having kids with someone else and Felicia being the rebound".

The best time to do something like this would have been at the beginning of Spencer's run. Peter and MJ hadn't been official in years. Spend that time working and developing Peter's relationship with Felicia and yeah, it could have totally worked.

That's why I think it can never work. If it didn't happen after OMD/OMIT, it's never going to happen.

[Kaitou D. Kid]

Like it or not I know a lot of younger fans who are lukewarm on MJ as "the one" at best. I feel the MJ stan phenomenon is a generational thing. As we continue to move forward from OMD her status continues to delude in the minds of many fans especially casual fans and newer fans sorry but it is true.

Younger fans that have soured on MJ, assuming they even exist in large numbers, would have to be really really young.

Courtesy of TAS, Raimi, and Ultimate, the majority of people born in the 80s and 90s see MJ as Peter's "true love". That's all Millennials and the oldest Zoomers.

Fans that disagree (like the OMD writers) generally seem to be the oldest.

Not sure about people born after 2000's. My guess is they're a bit more open to other love interests than 80s and 90s kids, but not by much. They still have MCU, Insomniac, and ITSV. They go back to Ultimate and Raimi all the time (Tobey's Spider-Man is still the most popular among Gen Z's according to an official poll done around December 2021).

Plus, the ones who go on to read comics will always check out KLH and many pre-OMD comics. Bendis and JMS are still the most influential Spider-Man writers of the 21st century, with Slott being third at best.

Maybe the Slott era and the TASM films had some effect, but I doubt it was that strong or did a 180 on MJ for that generation.

[dornwolf]

Younger fans that have soured on MJ, assuming they even exist in large numbers, would have to be really really young.

Courtesy of TAS, Raimi, and Ultimate, the majority of people born in the 80s and 90s see MJ as Peter's "true love". That's all Millennials and the oldest Zoomers.

Fans that disagree (like the OMD writers) generally seem to be the oldest.

Not sure about people born after 2000's. My guess is they're a bit more open to other love interests than 80s and 90s kids, but not by much. They still have MCU, Insomniac, and ITSV. They go back to Ultimate and Raimi all the time (Tobey's Spider-Man is still the most popular among Gen Z's according to an official poll done around December 2021).

Plus, the ones who go on to read comics will always check out KLH and many pre-OMD comics. Bendis and JMS are still the most influential Spider-Man writers of the 21st century, with Slott being third at best.

Maybe the Slott era and the TASM films had some effect, but I doubt it was that strong or did a 180 on MJ for that generation.

I’ve long argued that pop culture won the war that Marvel editorial has been waging. All the two shows treat her as the love interest, eventually, all the movies barring Amazing which if they had made that third one would’ve been grouped in. The MCU, which has become the go to final word on things somehow, establishes MJ in any variation. Games…hey look MJ. Even when it’s no MJ the character they replace her with feels like MJ.

Superman and Lois
Spider-man and MJ

Can’t really do either one with out the other.

People are long over will they won’t they. Just get to the they do and move on.

[Spider-Tiger]

I'm picturing dudes furiously typing hate comments, foaming at the mouth, slamming their keyboards at every mention of Gwen Stacy while they huff and puff to a poster of Gwen with a red ''X'' over her face next to the monitor.

Lmao XD you would think so with a descriptor like rabid

I’ve long argued that pop culture won the war that Marvel editorial has been waging. All the two shows treat her as the love interest, eventually, all the movies barring Amazing which if they had made that third one would’ve been grouped in. The MCU, which has become the go to final word on things somehow, establishes MJ in any variation. Games…hey look MJ. Even when it’s no MJ the character they replace her with feels like MJ.

Superman and Lois
Spider-man and MJ

Can’t really do either one with out the other.

People are long over will they won’t they. Just get to the they do and move on.

As much flack as Quesada and co. get for getting rid of the marriage, I dont think "replacing" MJ was their goal. On the contrary, the story of OMD doubled down on MJ being "the one."

I think replacing MJ could have been (more) feasible within the first 5 to 10 years after OMD. Especially, if the couple had divorced. Under those circumstances, MJ probably could have been more easily repositioned as another failed Parker relationship (albeit his longest lasting one.)

But within the last 6 or so years, we've only been getting more MJ material in comics and other media. (RYV in 2015/16 really seemed to kick it off.) The current run seems to be a break from the trajectory.

[Daibhidh]

As far as any love interest(other than MJ) goes, why not used an already established character instead of a new one, like Betty Brant? I would say the following would be of interest based on similar interest and ideology:

1. Jennifer Walters
2. Betsy Braddock(Captain Britain)
3. Natasha Romanov
4. Tigra
5. Carol Danvers
6. Jessica Drew

We already had Mockingbird as a possible love interest for Parker. The problem with that relationship was that it was poorly executed. The reason why MJ's relation with Peter worked was become they started out as friends. It was never a rushed situation as MJ was never the focused love interest until later on in the story.

I'm not seeing any of those except at a pinch Jennifer Walters.
(Peter has been on a date with Carol Danvers, and there was once a Marvel Team-Up story in which Natasha Romanov was amnesiac and thought she was a school teacher, in which she and Peter expressed an attraction to each other. Nothing further came of it in either case.)
The main problem with most of them is that Peter's rogues gallery is calibrated to be a challenge to Peter. If Peter had a super-powered love interest you'd expect them to become a partnership in crime fighting. Jennifer, Betsy, and Carol would all walk through Peter's rogues gallery without breaking a sweat. Greer and Jessica are on Peter's power level so Peter's rogues gallery would have to start double-teaming and none of them are the sort to team up regularly without Otto or Norman holding them together.

[Spider-Tiger]

Younger fans that have soured on MJ, assuming they even exist in large numbers, would have to be really really young.

They'd have to be in a very specific age group. Growing up post-OMD, around the Andrew Garfield movies and Ultimate cartoon, before Disney Plus and the PS4 games.

[Starrius]

I just got done watching the whole 1981 Spider-Man animated series.
Peter Parker is 25 years old in the show. The second to the last episode reveals that Spider-Man has been fighting crime for ten years. If Peter became Spider-Man at 15 like in the comics, then he's 25 in the show. They show him that he's in college. He must be working on his Ph.D.

Betty Brant is his primary love interest.


In the last episode of the show, he has a crush on a certain gorgeous redhead.
They kiss at the end of the show.

It's not Mary Jane Watson though.

It's Medusa!


Yeah.....He has been dating Betty, but he ends up falling in love with Medusa.

I guess that she wasn't with Black Bolt at the time.

I admit that I actually kinda liked it even though I am totally a Peter/Mary Jane fan.
I did like Peter/Betty in the series.
I am surprised that the series ended with him crushing on Medusa and kissing.
He and Betty didn't even kiss in the series.

[Daibhidh]

Did you not read that one page where Bobbi said they didn't?

Apart from both being science geeks? She was being written by Dan Slott at the time. I get the impression from this forum that stuff Dan Slott has characters say in Spider-man comics cannot be used as evidence for anything beyond how they behave in that particular story.
The main problem with Bobbi/Peter, apart from the long history of MJ/Peter, is that Bobbi/Clint will always be a thing.

[Daibhidh]

Mockingbird - it wasn't poorly executed (it wasn't well executed, either), it just quickly showed why Peter and Bobbie are incompatible. They have nothing in common outside of wearing costumes. She did not put up with his bullshit

Ideally we would revert Peter to his pre-OMD characterisation in which he was not an immature manchild with a poor work ethic in a permanent midlife crisis for whom nothing ever goes right.

[dornwolf]

Lmao XD you would think so with a descriptor like rabid



As much flack as Quesada and co. get for getting rid of the marriage, I dont think "replacing" MJ was their goal. On the contrary, the story of OMD doubled down on MJ being "the one."

I think replacing MJ could have been (more) feasible within the first 5 to 10 years after OMD. Especially, if the couple had divorced. Under those circumstances, MJ probably could have been more easily repositioned as another failed Parker relationship (albeit his longest lasting one.)

But within the last 6 or so years, we've only been getting more MJ material in comics and other media. (RYV in 2015/16 really seemed to kick it off.) The current run seems to be a break from the trajectory.

They tried…multiple times to bring in love interests who weren’t MJ. Had him date a character named after Quesdas daughter for gods sake. They down played MJ and their relationship in those 5-10 you’re talking about and guess what it lead us right back here again. Everyone last one was a bust. Hell we’re round two on Black Cat and that’s somehow an even bigger bust.

[PCN24454]

Ideally we would revert Peter to his pre-OMD characterisation in which he was not an immature manchild with a poor work ethic in a permanent midlife crisis for whom nothing ever goes right.

What are talking about? He’s always been an annoyingly passive character even before OMD. It’s the whole reason a lot of his strife during JMS’s run even happened.

That’s probably my biggest issue with OMD. How easily it caued people overlook Peter’s flaws and blame it on the story.