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

[Kaitou D. Kid]

The thing is that MJ is so associated as THE love interest for Peter that adaptations go in with that.

True. Good point.

[Starrius]

Nope
Mary Jane Watson is the most iconic and popular love interest of Peter Parker Spider-Man.
no other woman comes close


There are a couple of videos that explain Mary Jane


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xtzfzDkWzs


this one is more about Gwen, but it discusses stuff about Mary Jane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkB4CbE5MU4

[Vegeta]

There are people who ship Peter and White Tiger who grew up watching "Ultimate Spider-man." I grew up watching syndicated 80's Spidey cartoons, where the love interest was either Betty Brant or Firestar. I didn't even know Mary Jane existed until I started reading the comics! It just depends on what the most accessible media decides to promote. We have a MJ in the MCU, but she isn't Mary Jane, she is Michelle Jones. (And the character is very different in personality from 616 Mary Jane.) So if they powers in charge decide to change the love interest and the character is well received by the general public, and they continue to promote the character, it could happen. (No one really considered Ned Leeds to be Peter Parker's best friend, a role usually reserved for Harry Osborn, but now here we are.)

[Frontier]

There are people who ship Peter and White Tiger who grew up watching "Ultimate Spider-man." I grew up watching syndicated 80's Spidey cartoons, where the love interest was either Betty Brant or Firestar. I didn't even know Mary Jane existed until I started reading the comics! It just depends on what the most accessible media decides to promote. We have a MJ in the MCU, but she isn't Mary Jane, she is Michelle Jones. (And the character is very different in personality from 616 Mary Jane.) So if they powers in charge decide to change the love interest and the character is well received by the general public, and they continue to promote the character, it could happen. (No one really considered Ned Leeds to be Peter Parker's best friend, a role usually reserved for Harry Osborn, but now here we are.)

So that really was a thing .

I remember Peter and Kamala being a low-key ship in Marvel's Spider-Man. Although there wasn't much competition in the romance department before MJ actually showed up in the show.

[CaptainUniverse]

So that really was a thing .

I remember Peter and Kamala being a low-key ship in Marvel's Spider-Man. Although there wasn't much competition in the romance department before MJ actually showed up in the show.

They (he and Kamala) were? That's...weird, I know Peter's age has been adjusted but...it's still weird because I associate Spider-Man with his more adult counterparts not his awkward teenage variants.

[Kevinroc]

There are people who ship Peter and White Tiger who grew up watching "Ultimate Spider-man." I grew up watching syndicated 80's Spidey cartoons, where the love interest was either Betty Brant or Firestar. I didn't even know Mary Jane existed until I started reading the comics! It just depends on what the most accessible media decides to promote. We have a MJ in the MCU, but she isn't Mary Jane, she is Michelle Jones. (And the character is very different in personality from 616 Mary Jane.) So if they powers in charge decide to change the love interest and the character is well received by the general public, and they continue to promote the character, it could happen. (No one really considered Ned Leeds to be Peter Parker's best friend, a role usually reserved for Harry Osborn, but now here we are.)

Would that character be well received at this point is the question? We saw how accepted "new love interest" was with Carlie Cooper. And we're seeing in the current run how accepted Black Cat is in that role.

The MCU went out of its way to paint their "MJ Watson" as a multiverse variant of MJ Watson. (She is called "MJ" almost exclusively after the end of Homecoming and referred to as "MJ Watson" several times in NWH. It feels disingenuous to claim she is an OC.)

[Frontier]

They (he and Kamala) were? That's...weird, I know Peter's age has been adjusted but...it's still weird because I associate Spider-Man with his more adult counterparts not his awkward teenage variants.

Would that character be well received at this point is the question? We saw how accepted "new love interest" was with Carlie Cooper. And we're seeing in the current run how accepted Black Cat is in that role.

The MCU went out of its way to paint their "MJ Watson" as a multiverse variant of MJ Watson. (She is called "MJ" almost exclusively after the end of Homecoming and referred to as "MJ Watson" several times in NWH. It feels disingenuous to claim she is an OC.)

I think it's fair to point out that both characters in these instances were subject to less than stellar writing.

[Kevinroc]

I think it's fair to point out that both characters in these instances were subject to less than stellar writing.

I know this is going to sound cynical, but I don't think the quality of the writing even matters. The discussion that inspired this thread even said that if the quality of the Wells run were better, the other person still thought there would be a pervasive negativity about the run because Peter wasn't with MJ. Even the editors page of the first issue of Vol. 6 came out and said they knew there would be fans unhappy with breaking up Peter and MJ (and then they went ahead with it anyway).

[spiderlink]

Would that character be well received at this point is the question? We saw how accepted "new love interest" was with Carlie Cooper. And we're seeing in the current run how accepted Black Cat is in that role.

The MCU went out of its way to paint their "MJ Watson" as a multiverse variant of MJ Watson. (She is called "MJ" almost exclusively after the end of Homecoming and referred to as "MJ Watson" several times in NWH. It feels disingenuous to claim she is an OC.)

On the movies? People love Gwen, I think she is one of the most beloved love interest in cape films, comics it’s different it depends on the writing if a writer make a good run with x love interest to Peter and last some years I can see people accepting it

[CaptainUniverse]

Nope, still weirded out by it. Can't explain it. Wait...isn't this the same show where Thanos became Carnage?

[Kevinroc]

On the movies? People love Gwen, I think she is one of the most beloved love interest in cape films, comics it’s different it depends on the writing if a writer make a good run with x love interest to Peter and last some years I can see people accepting it

Slott was on the title for 10 years. People still talked about MJ as THE ONE.

If it didn't happen after OMD/OMIT, I don't think it can happen.

[spiderlink]

On the movies? People love Gwen, I think she is one of the most beloved love interest in cape films, comics it’s different it depends on the writing if a writer make a good run with x love interest to Peter and last some years I can see people accepting it

But IMO MJ will never be replaced, its a crucial part of Peter and Spider-Man history, its not the same without her, in every adaptation the question is always “when Peter will meet MJ?” or “when they will get together”

[marhawkman]

But IMO MJ will never be replaced, its a crucial part of Peter and Spider-Man history, its not the same without her, in every adaptation the question is always “when Peter will meet MJ?” or “when they will get together”

Yeah, the old 90s cartoon? you see Pete and MJ get married. And it was GLORIOUS!

[ARkadelphia]

MJ + Paul 4eva !

[Spider-Tiger]

There are people who ship Peter and White Tiger who grew up watching "Ultimate Spider-man." I grew up watching syndicated 80's Spidey cartoons, where the love interest was either Betty Brant or Firestar. I didn't even know Mary Jane existed until I started reading the comics! It just depends on what the most accessible media decides to promote. We have a MJ in the MCU, but she isn't Mary Jane, she is Michelle Jones. (And the character is very different in personality from 616 Mary Jane.) So if they powers in charge decide to change the love interest and the character is well received by the general public, and they continue to promote the character, it could happen. (No one really considered Ned Leeds to be Peter Parker's best friend, a role usually reserved for Harry Osborn, but now here we are.)

The difference is you grew up in an era when there were no Spider-man movies, only a couple television shows, no video games, etc. The character was still in his relative infancy in terms of other media portrayals. If you polled the general public at the time, they probably knew very little about Peter Parker and his supporting cast in general.

Now we have multiple films, animated shows, video games, etc. The Raimi Trilogy was a worldwide phenomenon, the PS4 game is a worldwide phenomenon, ITSV won an oscar, the 90s show is one of the most viewed Spider-man shows on Disney plus and is far from the only show that features MJ...there are like 6 (And all of this is ignoring the fact that Michelle in the MCU still goes by MJ Watson. So fans of that character are likely going to associate her with comic MJ Watson) We live in an era when all of this media is readily accesible. Even back issues are now readily accessible.

For this to be possible, they'd not only have to commit to it in the books for decades, but they'd have to essentially stop producing new MJ content in other media. (And that still wouldn't negate all of the content that's already out there.)

In any fandom, you're going to have people that have their own alternate ships, but even the minority of people who ship Peter with White Tiger likely know who MJ is and what her significance is (she was even in that show.)