ASM #26 Preview

[Kevinroc]

Yes they are. MJ would allow herself be trapped knowing how important Peter is to the world. Shed sent him first. That was a selfless act, and consistent with her character.

And then she acts inconsistently when she gives up on Peter despite decades of being characterized as stubbornly believing in him.

[Toonstrack]

Disney owns Marvel so the buck stops with them. They also don't really seem to care about the state of the comics beyond using them as an IP farm so I'd argue that their neglect and apathy has seemingly had an impact.

Besides, maybe if enough of us hit them where they actually care about (their streaming service) they'll actually take notice.

Let me reiterate to you. The people responsible for this story have all been with marvel decades before Disney had anything to do with them.

If you wanna boycott Disney boycott Disney but is not a rational response to this. They have nothing at all to do with this. It would be like me boycotting McDonald's because my uber eats driver was a dick.

[Kevinroc]

MJ didn't make a bad choice. She made a difficult one. But she made the right one.

So MJ ended up in a nebulous relationship for the sake of two kids?

This is literally the exact opposite of what she wanted with her life.

[Xenon]

MJ hasn't been heartless to Peter. Shes been quite gracious wth him considering the things he's pulled on her and Paul. Bursting into their home, attacking him without cause, etc. You are forgiving Peter for all of those things and villifying MJ when she's been cordial with him more than he deserved. His feelings are understandable but hes the one in the wrong here.

SHe is absolutely heartless to him in the hospital when all he had done is rescue them and sacrifice his friendships to do so. What happened later is a red herring. In that hospital scene Peter Parker has done nothing but sacrifice for her, and she tells him she betrayed him, she doesn't love him, and to **** off. It's the definition of heartless.

MJ didn't just want Peter anymore. She had other things to consider in his absence, which was for FOUR YEARS, and she made a different dhoice. She did nothing wrong. You're trying to take away her aspect of choice and lock her in to one destiny and one fate. Thats not how characters work in general and that's not how MJ has EVER worked. She has never considered Peter and no one else, she has always beena. Free spirit and has had various other loves other than Peter. Peter has always been punching above his weight with her, and she loved him but there were other things going on that changed her priorities. That is totally ok especially giving the time frame.

No, I'm respecting the choices that she has made and not discarding them because...."other things to consider" lol. Like that's not even an explnation! That's just a hand wave. The choices she made in the past matter. It's not a reset to zero everytime the character makes a choice.

[Toonstrack]

And then she acts inconsistently when she gives up on Peter despite decades of being characterized as stubbornly believing in him.

She didn't give up on him, she just didn't wait an indeterminate amount of years to when he'd maybe come back.

Like the other guy said how king should she wait? Should she just become a nun and never love again waiting for one boy? That isnt MJ. Shes never had that disposition at any point.

[Xenon]

she came off in character to me. Show me the man that is going to wait four years to move on trapped in a hell like dimension with two kids and a beautiful woman to protect(the reverse of the MJ situation since paul is drawn to be good looking). i mean let's just be real here. We know Peter wouldn't wait four years in that situation.

Peter would absolutley wait four years for MJ. Heroic characters do this all the time. Hell, I hate to break it to you, but real people have to go through this too in the past. Soldiers going off to war for years at a time. The idea that you can't go four years without sex or if you dont' see someone for reasons out of their control for four years you lose all interest in them is ignorance.

Yes they are. MJ would allow herself be trapped knowing how important Peter is to the world. Shed sent him first. That was a selfless act, and consistent with her character.

No one complains about that choice. That was a choice consistent with her character. It was everything that came after that doesn't respect her agency or character.

[The Twilight Mexican]

The kids/chains did nothing to influence her behaviour, they were "attachments" for Rabin to follow her "across time and space".

Attachments that supposedly allowed him to find her wherever she is ... yet which he hilariously didn't act upon for years ...

Until the moment Pete happened to be crossing dimensions to get back to her ...

Hoo boy.

To me this tells people they have little reason to be emotionally invested into these characters...

That's what I've been saying is the result of the sensibilities underlying editorial's treatment of Spidey since December 2007. Ever since they hung the reset button for the characters/franchise up to constantly remind us of it, there's been precisely zero reason to care about anything happening with the character other than addressing the (still) dangling plot thread that is Dr. Faustus.

[Garlador]

MJ didn't make a bad choice. She made a difficult one. But she made the right one.

You just ignored everything else I wrote about how people can make choices that place them in situations where Stockholm Syndrome is a thing.

Making a sacrifice to become imprisoned still means you’re imprisoned. And there is a deluge of psychology written about how trauma survivors create codependent relationships with their captors to sustain their sanity. It is toxic and I’ve had to help people through it. What MJ went through is not empowering; it’s horrifying. A good counselor would absolutely step in and evaluate her “relationship”.

[Toonstrack]

SHe is absolutely heartless to him in the hospital when all he had done is rescue them and sacrifice his friendships to do so. What happened later is a red herring. In that hospital scene Peter Parker has done nothing but sacrifice for her, and she tells him she betrayed him, she doesn't love him, and to **** off. It's the definition of heartless.



No, I'm respecting the choices that she has made and not discarding them because...."other things to consider" lol. Like that's not even an explnation! That's just a hand wave. The choices she made in the past matter. It's not a reset to zero everytime the character makes a choice.

She didn't tell him she betrayed him. She told him she'd moved on. It happens. But she didn't owe him any more than that. She's moved on plenty of times before in various other media. She's never been "waiting" on Peter like some puppy dog.

Yeah, she was tricked with the mother relsriobsh I with the kids. That appeals to her long time desires too and her selfless nature. She wanted to care for the kids, and she csnt do that with Peter, both in a metaphysical sense and in an in universe sense.

[Brian B]

Oof. Buddy. That is not how Stockholm Syndrome works. Plenty of victims are put in their position through bad choices they make to get there.

That doesn’t even touch on Complex PTSD and Survival Codependency Trauma. I’d be happy to flex my psychology knowledge here. Mary Jane seriously needs a therapist.

Even psychology could not fully explain how MJ is acting. This is all just bad writing from Wells.

[Man-Thing]

I totally get her moving on, that's not the issue. It's the dumb and abusive "you're scum and I hate you despite the fact that you tried your hardest and rescued me as fast as you possibly could and didn't know about the timeflow difference" thing.

[Xenon]

Attachments that supposedly allowed him to find her wherever she is ... yet which he hilariously didn't act upon for years ...

Until the moment Pete happened to be crossing dimensions to get back to her ...

Hoo boy.



That's what I've been saying is the result of the sensibilities underlying editorial's treatment of Spidey since December 2007. Ever since they hung the reset button for the characters/franchise up to constantly remind us of it, there's been precisely zero reason to care about anything happening with the character other than addressing the (still) dangling plot thread that is Dr. Faustus.

Also, if the kids were what allowed him to track her, why would he get rid of them before he killed her? Also how did he know where to find....Kamala MJ? Like he teleports right to her, but how does he know where she is? HE clearly isnt' tracking actual MJ because then he wouldn't have killed the wrong girl.

[The_Sneezing_Stormtrooper]

Let me reiterate to you. The people responsible for this story have all been with marvel decades before Disney had anything to do with them.

If you wanna boycott Disney boycott Disney but is not a rational response to this. They have nothing at all to do with this. It would be like me boycotting McDonald's because my uber eats driver was a dick.

Disney owns Marvel. ASM is a Disney product. I find the direction that they've allowed the book and character go under their umbrella to be gross and therefore I don't want to support the company anymore.

I wasn't aware that McDonalds owned Uber.

[Kevinroc]

She didn't give up on him, she just didn't wait an indeterminate amount of years to when he'd maybe come back.

Like the other guy said how king should she wait? Should she just become a nun and never love again waiting for one boy? That isnt MJ. Shes never had that disposition at any point.

She gave up on him. That is the exact opposite of how this character should act in this situation.

Usually when we have stories about lovers separated in this manner, we get stories from the man's perspective. Superman and Batman have both had stories where they were trapped in some magical realm with Wonder Woman (and there's a lot to unpack about that). Wonder Woman is their friend, their compatriot. And yet their love for their partner (Lois and Catwoman respectively) is so strong that the idea of being with another, even someone whom they trust, love, and respect, is completely off the table.

But you put MJ in this situation and, what? She gives up on Peter and loses faith in him and hooks up with a stranger? And it's okay? Why? Because she's just a supporting character? The whole thing feels misogynistic. "Women don't love their partners as much as men do" is the message they are sending with this.

(But oh, they are still playing coy as to the exact nature of their relationship.)

[jwatson]

Peter would absolutley wait four years for MJ. Heroic characters do this all the time. Hell, I hate to break it to you, but real people have to go through this too in the past. Soldiers going off to war for years at a time. The idea that you can't go four years without sex or if you dont' see someone for reasons out of their control for four years you lose all interest in them is ignorance.



No one complains about that choice. That was a choice consistent with her character. It was everything that came after that doesn't respect her agency or character.

Wow. That's reaching. Peter is not a soilder, they were not face timing or writing letters or a wife waiting at home or husband waiting at home knowing their spouse is doing a service for their nation. The story is they were in a dimension, MJ felt the world needed Peter and would not leave him there to die so she chose to have him leave and her remain there. For peter the events in the real world went on in one week while it was 4 years for mj. So to use the comparison to war you would need to say a husband went away to war and it was one week for him but when he returned to his wife he realized 4 years had passed and she waited for him for one with no knowledge, no hope, no pentagon to tell her where he is or that he is returning.

So it's really just a false equivalency.