How would you return MJ to her post-OMD baseline as Peter’s main love interest?

[Kevinroc]

The best way to handle it is the kids were magical creations that brainwashed MJ and Paul into being a fake family. But there was no sex involved on either MJ or Paul's side of things because that gets into creepy territory that nobody wants to touch.

[Vortex85]

The best way to handle it is the kids were magical creations that brainwashed MJ and Paul into being a fake family. But there was no sex involved on either MJ or Paul's side of things because that gets into creepy territory that nobody wants to touch.

That's where I was going with it. I didn't want to imply r*pe was part of it at all.

[hobnob]

The best way to handle it is the kids were magical creations that brainwashed MJ and Paul into being a fake family. But there was no sex involved on either MJ or Paul's side of things because that gets into creepy territory that nobody wants to touch.

Even if they didn’t say it outloud it would be implied unless they spelled out that it was platonic. But I think that’s a hard sell. It’s very obvious it wasn’t platonic.

I flip flop on the possibilities. I don’t hate that MJ ahead a relationship outside of Peter but the setup isn’t great. She wasn’t single when it started, Peter was just ‘out of sight out of mind’. If your bf/gf got with someone while you were long distance for a year or two you wouldn’t not call it infidelity which is why many are up in arms. I don’t want to labour the point but I just think it’s hard to say ‘it was platonic.’

[Kevinroc]

Even if they didn’t say it outloud it would be implied unless they spelled out that it was platonic. But I think that’s a hard sell. It’s very obvious it wasn’t platonic.

I flip flop on the possibilities. I don’t hate that MJ ahead a relationship outside of Peter but the setup isn’t great. She wasn’t single when it started, Peter was just ‘out of sight out of mind’. If your bf/gf got with someone while you were long distance for a year or two you wouldn’t not call it infidelity which is why many are up in arms. I don’t want to labour the point but I just think it’s hard to say ‘it was platonic.’

Once you reveal the children are "magical chains" that were wrapped around MJ's heart, you kinda don't have a lot of options on the other end of it. Avengers #200 didn't have the reputation it had when it was being published, but it was quickly acknowledged how badly the creators messed up (both from fandom and other creators. Chris Claremont in particular was not shy about expressiong his outrage to that story). This story has been cooking for a while, and the Marvel of today has to know how all this looks.

The fact that they're playing their usual crap with all of this is pretty disgusting, though.

[hobnob]

Once you reveal the children are "magical chains" that were wrapped around MJ's heart, you kinda don't have a lot of options on the other end of it. Avengers #200 didn't have the reputation it had when it was being published, but it was quickly acknowledged how badly the creators messed up (both from fandom and other creators. Chris Claremont in particular was not shy about his outrage to the story). This story has been cooking for a while, and the Marvel of today has to know how all this looks.

The fact that they're playing their usual crap with all of this is pretty disgusting, though.

True enough.

Marvel needs some media training from Disney, I think. Both MJ and Jessica Drew are mothers who have lost children. That’s not a lot but it’s strange that it’s happened twice in the space of two months.

[fjmac]

I'd go with none of it happened. MJ was brainwashed by having four years of fake memories implanted, but in true it was pretty much the same time as in 616. She was just in stasis while Paul finished adjusting for his purposes the kids fabricated by Rabin, and creating the jackpot thing which of course is some kind of trap. He was in love with his Earth's MJ or something.

Eventually he's exposed, disgraced and defeated. It's all MJ, no intervention from Peter. She then destroys the jackpot, which sends Paul back to his Earth to spend the rest of his days alone.

[Lairston]

Paul is the big bad who cloned MJ while she was on the planet and left her in a pod and the Cloned MJ realizes she doesn't love Paul. Remembers that she's a clone and tells Peter so which results in a big fight where Paul ends up dying in a horrific way to make all Paul haters happy and clone MJ and Peter head into the other world and release the real MJ and clone MJ then tells them, "You were once married and Memphisto made the marriage vanish.

She then disappears in clone goo as MJ and Peter process the information and whether to believe it or not.

[Jman27]

Paul is the big bad who cloned MJ while she was on the planet and left her in a pod and the Cloned MJ realizes she doesn't love Paul. Remembers that she's a clone and tells Peter so which results in a big fight where Paul ends up dying in a horrific way to make all Paul haters happy and clone MJ and Peter head into the other world and release the real MJ and clone MJ then tells them, "You were once married and Memphisto made the marriage vanish.

She then disappears in clone goo as MJ and Peter process the information and whether to believe it or not.

The clone Mj knowing about the Mephisto deal makes regular Mj look bad due to withholding that information from Parker

[Lairston]

The clone Mj knowing about the Mephisto deal makes regular Mj look bad due to withholding that information from Parker

My thinking was that when she was cloned something unlocked that bit of information from Memphisto's block and that would explain the clone's hostility towards Peter.

[Venomsaurus]

While I seriously doubt it's the road they're going, clone MJ/Totem MJ/Nega-MJ really is the only way I feel they can fully recover from this character assassination attempt. Otherwise they're going to need a serious reason for why she treated Peter like garbage after she got back. I remember wracking my brain trying to think what Peter could have done to make Mary Jane hate him and it was nothing. In fact, she has genuinely no reason to have pushed him away and treated him like crap. She and her fake family would have died in that hellscape if Peter hadn't done everything he can, including working with the man he hated most, to save her. So that she can't even be friendly/friends with him is just insanity.

Yes, I know she was friendly with him in the annual, but that wasn't written by Wells and I still have a feeling he is gonna keep MJ as antagonistic overall. It seems to be his one mode for writing her in this run. She has zero nuance or actual character in this story. She might as well be an evil clone made just to torment Peter at this rate.

[hobnob]

While I seriously doubt it's the road they're going, clone MJ/Totem MJ/Nega-MJ really is the only way I feel they can fully recover from this character assassination attempt. Otherwise they're going to need a serious reason for why she treated Peter like garbage after she got back. I remember wracking my brain trying to think what Peter could have done to make Mary Jane hate him and it was nothing. In fact, she has genuinely no reason to have pushed him away and treated him like crap. She and her fake family would have died in that hellscape if Peter hadn't done everything he can, including working with the man he hated most, to save her. So that she can't even be friendly/friends with him is just insanity.

Yes, I know she was friendly with him in the annual, but that wasn't written by Wells and I still have a feeling he is gonna keep MJ as antagonistic overall. It seems to be his one mode for writing her in this run. She has zero nuance or actual character in this story. She might as well be an evil clone made just to torment Peter at this rate.

It’s funny that Wells was upset that people didn’t like 25/26. People had been waiting all year to see and answer to What Did Peter Do? Turns out Peter did nothing but rob the Fantastic Four and that was it. He did that in ASM 1 ffs.

‘Why aren’t they satisfied?’ lol

[Venomsaurus]

It’s funny that Wells was upset that people didn’t like 25/26. People had been waiting all year to see and answer to What Did Peter Do? Turns out Peter did nothing but rob the Fantastic Four and that was it. He did that in ASM 1 ffs.

‘Why aren’t they satisfied?’ lol

It's almost like if you build your entire garbage story on a garbage mystery, and then can't even be bothered to answer it, you're doing a garbage job. What a shock. This entire run is one bad joke that should have been over with issue 26 so someone else could come in and clean up the mess. I'm embarrassed every day for Marvel they let it keep going. How anyone could look at those first 26 issues and be satisfied is beyond me. Why does MJ hate Peter? No reason, she just does! She also compares him to a genocidal moron and screams "Spider-man is not my boyfriend!" just to remind us in case we forgot. This is why she feels more like a plot device to torture Peter/the fans.

[Mister Mets]

I don't think a writer would need to do much.

MJ breaks up with Paul, and gets back together with Peter.

I get some fans think she was wrong for what she did, but it's emotionally richer not to go with a retcon that removes moral complexity.

[Kevinroc]

I don't think a writer would need to do much.

MJ breaks up with Paul, and gets back together with Peter.

I get some fans think she was wrong for what she did, but it's emotionally richer not to go with a retcon that removes moral complexity.

This story isn't morally complex. It's a writer who didn't want to write Peter and MJ as a couple and failed to satisfy readers in answering why they couldn't be together. Once Wells revealed the magical children were "chains" around MJ's heart, all claims of moral complexity vanish from the story, and retcons need to be made official.

Other writers shouldn't have to deal with this. It's unnecessary baggage attached to MJ and the relationship between Peter and MJ. It deserves to be retconned.

[Jman27]

hopefully Peter won't be chasing after her once she single that's all I'm asking for