Originally Posted by
Hurricane Billy
At this point, it really seems to me that the original plan was for Paul and MJ to not only be a romantic couple, but that Wells and Lowe most likely originally intended for them to actually be married, hence the conflicting reports on their relationship status. No idea if they'd always planned for the kids to actually be magic illusions or if they were also planned to actually be MJ's biological kids at the start. However due to the severe backlash from the fanbase that followed, they've likely had to go back to the drawing board and backpedal hard on how far they went with the two.
So now we have this rather toothless relationship between Paul and MJ, where it's somehow feasible that they aren't actually in a romantic relationship, even if that is still the obvious answer. And of course, all the while, we keep being told that Paul really is a nice guy and that his misguided/unwitting assistance in aiding in a planetary genocide as a grown man is somehow comparable to the irresponsible inaction of a literal child.
I have no clue if Lowe and Wells seriously have plans for proper development and insight on Paul that could somehow sell this character and turn the vitriol against him around, but I admit that I find the chances very low.
EDIT: As for your point on OMD, I have to agree with you in that OMD continues to be an albatross on the 616 Spider-Man comics. And at the end of the day, even if staff at Marvel happen to personally disagree on the matter, I don't think you can really get rid of MJ as a character in the Spider-Man books in such a way that they could double and triple down on their preference for Peter being a bachelor. Not anymore.
Beyond the 20 years they were married in the comics, there's been too much non-comic media lately in animated shows, video games and movies that highlight and cement MJ as the de facto love interest for Peter Parker. And now we've even got a film that outright shows them married with a kid. So realistically the chances of success in completely ejecting MJ from the Spider-Man books now are incredible miniscule... so the only real alternative is to undo OMD and commit back to Peter/MJ as a couple being a mainstay aspect of the books again.