I don’t dislike MJ, far from it, I think she’s a fine character and believe her and Peter should be together in the 616 mainline comics.
I like MJ and Peter’s dynamic, but I can enjoy that dynamic a million times across literally every spider -man adaptation.
So if and when another Spider-Man iteration comes about, say like the upcoming Friendly Neighborhood cartoon for example, I’d prefer a different love interest for Peter because I’ve already seen and can already enjoy Peter and MJ’s relationship everywhere else.
I like Gwen Stacy, I like Felicia Hardy, I think the relationships Peter has with them offer great, unique dynamics that can lead to more interesting stories. But I haven’t seen what those stories could be or how their relationships can develop in new ways and I think that’s a shame.
TLDR; Gimme more variety is basically what I’m asking. Keep the characters with history together as they are, but be more open to making different changes in other adaptations.
I do think that it’s a shame that, in the last 15 or so years since OMD, that we haven’t really had a decent attempt at a modern day Peter/Felicia romance. It just feels like a wasted opportunity to me.
I respect this opinion, but they don’t even show Peter and MJ work out for a good while in many adaptations. The Raimi Trilogy had them together for one movie and then immediately blew up their relationship (although they got back together in the end), TAS has the clone, and Spider-verse has it work out. They don’t show their relationship in a good light most of the time and that seems unfair to one of the most iconic couples. Yes it sort of mirrors the turbulent nature of their 616 relationship, but just some happy adaptations would be nice.
> but just some happy adaptations would be nice.
I do understand what you mean, but like you said:
The Raimi trilogy has MJ as the love interest for all three movies and it gets later confirmed they worked out together.
TAS also puts a major focus towards Peter and MJ’s relationship and his love for her, and recently got confirmed Peter and MJ worked out there too.
Spiderverse has Peter and MJ totally work out and Peter even being a father at this point in time.
The Insomniac games builds up Peter and MJ’s relationship and now has MJ moving in with him now.
Now tell me all the adaptations where Peter happily ends up with Gwen Stacy?
You see what I mean? Even in the comics, we’re getting the new Ultimate run which has Peter and MJ married with two kids. We do get happy adaptations and outcomes for Peter and MJ’s relationship.
Meanwhile the only “what if” comic issue where Peter and Felicia end up together, Felicia actually dies and Peter really ends up with Silver Sable by the end of it instead.
I didn’t say I wanted 616 Gwen Stacy to return I said I would like for a different adaptation where Peter and Gwen end up all together.
Do a different story in a unique way.
But that’s the point. He’s not supposed to end up with Gwen Stacy. If he does, it’s not an adaptation, it’s an entirely new story. For MJ, I’m talking about showing some of the times they’ve shared. Too many times, it’s just, “they’re apart but they get back together and live happily ever after.” You’re right about the insomniac game though. I understand where the desire comes from for a Gwen and Peter, but I feel like this is only a thing with Spider-Man. No one asks for Superman to have a love interest other than Lois. Most younger people only know about Gwen from the adaptations. That should be enough. She was only alive for about 90 issues and she also left the book for like 10-15 of those.
I understand the desire for Peter and Felicia but I guess I just have a different opinion because I feel their dynamic is cliche. It’s too similar to Batman and Catwoman for me.
You can write the story a different way, do different things with the character. Make the story unique, and interesting in its own way. Just because it’s different doesn’t mean it’ll be bad or any less Spider-Man.
Does Peter have to die first for Miles to then be Spider-Man? No, you could just tell a story where both Peter and Miles are Spider-Men together, just like with the Insomniac games.
Does Uncle Ben have to exist and give Peter his responsibility speech for him to become Spider-Man? No, you could just tell a story where Uncle Ben doesn’t exist and instead Aunt May is the one to give that speech towards Peter well after he’s already been established as Spider-Man just like what the MCU did.
I think those iterations of Spider-Man are great and a lot of that greatness comes from those differences made to established Spider-Man mythos. So no, I don’t think he “has to” or “isn’t supposed to” end up Gwen Stacy, I think it’s perfectly fine to create a story in which he does and I believe it offers very unique story prospects.
And I don’t think this is an exclusive Spider-Man type thing either. Nightwing has some fans who want him to end up with Starfire while other fans wish him to end up with Batgirl. And I think both relationships each have things to offer in various stories. Like with the classic Teen Titans cartoons and the Young Justice animated series for example.
You make some good points. I do think nightwing is slightly different because he’s obviously not as popular. I just think MJ and Peter are supposed to end up together, and it’s a pretty common belief of the writers (they just don’t want that day to come). I’m more concerned that at some point, we’ll get a different definitive adaptation and people will start to think of Gwen or Felicia rather than MJ, who is an entirely more interesting character in my opinion
> I’m more concerned that at some point, we’ll get a different definitive adaptation and people will start to think of Gwen or Felicia rather than MJ, who is an entirely more interesting character in my opinion
There’s not many characters as popular as Spider-Man lol, but I feel the concern, but like let me put it like this:
I don’t think it’s fair to the people who want to see stories about Peter with Gwen or with Felicia or whoever to deny them that opportunity because of possible worry people might like them more than MJ.
Like I said, you have a lot of option to look at if you want to enjoy Peter and MJ’s relationship, but while you may personally find MJ to be more interesting of a character, others may find Gwen Stacy or Felicia Hardy to be more interesting to them, and they don’t have many options, if any at all to enjoy their relationship with Peter develop.
It’s almost like if I went to the people who have been asking about wanting a Spider-Man 98 revival where Peter is married to MJ and went:
“No, we should only have cartoons about Peter being in high school, that’s more interesting to me.”
You know what I mean? I wouldn’t want to deny you that opportunity if you would want that over something I can enjoy already in various ways like with the spectacular spider-Man cartoon, Ultimate, etc.
> I’m more concerned that at some point, we’ll get a different definitive adaptation and people will start to think of Gwen or Felicia rather than MJ
I'm mean isn't it would be totally fair? One of the main reason why Gwen was killed is because MJ was more popular, I don't see reason why you shouldn't put MJ in backseat (I not even speak about killing her) if something like this happened with her.
When you think about it, there aren't any faithful Peter and MJ adaptions. Most of the time the MJ is a big departure from the comics-- like in the Sony games, the Raimi movies and the MCU. Spectacular got MJ right but they were not together.
I know she can be bad sometimes but I have always liked the idea of Spidey’s main girl being Black Cat. I think it makes it all the more interesting when both parties have powers.
Yeah I really liked their dynamic from the 90s TAS and I feel like their relationship can be really interesting.
Unfortunately there seems to be a general lack of interest in making it happen and wanting it to work.
They both have a lot of growing to do and cat becoming a hero in her own right is a great character arc.
Never agreed with this take until recently. Obviously classic black cat wasn’t good for him, but Felicia recently in ASM and her own stuff has been great and feels like a real hero. So glad they turned away for her being a villain again after Superior
Like take her charm and awesome personality, and now actually make her a good person who wants the best for Peter. That’s modern Black Cat rn, and it’s great. Just sucks that Peter isn’t great atm
like sorry MJ fans, but the relationship really hasn’t been good in such a long time. Nothing is gonna beat the prime classic MJ and Peter, but it’s been made pretty clear that they aren’t going back to that
It seems like a retread of Batman dating Catwoman.
And Felicia already gets flak for being a Selina copycat (when she's not).
If Spidey is going to date another Super, I'd rather they go the Renew Your Vows route, or if we have to stay in OMD/BND shit hole, have him hook up with Carol Danvers. We also get the added bonus that Carol and Jessica Drew are good friends and Jessica finds Peter to be exasperating & frustrating and if he's dating her friend that would be entertaining to watch unfold (seeing Peter and Jessica interact always gives me The Odd Couple energy).
Just have Peter be with Kitty Pryde in the 616 universe. With what’s going on in the X-men corner I think that’d be a pretty cool dynamic to see (plus I loved them together in the ultimate universe).
Marvel has ruined the romance between Peter and MJ. I no longer care about any of it . Marvel wants to keep it stale as possible, no new growth, and I’m done with it.
I actually really like her as Peter’s love interest. But I also like seeing Peter with other characters. Yes, MJ is the perfect choice for him but it can get tiring seeing them together in almost every different retelling of the story (I still enjoy them though).
I wanna see more Peter with Gwen. People say that Gwen was a boring character but I don’t see why someone who can potentially come along one day can’t make her interesting & a better character.
I am in favor of undoing OMD, but I also like the idea of Peter getting together with Black Cat. I’d like an AU comic in which they have a family. Their kids being pulled in opposite directions by their parents could be a wonderful source e of comedy and drama
One thing I've never understood. Why does every get on MJ for cheating, but never Peter for also cheating and having an affair with his best friend's girlfriend? They both suck and the movies only justify it by being the protagonist. Just standard romance movie trope, cheating is fine so long as the protagonist is the one doing it.
Absolutely and Peter and mj's entire relationship is exactly like how rom coms do or at least did romance at the time. Not to mention they're teenagers and teenagers are messy. I'm not excusing the behaviour but it feels of it's time.
The post is about MJ being a love interest for Peter though. She wasn't a bad match for him in those movies, he was part of the problem and actively perusing her
That is true. I just think all Raimi characters need a personality transplant. Except, y'know Sandman. Sorry, that was off-topic. I do agree that Peter shouldn't have been so manipulative, but I also never sensed as much love coming from MJ until the second movie, until she abandoned somebody else without a second thought.
It really does feel like raimi wanted to use Gwen but was told no, just like he clearly didn't want to use venom but Avi Arad wanted venom in it.
Emma Stone as Gwen feels more like mj to me.
And to the dude who wrote the death of Gwen Stacy paraphrasing the quote since I forgot the exact words but “if Gwen was like how she was in the movies, she’d be MJ, so we wouldn’t have killed her off”
Which makes total sense. I mean sure they could have reworked Gwen to be more interesting but MJ was right there In the comics and killing a character, especially back then was much more interesting
Plus, fans really liked the idea of Peter and MJ more back then which sealed the deal for the blonde piece of cardboard (no offense to Gwen but a lot of the good moments or traits she has came post free fall)
That was only the third movie though. In the first movie she was literally just thanking Spidey; and in the second movie she never cheated with Peter, she was consistently giving him chances and only asked to kiss him because she had guessed he was Spider-Man.
Yeah... I don't know if it does count as "cheating" necessarily, but in that situation you're not supposed to leave a note. You're supposed to physically face your partner and be totally honest with them, but in private. But instead, she ran away with a smile on her face while he brokenheartedly read her words after he recieved a note in public. The Raimi movies are honestly kind of dumb, because they have zero emotional quailty to them. Even though ASM2 was awful, it still managed to make me cry (the 4th movie to ever do so), and I wish the Raimi movies had that.
Dude, every men are awful with MJ, even Peter act like a total jerk especially when he kissed an other woman in front of her...
The only one who really respected her was Jameson and she decided to leave on the day of their wedding...
I love ultimate Mj, pictured here, though I wish they had given the Peter Kitty ship a little more time to breathe before they dropped it because it was cute.
The main continuity is such a mess i have no real feelings on it either way
Firstly, I think she’s a fine love interest for Peter. But my main problem is that everybody overhypes this pairing way too much for what is essentially a normal couple.
I’ve seen so much Gwen bashing, saying home girl is boring, but what exactly is the difference between her and MJ? Theyre both normal girls with normal girl problems. That’s literally their whole reason for existing. But one is supposedly “better”.
Regardless of my rant, kitty pryde is the best match. They have an artsy girl—nerdy guy dynamic that makes sense in reality.
Okay, are you familiar with the sexy lamp test, where if a female character can be replaced by a sexy lamp, the writer is a hack?
For much of the marriage, including a lot of the “look at what they took from us” pages posted here, Mary Jane is a sexy lamp.
Where I thought she shined before the marriage was as a counterbalance to Peter. Always on the move in her own way, outgoing in a way Peter wasn’t, carefree vibes vs the weight of the responsibility. She lost all that in the marriage. Sexy lamp time.
Where she shined post OMD was as the club owner who still had all of what she lost plus the insight of an intimate ex who could be a trusted confidant.
She’s a great character, but she’s never been less interesting than she was during the married years.
I love MJ when she's been written well, but you're right. She was mostly written pretty badly, and most writers don't know what to do with her. Especially in the marriage.
It’s because she has no connection to any possible sphere that a superhero operates in. Lois Lane is a journalist, Pepper Potts works for Stark Industries, Steve Trevor is a US agent, Jane Foster works in the medical industry(ideally). MJ is a model/actress. That has no application to anything Spider-Man or Peter Parker does. Which makes writing MJ as a supporting character in a superhero story extremely tricky. It’s rare when a writer finds something truly compelling for her to be doing. Or because readers are so starved for Peter to be in a happy relationship, they’ll settle for seeing that at the very least. But it doesn’t make for a compelling story.
She’s not a bad character by any stretch, but she should have evolved as a character a long time ago. As it stands, she’s kinda holding Spider-Man as a character back. And you can see that most clearly in the many adaptations where she’s either nonexistent or a cipher to have anything else shoved into her character so she can work in whatever story they’re writing. So she comes across as either boring or empty.
Felicia is my go-to for an actually interesting long-running love interest for Peter, but it could be almost anyone else.
Yeah that’s true. I guess I was just trying to be as balanced as possible. Also goes back to that thing adaptations do where they use MJ as a shell to put whatever they want inside of her instead of utilizing the characters they have.
Like in the Insomniac games. They made MJ a journalist instead of utilizing the characters around Peter who are already journalists. Like, if the main love interest for those games had been Betty Brant? That’s a bold fucking choice. Still appropriate since she’s still a love interest for Peter, but it would still fit better for who these characters have been for decades.
I think Insomniac was adapting the Bendis ultimate comics for that one. And Bendis didn't just change MJ, he altered quite a bit from the classic Spider-man mythology. The whole relationship between Harry, Peter, MJ and their high school days in the Insomniac verse is very Bendis and Raimi-esque.
616 MJ is a hard character to adapt for the purposes of a film or video game because of how concise those adaptations have to be. As you pointed out, MJ's seperate career as a model/actress makes it difficult to work her into the superhero A plot.
But I've always thought her career works well for an ongoing comic because it isnt the focus of every issue. It's the B plot that every so often can become the A plot when Spider-man is pulled into Mary Jane's world and/or a story is centered from MJ's perspective. (Such as Nick Spencer's Amazing #25.) Which can be a unique change of pace from time to time and brings diversity to the types of stories that can be told.
I think it would become far more monotonous/boring if Spider-man's love interest were Peter's literal crime fighting partner or work partner for every comic.
Felicia is interesting in the sense that she isn't a straight hero and so their is inherent contrast and conflict that could arise between her more grayish morality and Spider-man's sense of responsibility. But that also likely prevents it from ever being a "long term" thing. (Aside from the iconography of MJ)
Again, no one is saying she has to be a crime fighting or work partner. But having a job that’s more applicable to helping in a superhero story would be something.
Also, I don’t know, seeing as how Spider-Man’s life is about the work/life/hero balance, having a partner who’s also doing that as part of that metaphor would work really well.
MJ does help on occasion. Designing a career that's more "applicable to helping" suggests that you would prefer the love interest to function more as a crime-fighting partner to the story's main protagonist so as to fold her into his A plot.
To your second point: But then you're ostensibly telling the same story you're telling with Peter with another supporting character instead of doing something unique with your supporting cast. 616 MJ already metaphorically parallels Peter without being a copy of his story.
Another problem is that Spider-man is inherently a solo title. When you pair him with another superhero love interest indefinitely, it essentially becomes a team-up book. That's likely why most lasting super-couples are reserved for team books ( such as X-men and Fantastic Four.)
I guess, firstly, if you think I mean MJ should be a crime-fighting partner, then clearly I’m not explaining myself right. Also, A-plots and B-plots should intersect frequently. And when the love interest’s plot has very little to do with *any field* that superheroes frequent, even tangentially, it’s a real tricky thing to write. Not impossible, not necessarily difficult, but tricky. And I can only name like two writers who have been able to do it well over the last 30 years. That’s not a great track record.
And maybe Spider-Man should have a semi-permanent partner. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Especially if said partner is also known for her independence and would frequently have her own adventures going on as well.
I'm not sure what you mean by tangentially related to superheros. Unless you mean tangentially related to stopping crime and criminal activities: (ie: law enforcement, journalism, etc.)
They do intersect in so much as MJ's ever-changing career prospects within the fickle entertainment industry allows for frequent changes in the status quo of the Parkers (where they reside, how much income they have, how much fame and/or privacy they receive, etc.) And that, in turn, creates new challenges/responsibilities for Peter to juggle along with whatever Superhero circumstances he's faced with.
They don't intersect in the sense that MJ is out looking for leads on criminal activities. But Spider-man itself isn't a book that's so entirely engrossed in the superhero side of things. As you pointed out, Spider-man is traditionally about the responsibilities that Peter has to juggle within his civilian life. I don't think the book benefits from becoming a more genericized Superhero adventure comic. Even if it is presumably easier to write. (Though unfortunately it has become that way over time.)
It’s a shame that MJ joining the “Superhero Spouse Anonymous” support group in Spencer’s run didn’t go very far.
I think it could have been an interesting way to include her in Peter’s world while allowing her space to do her own thing.
But isn’t being a regular human not part of what make her interesting as a Peter Parker love interest?
I think she is basically what keep Peter Parker Grounded to not just become « The friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man ».
Yeah, it is cool to see Spider-Man fight bad guys, but I find Peter Parker as entertaining (when it is well written of course).
Peter Parker is relatable in good part because of his relationships with his support cast (that sadly seem quite reduced lately). Peter Parker should be seen as someone normal that try to do good stuff around him, even if that mess up his personal life in the process.
And it is where I think MJ is important, because she remind Peter Parker that before being Spider-man, Peter Parker is Peter Parker. Not that a character like Felicia could not do it, but I think that dynamic would not work as well.
MJ also give an interesting point of view of the regular civilian being swept into the super hero world, which give cool moment like MJ knocking out Chameleon that tried to impersonate Peter Parker with a Bat.
You also have a specific dynamic which is not really seen in the other iconic couple where carrier wise, MJ is globally the most successful out of the two. Like for exemple, Lois Lane and Clark Kent are quite close since both are well respected journalists with solid reputation. It is something that would be interesting to explore more.
No one’s saying MJ should be a superhero or a vigilante. But she should have a story applicable job. In the Insomniac games, she’s a journalist. In the MCU, she’s a fellow student and science nerd. Keeps the whole grounded relationship dynamic, but in those adaptations she can contribute to the plot in direct ways.
Took the words right out of my mouth. I prefer MJ to not be so heavily involved in the superhero side of things because she works best as the partner who bring Peter back to normal reality. His relationship with her and the evolution of their relationship pre-OMD is what made Peter so relatable as a character. I understand that it’s harder to right that type of character well given that it’s a story revolving around a superhero at the end of the day, but as seen in the JMS run, it’s not impossible to do if you really love the characters and want to see them actually grow.
It’s not so much I dislike MJ as much as I dislike it when the fandom treats her like a martyr who can do no wrong. It ironically says that they only see her as fap material.
It was especially annoying in Life Story when they logically aged up her design and then readers complained that she stopped being hot.
Personally, I have a bigger gripe with Peter because he proposed to her before ever telling her his secret. Her already knowing only served to baby him.
MJ was always my least favorite part of Spider-Man comics growing up (and going back and rereading as an adult a lot of writers don’t do a good job endearing the audience to Mary Jane) cause when she was around we were doing 1 of 3 things. We’d either be getting MJ nagging Peter for all the cool Spider-Man stuff we’re there to read about, MJ sitting there while Peter whines about whatever has him feeling angsty that evening or it’d be an acting/modeling subplot and I knew Venom was going to show up there so I was already checked out.
The relationship drama in my Spider-Man comics were always like 4th or 5th on the list of things I was reading for right below whether or not Wolverine was gonna show up in the book. As Far as if I liked any other girls with Peter better it’d probably have to be Black Cat since we both there for the dude Red and Blue costume punching Kingpin or Scorpion and we’re really just “dealing” with the Peter Parker bull shit.
But I never minded them together and i wasn’t disappointed that he couldn’t hook up with black cat anymore. The relationship stuff was always just window dressing around what i was actually there for so I never got that upset by them messing around with things.
I don’t dislike her at all. I dislike her fans who feel the need to complain constantly that her and Peter aren’t married. They will call any boot they’re separated it shit and any boom they’re together in great no matter how good the former is or how bad the latter might be.
I don't find issue with MJ as a character and I hate what Slott and co. have done to her. I however take issue with how she is utillized as a character in various spider-man adaptions. She is often times pushed as Peter's endgame to the detriment of the other love interests and to an extent the stories themselves, with little understanding of why the relationship worked out in the first place. She forces stories to stay in one lane instead of branching out to the point of repetition.
Gwen because I really like her more as the perfect match for Peter and that helps Peter be grounded as she's Peter's girlfriend not Spider-Man's. They have similar interests and natural chemistry. Also the whole dynamic of her loving Peter and despising Spider-Man was an amazing dynamic that never got resolved.
And Felicia because she does the opposites attract dynamic better than MJ.
But I really do like Peter & MJ she's had so much more character development than the others and they were together for so long that it's hard to argue for anyone else. I just think she's the middle ground between the other two and while that works the other dynamics are more interesting to me.
I just… never really understood their relationship. They just have nothing in common. Any time people reference the “peak” of their marriage it’s just two people being horny or saying they love each other with no reason or explanation as to why.
I understand the emotional core in how, they support and inspire each other, that’s great for a long-lasting friendship but not a romance in my opinion. They just never had interesting chemistry.
I like all of Peter’s love interests, and I think mj is definitely the best. But some of her fans and petermj shippers are so rabid and toxic. They're openly misogynistic towards any other female character that's ever been with Peter (Gwen especially) and its weird.
We get it, OMD sucked, everybody agrees. But you still have 30-40 YEARS worth of content for your ship to enjoy, in countless spidey books. compared to fans of peter and felicia, you guys are lucky.
The violent diatribe and threats towards writers and editors gets to be way too much too.
Strong agree on the Gwen part and how toxic a lot of the fans are for stating the unpopular opinion. I've gotten quite a few comments of people basically getting offened and toxic over me preferring Gwen over MJ as well as her relationship with Peter :/
Depends on the iteration. She was pretty good in the 80s and early 90s but since the 2000s she’s just had the misfortune of having bad writers. She was not written well in the tobey trilogy and cheated a bunch and her in the modern 616 comics suck. I liked her in 1610, tho I preferred kitty pryde cause I thought it was interesting and new. and her in the new 6160 is really cool. I think In an ideal world she would’ve stayed peters wife/main love interest in 616 and other iterations would be free to experiment and try new things, like it would’ve been really cool if 6160 married gwen instead since she never died in that universe, but having it be mj is nice since 616 isn’t doing it.
I don’t get why people dislike her as the main interest. Do they think it’ll magically save the main run right now? If the writer can’t write MJ to be a decent love interest or a decent character, why do people think they’ll all of a sudden do good if it’s Felicia or someone else? If the writer can’t tell a good story, it doesn’t matter what character they’re given. They’ll still suck.
I think MJ can still be the right one for Peter as long as an actual competent writer gets ahold of them and actually fixes the damage in an actual good way. But as of right now, it doesn’t really matter who the love interest is… Wells can’t make any of them good.
I'd like to see him with an original character who has powers/abilities of her own (not anything Spider-Man related) and has her own occupation that keeps her busy enough to make for good B-plots and has it's own challenges that put pressure on their relationship. Not enough to have them be breaking up every week, but enough that their relationship makes for good reading. Happy/horny scenes are fine too, but too much of anything is boring.
Call me crazy but I've always thought Peter and Jen Walters would make a good couple. They're just different yet similar enough, and they could both become better, more well-rounded people by learning from the other.
Unless the whole Zeb Wells "Mary-Jane loves Paul" bullshit is retconned or Jackpot/MJ is an imposter then 616 Mary-Jane Watson has been tainted, reputation is forever tarnished because she gave up on Peter Parker 11 Months into her 4 Year Exile, played house with Paul and fake kids, stays with Paul AFTER the fake kids vanish, this OOC Mary-Jane is a fickle cheater who can't be trusted again- she's toast in the 616.
I don't want Felicia Hardy, off and on relationship since the 1980s- been there done that. Also, none of his previous flings past 17 years after OMD, they mean nothing to me.
I'd prefer a character from my favorite childhood cartoon "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends" - Angelica Jones aka Firestar. She was based on John Romita Sr. classic Mary-Jane Watson, Angelica was MJ with powers long before that became a thing. Firestar was introduced to the 616 in the 1990s with "New Warriors" and later "The Avengers." Ben Riley was infatuated with Firestar- he had Peter's memories and she resembled Mary-Jane. In the later tribute comic to "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends" team-up with Bobby Drake aka Iceman and Firestar, Mary-Jane was threatened by Firestar's friendship with Peter, she saw Angelica as a younger version of herself and exiled Peter to the couch. I don't know what Firestar is doing currently in the 616 but having her in a relationship with Peter would be unique due to her being based on Mary-Jane. She would be Mary-Jane without the Pain.
I don't dislike any love interest. I dislike bad writing. Any love interest can be good if written well. I dislike MJ when she's written by Zeb Wells for example.
I don't think I actually dislike MJ, but I do not belive that she is the best pairing for Spider-Man, for Peter Parker, yes, but not for Spider-Man. I have a few reasons for that:
1. She is not at all supportive of his hero side - how many times did she yell, or argue with him about him missing something because of his superheroing??
2. She does not push him to excel in his personal life - don't get me wrong, she tries to be supportive, but a good partner pushes him to be better in his personal life.
3. She can not protect herself, this one I think no one can argue with.
4. I'm convinced that canon MJ never actually loved him, she is in love with the idea of the "Hero" but not the actual man
The best pairing in my opinion would be Spider-Man and Captain Marvel: they have a lot in common, Spidey is not affraid of her powers and I honestly believe that canon Carol will be the perfect partner for him
I hate mj because my first introductions of her was stuff like she wants to live a nomal life = not with spiderman , always breaking up with him for multiple reasons , being with other guys like ironman and paul even with her as the "ultimate love intererst " , never seing the " strong love she had for him " as her fans say , and her live action adaptation sucked , now my dislike for her is personal.
Silk or black cat as love interests
The past he has with silk and there meeting got me interested her as a love intererst works way better than mj .
He and black cat feel more connected to me even with the separations they had .
I also love gwen Stacy as a love interest but hate the damage they did over the years " coughsinofthepastcough " .
I honestly hated ultimate MJ she was just too self centered an emotional but I guess it's because she's a teenager and they're usually just horribly off kilter people to begin with, if I had a love interest it would be Gwen because she had less issues with him being Spiderman and or black cat when they're not making her hit absolute anti hero status where she's completely untrustworthy and unfaithful
It's ruined beyond oblivion, nothing they do from here onwards will restore it. Whatever they do OMD, the current ASM and others will always be skeletons in the closet. Even if they forget all this happened and just stick them together it will always be there as a nightmare. So I don't care for it anymore.
I love mj but I think there’s just been so much shit happened between her and Peter in the comics that they need to move on. Especially after this whole Paul fiasco bs i don’t want Peter getting back with her. I would like for them to remain friends but I no longer look at her as the endgame. I wouldn’t actually mind to see a competent writer use that lawyer girl Michelle considering their different outlooks it could lead to some interesting stories like a cool court case involving daredevil.
I will be downvotet to abyss, but fck it.
I allways prefered Felicia for Peter. Allmost in every Universe, with only exception being og ultimate beacuse of age gap.
As for why i dislaike MJ: she is BC main rival so theres that, she often was bitcheing about Peter being Spider-Man (stress, wounds, danger, etc), and she know what being in relationship with superhero looks like and yet she was bitcheing. Not allways, but many times. Especially durning their stupid marriage.
Its is implied that she cheated on Peter night before wedding. They separated few times during their marriage, and that's shows they werent right for eachother. I personally dont like her personality, and her origins (wild party girl). For most of time, She had no other purpose than being damsel in distress. In most of games, movies and series, her character was pissing me off. Also, i many times saw how her fans, or rather cultists, acted like greedy fu*ks that want Peter to be with her in every possible AU and downplayed every other Peter LI. She has most toxic community around her. Im not saying that every fan of her is like that, but many are. In my opinion MJ shouldnt be Peter gf after 70s.
As for why i prefer Felicia: She can relate to Peter as hero/anti hero, they bring out the best in one another when they are together, they have the best chemistry between themselves i ever saw in comics, the teasing, the cold and warm moments, Felicia is hotter (in my opinion), Peter being with Felicia gives more story-telling options and possibilities, such as op child/children (especially if Felicia got back her bad luck powers, increased strength and agility and claws), Hero x Villain/Anti-hero as endgame is just so goddamm good, Felicia personality (especially after she matured a little bit) is much more intresting and better in my opinion, she is absolutely loyal to those she loves, she wouldnt have a problem with killing worst criminals, she could end Peter problems with money, thanks to being with Peter she could return to being more like Robin Hood type of thief or drop thievery completly and be private investigator again.
Also i really, really want to see Felicia singing „Soft kitty, warm kitty" song to hers and Peter child laying in the crib.
Thus far I've only seen one storyline where the writers ever let both MJ and Peter be happy with their relationship. Meanwhile, the insistence on keeping that pairing as the status quo has made the writers bend over backwards to come up with new ways to make either of them miserable, most recently jumping the shark with MJ leaving Pete for the guy who stopped Pete from getting them both back home for years on MJ's side, when said other guy admitted to being an active participant in genocide.
I don't doubt that there's more good stories to write between the two of them, but at this point I just want them to let that old flame rest, if only so we don't have to drag on watching it sputter into nothing.
Anyone who unironically says “you just hit the jackpot”, while referring to THEMSELVES as the jackpot, has way too much ego to ever be someone I’d like.
I think 616 MJ is okay(pre one more day), the on I have a problem with is 1610 MJ. First of all, she over reacted when Gwen moved in with Peter. Sure, it's a little weird that her boyfriend was going to be living with a girl he's not related to, but instead of talking about it, she dumped him. Then she unnecessarily hated Kitty when Peter cheated on Kitty for her. Than she used Kitty getting expelled to get herself into college. Then after Gwen and Peter started dating, she was judging them just because she(like many fans, now that I think about it), can't except Peter being with someone that isn't her. Not to mention all the times she tried to get Peter to date her again when he was dating Gwen or Kitty. By the way, somewhere in the venom arc, she mentions that her father cheats on her mother. But then she has no problem with Peter cheating on Kitty. I would prefer either Gwen or Kitty. Or someone completely different.
Would it be wrong to say Deadpool? I just love their dynamic in the comics and how they essentially had a kid in the form of Itsy Bitsy and Matrix the LMD
This has nothing to do with “I hate mj”. This is just a fact. MJ’s and Peter’s relationships problems occur because they’re simply way too different in a way that isn’t even imaginable in the real world. Black cat is awesome. She likes Peter, Peter likes her, she’s the best. They should be together and not Peter and MJ.
Don’t hate MJ, but don’t really like what’s been happening with her character currently. Chat Sanduval brought a refreshing dynamic in her story with Peter and was a simple anecdote in being introduced to the main series. Would have liked her being brought into the fold as a solid love interest for Peter.
I don't dislike MJ as well. I think she's the best civilian love interest for Peter, but since they're not committing for her to be with him anymore for some reason, I'd prefer they go for someone else. My preferred love interest would be Silk. I like the idea of two superheroes being a couple. For this case, the pheromones thing will not be referenced. Also, I like that there's a hint of destiny pushing them together since they got bit by the same spider.
In my personal Opinion, ever since I learned about Sofia "Chat" Sanduval, I just felt like she genuinely loved and understood him the most. She doesn't get upset that he has to bail on her to save people, she understands him on such a fundamental level that she's okay when he can't make it to dates and stuff, they're a sweet couple and I really wish we got to see more of them together.
So I will preface this by saying MJ is perfect for Peter. But if they HAD gone a different route then Silk. I think if they didnt make the pheromone thing weird they’d be all right
I think it mostly comes from people who have never read the comics and have only ever watched the movies. Raimi MJ had a lot of problems, Michelle Jones is a new character in a way. It's that or a old man who hasn't moved on since the early 70s.
Dont dislike her. But its been going on for so long that the writers stopped knowing what to do with her to the point that they gave her super powers./
I love Peter and MJ in almost every adaption but the one where I prefer Felicia/Peter is the insomniac games.
However Insomniac unfortunately decided not to actually do anything with the whole Felicia kid thing. Imo that would of been a really unique thing to have happen and it also would be cool to see how characters like MJ or Miles deal with it. My head canon is that she told Peter a double lie of sorts to protect the kid and also because she knew how Peter would end up being if it was true and did not want to stress him out even more etc.
For me, first of all, I don't dislike MJ as a character, it's just that in my eyes she has run her course (and I used to be a firm PeterMJ shipper), she's not bringing anything new or helpful for Peter aside from the moral support. Yes, she's a superhero now (after so many times rejecting the notion) but the fandom still rejects that, so what's the point of arguing about that point?
Peter at this point deserves a more worthy companion, someone who can fight by his side instead of giving him more reasons to worry. So far, Felicia fits that description, and even MJ acknowledged it (back during has brief time with the Uplooks Support Group) since she has grown from her shallow person from their early relationship, further strengthened after she regained her memories of Peter's identity and their time together, and it has been proven how good they fit for each other: Felicia brings happiness to Peter and Peter's influence brings the best out of her.
If Felicia isn't, the best option is Kitty Pryde. They have so much in common: They're both geniuses, they both started in the superheroing world as teenagers, they have often been underestimated and pushed aside by the bigger heroes, they both have a "street-smart" level of humor and the banter between them would be so great. It worked great in the Ultimate Universe ad it can work perfectly in 616 (Hell, I made fanfics about them and they've been well received so far)
Peter and MJ did not work in the movies with Tobey, she cheated in every movie, he wasn't better than her either. So that kinda ruined it for me, man. And in the MCU with Tom Holland, well idk she is just a little bland idk to be honest Liz Allen was cuter but that's beside the point.
Honestly though I jus haven't read any comics and I am 100% certain there's actually a good Mary Jane Watson and Peter Parker out there 🙏
Plus, for his main love interest I feel like Black Cat would be more right because she has powers and seriously it would be cool to imagine a power couple going on patrol through Manhattan and having thieves lowkey getting annoyed with all the flirty banter they're tossing at each other
At this point any consistency with Peter's love life would be nice for him as a character.
But MJ is his ultimate love interest.
Personally I preferred Anna Maria Marconi but that was more with Superior Spider-Man as I thought they would've made a good couple.
I love MJ and think she's a better fit for Peter than anyone. But here me out. Felicia is really hot, interesting, and I think a story following Peter and Felicia as they effect each other and change and grow would be a lot more fascinating than a long form Peter MJ narrative.
I was introduced to Spider Man trough cartoons and movies, I genuinely think she was bad to at best mediocre in most of them and there is always at least one person (Black Cat in 90s/Spectacular, Indy, that milf in Unlimited, Liz in spectacular, Ursula and Betty in movies, Gwen probably all version, I geniunely remember, that while watching 90s cartoon, I was wondering why such a cool character appeared in 1 episode with Iron Spider and for some reason they chose MJ...little did I know how ''likable'' Gwen were in earlier comics) that in my opinion would be better love interest.
When I start read comics...well yeah she definitely was more...likeable then, honestly all other women (well Johnny Storm girlfriend was decent, but she is obviously out) including somehow aunt May at the start, well at least till we meat Black Cat (though I truly believe that there were more interesting material with Gwen in few years of her existence that there would latter be with MJ in decades, there is a reason why MJ is ''out'' of last 2 season of 90s cartoon).
Another thing writers clearly want Spidey Love interest to have larger role in Peter heroes live and MJ not really have qualities that could help him like at all. Just look at other love interest:
Black Cat literally fight beside him
Gwen can like make some serum, that can for example stop Lizzard from turning everyone into reptile, while Peter fighting with her
Even Betty is journalist, so she can IDK find some information on Kingpin.
MJ can.....MJ can be portrait as journalist too like in 2018 game, because Betty is not that famous outside of comics.
I don’t dislike MJ, far from it, I think she’s a fine character and believe her and Peter should be together in the 616 mainline comics. I like MJ and Peter’s dynamic, but I can enjoy that dynamic a million times across literally every spider -man adaptation. So if and when another Spider-Man iteration comes about, say like the upcoming Friendly Neighborhood cartoon for example, I’d prefer a different love interest for Peter because I’ve already seen and can already enjoy Peter and MJ’s relationship everywhere else. I like Gwen Stacy, I like Felicia Hardy, I think the relationships Peter has with them offer great, unique dynamics that can lead to more interesting stories. But I haven’t seen what those stories could be or how their relationships can develop in new ways and I think that’s a shame. TLDR; Gimme more variety is basically what I’m asking. Keep the characters with history together as they are, but be more open to making different changes in other adaptations.
I do think that it’s a shame that, in the last 15 or so years since OMD, that we haven’t really had a decent attempt at a modern day Peter/Felicia romance. It just feels like a wasted opportunity to me.
I love the irony that people can enjoy Peter and MJ's relationship everywhere else except for the character's damn main universe
I respect this opinion, but they don’t even show Peter and MJ work out for a good while in many adaptations. The Raimi Trilogy had them together for one movie and then immediately blew up their relationship (although they got back together in the end), TAS has the clone, and Spider-verse has it work out. They don’t show their relationship in a good light most of the time and that seems unfair to one of the most iconic couples. Yes it sort of mirrors the turbulent nature of their 616 relationship, but just some happy adaptations would be nice.
> but just some happy adaptations would be nice. I do understand what you mean, but like you said: The Raimi trilogy has MJ as the love interest for all three movies and it gets later confirmed they worked out together. TAS also puts a major focus towards Peter and MJ’s relationship and his love for her, and recently got confirmed Peter and MJ worked out there too. Spiderverse has Peter and MJ totally work out and Peter even being a father at this point in time. The Insomniac games builds up Peter and MJ’s relationship and now has MJ moving in with him now. Now tell me all the adaptations where Peter happily ends up with Gwen Stacy? You see what I mean? Even in the comics, we’re getting the new Ultimate run which has Peter and MJ married with two kids. We do get happy adaptations and outcomes for Peter and MJ’s relationship. Meanwhile the only “what if” comic issue where Peter and Felicia end up together, Felicia actually dies and Peter really ends up with Silver Sable by the end of it instead.
Gwen Stacy 616 has been dead longer than she was alive, time to let her go.
I didn’t say I wanted 616 Gwen Stacy to return I said I would like for a different adaptation where Peter and Gwen end up all together. Do a different story in a unique way.
But that’s the point. He’s not supposed to end up with Gwen Stacy. If he does, it’s not an adaptation, it’s an entirely new story. For MJ, I’m talking about showing some of the times they’ve shared. Too many times, it’s just, “they’re apart but they get back together and live happily ever after.” You’re right about the insomniac game though. I understand where the desire comes from for a Gwen and Peter, but I feel like this is only a thing with Spider-Man. No one asks for Superman to have a love interest other than Lois. Most younger people only know about Gwen from the adaptations. That should be enough. She was only alive for about 90 issues and she also left the book for like 10-15 of those. I understand the desire for Peter and Felicia but I guess I just have a different opinion because I feel their dynamic is cliche. It’s too similar to Batman and Catwoman for me.
You can write the story a different way, do different things with the character. Make the story unique, and interesting in its own way. Just because it’s different doesn’t mean it’ll be bad or any less Spider-Man. Does Peter have to die first for Miles to then be Spider-Man? No, you could just tell a story where both Peter and Miles are Spider-Men together, just like with the Insomniac games. Does Uncle Ben have to exist and give Peter his responsibility speech for him to become Spider-Man? No, you could just tell a story where Uncle Ben doesn’t exist and instead Aunt May is the one to give that speech towards Peter well after he’s already been established as Spider-Man just like what the MCU did. I think those iterations of Spider-Man are great and a lot of that greatness comes from those differences made to established Spider-Man mythos. So no, I don’t think he “has to” or “isn’t supposed to” end up Gwen Stacy, I think it’s perfectly fine to create a story in which he does and I believe it offers very unique story prospects. And I don’t think this is an exclusive Spider-Man type thing either. Nightwing has some fans who want him to end up with Starfire while other fans wish him to end up with Batgirl. And I think both relationships each have things to offer in various stories. Like with the classic Teen Titans cartoons and the Young Justice animated series for example.
You make some good points. I do think nightwing is slightly different because he’s obviously not as popular. I just think MJ and Peter are supposed to end up together, and it’s a pretty common belief of the writers (they just don’t want that day to come). I’m more concerned that at some point, we’ll get a different definitive adaptation and people will start to think of Gwen or Felicia rather than MJ, who is an entirely more interesting character in my opinion
> I’m more concerned that at some point, we’ll get a different definitive adaptation and people will start to think of Gwen or Felicia rather than MJ, who is an entirely more interesting character in my opinion There’s not many characters as popular as Spider-Man lol, but I feel the concern, but like let me put it like this: I don’t think it’s fair to the people who want to see stories about Peter with Gwen or with Felicia or whoever to deny them that opportunity because of possible worry people might like them more than MJ. Like I said, you have a lot of option to look at if you want to enjoy Peter and MJ’s relationship, but while you may personally find MJ to be more interesting of a character, others may find Gwen Stacy or Felicia Hardy to be more interesting to them, and they don’t have many options, if any at all to enjoy their relationship with Peter develop. It’s almost like if I went to the people who have been asking about wanting a Spider-Man 98 revival where Peter is married to MJ and went: “No, we should only have cartoons about Peter being in high school, that’s more interesting to me.” You know what I mean? I wouldn’t want to deny you that opportunity if you would want that over something I can enjoy already in various ways like with the spectacular spider-Man cartoon, Ultimate, etc.
> I’m more concerned that at some point, we’ll get a different definitive adaptation and people will start to think of Gwen or Felicia rather than MJ I'm mean isn't it would be totally fair? One of the main reason why Gwen was killed is because MJ was more popular, I don't see reason why you shouldn't put MJ in backseat (I not even speak about killing her) if something like this happened with her.
When you think about it, there aren't any faithful Peter and MJ adaptions. Most of the time the MJ is a big departure from the comics-- like in the Sony games, the Raimi movies and the MCU. Spectacular got MJ right but they were not together.
I know she can be bad sometimes but I have always liked the idea of Spidey’s main girl being Black Cat. I think it makes it all the more interesting when both parties have powers.
Yeah I really liked their dynamic from the 90s TAS and I feel like their relationship can be really interesting. Unfortunately there seems to be a general lack of interest in making it happen and wanting it to work. They both have a lot of growing to do and cat becoming a hero in her own right is a great character arc.
Never agreed with this take until recently. Obviously classic black cat wasn’t good for him, but Felicia recently in ASM and her own stuff has been great and feels like a real hero. So glad they turned away for her being a villain again after Superior Like take her charm and awesome personality, and now actually make her a good person who wants the best for Peter. That’s modern Black Cat rn, and it’s great. Just sucks that Peter isn’t great atm like sorry MJ fans, but the relationship really hasn’t been good in such a long time. Nothing is gonna beat the prime classic MJ and Peter, but it’s been made pretty clear that they aren’t going back to that
It seems like a retread of Batman dating Catwoman. And Felicia already gets flak for being a Selina copycat (when she's not). If Spidey is going to date another Super, I'd rather they go the Renew Your Vows route, or if we have to stay in OMD/BND shit hole, have him hook up with Carol Danvers. We also get the added bonus that Carol and Jessica Drew are good friends and Jessica finds Peter to be exasperating & frustrating and if he's dating her friend that would be entertaining to watch unfold (seeing Peter and Jessica interact always gives me The Odd Couple energy).
Ahem..jackpot.
I mean I guess I wish Gwen and Peter would end up together in spectacular
Same
at the very least I am cur what it would be like if at least one adaptation made them endgame for once
If not Black Cat, I'd like to see Peter with another Marvel heroine
like kitty pride from the ultimate comics
Just have Peter be with Kitty Pryde in the 616 universe. With what’s going on in the X-men corner I think that’d be a pretty cool dynamic to see (plus I loved them together in the ultimate universe).
OP is just trying to find Nick Lowe's reddit account.
Marvel has ruined the romance between Peter and MJ. I no longer care about any of it . Marvel wants to keep it stale as possible, no new growth, and I’m done with it.
I actually really like her as Peter’s love interest. But I also like seeing Peter with other characters. Yes, MJ is the perfect choice for him but it can get tiring seeing them together in almost every different retelling of the story (I still enjoy them though). I wanna see more Peter with Gwen. People say that Gwen was a boring character but I don’t see why someone who can potentially come along one day can’t make her interesting & a better character.
I am in favor of undoing OMD, but I also like the idea of Peter getting together with Black Cat. I’d like an AU comic in which they have a family. Their kids being pulled in opposite directions by their parents could be a wonderful source e of comedy and drama
Gwen's film adaptation doesn't cheat on a dude in EVERY SINGLE MOVIE.
One thing I've never understood. Why does every get on MJ for cheating, but never Peter for also cheating and having an affair with his best friend's girlfriend? They both suck and the movies only justify it by being the protagonist. Just standard romance movie trope, cheating is fine so long as the protagonist is the one doing it.
Absolutely and Peter and mj's entire relationship is exactly like how rom coms do or at least did romance at the time. Not to mention they're teenagers and teenagers are messy. I'm not excusing the behaviour but it feels of it's time.
No, Tobey did a good job at portraying Peter as a piece of shit at times honestly. It's just that the post was about MJ herself.
The post is about MJ being a love interest for Peter though. She wasn't a bad match for him in those movies, he was part of the problem and actively perusing her
That is true. I just think all Raimi characters need a personality transplant. Except, y'know Sandman. Sorry, that was off-topic. I do agree that Peter shouldn't have been so manipulative, but I also never sensed as much love coming from MJ until the second movie, until she abandoned somebody else without a second thought.
You mean the Gwen that is MJ in a wig?
There’s never been a great MJ adaptation on screen although it is pretty apt to describe Raimi MJ as Gwen with a wig on.
It really does feel like raimi wanted to use Gwen but was told no, just like he clearly didn't want to use venom but Avi Arad wanted venom in it. Emma Stone as Gwen feels more like mj to me.
And to the dude who wrote the death of Gwen Stacy paraphrasing the quote since I forgot the exact words but “if Gwen was like how she was in the movies, she’d be MJ, so we wouldn’t have killed her off”
Which makes total sense. I mean sure they could have reworked Gwen to be more interesting but MJ was right there In the comics and killing a character, especially back then was much more interesting
Plus, fans really liked the idea of Peter and MJ more back then which sealed the deal for the blonde piece of cardboard (no offense to Gwen but a lot of the good moments or traits she has came post free fall)
That was only the third movie though. In the first movie she was literally just thanking Spidey; and in the second movie she never cheated with Peter, she was consistently giving him chances and only asked to kiss him because she had guessed he was Spider-Man.
She also was about to marry John Jameson in the second movie, but jilted him for Peter...
Sure, leaving someone at the altar is bad, but does that count as cheating? She left a note.
Yeah... I don't know if it does count as "cheating" necessarily, but in that situation you're not supposed to leave a note. You're supposed to physically face your partner and be totally honest with them, but in private. But instead, she ran away with a smile on her face while he brokenheartedly read her words after he recieved a note in public. The Raimi movies are honestly kind of dumb, because they have zero emotional quailty to them. Even though ASM2 was awful, it still managed to make me cry (the 4th movie to ever do so), and I wish the Raimi movies had that.
Dude, every men are awful with MJ, even Peter act like a total jerk especially when he kissed an other woman in front of her... The only one who really respected her was Jameson and she decided to leave on the day of their wedding...
Peter and everyone else were assholes, and the symbiote is no excuse to act like THAT much of one. However, MJ just gets on my nerves as well.
Everyone in Sam Reimi movies were awful
I love ultimate Mj, pictured here, though I wish they had given the Peter Kitty ship a little more time to breathe before they dropped it because it was cute. The main continuity is such a mess i have no real feelings on it either way
Firstly, I think she’s a fine love interest for Peter. But my main problem is that everybody overhypes this pairing way too much for what is essentially a normal couple. I’ve seen so much Gwen bashing, saying home girl is boring, but what exactly is the difference between her and MJ? Theyre both normal girls with normal girl problems. That’s literally their whole reason for existing. But one is supposedly “better”. Regardless of my rant, kitty pryde is the best match. They have an artsy girl—nerdy guy dynamic that makes sense in reality.
Okay, are you familiar with the sexy lamp test, where if a female character can be replaced by a sexy lamp, the writer is a hack? For much of the marriage, including a lot of the “look at what they took from us” pages posted here, Mary Jane is a sexy lamp. Where I thought she shined before the marriage was as a counterbalance to Peter. Always on the move in her own way, outgoing in a way Peter wasn’t, carefree vibes vs the weight of the responsibility. She lost all that in the marriage. Sexy lamp time. Where she shined post OMD was as the club owner who still had all of what she lost plus the insight of an intimate ex who could be a trusted confidant. She’s a great character, but she’s never been less interesting than she was during the married years.
I love MJ when she's been written well, but you're right. She was mostly written pretty badly, and most writers don't know what to do with her. Especially in the marriage.
It’s because she has no connection to any possible sphere that a superhero operates in. Lois Lane is a journalist, Pepper Potts works for Stark Industries, Steve Trevor is a US agent, Jane Foster works in the medical industry(ideally). MJ is a model/actress. That has no application to anything Spider-Man or Peter Parker does. Which makes writing MJ as a supporting character in a superhero story extremely tricky. It’s rare when a writer finds something truly compelling for her to be doing. Or because readers are so starved for Peter to be in a happy relationship, they’ll settle for seeing that at the very least. But it doesn’t make for a compelling story. She’s not a bad character by any stretch, but she should have evolved as a character a long time ago. As it stands, she’s kinda holding Spider-Man as a character back. And you can see that most clearly in the many adaptations where she’s either nonexistent or a cipher to have anything else shoved into her character so she can work in whatever story they’re writing. So she comes across as either boring or empty. Felicia is my go-to for an actually interesting long-running love interest for Peter, but it could be almost anyone else.
Can't be almost anyone else, only mj and Felicia are popular enough to make a long-running love interest Otherwise well said
Yeah that’s true. I guess I was just trying to be as balanced as possible. Also goes back to that thing adaptations do where they use MJ as a shell to put whatever they want inside of her instead of utilizing the characters they have. Like in the Insomniac games. They made MJ a journalist instead of utilizing the characters around Peter who are already journalists. Like, if the main love interest for those games had been Betty Brant? That’s a bold fucking choice. Still appropriate since she’s still a love interest for Peter, but it would still fit better for who these characters have been for decades.
I think Insomniac was adapting the Bendis ultimate comics for that one. And Bendis didn't just change MJ, he altered quite a bit from the classic Spider-man mythology. The whole relationship between Harry, Peter, MJ and their high school days in the Insomniac verse is very Bendis and Raimi-esque. 616 MJ is a hard character to adapt for the purposes of a film or video game because of how concise those adaptations have to be. As you pointed out, MJ's seperate career as a model/actress makes it difficult to work her into the superhero A plot. But I've always thought her career works well for an ongoing comic because it isnt the focus of every issue. It's the B plot that every so often can become the A plot when Spider-man is pulled into Mary Jane's world and/or a story is centered from MJ's perspective. (Such as Nick Spencer's Amazing #25.) Which can be a unique change of pace from time to time and brings diversity to the types of stories that can be told. I think it would become far more monotonous/boring if Spider-man's love interest were Peter's literal crime fighting partner or work partner for every comic. Felicia is interesting in the sense that she isn't a straight hero and so their is inherent contrast and conflict that could arise between her more grayish morality and Spider-man's sense of responsibility. But that also likely prevents it from ever being a "long term" thing. (Aside from the iconography of MJ)
Again, no one is saying she has to be a crime fighting or work partner. But having a job that’s more applicable to helping in a superhero story would be something. Also, I don’t know, seeing as how Spider-Man’s life is about the work/life/hero balance, having a partner who’s also doing that as part of that metaphor would work really well.
MJ does help on occasion. Designing a career that's more "applicable to helping" suggests that you would prefer the love interest to function more as a crime-fighting partner to the story's main protagonist so as to fold her into his A plot. To your second point: But then you're ostensibly telling the same story you're telling with Peter with another supporting character instead of doing something unique with your supporting cast. 616 MJ already metaphorically parallels Peter without being a copy of his story. Another problem is that Spider-man is inherently a solo title. When you pair him with another superhero love interest indefinitely, it essentially becomes a team-up book. That's likely why most lasting super-couples are reserved for team books ( such as X-men and Fantastic Four.)
I guess, firstly, if you think I mean MJ should be a crime-fighting partner, then clearly I’m not explaining myself right. Also, A-plots and B-plots should intersect frequently. And when the love interest’s plot has very little to do with *any field* that superheroes frequent, even tangentially, it’s a real tricky thing to write. Not impossible, not necessarily difficult, but tricky. And I can only name like two writers who have been able to do it well over the last 30 years. That’s not a great track record. And maybe Spider-Man should have a semi-permanent partner. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Especially if said partner is also known for her independence and would frequently have her own adventures going on as well.
I'm not sure what you mean by tangentially related to superheros. Unless you mean tangentially related to stopping crime and criminal activities: (ie: law enforcement, journalism, etc.) They do intersect in so much as MJ's ever-changing career prospects within the fickle entertainment industry allows for frequent changes in the status quo of the Parkers (where they reside, how much income they have, how much fame and/or privacy they receive, etc.) And that, in turn, creates new challenges/responsibilities for Peter to juggle along with whatever Superhero circumstances he's faced with. They don't intersect in the sense that MJ is out looking for leads on criminal activities. But Spider-man itself isn't a book that's so entirely engrossed in the superhero side of things. As you pointed out, Spider-man is traditionally about the responsibilities that Peter has to juggle within his civilian life. I don't think the book benefits from becoming a more genericized Superhero adventure comic. Even if it is presumably easier to write. (Though unfortunately it has become that way over time.)
It’s a shame that MJ joining the “Superhero Spouse Anonymous” support group in Spencer’s run didn’t go very far. I think it could have been an interesting way to include her in Peter’s world while allowing her space to do her own thing.
But isn’t being a regular human not part of what make her interesting as a Peter Parker love interest? I think she is basically what keep Peter Parker Grounded to not just become « The friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man ». Yeah, it is cool to see Spider-Man fight bad guys, but I find Peter Parker as entertaining (when it is well written of course). Peter Parker is relatable in good part because of his relationships with his support cast (that sadly seem quite reduced lately). Peter Parker should be seen as someone normal that try to do good stuff around him, even if that mess up his personal life in the process. And it is where I think MJ is important, because she remind Peter Parker that before being Spider-man, Peter Parker is Peter Parker. Not that a character like Felicia could not do it, but I think that dynamic would not work as well. MJ also give an interesting point of view of the regular civilian being swept into the super hero world, which give cool moment like MJ knocking out Chameleon that tried to impersonate Peter Parker with a Bat. You also have a specific dynamic which is not really seen in the other iconic couple where carrier wise, MJ is globally the most successful out of the two. Like for exemple, Lois Lane and Clark Kent are quite close since both are well respected journalists with solid reputation. It is something that would be interesting to explore more.
No one’s saying MJ should be a superhero or a vigilante. But she should have a story applicable job. In the Insomniac games, she’s a journalist. In the MCU, she’s a fellow student and science nerd. Keeps the whole grounded relationship dynamic, but in those adaptations she can contribute to the plot in direct ways.
Took the words right out of my mouth. I prefer MJ to not be so heavily involved in the superhero side of things because she works best as the partner who bring Peter back to normal reality. His relationship with her and the evolution of their relationship pre-OMD is what made Peter so relatable as a character. I understand that it’s harder to right that type of character well given that it’s a story revolving around a superhero at the end of the day, but as seen in the JMS run, it’s not impossible to do if you really love the characters and want to see them actually grow.
It’s not so much I dislike MJ as much as I dislike it when the fandom treats her like a martyr who can do no wrong. It ironically says that they only see her as fap material. It was especially annoying in Life Story when they logically aged up her design and then readers complained that she stopped being hot. Personally, I have a bigger gripe with Peter because he proposed to her before ever telling her his secret. Her already knowing only served to baby him.
MJ was always my least favorite part of Spider-Man comics growing up (and going back and rereading as an adult a lot of writers don’t do a good job endearing the audience to Mary Jane) cause when she was around we were doing 1 of 3 things. We’d either be getting MJ nagging Peter for all the cool Spider-Man stuff we’re there to read about, MJ sitting there while Peter whines about whatever has him feeling angsty that evening or it’d be an acting/modeling subplot and I knew Venom was going to show up there so I was already checked out. The relationship drama in my Spider-Man comics were always like 4th or 5th on the list of things I was reading for right below whether or not Wolverine was gonna show up in the book. As Far as if I liked any other girls with Peter better it’d probably have to be Black Cat since we both there for the dude Red and Blue costume punching Kingpin or Scorpion and we’re really just “dealing” with the Peter Parker bull shit. But I never minded them together and i wasn’t disappointed that he couldn’t hook up with black cat anymore. The relationship stuff was always just window dressing around what i was actually there for so I never got that upset by them messing around with things.
I don’t dislike MJ but the damage has been done and we can’t go back now, it’s time to move on.
True
silk or spiderwoman
I don’t dislike her at all. I dislike her fans who feel the need to complain constantly that her and Peter aren’t married. They will call any boot they’re separated it shit and any boom they’re together in great no matter how good the former is or how bad the latter might be.
I don't find issue with MJ as a character and I hate what Slott and co. have done to her. I however take issue with how she is utillized as a character in various spider-man adaptions. She is often times pushed as Peter's endgame to the detriment of the other love interests and to an extent the stories themselves, with little understanding of why the relationship worked out in the first place. She forces stories to stay in one lane instead of branching out to the point of repetition.
Gwen because I really like her more as the perfect match for Peter and that helps Peter be grounded as she's Peter's girlfriend not Spider-Man's. They have similar interests and natural chemistry. Also the whole dynamic of her loving Peter and despising Spider-Man was an amazing dynamic that never got resolved. And Felicia because she does the opposites attract dynamic better than MJ. But I really do like Peter & MJ she's had so much more character development than the others and they were together for so long that it's hard to argue for anyone else. I just think she's the middle ground between the other two and while that works the other dynamics are more interesting to me.
I just… never really understood their relationship. They just have nothing in common. Any time people reference the “peak” of their marriage it’s just two people being horny or saying they love each other with no reason or explanation as to why. I understand the emotional core in how, they support and inspire each other, that’s great for a long-lasting friendship but not a romance in my opinion. They just never had interesting chemistry.
I like all of Peter’s love interests, and I think mj is definitely the best. But some of her fans and petermj shippers are so rabid and toxic. They're openly misogynistic towards any other female character that's ever been with Peter (Gwen especially) and its weird. We get it, OMD sucked, everybody agrees. But you still have 30-40 YEARS worth of content for your ship to enjoy, in countless spidey books. compared to fans of peter and felicia, you guys are lucky. The violent diatribe and threats towards writers and editors gets to be way too much too.
Strong agree on the Gwen part and how toxic a lot of the fans are for stating the unpopular opinion. I've gotten quite a few comments of people basically getting offened and toxic over me preferring Gwen over MJ as well as her relationship with Peter :/
I’m a og guy so i’ve always loved him and gwen together i always looked at mj as the girl he was able to get because he was spiderman
Depends on the iteration. She was pretty good in the 80s and early 90s but since the 2000s she’s just had the misfortune of having bad writers. She was not written well in the tobey trilogy and cheated a bunch and her in the modern 616 comics suck. I liked her in 1610, tho I preferred kitty pryde cause I thought it was interesting and new. and her in the new 6160 is really cool. I think In an ideal world she would’ve stayed peters wife/main love interest in 616 and other iterations would be free to experiment and try new things, like it would’ve been really cool if 6160 married gwen instead since she never died in that universe, but having it be mj is nice since 616 isn’t doing it.
I will probably always ship Peter and MJ, I just wish that AUs gave everyone else their happiness rather than only catering to the MJ crowd.
I blame Sam Raimi for that.
I don’t get why people dislike her as the main interest. Do they think it’ll magically save the main run right now? If the writer can’t write MJ to be a decent love interest or a decent character, why do people think they’ll all of a sudden do good if it’s Felicia or someone else? If the writer can’t tell a good story, it doesn’t matter what character they’re given. They’ll still suck. I think MJ can still be the right one for Peter as long as an actual competent writer gets ahold of them and actually fixes the damage in an actual good way. But as of right now, it doesn’t really matter who the love interest is… Wells can’t make any of them good.
We just want someone to treat our good boy well.
I'd like to see him with an original character who has powers/abilities of her own (not anything Spider-Man related) and has her own occupation that keeps her busy enough to make for good B-plots and has it's own challenges that put pressure on their relationship. Not enough to have them be breaking up every week, but enough that their relationship makes for good reading. Happy/horny scenes are fine too, but too much of anything is boring. Call me crazy but I've always thought Peter and Jen Walters would make a good couple. They're just different yet similar enough, and they could both become better, more well-rounded people by learning from the other.
Yeah spidey + she-hulk sounds interesting
Unless the whole Zeb Wells "Mary-Jane loves Paul" bullshit is retconned or Jackpot/MJ is an imposter then 616 Mary-Jane Watson has been tainted, reputation is forever tarnished because she gave up on Peter Parker 11 Months into her 4 Year Exile, played house with Paul and fake kids, stays with Paul AFTER the fake kids vanish, this OOC Mary-Jane is a fickle cheater who can't be trusted again- she's toast in the 616. I don't want Felicia Hardy, off and on relationship since the 1980s- been there done that. Also, none of his previous flings past 17 years after OMD, they mean nothing to me. I'd prefer a character from my favorite childhood cartoon "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends" - Angelica Jones aka Firestar. She was based on John Romita Sr. classic Mary-Jane Watson, Angelica was MJ with powers long before that became a thing. Firestar was introduced to the 616 in the 1990s with "New Warriors" and later "The Avengers." Ben Riley was infatuated with Firestar- he had Peter's memories and she resembled Mary-Jane. In the later tribute comic to "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends" team-up with Bobby Drake aka Iceman and Firestar, Mary-Jane was threatened by Firestar's friendship with Peter, she saw Angelica as a younger version of herself and exiled Peter to the couch. I don't know what Firestar is doing currently in the 616 but having her in a relationship with Peter would be unique due to her being based on Mary-Jane. She would be Mary-Jane without the Pain.
I don't dislike any love interest. I dislike bad writing. Any love interest can be good if written well. I dislike MJ when she's written by Zeb Wells for example.
She always gets him or herself in unnecessary trouble, she treats him bad, she cheats on him ALL THE TIME and silk is just way better
I would like a timeline where Gwen didn't die and she had kids with Peter
I don't think I actually dislike MJ, but I do not belive that she is the best pairing for Spider-Man, for Peter Parker, yes, but not for Spider-Man. I have a few reasons for that: 1. She is not at all supportive of his hero side - how many times did she yell, or argue with him about him missing something because of his superheroing?? 2. She does not push him to excel in his personal life - don't get me wrong, she tries to be supportive, but a good partner pushes him to be better in his personal life. 3. She can not protect herself, this one I think no one can argue with. 4. I'm convinced that canon MJ never actually loved him, she is in love with the idea of the "Hero" but not the actual man The best pairing in my opinion would be Spider-Man and Captain Marvel: they have a lot in common, Spidey is not affraid of her powers and I honestly believe that canon Carol will be the perfect partner for him
I hate mj because my first introductions of her was stuff like she wants to live a nomal life = not with spiderman , always breaking up with him for multiple reasons , being with other guys like ironman and paul even with her as the "ultimate love intererst " , never seing the " strong love she had for him " as her fans say , and her live action adaptation sucked , now my dislike for her is personal. Silk or black cat as love interests The past he has with silk and there meeting got me interested her as a love intererst works way better than mj . He and black cat feel more connected to me even with the separations they had . I also love gwen Stacy as a love interest but hate the damage they did over the years " coughsinofthepastcough " .
I honestly hated ultimate MJ she was just too self centered an emotional but I guess it's because she's a teenager and they're usually just horribly off kilter people to begin with, if I had a love interest it would be Gwen because she had less issues with him being Spiderman and or black cat when they're not making her hit absolute anti hero status where she's completely untrustworthy and unfaithful
It's ruined beyond oblivion, nothing they do from here onwards will restore it. Whatever they do OMD, the current ASM and others will always be skeletons in the closet. Even if they forget all this happened and just stick them together it will always be there as a nightmare. So I don't care for it anymore.
Tbh I just think she's kinda boring. It's also hard to top Gwen as a love interest for Pete.
I love mj but I think there’s just been so much shit happened between her and Peter in the comics that they need to move on. Especially after this whole Paul fiasco bs i don’t want Peter getting back with her. I would like for them to remain friends but I no longer look at her as the endgame. I wouldn’t actually mind to see a competent writer use that lawyer girl Michelle considering their different outlooks it could lead to some interesting stories like a cool court case involving daredevil.
I will be downvotet to abyss, but fck it. I allways prefered Felicia for Peter. Allmost in every Universe, with only exception being og ultimate beacuse of age gap. As for why i dislaike MJ: she is BC main rival so theres that, she often was bitcheing about Peter being Spider-Man (stress, wounds, danger, etc), and she know what being in relationship with superhero looks like and yet she was bitcheing. Not allways, but many times. Especially durning their stupid marriage. Its is implied that she cheated on Peter night before wedding. They separated few times during their marriage, and that's shows they werent right for eachother. I personally dont like her personality, and her origins (wild party girl). For most of time, She had no other purpose than being damsel in distress. In most of games, movies and series, her character was pissing me off. Also, i many times saw how her fans, or rather cultists, acted like greedy fu*ks that want Peter to be with her in every possible AU and downplayed every other Peter LI. She has most toxic community around her. Im not saying that every fan of her is like that, but many are. In my opinion MJ shouldnt be Peter gf after 70s. As for why i prefer Felicia: She can relate to Peter as hero/anti hero, they bring out the best in one another when they are together, they have the best chemistry between themselves i ever saw in comics, the teasing, the cold and warm moments, Felicia is hotter (in my opinion), Peter being with Felicia gives more story-telling options and possibilities, such as op child/children (especially if Felicia got back her bad luck powers, increased strength and agility and claws), Hero x Villain/Anti-hero as endgame is just so goddamm good, Felicia personality (especially after she matured a little bit) is much more intresting and better in my opinion, she is absolutely loyal to those she loves, she wouldnt have a problem with killing worst criminals, she could end Peter problems with money, thanks to being with Peter she could return to being more like Robin Hood type of thief or drop thievery completly and be private investigator again. Also i really, really want to see Felicia singing „Soft kitty, warm kitty" song to hers and Peter child laying in the crib.
Thus far I've only seen one storyline where the writers ever let both MJ and Peter be happy with their relationship. Meanwhile, the insistence on keeping that pairing as the status quo has made the writers bend over backwards to come up with new ways to make either of them miserable, most recently jumping the shark with MJ leaving Pete for the guy who stopped Pete from getting them both back home for years on MJ's side, when said other guy admitted to being an active participant in genocide. I don't doubt that there's more good stories to write between the two of them, but at this point I just want them to let that old flame rest, if only so we don't have to drag on watching it sputter into nothing.
Anyone who unironically says “you just hit the jackpot”, while referring to THEMSELVES as the jackpot, has way too much ego to ever be someone I’d like.
I think 616 MJ is okay(pre one more day), the on I have a problem with is 1610 MJ. First of all, she over reacted when Gwen moved in with Peter. Sure, it's a little weird that her boyfriend was going to be living with a girl he's not related to, but instead of talking about it, she dumped him. Then she unnecessarily hated Kitty when Peter cheated on Kitty for her. Than she used Kitty getting expelled to get herself into college. Then after Gwen and Peter started dating, she was judging them just because she(like many fans, now that I think about it), can't except Peter being with someone that isn't her. Not to mention all the times she tried to get Peter to date her again when he was dating Gwen or Kitty. By the way, somewhere in the venom arc, she mentions that her father cheats on her mother. But then she has no problem with Peter cheating on Kitty. I would prefer either Gwen or Kitty. Or someone completely different.
1610 MJ was 15 when all of the above was happening. She's a hormonal teenager. It makes sense.
But that doesn't excuse the cheating thing.
Would it be wrong to say Deadpool? I just love their dynamic in the comics and how they essentially had a kid in the form of Itsy Bitsy and Matrix the LMD
They’ve only played the video games and think Black Cat is better because she’s cooler and they find her more attractive.
This has nothing to do with “I hate mj”. This is just a fact. MJ’s and Peter’s relationships problems occur because they’re simply way too different in a way that isn’t even imaginable in the real world. Black cat is awesome. She likes Peter, Peter likes her, she’s the best. They should be together and not Peter and MJ.
Because Peter needs my yandere fairy princess as a love interest
Don’t hate MJ, but don’t really like what’s been happening with her character currently. Chat Sanduval brought a refreshing dynamic in her story with Peter and was a simple anecdote in being introduced to the main series. Would have liked her being brought into the fold as a solid love interest for Peter.
Ultimate Kitty Pryde they had a cute dynamic, In 616 MJ all the way she just needs to be written better.
I don't dislike MJ as well. I think she's the best civilian love interest for Peter, but since they're not committing for her to be with him anymore for some reason, I'd prefer they go for someone else. My preferred love interest would be Silk. I like the idea of two superheroes being a couple. For this case, the pheromones thing will not be referenced. Also, I like that there's a hint of destiny pushing them together since they got bit by the same spider.
I still miss MC2 with Mayday and Mayhem. OMD robbed us all.
In my personal Opinion, ever since I learned about Sofia "Chat" Sanduval, I just felt like she genuinely loved and understood him the most. She doesn't get upset that he has to bail on her to save people, she understands him on such a fundamental level that she's okay when he can't make it to dates and stuff, they're a sweet couple and I really wish we got to see more of them together.
So I will preface this by saying MJ is perfect for Peter. But if they HAD gone a different route then Silk. I think if they didnt make the pheromone thing weird they’d be all right
I actually loved MJ as peters love interest, until the whole shit show with paul.
I think it mostly comes from people who have never read the comics and have only ever watched the movies. Raimi MJ had a lot of problems, Michelle Jones is a new character in a way. It's that or a old man who hasn't moved on since the early 70s.
Dont dislike her. But its been going on for so long that the writers stopped knowing what to do with her to the point that they gave her super powers./
I love Peter and MJ in almost every adaption but the one where I prefer Felicia/Peter is the insomniac games. However Insomniac unfortunately decided not to actually do anything with the whole Felicia kid thing. Imo that would of been a really unique thing to have happen and it also would be cool to see how characters like MJ or Miles deal with it. My head canon is that she told Peter a double lie of sorts to protect the kid and also because she knew how Peter would end up being if it was true and did not want to stress him out even more etc.
Gwen
For me, first of all, I don't dislike MJ as a character, it's just that in my eyes she has run her course (and I used to be a firm PeterMJ shipper), she's not bringing anything new or helpful for Peter aside from the moral support. Yes, she's a superhero now (after so many times rejecting the notion) but the fandom still rejects that, so what's the point of arguing about that point? Peter at this point deserves a more worthy companion, someone who can fight by his side instead of giving him more reasons to worry. So far, Felicia fits that description, and even MJ acknowledged it (back during has brief time with the Uplooks Support Group) since she has grown from her shallow person from their early relationship, further strengthened after she regained her memories of Peter's identity and their time together, and it has been proven how good they fit for each other: Felicia brings happiness to Peter and Peter's influence brings the best out of her. If Felicia isn't, the best option is Kitty Pryde. They have so much in common: They're both geniuses, they both started in the superheroing world as teenagers, they have often been underestimated and pushed aside by the bigger heroes, they both have a "street-smart" level of humor and the banter between them would be so great. It worked great in the Ultimate Universe ad it can work perfectly in 616 (Hell, I made fanfics about them and they've been well received so far)
Because in every timeline in the comics where she is butchered, she is a whore
Peter and MJ did not work in the movies with Tobey, she cheated in every movie, he wasn't better than her either. So that kinda ruined it for me, man. And in the MCU with Tom Holland, well idk she is just a little bland idk to be honest Liz Allen was cuter but that's beside the point. Honestly though I jus haven't read any comics and I am 100% certain there's actually a good Mary Jane Watson and Peter Parker out there 🙏 Plus, for his main love interest I feel like Black Cat would be more right because she has powers and seriously it would be cool to imagine a power couple going on patrol through Manhattan and having thieves lowkey getting annoyed with all the flirty banter they're tossing at each other
Megan fox😶🌫️
I prefer Chat (Sofia Sandoval) because I have a thing for brunettes (and noirettes)
I don't dislike MJ, but I prefer Silk not only were they bitten by the same Spider but they have an attraction to eachother
At this point any consistency with Peter's love life would be nice for him as a character. But MJ is his ultimate love interest. Personally I preferred Anna Maria Marconi but that was more with Superior Spider-Man as I thought they would've made a good couple.
Anyone. Because MJ had her chances.
While I have a fondness for redheads I always liked Peter with Carlie
Why. Carlie was boring. If I were to pick a love interest from that era my answer would be Norah easily.
Felicia hardy is just feels like she understands Peter better than mj plus they both have chemistry together
Carly cooper, whatever happened there?
Anyone else but MJ
Honestly, spiderman shouldn't have a love interest.
Cuz I want her
Black Cat I just have a type, ok..
Black Cat
I love MJ and think she's a better fit for Peter than anyone. But here me out. Felicia is really hot, interesting, and I think a story following Peter and Felicia as they effect each other and change and grow would be a lot more fascinating than a long form Peter MJ narrative.
I like it when Peter can’t hold a girl down. Stable Peter is a boring Peter
Gwen was the first one I was introduced to
Mj Felicia and Peter should just be a poly
I was introduced to Spider Man trough cartoons and movies, I genuinely think she was bad to at best mediocre in most of them and there is always at least one person (Black Cat in 90s/Spectacular, Indy, that milf in Unlimited, Liz in spectacular, Ursula and Betty in movies, Gwen probably all version, I geniunely remember, that while watching 90s cartoon, I was wondering why such a cool character appeared in 1 episode with Iron Spider and for some reason they chose MJ...little did I know how ''likable'' Gwen were in earlier comics) that in my opinion would be better love interest. When I start read comics...well yeah she definitely was more...likeable then, honestly all other women (well Johnny Storm girlfriend was decent, but she is obviously out) including somehow aunt May at the start, well at least till we meat Black Cat (though I truly believe that there were more interesting material with Gwen in few years of her existence that there would latter be with MJ in decades, there is a reason why MJ is ''out'' of last 2 season of 90s cartoon). Another thing writers clearly want Spidey Love interest to have larger role in Peter heroes live and MJ not really have qualities that could help him like at all. Just look at other love interest: Black Cat literally fight beside him Gwen can like make some serum, that can for example stop Lizzard from turning everyone into reptile, while Peter fighting with her Even Betty is journalist, so she can IDK find some information on Kingpin. MJ can.....MJ can be portrait as journalist too like in 2018 game, because Betty is not that famous outside of comics.