Mary Jane Watson

Revision as of 05:23, 12 April 2023

Mary Jane Watson in Amazing Mary Jane v1 #1.

Mary Jane Watson is a female comic character who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Origin

Mary Jane Watson was a female human born in the modern age where her father was Phillip Watson and mother was Madeline Watson with her having an older sister named Gayle Watson. Her parents had met in college with Phillip majoring in modern American literature whilst Madeline was a drama student. The two fell in love with Madeline looking to move to New York City to try an acting career when Phillip was offered a teaching position at a small college. Madeline gladly accepted with the pair getting married and eighteen months later they had their first child who was a daughter they named Gayle. Four years later, the had a second daughter which was Mary Jane Watson with the family being happy at first. Her father had become a full professor who was popular with his students and respected by the college administration whilst her mother devoted her time to the children. Despite their situation, Phillip was not satisfied as he wanted to prove to the world by being an award winning writer but he was unable to succeed. In anger, he began to take out his frustrations on his family who he believed were distracting him during his writing. This led to a period when her father began to switch jobs where he moved from one college to the next whilst taking his family with him as he searched for something but could never find it. Her mother Madeline endured the constant moving despite her and the children hating it. As a result, the children were constantly moving schools with it not being easy for Mary Jane to make friends but in her desperation for the other kids to like her she began to act as the class clown whilst her sister Gayle handled her loneliness by going into dance as well as music. During this time, the marriage between her parents began to breakdown with Phillip blaming his wife stating that the house and children were weighing him down from achieving his dreams. On one of these days, he grew angry at the costs for his daughter Gayle's dance classes and struck her with Madeline begging him to stop taking his frustration out on the children. An angry and enraged Mary Jane ran away from the house but bottled up her feelings before returning home. Eventually, her mother decided to give up on the marriage and resolved to leaving her husband. This happened a few week later when he was being honoured by his college which was when Madeline, Gayle and Mary Jane left their home during the awards ceremony. A messy divorce followed as her father sued her mother for desertion with the courts not looking kindly on Madeline Watson. With little money, they began to stay with relatives where they moved from one to another despite some members of these families feeling that they were a burden on them. Among her relatives that she enjoyed staying with the most was her Aunt Anna who was her fathers sister. When she was thirteen, she was introduced to Anna's friend May Parker who had a nephew a year older than Mary Jane and on one such day she first saw Peter Parker. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #259)

During a battle between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin atop the Brooklyn Bridge, Gwen died from the impact of Spider-Man's attempt to rescue her with his webbing. When Mary Jane tried to comfort Peter, he accused her of not being able to understand what it would feel like even though her own mother died. Though hurt by his outburst, she stayed to comfort Peter regardless. Gwen's death had serious consequences for Mary Jane and Peter's on-and-off friendship; the feisty and carefree party girl Mary Jane, who had been one of Gwen's best friends, eventually became more serious and sensitive, while grief of loss brought her and Peter closer together. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #122)

Mary Jane broke off her relationship with Harry Osborn as he was becoming more and more unstable following the death of his father, Norman. Harry then nearly killed both Mary Jane and Peter as he set off a bomb while flying around as the second Green Goblin. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #136)

On leaving for a trip to Europe, Peter and Mary Jane exchanged a long and passionate kiss. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #143) A kiss that would prove to be the turning point in their relationship as Mary Jane realized the true depth of her feelings for Peter - feelings so strong that even a girl bearing a close resemblance to Gwen could not stop their romance. She was maid of honor at Betty Brant's wedding to Ned Leeds. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #156)

Marriage

They spent their honeymoon in France and made their home in a condominium apartment that Mary Jane was able to afford thanks to her highly successful modeling career. As the wife of Spider-Man, however, things were hardly ever easy. After their honeymoon, Spider-Man was captured, drugged, and buried alive in a mound of spiders by Kraven the Hunter, who was attempting to best him before his inevitable death. Wearing a cloth version of Spider-Man's costume, Kraven hunted and killed criminals, even saving Mary Jane from one, although she easily saw through his disguise. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #293) She adds Peter's surname to her own, making her Mary Jane Watson-Parker. However, no villain scared her more than the symbiotic Eddie Brock, known throughout the world as Venom. She was so terrified with her encounter that she begged Peter to not wear his black costume, as it reminded her too much of the monstrous villain. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #300)

Pregnancy

The stress of her captivity drives Mary Jane away. She moves to Los Angeles and immerses herself in acting — starring as the doomed love interest in the film Lobster-Man. Although missing Peter after he fails to meet her on a visit back to New York, she refuses to talk to him; Aunt May gets Peter to visit her in Los Angeles. (Amazing Spider-Man v2 #43) However, the two remain separated. Peter's encounter with the supernatural Spider-Wasp Shathra eventually leads to the two of them flying to New York and Los Angeles to see each other. Despite missing each other at their respective homes, they meet in an airport in Denver, Colorado where they reconcile after a brief encounter with Doctor Doom and Latverian terrorists. (Amazing Spider-Man v2 #50)

Peter, Mary Jane, and Aunt May are targeted by an assassin working for Spider-Man's old foe, the Kingpin. When Peter returns to the Parker family's motel hideout, the assassin takes aim at Peter and fires, but hits Aunt May instead. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #538)

One More Day

Peter was forced to decide whether he will accept Mephisto's offer to save Aunt May in return for wiping the knowledge and memory of Peter and MJ's life together as husband and wife from the face of reality, which would leave only a single, subconscious piece of their souls to remember their love and life together, allowing Mephisto to feast on the pain exhibited by those vestiges for eternity. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #544)

Later at work, Mary Jane was caught in a fire created by the Goblin King and was rescued by a firefighter named 'Pedro' instead of Peter, much to her disappointment. As Otto became increasingly angry at everybody around him, Mary Jane finally snapped: she told him they were no longer going to be friends, even. She then got a date with Pedro. When Otto got possessed by Venom, Mary Jane found him and demanded answers to his behavior. This caused him to summon the symbiote and give her a death threat, much to her horror, and Yuri Watanabe subsequently saved her. After being freed, Otto apologized for his behavior, and they reconciled. During the attack, Mary Jane got Aunt May, Jay, and Pedro go to safety. Following the defeat of the Goblin Nation and Peter's reveal of his former possession by Otto Octavius, she opted to leave Peter's life along with Carlie to avoid being a target for Spider-Man's enemies yet again. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #31)

Back with Peter

She then began to work on a movie with legendary director Cage McKnight though had issues with the script she was given. It was during this time that she learnt that McKnight was actually Mysterio as Quentin Beck had assumed his identity for the movie. However, he revealed he had no malicious intent and simply wanted to make a good movie and decided to use McKnight's identity for the task. During this time, Mary Jane and Quentin began to collaborate as the two worked together into making a better movie. (Amazing Mary Jane v1 #1)

Mysterio took her to safety but they came to an apartment that was the set of the place where Mary Jane used to get therapy after the death of Gwen Stacy. Beck the revealed that he had masqueraded as the therapist who replaced her former one where he operated under the alias of Ludwig Rinehart. It was then that he revealed that Kindred had been responsible for tormenting him in Hell after his death and similarly played a role in his resurrection. The return of the villain convinced Beck that he could never change and he reluctantly departed thus leaving Mary Jane in the hands of Kindred. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #71)

Overview

Personality and attributes

She had a younger kid cousin who was the red headed Kristy Watson. (The Spectacular Spider-Man v1 #145)

Powers and abilities

Notes

• Mary Jane Watson was created by Stan Lee, John Romita, Sr. and Steve Ditko where she made a partial appearance in the Amazing Spider-Man v1 #25 (June, 1965) before making a full appearance in the Amazing Spider-Man v1 #42 (November, 1966).

Alternate Versions

In other media

Television

• In Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson appeared in the setting of the animated television series where she was voiced by actress Sara Ballantine.
• In The Spectacular Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson made guest appearances in the setting of the animated television series where she was voiced by actress Vanessa Marshall.
• In Ultimate Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson appeared in the setting of the animated television series where she was voiced by actress Tara Strong.
• In Marvel's Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson appeared in the setting of the animated television series where she was voiced by actress Felicia Day.

Films

• In Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson appeared in the setting of the 2002 live-action film where she was portrayed by actress Kirsten Dunst.

Video games

• In Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, Mary Jane Watson appeared in the setting of the video game where she was voiced by actress Dana Seltzer.
• In Spider-Man: Edge of Time, Mary Jane Watson appeared in the setting of the video game where she was voiced by actress Laura Vandervoort.
• In Marvel's Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson appeared in the setting of the video game where she was voiced by actress Laura Bailey

Novels

Appearances

• Amazing Spider-Man v1: (1965)
• Superior Spider-Man v1:
• Invincible Iron Man:
• Amazing Spider-Man v5:
• Amazing Mary Jane v1:
• Sinister War v1:

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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