Glaucus

Mary Jane was gone from the Marvel 616 Universe for a few years after Peter's first marriage proposal to her.

I understand that Marv Wolfman got rid of her because he felt that she was wrong woman for Peter based on his opinions that she was better off being just like Stan Lee's version and disregarded the development that Gerry Conway and Len Wein gave her. I actually thought Conway and Wein did a great job of gradually developing Mary Jane before Marv Wolfman took over The Amazing Spider-Man and started out with the stupid marriage proposal with Mary Jane's very negative response.

Mary Jane's last comic interaction in the 616 Universe before her break was in Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man issue #31 published June 1979.

Mary Jane's return to the 616 Universe was in The Amazing Spider-Man issue #148 published March 1983

That would indicate that she was gone from comics for nearly four years.

but

Mary Jane was appearing in Spidey Super Stories which take place outside the 616 Universe. She appeared in twenty-five of the fifty-seven Spidey Super Stories which were published from from October 1974 - March 1982.

Mary Jane's first appearance in Spidey Super Stories in issue #5 published in February 1975 which was the month/year that The Amazing Spider-Man issue #141 was published. Peter and Mary Jane were dating at the time. They started dating in The Amazing Spider-Man issue #136 published in September 1974.

Mary Jane's last appearance in Spidey Super Stories issue was the last issue which was #57 published March 1982.

Therefore, Mary Jane's break from comics was only for one year.

In Spidey Super Stories issue #56, Mary Jane dressed up as Spider-Woman and Peter dressed up as Spider-Man but with a domino mask for a Halloween Party in one of the short stories! The Green Goblin was the villain in that story.

Marvel kept Mary Jane hanging around in some type of way. They didn't want her disappearing into limbo.

With the Spencer run, I am just going with the flow. I am not even trying to figure out who Kindred is.

I see people speculating who Kindred. There are numerous answers.

I was even starting to think that Norman Osborne was cloning himself all these years, and Harry is a clone of himself like Jango Fett raised a young clone of himself as his son - Boba Fett

Hell No!

Mary Jane has been Peter's wife from 1987 to 2008.

The marriage ended because of Joe Quesada's One More Day storyline that made Peter and Mary Jane make a deal with Mephisto to save May's life.

Mary Jane is not only Peter's most popular and iconic love interest. She is one of the most popular and iconic love interests in comics.

Peter/Mary Jane is the most popular and iconic Marvel couple, and they are one of the most popular and iconic comic book couples.

Peter moved on from Gwen when he married Mary Jane, and he has expressed numerous times the great love and need that he has for Mary Jane.

Even though Stan Lee wanted Gwen to be Peter's girlfriend, most of the readers wanted Mary Jane to be the girlfriend.

Mary Jane was always far more popular than Gwen. Stan Lee did whatever he could to make Gwen interesting, personable, and exciting as Mary Jane, but nothing worked.

@tdk_1997:

Bruce/Selina is my 3rd favorite comic book couple, and I am not a fan of King's writing this iconic pairing.

I am glad that Batman and Catwoman mini-series is not canon.

I find it mediocre.

@thor-parker:

A lot of people griping and complaining about Spencer's run now.

They're sick and tired of Kindred.

I got into a debate with a Black Cat fan in DC's Titans facebook group. He really annoyed with his remarks about Mary Jane

I had typed:

I actually converted from being a Dick/Babs fan to being a Dick/Kory fan after reading the 1980-1996 Wolfman run comics and the The Judas Contract movie back in 2018 which led me to create a thread on them at Comic Vine.

Before that, I was a Dick/Babs fan for almost 20 years as the result of the Batman animated series.

Now I strongly dislike the pairing.

Dick/Kory is my 2nd favorite comic book pairing after Peter/Mary Jane. My 3rd favorite is Bruce/Selina. My 4th favorite is Scott/Jean. My 5th favorite is Clark/Lois.

I really like Barbara in the Titans show, but I definitely prefer Dick with Barbara as just a friend and Kory as his love interest.

He replied:

Guess, for each those own. In comics I’ve always liked Grayson with Barb, though I did like him with Kory in this show.

Peter Parker is in a comfort relationship with MJ. Him and Felicia are more complimentary, but Felicia has had to deal with lots of Trauma. But her love of adventure but need for stability is good for Parker who becomes complacent, but needs adventure.

I retorted:

Mary Jane had a troubled past too, and she overcame it to be a more supportive wife to Peter and even stuck by him during the 2nd Clone Saga even when he was thought to be a clone. She risked her life from getting killed by Peter and helped him break Jackal's programming. They were married from 1987 to 2008 until Joe Quesada came up with a ridiculous demonic deal to end their marriage to save Peter's Aunt May who got shot as the result of Peter unmasking in front of the entire world.

I read the old comics. Felicia only loved Spider-Man and she didn't love Peter. When he took his mask off, she yelled at him to put his mask back on. She wanted Peter to be Spider-Man all the time. She was amoral and didn't understand why Peter became Spider-Man. She went straight because of Peter and not because she believed that stealing was wrong. She got powers from the Kingpin, but she kept that a secret from him. That relationship was doomed from the start. She ended up playing him as she got into a fling with the Foreigner. She was hating him for dumping her and interfering with the powers that she gained. After she found out that Peter and Mary Jane were married, she started dating Flash and physically threatened Mary Jane as well as was deluded about Peter is going to leave Mary Jane for her. She changed later on and she became a friend to both Peter and Mary Jane. I prefer Felicia to just be friends with Peter. She was in love with Peter in the 2000s, and Mary Jane picked up on it before Peter did. That motivated Felicia to help Peter out.

He responded:

Everyone has had some trauma, but Felicias trauma takes the cake.

Like I said, to each their own opinion. Peter and MJ relationship has been pretty toxic, to be honest. MJ to me has always been just the woman that Peter falls back to. Recently she has become more like Louis, which is fine. Works a bit better for her dating a man with a lifestyle like Peters.

Felicia, in the other hand, compliments Peter’s personality more. She fills in the gaps he has, since he is always pulled towards the life of a superhero. She is fun and adventurous, which is something Peter often fails to get due to his complacency. And, Peter is grounded, which is something Felicia needs.

MJ is good wife. She is a good woman for a man who has a simple life. Who doesn’t need adventure and fun like how Peter needs it. For a man that doesn’t need to always be going on the next rescue mission, etc.

I retorted:

toxic??? Black Cat's relationship with Peter has been toxic!! She didn't even love him as Peter. She even endangered his secret identity during their relationship.

There are a lot of comic panels of Peter and Mary Jane supporting each other as well as having fun in their marriage. Mary Jane wasn't just some woman that just stayed home and be some housewife. She was independent and had a career of her own without breaking the law. She could take care of herself. She has saved her own life from others at times. She is not physically great as Black Cat, but she is courageous. She was quite sane and emotionally stable, and she also helped ground Peter. They complemented each other too. She accepted both Peter Parker and Spider-Man.

Peter and Mary Jane's marriage was at its most successful, mature, and stable during the JMS period after they ended their brief separation after Mary Jane was rescued after she was kidnapped and thought to be dead for many months.

If Peter and Mary Jane pairing is toxic, then Peter and Felicia pairing is way more toxic.

@marvelman92:

The people in CBR made me wonder if I was reading the same comics as them.

I never thought that Peter was losing and had to be helped by others constantly.

A lot of people are griping about the Kindred storyline.

There is a lot of impatience about Kindred being finished and One More Day being undone.

I see people claiming that Spencer's run is just as bad as Slott's run. Some even claim that it's worse

I don't agree with any of that.

I am being patient about Spencer's run and enjoying it. I have no expectations. I just want Peter and Mary Jane to stay together. I'm grateful for Spencer putting Peter and Mary Jane back into a relationship again. Furthermore, I am glad that Peter and Felicia's friendship has been fixed.

I am thinking of creating a comic vine thread for Peter and Mary Jane like I did for Dick and Kory.

I am reading the old Spider-Man comics. There is so much stuff that makes Peter/Mary Jane pairing very iconic. Yeah...The 20 year marriage helps quite a bit.

I liked the 90s stuff the most. I was in my 20s when I read their marriage years back in the 1990s.

The one thing that made me think of Mary Jane's strength as Peter's wife was Time Bomb during the Second Clone Saga.

She helped Peter break Jackal's programming while risking her own life when Peter was in the process of trying to kill her. Like Ben thought, what Mary Jane did took brains and guts.

This one of the reasons why I cannot take One Moment In Time seriously. Joe Quesada wrote that to make Mary Jane look weak. He even had Mary Jane telling Peter that he needs to find a woman that is strong enough for him and implied that she's not for him.

Quesada didn't want to just end Peter's marriage. He wanted to end the idea that Mary Jane was right woman for Peter. One Moment In Time was quite obviously written to make Mary Jane look weak and to be the wrong woman for Peter.

What I like about Peter and Mary Jane's marriage was that it was the perfect 'imperfect' marriage.

What I mean is that it was a marriage with its ups and downs (more ups and downs) and seemed Three Dimensional without too much lovey-dovey stuff. They had great challenges and obstacles. They argued and yelled at each other. They walked out on one another at times. Doors slammed. There were doubts and insecurities that they had about how their selves as partners.

When they made up, it was beautiful like when Peter apologized for yelling at Mary Jane when they argued about Harry as Green Goblin, and he apologized with a bunch of flowers.

There was a lot of pain in their relationship because of Peter endangering his life as Spider-mAN, but their love for each other didn't waver.

Peter's love of Mary Jane and wanting go back home to her helped him overcome the odds.

Mary Jane not giving up on Peter during the Second Clone Saga had to have been a great help for Peter.

Peter broke down more than once, but Mary Jane kept herself together and fought for their marriage.

There was lots of depth in Peter and Mary Jane's marriage. It was like reading a real married couple but they had extraordinary challenges due to Peter being a superhero.

I never found their relationship boring.

That's why Peter/Mary Jane is my favorite comic book pairing of all time.

Dick/Kory is my second favorite, and that's because of the 1980-1994 Wolfman run that I read back in 2018 after being Dick/Barbara fan since Batman Animated series and the DC animated movie The Judas Contract. I ended up strongly disliking Dick/Barbara after reading and learning the retcons including especially Dick having sex with Barbara the night before his wedding with Kory

Batman/Catwoman is my third favorite.

Scott/Jean is my fourth favorite, but it feels tainted with Logan and Emma

Clark/Lois is my fifth favorite

Peter/Mary Jane is my favorite pairing and ahead of my second favorite by a lot

unfortunately, I wasn't really a fan of Peter/Mary Jane in the movies

I actually liked Peter/Gwen in the movies more

I just didn't like Kirsten Dunst's Mary Jane. I didn't like how she was depicted in the movies.

I think that I liked them to start with Betty and Liz as love interests and then leading to Gwen and Mary Jane. I'd like to see the 3rd movie ending with Gwen killed and Mary Jane comforting Peter. The 4th movie would be about his dating Mary Jane.

I didn't like the 'Peter had a crush on Mary Jane when he was a little kid stuff' that May was talking to Peter about. I actually cringed a little while listening to that.

BTW....I am Starrius at CBR

@zariusii:

I read the Spider-Man Empyre solicitation

shrugs

it's just comic book relationship drama

many superhero relationships have it in the comic books

Peter and Mary Jane won't be split up

@zariusii:

I already like Tynion's Bat/Cat more than Tom King's

no more "Bat","Cat" and cringy poetic dialogue

I like that Catwoman is now operating the bat computer alone in the batcave.

She's definitely a member of the Bat-family now.