Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Mary Jane Watson - Beyotch. Tuesday!

And we're back!  We all know that Peter eventually married Mary Jane Watson, which divided Spider-Fans into people who liked the idea and people who thought that was the second worst idea ever put into the series.

But didja know, or didja remember, that Pete had proposed to Mary Jane years before?  Yup.  Let's take a look at Amazing Spider-Man #183 to see how that turned out:


That's pretty brutal, MJ.  First, when you whip out a ring, he's going to think for a split-second that you bought him an engagement ring in response to the ring he gave you a few issues earlier.  Second, making a flippant joke while you put the token of your rejection in his palm minimizes Pete's feelings.

And yes, I can see the comments section ablaze with, "Well, that's just how Mary Jane is," to which my response is, "Well, then Mary Jane is a selfish jackass."  It's become popular for the young folks to discount their anti-social behavior with, "Well, I'm just being me."  Well, maybe we don't want to be around you if that's who you are, and you should do us all a favor and go to one central location so we can build a big wall around your collective narcissistic ass (like they did the criminals in Escape from New York) so those of us who want to make the world a better place don't have to look at you.  Admitting a fault is only the first step in doing something about it, kids!  Learn and grow.


In other words, I view men as prey and want to have as many hearts for my trophy case as possible.


Hey, Mary Jane?  I'd be smiling right now if you hadn't just taken a dump on my heart, so since you're the reason I'm sad, what say you not presume to have the right to tell me to smile?


Can we still be friends?  Why sure!  All of my friends break my heart into a million pieces trivialize my feelings.  I'd love to be a part of your life as I watch you go out with other guys, and then stick around and watch you cry when they treat you the same way you've treated me.

Get to steppin', biyotch.

See you tomorrow!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

WTF?? I haven't read much spider-man stuff but.... I have to say I'm surprised that Mary Jane was still the main love interest for such a long time after she pulled this jerk-ass behavior on Parker. seriously, this kind of thing should lose points with the readers.

But then again, A lot of heroes seem to make it a general rule to date only girls who are dysfunctional, bat-shit crazy or just plain shallow.

Ah well.

MarvelX42 said...

I can certainly understand your point on this. To be fair though she thought she had to do this. I think I remember that she had family problems at the time, but also keep in mind that she KNEW that Peter was Spider-Man. Maybe she thought that the city and the world had to come before her own personal feelings. Doing what she just did, giving up the man she loved more than anything else must have been the hardest thing she had ever done, but she knew she had to do it. Just a thought.

MarvelX42 said...

Also at least she had the guts to do it in person and not just leave a note on his door or something.

Steve W. said...

I love MJ, so I've always been happy to write it off as her masking great inner psychological trauma.

Or something.

Adam Barnett said...

I do recall reading a GN called "Parallel Lives" that I think explained a lot of MJ's jerkwater behavior. I say "explained," because it doesn't "excuse" it.

Anonymous said...

Marvel-- if that was the case, then why not be honest instead of stomping all over peter's heart like that?

Pete doesn't need any more reasons to be emo. :P

She could had just said: "Sorry, pete... I love you, but now is just not a good time for me. I have too much crap going on and I don't want you dragged into it. Why don't you ask me later on when there isn't as much crap in my life?"

Adam Barnett said...

Close, aurora, but as a guy who has been dumped by virtually every type of girl there is, let me respectfully disagree.

You do NOT leave the door open. I don't care what the reason is. If the timing isn't right, too bad and so sad. But you do NOT give poor Peter hope that some day you are going to get around to him. Mary Jane should have freed Pete's heart to pursue other opportunities. If she had, Pete wouldn't have had to make that deal with Mephisto. Yes, I blame Mary Jane entirely for that one.

Point is, if you aren't what that person needs at that point in their life, you let them move on. It's the kind thing to do.

Anonymous said...

@MarvelX42 - Although it was later "revealed" that MJ always knew Peter was Spider-Man, at the time these stories were written, it was pretty obvious that she didn't really know; that knowledge was a pretty major retcon. The way the story was written (not the way it looks in retrospect), she really does come across as a callous jackass.

Justin Garrett Blum said...

"If she had, Pete wouldn't have had to make that deal with Mephisto."

I know that everybody is pretty much in agreement that the Mephisto thing was terrible schlock, but episodes like this sort of highlight just how shoddy and forced the writing was. Didn't Mephisto give some reason for making that deal like Peter and M.J.'s love being so epic that he could feast on even the tiny part of their souls that remembered?

Epic. Yeah, right. It's frankly amazing that these two ever wound up together.

Anonymous said...

@Justin

so would it be safe to say that Mary Jane and Peter is like the couple from the Book and movie "Twilight"?

in an certain aspect where the so-called couple's epic romance isn't very believable at all, and comes off as so dysfunctional that it's like watching a train wreck. Yet, the author(s) keep on shoving it down our throats and comes up with all kinds of wild justifications why they are just meant to be!

Justin Garrett Blum said...

Don't get me wrong--there are people who work together as couples almost in spite of themselves, and it's not unbelievable by any stretch that these two could get married and be relatively happy. But I tend to think epic romances are a lot less bumpy, and epically romantic people are a good deal less selfish than Mary Jane.