Mary Jane Heads To Iron Man

57 Comments

1. ” but it also might be a giant swerve manufactured to make you angry.”

   Ugh….I know this, and it still works.

   @42 “That was not an insult. I was just making sure that he knows that calling her Mary Jane Watson-Parker despite knowing that this is not her name is ignorant.”
   Actually it literally and specifically isn’t ignorant. Calling her that while being oblivious to the destruction of the marriage would be ignorant, but ignorance requires a lack of knowledge. He doesn’t have a lack of knowledge. You went out of your way to prove he wasn’t being ignorant, and succeeded. He just has a different opinion than yourself on how to approach the character now. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ignorant

   Further, depending on your interpretation of time and causality in a world where altering the timeline is possible, they ARE still married. They made a vow, ’til death do us part, and never died. If the marriage were completely erased from the timeline, Mephisto would’ve fallen into a paradox as he never would’ve been given the motivation to use his powers to split them up. Similarly, part of the point as listed in OMD was so that Mephisto could enjoy watching “The small part of their souls that remember” (paraphrased from memory). They obviously can’t remember something that never happened, so we’ve established that on some small level the old timeline still exists. Thing is, marriage vows don’t have a clause for this situation. If an ultra powerful character from another plane of existence artificially altered the timeline so that we had never gotten married, as soon as my memory is restored, I personally would consider us still married regardless of what Washington state’s record books might say.

   So you could very well argue that her name is still Mary Jane Watson-Parker, but nobody remembers this including herself. It depends on how far you want to interpret Mephisto’s dialogue in OMD.

2. agreed with most of the above.

   as i said if she and tony are in a romantic relationship it will cause a lot of resentment, with is why it will not happen. but we need to remember that worse has happened before…

   speaking in a meta sense this situation, at least at the moment, is a good thing for all the involved.

   people are talking about the new iron man comic.

   people are talking about spider-man, because you cant talk about MJ without mentioning spider-man.

   and people are talking about MJ, the interest in her is all on now with is good for her as a character and for the fans that hope to see her with peter again.

   all these flames are going to call attention to and boost the sales of both comics, maybe not as much for spider, but his name is in the news and that means more sales.

   all we know about their relationship is that is new terrain for both and that when she enters the comic in December tony’s world will never be the same again.

   what do you think these things mean?

   what could be new for both ?

   how could MJ make such a big impact?

3. @#47: In an earlier interview Bendis this went down:

   “Penagos asked Bendis about the supporting cast, particularly the new love interest. “There are new characters in the book, and there are other characters from other Marvel books that will be in the book – and it’s not Kitty Pryde,” said Bendis. “Kitty is now one of the Watchers or something – I forgot what we did with her. There are surprise characters in the Marvel Universe that have never been in ‘Iron Man’ before and they’re major players in the Marvel Universe. I’ll give you a hint: Tony really likes redheads.””

   That heavily alludes to the idea that MJ will be Tony’s love interest.

   There is literally no scenario where a romance between Tony and MJ could be great because when you look at MJ and Tony they would not go for one another, particularly for MJ. MJ dropped her Mommy dependant drug addict boyfriend in the 1960s. A former alcoholic, despressive who’s had multiple suicide attempts and tried to arrest her and her family (including someone she still cares about and is her oldest friend) and would throw her into a much worse situation in terms of danger than she had with Peter whom she apparently left precisely because of that? No. That’s nuclear levels of character betrayal well beyond simple shipping of two preferred characters. And if it’s out of character it is automatically bad writing because being egregiously OOC is the single biggest writing sin that could ever be committed since we read these FOR the characters themselves.

   To sum up my feelings:
   • If she is just Tony’s friend, worker, maybe even confidant and not romantically linked with him
   • If she isn’t changed as a character to such an extent that she cannot as effectively if at all serve the same functions she’s served in Spider-Man (no whacky space adventures, keep her down to Earth)
   • If she isn’t going to be under Bendis’/the Iron Man office’s control so completely that the Spider Office can’t get her back more or less whenever they want
   • If she doesn’t become a primarily Iron Man associated character to the point where she is integral to Iron Man
   • If she doesn’t become a superhero
   • If she doesn’t get spun-off
   • If she doesn’t become a general roaming Marvel Universe character like Nick Fury or Wyatt Wingfoot or the Watcher
   • If she isn’t regressed (so none of this Playboy Tony has her revert mainly to party girl MJ, screw her 80s development)
   • If she isn’t written in a way which egregiously ignores her history
   • If this doesn’t last beyond 5 years like it did with Norman
   • If ostensibly she can go back to being a Spider-Man/Peter Parker supporting character as she was before but maybe with some nice character development which doesn’t compromise (and hopefully advances) her roles/functions as a Spidey supporting character (which goes beyond just being a love interest for the record)…
   …I will be okay with this.

4. the main problem that anyone has with this is the potential romance. it was never confirmed nor denied that she will be a love interest.

   it is something that i really don’t want to see.

   but remove that factor and there’s little disapproval about this development.

   not sure were i heard that tony will be growing up and tring to have a serious relationship; it was also said that he will have a new love interest:

   “Relations between Tony and Pepper Potts are strained after the events of The Superior Iron Man, with Pepper vowing to wage a PR war against Tony and his Extremis 3.0 drug. It doesn’t sound as though the two will have reconciled by the time the new series kicks off. Instead, look for Tony to find a new love interest in this series, as well as a new supporting cast that will include some familiar Marvel faces. Bendis even teased that there will be a new redhead in Tony’s life.”

   nothing says that the new love interest and the new supporting cast are the same.

   nothing says that the red head is the love interest.

   nothing says its not.

   i also read:

   In addition to his weaponry, Iron Man’s also getting a larger cast of characters, many of them new. Fans of Stark pals Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan will get to see them again at some point, but Bendis says he is instead focusing on introducing folks such as a love interest “who is smarter than him,” the writer says. “He can’t just be snarky Tony Stark and woo her. He’s got to earn her, and even that’s a challenge.

   smarter is a broad term, could be MJ could be not.

   Bendis says that their relationship will be something new for both. wath could be new for both of them?

   also we know that when she appears ” tony’s world will never be the same again”

   what does this means ?

   if they don’t go the romantic route it could be a great saga. if they do go for the romance, it could also be great, but it will create quite a bit of resentment in the fans that may be harmful in the long run.

   anyways if her appearance in December doesn’t somehow kills the romance possibility it will be something that will stretch along the next six months at least. with quite probably is what will happen.

   we can only hope that our Christmas gift from marvel is not a blade to the heart.

   in the end not knowing is the worse part. until more news appear, and i don’t think they will, we can only wait.

   hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

5. @#25: I don’t think making characters permanent placements in other books for the sake of the shared universe is a good thing at all. Guest appearances or just going to Reed Richards for science help or Matt Murdock for legal help or Night Nurse for medical help, cool.

   But having all the characters mingle as opposed to being tethered to their core places in the Marvel universe dilutes the characters and makes crossovers, guest appearances and the like less meaningful. I feel the same way about Kitty Pryde and Venom being in Guardians. Why on Earth are those characters out of the context of Spider-Man and X-Men which they were created for and where they belong?

   Its like a branding thing. You know the deal with each character because of the worlds they come from. Spider-Man’s characters are generally street level down to Earth people who’re his friends, family and co-workers. The X-Men are mutant freedom fighters. The FF are scientist celebrity explorers and so on. Avengers are Knights of the round table global/galactic saviours. Mixing them all over the place takes away from that identification and definition because it makes them too fluid as opposed solid, reliable, characters you can hang a clear hook on.

   I think we can safely say MJ does work best in Spider-Man for the very simple reason that’s where her most significant relationships are (not just Peter) and because she has been created and defined by that world. Even Kingpin who was transferred over to another series was transferred over to a series very similar to Spider-Man’s and he didn’t even have any innately important hooks and ties to Spider-Man’s world that he couldn’t bring with him into Daredevil. Iron Man’s world is not the down to Earth/street level place Spider-Man’s is where there is a load of domestic drama. Its more executive, upper class, technology driven and corporate, and includes mystical characters like Mandarin, aliens like Fing Fang Foom etc. Not exactly the struggling to pay rent everyday people stuff that is part of Peter and MJ’s appeal.

   I agree MJ is more than Peter’s girl (just look at the Silver Age and the 1980s before the marriage), but her relationship with Peter is a very important part of her character and visa versa. They are both more developed and fleshed out by being in some kind of friendship/confidant/love interest relationship with one another than separated. Even in Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane which despite the title wasn’t simply about MJ’s romantic relationship with Peter or Spider-Man that was important and helped develop her character. This is partially because her origin story was literally designed to work in compliment to Peter’s origin and Peter’s character. Again, it’s like transferring over Norman to being an Iron Man or an Avengers villain. It would never work as well as it does by pairing him up with Spider-Man. I mean if they tried that it’d just be patently ridiculous wouldn’t it…and could you imagine if Bendis had a big hand in that too?

   Despite all this I’m okay with MJ being written well and even developed in Iron Man so long as it will not make her an Iron man character and she could not only go back to the Spider Books but also report primarily to them. It wouldn’t be like the Iron Office has first say over the character.

   But should she, Jonah, Norman, Flash, Harry, Alfred, Lois, Joker, Jimmy Olsen, etc be Marvel/DC universe general characters as opposed to Spider-Man, Superman, Batman, etc characters? No. They are first and foremost characters who belong to their respective franchises and are parts of those worlds, not free roaming entities unto themselves with the same kind of independence and as the characters they were created to enrich. This doesn’t mean they can’t be independent, but independent within the franchises they were created for. E.g. Alfred shouldn’t be treated as his own character the same way Batman or Nightwing are and become a Superman or Wonder Woman character or a solo-super hero.

   Jameson in Silk is a little more acceptable since Silk is a Spider-Man book in and of itself. I’d find MJ cropping up in Miles’ book or 2099 better to Iron Man. But even then not only is Jameson not as important as MJ to Spider-Man’s character, but I don’t think that’s good either. Though not as bad as Felicia effectively being Spider-Man’s Big Bad right now all so that Silk could have a villain. Same goes for Miles and Jess inheriting Peter’s rogue’s gallery when they both have their own villains. Hell Miles has his own VERSIONS of those same villains.

   I know Agent Venom has been popular. Norman in Avengers was popular for awhile too. That alone doesn’t make them good directions to take for the creative health of the series. I mean technically Spideypool might be popular.

   Its true MJ was a minor supporting character in the late 1970s but that was more or less for 2-3 issues and was happening when she chiefly reported to Spider-Man and had a very small role in Ms. Marvel by Conway. This is not the same thing.

   As for Sha Shan and the Untold Tales characters these are characters who’re relatively unimportant to Spider-Man and who haven’t appeared in years or decades. At the same time their potential narrative purposes within Spider-Man could still be easily fulfilled even if they are guesting over in Weisman’s series. Additionally Weisman doesn’t have the same pull Bendis does. Sad as it is he is not regarded as an A-list writer (in terms of his profile and sales ability) the way Bendis or Slott or Aaron are, even though he writes rings around them.

   @#31: MJ and Tony hooking up is innately OOC for them both. Therefore not interesting.

   @#34: I’d take Bendis writing MJ as the lesser evil over Slott or the BND writers (except Wesiman) writing MJ. But Bendis ignores character history (and we already need to do that to enforce a non-together Peter and MJ anyway) a lot and I do not forget what he did to Norman, the biggest Spider-Man villain. Now I am concerned he might do the same to the biggest Spider-man supporting character.

   With respect to the other people on the podcast…tough. If something is bad no one should tolerate or learn to live with it. It isn’t an obsession to want the series or the characters to be the best they can be. It’s no different from wanting and demanding loudly for Slott to leave or for other major problems in Spider-Man to be fixed like Norman and Aunt May not knowing. Getting sick of hearing the complaints doesn’t make the complaints any less valid because with this topic it truly goes beyond just people wanting to ship a ship and goes into the genuine creative health of the series. And if you want proof look at Spider-Verse’s negative reception regarding MJ, Mayday, etc vs the positive sales and critical reception of RYV. It’s like asking people to STFU about Lois and Clark being split up. No because that’s a big important part of the series and characters as well that renders Superman lesser without it too. Same with the New 52 generally. It’s mostly sucked and mostly been detrimental. That doesn’t mean the complaints about it are any less valid and the same would apply to someone complaining about Jean DeWolff being fridged or Venom’s confusing origin. More than this if the Cult of Gwen and the marriage haters got to bang their drums loudly for decades then by year 8 of the dark times its still an entirely valid thing to do.

   In particular I frankly think it is an entirely invalid thing to resent the character herself because of this. Batman doesn’t deserve to be resented because of the Batfanboys who hype him up to ridiculous degrees. Superman doesn’t deserve to be resented because of Superman fans who doggedly claim MoS was a masterpiece. Miles doesn’t deserve to be resented for being heavily promoted and talked about as though he deserves to be the prime Spider-Man of the MCU. Resent the fans if you must but not the character.

   As for it colouring our perceptions well for starters again, it’s an important aspect of the series and characters. MJ is to Spider-Man what Lois is to Superman. You don’t have Spider-Man in his completion without her and have regressed him. At the same time there are countless other reasons to deride the modern stuff outside the context of MJ and the marriage. It isn’t like Alpha and Spider-Verse sucked shit because of complaints involving the marriage. It isn’t like Superior wasn’t asinine and volume 3 was an incompetent and impotent portrayal of Spider-Man due to MJ. And as for the ‘good’ Slott has done, Slott is literally, objectively THE most damaging detrimental Spider-Man writer of all time. He just has enough whacky ideas and bombasticness to distract you from the Gradn Canyon sized holes in his writing.

   This is the man who in writing Peter Parker Paparazzi, ignoring his use of MJ in that story, had Spider-Man invade people’s privacy and take photos for money. That is brutal character betrayal of the highest degree. This is the man who crucified Black Cat in volume 3.

   @#36: Well from 2011’s Spider Island (one of Slott’s most acclaimed and biggest Spider-Man stories)-2013 MJ was appearing semi-regularly. So new readers may well care. Additionally she was easily the best written female character until Anna Maria showed up. At the same time positive responses to Slott’s ship teasing and Renew Your Vows indicate people do actually like MJ.

   See there is a tendancy to just dismiss everything as nostalgia. The only people who like MJ are the people who grew up on her. But that just isn’t true. MJ hit big in the 1960s when nobody could’ve grown up with her. She was popular in the 1970s when people were used to Betty and Gwen. She was popular in the 1980s when newer fans would’ve gotten used to Peter begin with Deb, Felicia or someone else. Mary Jane as a character unto herself clearly has innate appeal regardless of nostalgia.

   @#40: How dare a fan call a comic book character a name they personally prefer that isn’t a slur. A name which were the series to be course corrected would be entirely accurate. I suppose George is ignorant for calling Captain Marvel Carol too.

6. Oh well. I tried.

7. @-#43

   1. I Should’nt have to

   2. more fool you, The fact that you can’t get the characters name right, and the fact that you are doing it deliberately. Shows that any critical power you have on the subject is worthless.

8. @40 – “But you should know that calling her that is ignorant.”
   @42 – “I was just making sure that he knows that calling her Mary Jane Watson-Parker despite knowing that this is not her name is ignorant.”

   Having a great day today and feeling uncharacteristically magnanimous. I also recognize that you’re not saying I am ignorant, just that you believe something I’m doing is ignorant.

   That being said…

   1.) Unclench and take it down a notch.

   2.) In conclusion…

   

9. @ #41 Her name is NOT Mary Jane Watson-Parker, this is a FACT. Just because you dislike the name change, Does not mean it did not happen.

   That was not an insult. I was just making sure that he knows that calling her Mary Jane Watson-Parker despite knowing that this is not her name is ignorant.

10. @ #38- Aside from Spider-Man 2099, I’ve been done with Marvel for over a decade now. As for DC, I’ve never had much use for them, especially since their Baskin Robbins Nu-52 Flavors reboot. I only buy independents and back issues now…and I’m quite happy with that decision!

    @ #39- Why WOULDN’T you call her Mary Jane Watson-Parker? That is her name, after all…despite what Quesada, Slott, and co would have you believe.

    @ #40- Whoa…I’d watch yourself if I were you, Kcomicfan! You can disagree all you want, but I’d watch the insults. Mess with the bull, and you might get the horn!

11. @39- I don’t care if you call her that. But you should know that calling her that is ignorant.

12. @35 – “You might call Her Mary Jane Watson-Parker but that is not her name since technically the marriage never happened.”

    Yeah… still gonna call her that. 😎

13. After Secret Wars I’m done with Marvel for a while. I buy no DC comics now thanks to dumb ideas like this.

14. First issue of Iron Man they’ll have Mary Jane having sex with Tony Stark and Mary will say “God why did I bother with Peter.”

15. @34 We’ll never know. I’m one of those “shallow shippers” as I grew up with MJ and Peter married. It DOES color my opinion on current books. And who knows, maybe that’s why Slot keeps getting hired. New readers do not care about MJ so they like his stuff.

16. You might call Her Mary Jane Watson-Parker but that is not her name since technically the marriage never happened.

    The issue is not out yet, so there is no way of knowing how it will be handled.

17. I’m pretty mixed about this, but leaning on the positive.

    On one hand, I also see MJ leaving ASM as a big red flag.

    But on the other hand, she’s going to be handled by Bendis. I know he has his detractors, but I really liked what he did in “Ultimate Spider-Man” (albeit probably because I read the whole thing this year and didn’t have to wait years for a story line to be completed). And yes, I think he did a great job writing Mary Jane in that series.

    Granted, Ultimate Mary Jane is not exactly the same character as 616 Mary Jane, but still I think Bendis has a better grasp of the core of what makes her so likable than most recent Spider-Man writers.

    That being said, I’m really worried with Marvel as a whole regarding the character. The fact that no one had plans for her is a MASSIVE red flag, and the way both Marvel and fans are handling the whole situation is creating a civil war (no reference intended) that might be damaging long term.

    To give an idea of where I’m coming from, I have a comic and manga podcast that I make with some friends. Just yesterday we recorded a review of “Spider-Verse”, and the topic came up… and the debate wasn’t pretty.

    They told me that they were starting to get sick of this obsession of many fans with getting Peter and MJ back together, and they were starting to resent her because of it. 🙁 They see it as obsolete nostalgia at best and shallow shipping at worst, and they feel fans are letting this one aspect to color their whole perception of the character and by extension the comics, which prevents them from liking any other good things that Slott may be doing that they might like otherwise.

18. What… did Pepper Potts die or something?

19. I’m sure it will be a purely professional relationship. During the day MJ will be Starks PR person, at night she will be polishing Tony’s…armour 🙂

20. I like the idea of MJ jumping ship to Iron Man’s title. Something a little bit different and unique for her. I’m going to hope they remain as friends but I reckon Bendis could take it in an interesting direction if they do become a couple. Just have to wait and see how it all plays out.

21. @26

    I…wow…dat post, numbah 26.

22. @#25

    I like your nerve. You can’t even answer the MJ question, and now you bring Flash in it? One character at a time, please! For that matter, why DID Flash become Agent Venom, you want me to ask so badly…

    I’d take this further, but I think the last part of your comment pretty much sums up where you stand on the matter.

23. I’m going to wait and see. I don’t have any problem with MJ being in Iron Man, and I think she could add a fun dynamic. I wouldn’t want to see her hook up with Stark, but I don’t think that’s the direction they’re going. I’m not opposed to this; I’m neutral leaning towards optimistic.

24. It is funny. Marvel could have put her in almost any other comic and no one would bat an eye. Punisher, Captain America, Daredevil, Deadpool… They could have even revealed her as Thor instead of Jane Foster and people wouldn’t be as pissed, mostly because she would have made a better Thor. Instead, we now have to watch as she becomes another notch in Stark’s belt. I guess it’s still back to the newspaper strips for my Spiderman and MJ fix.

25. To those of you who have either waved a middle finger in the direction of marvel or are considering such action? You do realize Marvel has been doing the same to you for quite a while now, right?

26. #22:

    Then don’t ask what is the ^#(&ing point of a character if they aren’t married and an adjunct to another character. Did you ask the same question when Flash became Agent Venom ? “If he’s not Peter Parker’s former high school bully, what’s the $#(^ing point?”

    #24

    Marvel is taking all sorts of characters out of their core books and mixing them into other casts. It adds to the feeling of a larger, shared universe. I don’t see a problem with it. And we don’t know if Spider-Man is the only place where Mary Jane works “most effectively.” Her character since OMD has been pretty ineffective, because the Spider-office seems to think of her as a love interest/relationship spoiler/sales tease only and refuses to allow her a life of her own. If Bendis allows Mary Jane to be a fully fledged character in her own right and not just “the hot girl,” I’m all for it. She has far more story value than merely “Peter’s girl.” And while her history is intertwined with Peter’s, she also a character in the greater Marvel Universe and it should be fun to see her reactions to the various new situations.

    And I’ve enjoyed seeing Spider-Man characters in other books. The take on J. Jonah in Silk is pretty fun to read. Agent Venom has been popular. Greg Weisman is going to be using other classic Spider-Man characters such as Sha Shan in his book. And Mary Jane herself was a minor supporting character in Ms. Marvel back in the late 1970s.

    *shrug* I’m happy to wait to see the issues first before I flip tables.

27. @#15: MJ is absolutely more than just Peter’s wife. But I don’t think any major Spider-Man character should be moved out of the Spider-Man series like this period. Not Norman, not Flash, not Otto, etc. It’s not so much that she’s Peter’s wife so much as she is a Spider-Man supporting character and her deep history is primarily wrapped up in that world where it works most effectively. The same applies to Kitty Pryde being out of X-Men and with the Guardians along with Flash.

    @#20: As I said, them not caring is sad. But better she not show up than show up and be used badly which is what this will be if she either becomes a superhero or becomes romantically linked with Tony. Hopefully she will just work for him and be his friend.

    @#22: I don’t think MJ, like many Spider-Man characters, should just be popping up anywhere and everywhere in the MU. MJ and Peter both work better in the capacity of being in a relationship with one another and even disregarding that MJ has many relationships and connections within Peter’s world to villains and other supporting cast members. She’s grown to be a part of that world and designed for it. But I don’t think that her point is innately to just be Peter’s wife. It is one of her most significant roles and you can’t negate the impact it had on her character, but she is more than that because after all she wasn’t created to be that from the first and for awhile even after they dated she was just a supporting character. When he was dating Felicia she was there but not his wife/girlfriend. She wasn’t one note back then or in truth since the Drug Trilogy. She is an interesting character unto herself (supporting an AU solo-series) and that’s part of what made her a great match for Peter. But no I don’t think that should mean she or any major Spider-Man supporting character or villain should become independent to the point of roaming the wider Marvel Universe and become characters for other series.

28. It’s decisions like these that really make me just lose interest in marvel. I’m certain now at these annual “creative getaways” that the company has that one of the main points is not to tell organic interesting stories but to see just sensationalize everything and stir the hornets nest for publicity. I know someone at marvel thought “man people are already getting psyched and excited for renew your vows I got it!! 3 days after it’s over we’ll announce putting Mary Jane-Watson Parker with the one guy in the marvel universe who is the biggest womanizer!! People will flip their lids” it’s tiresome

29. @#15

    You mean ever since they f’ed her up, right?

    stop and think about what you just said…

    “But as for what is the character’s “point” – maybe the point is that she IS a character, and a well established one, and one with a deep history and lots of dimensions?!?!”

    You do realize that “history” would include when she had a meaningful relationship with Peter… AS HIS WIFE! before they f’ed her up.

    “Maybe the “point” is that female characters, much less real life females, are not and never should be defined just by their husbands/boyfriends, and have, I don’t know, lives of their own? Almost like they are individual human beings or something.”

    Part of what made her special was her interaction with Peter. It didn’t define her, it made her an interesting part of the overall story, and their relationship made you care about the characters and what happened to them. The marriage didn’t define her, it was an interesting part of the character’s history. It ADDED to her, making her more than one-note. But all that was pissed away by Marvel for the current status quo. And since then, what, if anything, has been done to make her this deep and involved character that you claim she suddenly is without it? You trying to turn this into a rant against female characters in comics isn’t gonna work here. Try again.

30. In all honesty, stuff like this is precisely why I’ve pretty much dropped the books altogether. Aside from Renew Your Vows, I ain’t buying nothing from Marvel.

    And y’ know, Marvel needs to count their blessings that their movies have been doing as well as they have been because if it weren’t for that…certain editors/writers would have been booted out a long time ago.

31. and yes, @PunyParker at least as you said he cared enough to actually make use of her.I just feel sorry for the title, it’s not what what it use to be.

32. With her leaving Spider-Man and the direction he’s currently been taken on, I have no reason to pick up the book any more.

33. At least Bendis cared to pick her up…….nobody else cared.Which just shows what a freaking mess is the Spider-Man office these days…..(“these days” meaning the past 8 years…)

34. @George Berryman

    Regarding when Bendis said this about Mary Jane “They know each other. She used to live in Avengers Tower.” If found it in The Amazing Spider-Man #650 and they weren’t married at the the time they were boyfriend & girlfriend, so, he was stating something that was canon.

    http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_super/3/35658/4800059-the+amazing+spider-man+650-017.jpg

35. So they turn Peter into Tony, and pair tony with MJ… WTF O.o ??? How does that makes sense? is Marvel run by Ravencroft’s patient?

36. #5

    She’s not Mary Jane Watson Parker. She hasn’t been since OMD, and Marvel would like you to believe she never had the name.

    But as for what is the character’s “point” – maybe the point is that she IS a character, and a well established one, and one with a deep history and lots of dimensions?!?!

    Maybe the “point” is that female characters, much less real life females, are not and never should be defined just by their husbands/boyfriends, and have, I don’t know, lives of their own? Almost like they are individual human beings or something.

37. Wait… hold on…

    Ex-WIFE?

    Perhaps we just got a hint of the consequences of Renew Your Vows after all…..

38. News like this just reinforces why I dropped my entire MU pull list.
    In the past I’d get mad, now, I’m just M’eh.

39. Yeah, that’s right, she is Mary Jane Watson-Parker.

    @5: Yeah that.
    I’m not pointing my middle finger, cramps hurt.

40. @#10: Spider-Verse made Mayday Parker relevant again and we all know how that turned out. It would’ve been better that she never appear. Relevancy isn’t the most important thing. Keeping the character true to themselves and healthy is. If she dates Tony then this would be damaging for MJ and better that she not appear. Its like Spider Island and the stories thereafter all over again. People were so gagging for anything with MJ or shipping her or Peter they took it no matter what it was. We shouldn’t just have the ‘at any cost’ mentality. There has to be a line drawn.

    And on this topic, George et al would it be possible that in the news segment or satellite reviews that you guys perhaps just summarize what is happening with MJ in Iron Man? You know kind of like how with New Warriors you guys sometimes just said “Kaine did this” and left the rest of the story alone.

    Obviously a full on review of the title wouldn’t be right since its not Spider-Man related but since MJ is such a big character and this seems to be an important development I feel many (myself included) would greatly appreciate just getting the news/your opinions on what’s happening with her over in that title.

41. You know what, George…. I’m glad to know that Bendis is going to make Mary Jane relevant again.

42. So that means Peter Parker will be stuck with Anna Maria(ugh!), Sanjani (double ugh!) and clayton while MJ becomes become Iron Man’s girlfriend/good friend? Screw this S**t!

43. @5- My middle finger was cut off a while ago. It started to atrophy since OMD happened.

    And why the #@$% is MJ in Iron Man?! They have absolutely nothing to do with each other than “MJ lived in Avengers Tower”! So… is Marvel really so desperate that they’ll pair up two characters that have absolutely nothing to do with each other?! No, wait, that’s Fanfiction… no, it’s Marvel… augh! They’ve blurred the line!

44. @3 – That was 16 months ago (in pre- and post-SW time). Pedro is long gone, along with all the other unresolved subplots in ASM Vol 3

45. @5 Amen

46. … lemme ask an honest question to anyone actually looking forward to this.

    If Mary Jane isn’t with Peter Parker/Spider-Man… HER HUSBAND, what the f*** is the point of Mary Jane Watson PARKER?!?!?!? Especially after Marvel suckered you in with Renew Your Vows? Who cares who’s writing her if she’s not where she belongs?

    Marvel, my middle finger is cramping up.

47. I’m just going to reiterate what I posted in her appreciation thread:

    On the one hand, not crazy about this new direction. On the other hand, Bendis will probably do right by MJ .

    On the one hand, wish MJ was in the Spider-Books. On the other hand, David Marquez drawing Mary Jane!

    I have no idea how to feel anymore…

48. Say, wasn’t MJ going out with that firefighter guy? Whatever happened to him?

49. @#2: Not if they are hooking up. If MJ is his P.A. or something…does that count as ‘new’. Or is them dating ‘new’. Whatever, because its so OOC for both characters I’m going to just use Van Lente logic to weather this. It is questionable this came out just 2 days after RYV wrapped up with a generally well received conclusion to a well received and VERY profitable series.

50. sounds good to me. Bring on Bendis writing MJ again.