Panel(s) of the Day #1529 (Mary Jane Monday!)

8 Comments

1. @Adam – But before she met him, the only things she knew about Peter were what May and Anna told him, and her seeing him next door when she was visiting Anna. She would have no idea what he was actually like, having no interactions with him, or never being around him when he was interacting with other people, like “friends” in high school.

2. @Aqu@: My thoughts exactly. It’s worth noting that Peter also had his own idea of what Mary Jane would be like based on how Aunt May talked about her.

3. @Aqu – But all MJ would have to go for her knowing what Peter was like in high school was brief glances at him in the yard when she was staying at Aunt Anna’s, which was not regularly. She never saw him when he was actually at high school.

   Even Parallel Lives says that she only had brief glances of him doing stuff like raking the leaves, and she thought he was cute. It wasn’t until she saw him leave his bedroom as Spider-Man that she really started paying attention to Peter.

4. Or maybe she did have an idea, exactly because she stayed at her aunt’s house and visited aunt May at least once (I recall maybe twice, but I don’t have time to check). It’s not that far a stretch.
   Fair or not, one does not need to meet someone in person to have an idea of what that person would be like.

5. @Aqu – Before the retcon, it was established that MJ had not met Peter until the “Face it tiger” scene. While she sometimes stayed at Aunt Anna’s house, she did not live there. So she had no idea what Peter was like in high school.

6. Well, their aunts tried to get them to know each other when Peter was still in high school. I remember this hilarious scene where both Liz and Betty go to Peter’s house only to find Mary Jane and be amazed by her beauty (but we readers don’t see her face). I checked and it was in issue 25, while he graduated in issue 28.
   So, it wasn’t properly a retcon. MJ was around when he was still in high school, even if she never met him in person until later.

7. I thought the same thing, Hornacek. I second-guessed my knowledge (or lack thereof), as usual, so I didn’t say anything.

   So thank you for that!

8. “When we were in high school, you were demon dull.”

   But MJ didn’t meet Peter until he was in college. Yes, they retconned it that MJ knew who Peter was when he was a young teenager, but that was done years later. At the time of this issue that wasn’t a thing yet, so MJ wouldn’t know Peter as a high schooler.