It was January 31st, 1998 when Spidey fans turned on their TV’s to see the final episode of Spider-Man: The Animated Series (commercials and all). In the ending of that episode, titled “Chapter II: Farewell, Spider-Man”, Spider-Man (voiced by Christopher Daniel Barnes) went with Madam Webb (voiced by Joan Lee) to find Mary Jane (voiced by Saratoga Ballantine), who was stuck in a limbo dimension. With a zoomed in close up of the Spider-Emblem as they started their journey, it cued ending credits.
Head writer and show-runner of Spider-Man: That Animated Series, John Semper planned out how this would start a season six. Unfortunately, Fox Kids didn’t pick up the series so the finale left us with a cliff hanger.
So the question remained “Did Peter ever find/rescue Mary Jane?”
There were two ways to look for an “answer”.
- October 2, 1999 Fox Kids gave us “Spider-Man: Unlimited”. The pilot showed Peter (voiced by Rino Romano) married to Mary Jane (voiced by Jennifer Hale). She wasn’t a regular on the show since all of the series featured Spider-Man on Counter Earth. Many fans considered THAT as canon to the series before, that Peter did find MJ. However, it was never officially considered canon though.
- John Semper pitched that story for Season 6, unfortunately the series was canceled. I forgot where, but you would have to pay to hear recorded dialogue from the cast on an outline he wrote up. It did feature Peter finding MJ (alternate universe London late 1800’s setting, Carnage involved), but it wasn’t broadcasted to the general audience. He wrote a final draft script in 2017 as a gift to fans because he wanted to give us the satisfactory ending we all desired. It’s not officially canon (at least according to Marvel). Although coming from the show-runner, that’s HIS story and he’s sticking to it.
So that’s what we had to go off on, but nothing really canon about it. After 26 years, the question has been answered that can be labeled as CANON in the Disney+ series X-Men 97…and that answer is…YES.
X-Men ’97 creator Beau DeMayo, has surprised a lot of fans (Season One, SO VERY GOOD!!!) and since this series is canon to OG 90’s X-Men series whose characters share the same universe as the 90’s Spider-Man series, Mary Jane is back at home with her husband Peter Parker watching the chaos that was being unleased during the X-Men 97 season finale. Oh look….there’s FLASH in the background!
There you have it. MJ was saved off camera by Spider-Man. After 26 years, I’ll take it. Christopher Daniel Barnes has thanked the fans for the undying support he has received since his version of Spider-Man made it’s first cameo in X-Men 97. No speaking roles, but he had this to say on his X/Twitter account.
So here’s hoping for that and maybe for Saratoga Ballantine to get a magical phone call too…
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@Chi-Town — I agree completely regarding the real Mary Jane’s marrying Peter. If Spider-man ’98 got made, I would love it if it just took it for granted that they got married off-screen, not only for their marriage per se, but it would be completely consistent with the way the series was headed. I wouldn’t want “relationship drama” to interfere with the status quo, because the series already established that they were meant to be. Given Marvel’s stance, if the show is profitable as expected, it could demonstrate that, not only are exciting and relatable stories with a married Spider-man feasible, there is a demand for them, as well.
I hope that hesitation on Marvel’s part to depict a married Spider-man would not be a factor in green-lighting the show, but Ultimate Spider-man is doing well, so I’d think whether Peter is married or not would be the least of Marvel’s concerns.
@Evan: I was debating as well if I should post this the day of, when that episode came out. Did a quick google search and there were tons of article out there spoiling it. I think we live in a world now that suggest you watch things first and THEN travel to the internet. Bill did a good job with the Spider-Man 98 article and hopefully those stories he has mentioned come to pass, if Spider-Man 98 ever gets made.
You are correct, Peter got married to the clone. Let’s not forget though, that clone knew how much the real MJ loved Peter, so it’s a safe bet that the real MJ would have said “YES” too. It’s a 26 year old cliffhanger that was FINALLY resolved. Peter finding MJ and bringing her home. I read JS’s script and didn’t really “like” it, but didn’t “hate” it either. Personally, I would tie in Spider-Man to an X-Men adventure, just to give investors an idea on this series can sell, which it will. Then start Spider-Man 98 premiere with “Enter the Sandman”. Peter and Mary Jane’s day at the beach is interrupted when Flint Marko appears to rob a bank.
@Chi-Town — I came to the Crawlspace this morning because I watched episode 10 of X-Men ’97 last night and thought I’d add a comment to Bill’s article about Spider-man ’98, since my main interest in that show was getting a resolution to that cliffhanger. I was starting to have second thoughts about that comment, because I didn’t want to potentially spoil anything for anyone, so thanks for beating me it. 🙂
It must be remembered, though, that we don’t know if this Mary Jane is Peter’s wife. If memory serves, the Mary Jane that he married in the show was the clone. One would hope that, upon finding Mary Jane again, they would certainly get married, but I guess we can’t say for sure — I don’t believe her left hand is visible in the clip. I will say, though, that I was very happy when I saw that cameo, and I thought, “Well…I guess I needn’t concern myself with HOW that happened.”
I seem to recall something about Mary Jane being in some sort of 19th-century Britain, as well. I’m not sure where I’d seen that, so I’m glad you can confirm.