All the Weird Ways to Adapt Mary Jane

Spectacular Spider-Man still has the best MJ. She’s the one that feels the most like the comic character. Both from the introduction where both Spectacular and Comics present her that the perfect girl for Peter, and how they expand on her relationships with the rest of the cast and Gwen specifically. She has that energy that made her so charming and the sincerity that came from her later and more modern years.

It's worth pointing out that the idea for MJ to have had an abusive father isn't something that the Sam Raimi films came up with; it was borrowed from the 80s Spider-Man comics (starting with Amazing Spider-Man #259 iirc). So in a way, it was faithful to the source material, just not specifically the Stan Lee era.

In the comics, Mary Jane did come from an abusive home. In later comics, they expanded on her past by saying her Dad was abusive, and her whole party girl act was an escape

I think Mary Jane from spectacular Spider-Man is my favorite adaptation besides the comics

I always saw MJ as part of a trinity of sorts. Gwen is represents Peter’s intellectual equal, a woman who can understand Peter’s mind. Felicia represents his power side and the genuial freedom being Spiderman brings. But she also shows the dark side of being Spiderman, she makes Peter forget his responsibility and duty, showing that the dangers of power. But MJ she is normality. She’s down to earth, has normal problems and isn’t super powered (at least originally). Many times, Peter is wishes to be normal, to have a normal life and maybe hang up the suit. That’s why she always slips away in the original comics, because with Peter’s life that is unattainable.

We have -Party Girl -Sassy teen -Some girl -Lois Lane

"Mary-Jane is the most powerful anchor that grounds Peter Parker's world" I liked that conclusion, Spider-man has been adapted a lot of times over the decades, and even through some aspect of Peter Parker change in every adaptation, at it's core he's the same dorky young lad, so you need his love interest to be this modern girl (or woman, if your Peter is young asult), a bridge guiding how his unchanging core adapts to the ever-changing moment.

2:03 Interesting commentary on MJ vs Gwen in the Raimi trilogy. What’s funny also is that Kristen Dunst naturally has blonde hair and dyed it red for the role, and Bryce Dallas Howard naturally has red hair and dyed it blonde…

Spectacular is my favorite. Because of the slow burn and the fact she’s not immediately his love interest but there’s clearly something there. Like Greg Weisman said, we know those two are destined, but the goal was to make us love Gwen first just like Peter, so she had a presence in the world BUT wasn’t just there for him.

Sometimes I miss the extroverted model Mary Jane, I feel most incarnations of Mary Jane now borrow from the ultimate comics where Mary Jane was like Peter

Setting aside my praise for Spectacular's MJ, I liked that 2017 made her a student athlete as a contrast to Peter's nerd. Too bad she was introduced very late in the series (aside from her cameo as the school's mascot) so her and Peter becoming a couple felt very rushed.

I think my issue with the different adaptations of MJ is that there are so many. With someone like Lois Lane we all know how she's supposed to be and who she is. With MJ there's a lot less consistency.

I love how the video game MJ montage ranges from “Save me Spider-Man” to “I have a f*ing gun”

My favorite version of Mary Jane is the TAS. I specially like how the show goes step beyond other adaptations and actually explore Mary Jane past (including her relationship with her father and Hydro Man obsession with her), as well showing her being badass (she gets kidnapp but also has moments where she is able to handle her problem by outsmarting villains like Hydro man and Kingpin henchmen)

I remember hearing a theory that Mary Jane in Miles's universe was going to shoot Kingpin in Spider-Verse. People were wondering what she was doing in that party and what with Mary Jane most likely knowing who Kingpin was (since her husband was REALLY REALLY open), it would make sense for her to make an assassination attempt. Hopefully we get confirmation about that because if so, that'd add even more weight to Kingpin being arrested.

It's always been hilarious to me that Spectacular had the best MJ but it was also the only time she wasn't the main love interest, another reason why it sucks we never got more seasons since we didn't get to see that happen

I do understand where you're coming from with Raimi's version of MJ, but a lot of the creative choices for her are from later runs, such as her abusive home life. I think the direction Spider-Man 3 took with her could've been salvaged if they delved into how her history of abuse effected her reactions to bad reviews for her stage plays, instead of it just being seen a couple of times in the previous movies. I don't think Raimi MJ is terrible (at least not until Spidey 3), but I do get your trepidation for her since she didn't display the countercultural attitude she displayed in her debut in the main comics.

6:00 Actually, Weisman and the other showrunners have said that, despite wanting to end the series with Peter and Mary Jane getting married, they would not kill Gwen Stacy, meaning that she and Peter would probably just break up and Peter would eventually develop a relationship with Mary Jane, with Gwen coming to accept his decision.

model MJ > journalist MJ

I wish Spectacular Spider-Man kept going until it's natural ending