Character Study: Mary Jane Watson

Mary Jane Watson: A Character Study

By

Paul Adams

Love interest characters come in all shapes and sizes, but probably one of the few names that rises to the top of that list is Peter Parker/Spider-Man’s neighbor, friend, best friend, on-again-off-again girlfriend, wife, and then acquaintance courtesy of the demon Mephisto and certain meddling Marvel execs, Mary Jane “MJ” Watson. Mary Jane has seen multiple iterations throughout the life of the Spider-Man franchise, including her original appearance in the Amazing Spider-Man comics, the Ultimate Marvel alternate universe, appearances in all television series based on Spider-Man, Kirsten Dunst’s portrayal in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movie trilogy, an almost-appearance by Shailene Woodley dropped from the ill-fated Amazing Spider-Man 2, and the most recent sort-of portrayal by Zendaya in this year’s Spider-Man: Homecoming. In this essay, I intend to examine Mary Jane, her character traits, why she works as a character, and ultimately why Zendaya’s version has been the best adaptation so far.

Mary Jane first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man issue #42, a few issues after the debut of long-running supporting cast members Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn. At this point, Peter and Gwen were just starting to develop a romance, so in entered Mary Jane, a flirty party-girl whose first and foremost role was to present an obstacle in the budding relationship. Mary Jane stepped onto the scene with a cheeky “Face it, Tiger, you just hit the jackpot.” From then on, Mary Jane became a constant presence in Peter’s group of friends, striking up a relationship with Harry, a friendly rivalry with Gwen, and never passing up a chance to hit on Peter.

The key characteristic I could use to describe Mary Jane would probably be “aloof.” Mary Jane didn’t seem to truly care about anyone or anything, she just wanted to party. If anyone tried to talk to her about anything more serious than a recent catchy song, she would brush them off, telling them that they were “killing her groove.” Contrast her flighty personality with straight-laced good girl Gwen, and it is clear that the writers were going for someone who was the obvious “wrong girl,” someone to show readers “Hey, isn’t Gwen just so much better for Peter?” Mary Jane’s shallow persona came to its peak in Amazing Spider-Man #97, when Harry, her supposed boyfriend, is going through a personal crisis and she simply flakes him off, telling him that she was never really interested in him, and flirting with Peter right in front of him. This contributes to Harry’s near-lethal drug overdose later that same issue.

The first major turning point in Mary Jane’s character arc comes in Amazing Spider-Man #122, the first issue following the landmark issue “The Night Gwen Stacy Died,” an issue that would change Spider-Man’s story and the comic book world forever. Following Gwen’s death after being pushed from the Washington Bridge by Spidey’s archnemesis, the Green Goblin, Spider-Man becomes consumed by revenge, leading him to track down and murder the Goblin himself. After the fatal encounter, Peter walks away, feeling no satisfaction from his deed, only a profound sense of loss and emptiness. When he returns home, he finds Mary Jane waiting in his apartment, intending to console him over the loss of her, at this point, best friend. Instead, she finds herself the brunt of all of his frustration and anger and despair, railing on her for her shallow antics and flakey approach to life, and orders her to get out before collapsing onto his couch in tears. Mary Jane, incensed, marches to his door, fully intent on slamming the door behind her, only to stop herself. She shuts the door gently. We are left with the image of Peter and Mary Jane, Peter on the couch and MJ leaning against the door frame, both in tears over Gwen’s death.

From this point on, Peter and MJ find themselves the only members of their old group of friends that they can rely on. Gwen is dead, and Harry has suffered a complete mental breakdown due to another drug overdose and the death of his father, the aforementioned Green Goblin. Mary Jane tries to keep up her aloof, carefree persona, but just can’t help herself as she watches Peter spiral into depression. She finds herself spending more and more time with Peter, and having to take on the role among her friends she once rejected, the one who takes things seriously and keeps it all together. This all culminates in issue #143 when Peter and MJ share a kiss and realize deeper feelings for each other. Their romance plays out for the next long stretch of the series until Peter attempts to propose in issue #182, shaking Mary Jane and leading her to break off their relationship and leave New York entirely, not to be seen again until issue #242.

After MJ returns, we begin to see the greatest growth and focus on her character. In Amazing Spider-Man #257, Mary Jane walks in on Peter in his Spider-Man costume, revealing to him that she had known his secret identity since before she had actually met him, watching him swing from his Aunt May’s window from her Aunt Anna’s house right next door. In issues #259 and a three-part story arc in issues #290-292, we delve deep into Mary Jane and learn where she came from. We learn that Mary Jane grew up under the hand of an abusive father who physically beat her mother and emotionally manipulated her and her sister. After her mother’s death and her father’s incarceration, Mary Jane ran away to live with her Aunt Anna, determined to never let herself become emotionally attached to anyone or anything ever again, resulting in her flighty, aloof persona. When she met Peter and learned his identity, she developed an immediate crush on him, but pressed it down until the circumstances following Gwen’s death forced her to actually care about Peter. When Peter proposed, Mary Jane realized how attached she had become and ran away.

Ultimately, Mary Jane faced her father and the life he had put her through, Peter at her side. Mary Jane let go of her personal issues and accepted Peter’s proposal. The pair were finally married in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21.

The romance between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson contains many of the elements that tend to make for a truly great romance. Two people, with their own lives and interests, steadily growing to love and complete one another. Unlike many of the more cliché Hollywood romances, both characters were developed in their own right and went through their own character arcs over the course of the story not directly related to the romance itself. A major contributor to this, I feel, is the fact that Mary Jane was never intended to be Peter’s love interest in her initial conception. Gwen Stacy was, and that’s what she remained, a generic love interest character whose every character arc hinged entirely around her relationship with Peter. Mary Jane however was her own character, given her own character arcs, and her relationship with Peter developed naturally out of those character arcs.

Let’s now examine the portrayals of Mary Jane throughout movies and television. In the 1990’s cartoon, she bears many similarities to comic book MJ, if a little toned down. She is introduced as a bit of a rival to his current love interest Felicia Hardy, but it rarely goes much beyond that, and she quickly becomes his primary love interest. She also tends to take over certain Gwen Stacy scenes, such as being dropped from the Washington Bridge by the Green Goblin (surviving said encounter). Kirsten Dunst’s portrayal in the Sam Raimi movies, however, leaves much to be desired. Considered by many to be one of the few less-than-stellar parts of the trilogy, Dunst’s Mary Jane is more of a conglomeration of Peter’s various love interests throughout his comic career, bearing the trademark red hair, name, next-door neighbor status, abusive father, and general career goals of Mary Jane, while taking Liz Allan’s role as “most popular girl in school,” Gwen Stacy’s generic “good girl” persona, and Betty Brant’s role as his first real love. Mary Jane is presented right off the bat as Peter’s only love interest, the only girl he ever loved, and her character arc throughout the series is hinged entirely around her relationship to him. In short, the love interest who was written to be an anti-love interest became the poster child for “the generic love interest.” There’s a reason I call that phenomenon the “Mary Jane Effect.” Once again, she also took over Gwen’s role of getting dropped from the Washington Bridge, surviving as before.

In the Amazing Spider-Man reboot series, Gwen Stacy was cast as the love interest, and was specifically written to contrast with Dunst’s bland portrayal of Mary Jane. Shailene Woodley was cast to appear in the second film of the franchise as Mary Jane, only for her scenes to be cut entirely. Finally, Marvel bought back the rights to Spider-Man in order for him to become part of their now 17+ film franchise, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, complete with his own film Spider-Man: Homecoming.

In enters Zendaya’s Michelle Jones. Despite the name change, skin color change, lack of red hair, and general vague denials that she is really Mary Jane, it quickly became clear that that is exactly who she is, culminating in her comment toward the end of the movie that her friends call her “MJ.” We start the movie with Peter Parker in high school, specifically a high school for gifted students, with a best friend named Ned Leeds, a crush on the popular girl Liz Allan, and a bully named Flash Thompson, all slight variations on their comic book counterparts. In amongst their class ensemble we have Michelle, presented as a quirky loner who likes to sit quietly in the corner and read or draw in her sketchpad, throwing out random sarcastic comments here and there throughout the movie.

Now, on the surface, all of this seems to be a vast departure from the Mary Jane of the comics, but I am here to argue that she is, in fact, a Mary Jane finally done right. First of all, the obvious is that she is not Peter’s object of affection but a minor character among his group of friends who puts herself off as aloof and detached from any real personal relationships, who actively avoids forming serious bonds with anyone. While comic book Mary Jane may have demonstrated these traits by being a social butterfly and party girl, and movie Michelle demonstrated them by being a social recluse and outcast, the underlying motives behind their respective actions are still there, still the same. Mary Jane and Michelle both distance themselves from serious relationships and both tend to turn everything into a joke to hide their own insecurities.

Like her comic book predecessor, Michelle’s true depth tends to come out through subtext. While we may not know yet if her social handicap is a direct result of an abusive father like the comics, we do see an inherent loneliness in her, exemplified in her final scene of the movie in which she tells the other kids that her friends call her MJ. In response to one stating that he thought she didn’t have any friends, she states that she didn’t, “until now.” At one point, in a detention scene, she states that she enjoys drawing people in a state of crisis. This may also be a nod to her own trauma, but I am reticent to call it more than just a one-liner at this point.

Another intrinsic feature of Mary Jane is her secret attraction to Peter and her knowledge of his secret identity. Throughout the movie, her attraction to Peter is subtle but clear. Even though she is generally apart from everyone else, she is always closer to Peter and Ned in group scenes than anyone else. At several points, one can see her eyes following Peter with a slight hint of concern, including at the dance in the climax and at the scene in the end of the movie. Early on, she even admits to knowing specific details about his schedule, followed by a quick “I’m not obsessed with him or anything. I’m just very observant.” It’s all very subtle, but it’s there.

As for knowing his secret, the evidence is even more negligible, but still enough that if that is the direction the filmmakers go in later installments, viewers will be able to go back and point out said evidence. First of all, by her own admission, she is very observant, and tends to be specifically observant of Peter. Multiple times throughout the film, her eyes follow Peter (as stated before), almost all of which are during times when he is running off to become Spider-Man. And several times, in crowd shots when Peter and Ned are whispering to each other about Peter’s double life, Michelle just happens to be sitting right behind them, completely within earshot. She even slightly teases him a little just before he runs off at the end of the movie with the possibility that he might be hiding something. Again, very subtle, but still reasonably there.

Now, obviously, this is all “early-series” Mary Jane, if you will. It’s easily possible that the filmmakers will completely botch it in the second and third films of the new series or not pursue these plot threads at all. And I’m not entirely convinced of Zendaya’s ability to pull off the more complex and emotional moments of Mary Jane’s character (I’ve seen a bit too much Disney Channel for that). But if they are pursuing this story line, which I believe they are, they have done a fine job laying down the groundwork for what could be a strong and faithful adaptation of one of my favorite Spider-Man characters. It seems clear to me that the writer, at least, has taken the time to really understand who Mary Jane is, what makes her work, and why she works. The writer understands that Mary Jane can never be a great character as long as she is a standard superhero love interest in the same vein as Lois Lane, Pepper Potts, Jane Foster, or Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane. I walked away from that new movie feeling as though someone finally got the character. And, well . . . that makes me happy. It really does.

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