While the industry is still figuring out what it wants to be when it grows up, another controversy has arisen… should Peter Parker still be married to Mary Jane?
COMICS OFTEN DON’T LIKE MARRIED CHARACTERS!
Every so often, we comics fans like to debate each other on subjects of our interest. Who would win in a fight, Superman or the Hulk? Should teams like the FF change their membership roster or stick with the original group? What’s better, using legacy numbering or restarting with number one’s every so often? You know, things like that!
Well, the recent thing that some of us fans have been “debating” is the relationship between Peter Parker, Spider-Man, and his previous wife, Mary Jane Watson.
For years, Marvel teased us with their relationship being consummated, which they did in that giant-size Spider-Man annual. Granted, there were other possibilities, like Gwen Stacy, now Ghost-Spider (what an awful name!), and Black Cat, among others. But MJ won Peter’s heart, at least for a while, and Petey tied the knot.
I remember that marriage because a local comics shop near me actually served wedding cake with that issue! I think they are STILL cleaning cake out of the issues they were selling at that time. So much for pristine condition! Never again!
Of course, I’m abbreviating this story by jumping ahead to the time when Mephisto did what some of us call a “spiritual annulment” of their wedding, wiping it out of existence. Since then, of course, there are a significant number of Spidey fans who want what they consider an “injustice” to be remedied, put Peter and MJ back at the altar!
In a recent Substack column of his, Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort was asked a question—“Is there a threshold that a book like Ultimate Spider-Man could reach that would cause editorial to say “okay, clearly the thing the audience is responding to is married Spider-Man, we should bring that back into main continuity?”
While Brevoort prefaced his remarks with “You never say never,” he went on to say, “I believe that we’ve concluded decisively that the best platonic ideal of Spider-Man is one that is unattached, and that conclusion isn’t going to be changed by a particular alternate interpretation momentarily performing well.” He pointed out that Amazing Spider-Man has been Marvel’s best-selling regular title for a decade and a half and that sales of that book “continue to click along just as they’ve consistently done.”
So, Spidey fans wanting MJ back with Peter aren’t going to see that happen any time soon, Brevoort seemed to indicate.
But this isn’t new in the comics universes! I could list several relationships that apparently were going to come to fruition, as it were, but the powers that be simply don’t think fans are as interested in married heroes or heroines. Yes, you do remove a potential storyline if the person has a regular partner, and the ones in charge of many comics companies just don’t think that’s as appealing as someone who is still looking.
Batman and Catwoman, anyone?
NOTABLE EXCEPTIONS!
Look, there have been several successful married couples in comics, and that includes, of course, Reed and Sue Richards from the Fantastic Four, Superman and Lois Lane, and many others like Wally West and others. Yes, you can throw a wrench into the works of their relationships, but when push comes to shove, they are NOT turning away from those wedding vows.
I just mentioned the Batman and Catwoman relationship, and that possible wedding that never happened still bothers me. All that build-up just so they could turn from each other and jump away in different directions in the dark. Bleh.
I always point back to the wonderful Kurt Busiek Superman story where Clark Kent had fallen so far behind in his job duties because he was busy saving the world that he was given an ultimatum by Perry White: Turn in this one story by 5 p.m. today or you’re fired!
Of course, his Superman duties again got in the way, and when he finally got home, dejected, he told Lois that he was no longer employed at the Daily Planet since he hadn’t met that deadline. She responded that he indeed HAD met that deadline, which puzzled Clark. Turns out Lois “ghosted” the story that needed to be done, so she had saved his job.
To this day, that story still touches me. A helpful spouse who saves the one who usually does the saving. Love that! I wouldn’t mind reading more of that kind of story, actually!
SO, SHOULD PETER AND MJ BE MARRIED?
I still have friends who talk about having Marvel “Mephisto” some storyline they don’t like or want to significantly change. That means, make it so it never really happened.
While I get the notion that unattached adventurers are often more fun to read because they can get into more tangled situations more easily than someone who is attached, I also think that, if we truly want to read diverse stories, we need to have more who are in committed relationships. If every person in comics is single, that’s truly not very representative of people today. Granted, about 50 percent of marriages do end in divorce, but we often forget the other 50 percent who are still in those relationships. We need to see people struggling to meet those needs as well as how single people are doing. Let’s see some of that kind of diversity, I say!
So, Mephisto, undo what you undid! Make Peter win at least in one arena, when it comes to MJ! And if you ever get to DC, get Batman and Catwoman together, okay?
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