Only One Spider-Man Adaptation Has Gotten Mary Jane Watson Right

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Spider-Man is the most famous "nerd" superhero, so it's extra funny that Peter Parker has also had so many girlfriends. But there's one woman who always comes back: Mary Jane Watson. MJ's been part of Spider-Man's world since her first on-panel appearance in "The Amazing Spider-Man" #42, by Stan Lee and John Romita Sr. It took a while for her and Peter to truly get together, but MJ's the girl Peter Parker eventually married, no matter what Marvel Comics editorial has been saying since the controversial arc "One More Day."

Mary Jane is so famous as the Spider-Man love interest that a lot of adaptations skip right to her, like the 1994 "Spider-Man" cartoon produced by John Semper, Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley's "Ultimate Spider-Man" comic reboot, and the Sam Raimi "Spider-Man" films, for instance. But to use the frequent "Archie Comics" comparison — the original Mary Jane is a Veronica, but a lot of later versions make her into a Betty.

The 1994 "Spider-Man" gives MJ (Sara Ballantine) her classic intro. Peter (Christopher Daniel Barnes) opens the door to meet her; he's gobsmacked, and she declares: "Face it, Tiger, you just hit the jackpot!" While the animated MJ had her comic self's red hair, acting career, and backstory with an abusive father, she didn't have the same spice or independence. She was a "nice girl," often hopelessly in love with Peter. "Spider-Man" skipped over Gwen Stacy, and MJ absorbed Gwen's personality, down to being thrown off a bridge by the Green Goblin. (Replicated in Raimi's "Spider-Man" and "Ultimate Spider-Man.")

Both Bendis and Raimi literally made MJ into Peter's girl next door. In "Ultimate," they're already best friends before Peter gets his powers, and he confides in her that he's Spider-Man in issue #13. They stay together (on-and-off) for the rest of the series. Raimi made MJ into Peter's lifelong crush, whom he was too unconfident to ever actually ask out.

Dunst's MJ is a compelling character (she likes Peter but won't wait to live her life for him), but she's more an adaptation of the MJ as she'd previously been adapted by Semper and Bendis. The one onscreen MJ who does feel ripped right out of the "Spider-Man" comics? Mary Jane in "Spectacular Spider-Man," as voiced by Vanessa Marshall.

"Spectacular Spider-Man" actually gives MJ her delayed introduction. In the comics, MJ is first mentioned in "Amazing Spider-Man" #15. Aunt May keeps trying to set an unenthused Peter up on a date with her best friend's niece. The punchline, of course, is that MJ is the most gorgeous girl Peter's ever set eyes on. (Romita based MJ on Ann-Margret, then the most famous redhead girl in America.) The show plays this gag out across episodes 4-6; the latter episode, "The Invisible Hand," concludes with MJ's debut, "Face it, Tiger," and all.

During "Spectacular Spider-Man," Peter's (Josh Keaton) love interest is set up as Gwen Stacy (Lacey Chabert). Series creator Greg Weisman, on his "Ask Greg" Q&A blog, said they were very deliberately following the comics here: 

"Well, if you read the original comics, Gwen was his first real love, and his (much later) relationship with Mary Jane was a DIRECT result of their shared grief over her death... We're trying to be true to all that, and more. So have a little patience.

In fact, it feels like Weisman was being subversive — or, if you prefer, restorative — and characterizing MJ in response to the movies changing her so much. On the "Spectacular Webs" podcast, Weisman said he understood the movie "simplify[ing]" the story, but also said that: 

"Mary Jane, from my point of view, in those movies, with the exception of the hair color and the fact that she calls him Tiger once a movie, is pretty much Gwen Stacy in personality... the funny thing for me, in the third movie, is that when they finally do introduce Gwen Stacy, she's like Mary Jane with blonde hair! For me, that just threw me a lot... with the additional bizarreness of it being that Kirsten Dunst in real life is a blonde and Bryce Dallas Howard in real life is a redhead!"

In "Spectacular Spider-Man," MJ is fiercely independent. She's a tease, but never mean. She'll flirt, but she doesn't want to commit. She's out to have fun and keeps people at arm's length because, as Weisman notes, she has a big heart, and letting people too close means there's a risk they'll break it. In the comics, Peter doesn't meet MJ until college; Weisman said part of characterizing MJ was "inferring" what she was like in high school. She isn't initially a student at Midtown, but transfers there in episode 9, "The Uncertainty Principle."

"Spectacular" MJ isn't a science genius like Peter or Gwen, but she's the wisest and most mature teenager on the show. "Life of the party" doesn't mean "airhead" — and MJ can read people as well as Peter does any book. Compare this with Zendaya's MJ in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, who is similarly smart but more fits the "teenage loner who thinks their peers are idiots" archetype.

Unfortunately, "Spectacular Spider-Man" ran for only two seasons even though the creators had a lot more planned. That means that the best adaptation of MJ never became more than a supporting character. Heck, the show didn't even get to finish Peter and Gwen's love story.

As recently as 2022, the Weisman (who is famously tight-lipped about spoilers, even for canceled projects) has refused to say what the series' plans were for Peter, Gwen, and MJ. But a lot of fans have concluded that, eventually, "Spectacular" MJ would have taken her rightful place as Peter's love interest.

In episode 16, "Reinforcement," MJ calls Peter one of her "favorite guys" — Peter then gets lost gazing in MJ's eyes, and she has to finger-snap him awake. Since the show was canceled, these hints didn't amount to anything. As for what Weisman has said, he noted on "Spectacular Webs" that "We know where MJ and Peter end up [in the comics]" and the show's path was patiently showing how they got there. In 2008 (when the series' future seemed bright), he also said that he was interested in exploring Peter and MJ's marriage "eventually." On the aforementioned podcast, Weisman explained MJ's current view of Peter like this: "Right off the bat, [MJ] sees [Peter] as someone with potential, so she won't let herself get close to Pete in anything but a platonic way, because he's risky."

"Risky?" Interesting choice of words. Another thing about comic MJ (as only adapted in "Spider-Man: Far From Home" so far) is that she discovered on her own that Peter is Spider-Man. She met, dated, and fell for Peter all while secretly knowing the whole him. The 1989 graphic novel "Spider-Man: Parallel Lives" (by Gerry Conway and Alex Saviuk) retold the early Spider-Man comics, but also cross-cut with MJ's early life to show what she was up to before Peter hit the jackpot. In "Parallel Lives," MJ is hesitant to even meet Peter because she doesn't trust a man who hides secrets.

Some fans have started reading between the lines of "Spectacular Spider-Man" and concluded that this MJ also knows Peter's secret identity. Considering how much the show pulls from all "Spider-Man" comics, Weisman must've been aware of "Parallel Lives." Of course, when asked directly if MJ knows Peter is Spider-Man, Weisman just said "No comment," and this will probably stay speculation for all time.

If nothing else, Vanessa Marshall deserves another chance as MJ. Just like Weisman and co. are the only ones who wrote classic MJ, she's the only actor so far who nailed the smart, sultry voice that Miss Watson deserves.