Who Is Paul? Spider-Man's Controversial Character From The Past Decade, Explained

If you've interacted with Marvel comic fans over the last few years, you may very well have caught some of them bemoaning how much Paul sucks. This isn't just a grievance directed at a random acquaintance — the Paul they're complaining about is more than likely Paul Rabin, one of Marvel's many notable ways to keep Peter "Spider-Man" Parker from ever catching a break in his relationship with Mary Jane Watson.

Spider-Man adaptations rarely get Mary Jane Watson right, but the comics have also been known to drop the ball — and Paul is arguably one of Marvel's biggest recent MJ-adjacent fumbles. He hails from Earth-23321, where his supervillain dad, the Emissary, has wreaked havoc with a god he released. Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson enter his world from their native Earth-616 when a conflict with their own Emissary extends into the multiverse. A Hail Mary move by Mary Jane saves the day, but sends Spidey back on Earth-616 while stranding her and Paul on the ruined Earth-23321 for four years. Life runs its course, and by the time Spider-Man can return to save them, MJ and Paul are a couple with two adopted children. (The children aren't actually real. It's ... a whole thing.)

Man buns and relationship drama aside, Paul initially seems like a helpful and supportive guy who's consistently on MJ's side. However, the more he's around, the more he starts to seem like a "Nicepool" trope straight out of "Deadpool & Wolverine." Combine this with the fact that the comics pretty explicitly use him to lock MJ and Peter — one of Marvel's premier power couples — in an off mode, and Paul is understandably highly controversial among the fandom. And let's face it: That "Peter, Paul, and Mary" pun is atrocious. You can do better, Marvel. 

Peter and MJ enjoyed a long, happy marriage before the infamous "One More Day" arc in 2007, which saw them make a deal with Mephisto: To save Aunt May's life, the two not only lose their marriage, but have never been married in the first place. MJ stayed around in various capacities, but it took until Nick Spencer's 2018 "Amazing Spider-Man" run for the pair's relationship to seem like it could reach the levels of old, to the point that fans were whispering about "One More Day" potentially coming undone. It didn't. Instead, Spencer's run ended in 2021, and Zeb Wells' subsequent run slapped us with Paul. 

Paul, in essence, is a bland collection of nice guy characteristics hot-glued together to act as the latest roadblock between Peter and MJ. For fans of Spidey's pre-"One More Day" life, he's also bad news, because the current editorial seems to have an affinity for such roadblocks. Consider this 2024 post on X by Marvel Comics Executive Editor Nick Lowe, discussing an issue of "Amazing Spider-Man":

"And sorry to disappoint all the Paul fans out there. Ran out of room to include the best new character in comics. Maybe later! KEEP READING, TRUE PAUL-IEVERS!"

In 2023, Lowe also answered a fan question about "One More Day" in "Amazing Spider-Man" #39. "As for 'One More Day,' we have mostly moved on, and I wouldn't hold my breath for an undo any time soon, but I'll never say never," he wrote. These don't seem like the words of an editor who's likely to let Peter Parker catch a break re: Mary Jane Watson, so there's a chance that the only thing fans can wait after Paul is ... another Paul.

In all fairness, Mary Jane Watson's life has been pretty odd as of late, even without alternate-Earth beardos catching heat from the fandom. During the Paul era, MJ (who has traditionally been a capable love interest/sidekick character rather than a full-on superhero) has adopted no less than two separate superhero identities. First, she operated as the latest incarnation of the superhero Jackpot, using a slot machine-like glyph device that Paul built. It allowed her a temporary access to a random power, which seems like a comic book writer's dream — and also serves to highlight Paul's less-than-awesome characteristics, given that the device actually has potential to kill MJ. 

MJ's Jackpot identity was comparatively short-lived, because she quickly became the latest host for Venom. Combined with a series of extremely comic book-y events and family tragedies, the presence of the strong Venom symbiote adds a layer of tension to MJ and Paul's relationship, and their romance eventually stretches to a breaking point. Mary Jane officially dumps Paul during the events of 2025's "All-New Venom" #9.

Marvel fans have traditionally hated storylines that drive an artificial wedge between Spider-Man and Mary Jane, and MJ getting randomly stranded on an alternate Earth with a hot guy certainly fits that bill. Paul's tenure is still too recent to ascertain whether his time with MJ will be remembered with the same vitriol as the deeply hated "One More Day" arc. Then again, even George R.R. Martin is still angry about that controversial Spider-Man storyline, so Paul is unlikely to go down in history as the worst creative move in Spidey history ... but he's equally unlikely to win character popularity contests any time soon.