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Mary Jane Watson

Mary Jane Watson-Parker is a fictional character in Marvel Comics' Spider-Man series, the sweetheart of series protagonist Peter Parker (Spider-Man), whom she affectionately refers to as "Tiger". She herself often goes by the nickname "MJ".

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

Mary Jane in comic books

Mary Jane Watson was Peter's third significant sweetheart, after Betty Brant and Gwen Stacy, but many adaptations and spin-offs skip those two.

She came from a severely troubled family with her father being a professor who was a frustrated writer who took it out on his family in the form of spousal and child abuse. As a way of coping with her hellish family life, Mary Jane kept up a facade as a superficial party girl to avoid the embarrassment. Eventually, the family divorced with Mary Jane coming to live with her Aunt next door to the Parkers. During that time, she spotted Peter and was unimpressed by the bookish nerd. That opinion changed dramatically on the night of Ben Parker's murder and Mary Jane saw Peter become Spider-Man for the first time. For years, MJ kept that knowledge to herself, but it certainly made Peter more interesting to her.

Mary Jane was originally an unseen character; the early issues of The Amazing Spider-Man featured a running joke about Peter dodging his Aunt May's attempts to set him up with "that nice Watson girl next door", whom Peter had not yet met and assumed would not be his type, since his aunt liked her. When he eventually met her, he was stunned by her beauty and dated her regularly, much to the annoyance of Gwen Stacy. However, her apparent superficiality proved to be an annoyance that her rival did not share.

When Gwen was murdered by the Green Goblin, MJ stayed with Peter during his mourning, and he focused more on her on the rebound as he recovered. However, she eventually moved on and Peter saw other women as his adventures continued. MJ eventually returned and her behaviour showed a marked change with her abandonment of her false front. She admitted her knowledge of Peter's secret identity and Peter found a new respect for her with her newly discovered maturity, making her his confidante.

He eventually married her, and Peter's surname made its way into her name. She was separated from Peter, but has not been divorced. After an unsuccessful acting career, she returned to Parker's apartment in New York City.

According to Stan Lee, MJ was originally intended to be simply a rival to Gwen. However, her character proved to be irresistibly compelling to the writers and artists which increased her use at the expense of Gwen.

In addition, MJ now has her own comic book, "Mary Jane", about MJ's teen years, taking place in its own continuity. "Mary Jane" is primarily a 'teen relationships' comic book, rather then a 'superhero' comic book, even though it explicitly takes place in a 'superhero' universe with Spider-Man playing a prominent role.

Mary Jane in film

In the 2002 film Spider-Man, the character of Mary Jane Watson was played by Kirsten Dunst.

In the film, Mary Jane is Peter Parker's only sweetheart. Harry Osborn is at first her boyfriend, but she manages to fall in love with Parker and his alter-ego, Spider-Man. After Harry sees them holding hands, he gets mad.

The Green Goblin, who is Harry's father Norman Osborn's alter ego, kidnaps her and holds her over the Queensborough Bridge. He tells Spider-Man that he must choose between her and a group of children caught in the Roosevelt Island tram car. Spider-Man manages to save both Mary Jane and the children. (In the comic book, it was Gwen Stacy that was held over a bridge, and Spider-Man's attempt to save her failed.)

The Green Goblin announced plans to torture and kill Mary Jane to Spider-Man during the climax, but he died before he had the chance to do that.

Parker shies away from Watson at the end of the film as he is afraid for her safety, and thus does not want to get involved with her.

In the 2004 film Spider-Man 2, Kirsten Dunst once again plays the role of Mary Jane Watson.

In the movie, Mary Jane wants to start a relationship with Peter Parker. Peter backs away from a relationship with her even though he wants one because he fears for her safety. Mary Jane frustrated with Peter Parker goes on to have a relationship with John Jameson, the astronaut son of Daily Bugle publisher J._Jonah_Jameson.

The movie hints that she is doing this to hopefully make Peter Parker jealous. Peter decides that being Spider-Man is not what he wants and comes back to Mary Jane so that he could start a relationship with her. Mary Jane pushes him away this time because she is getting married to the astronaut, but secretly does want a relationship with Peter. After kissing the astronaut, in a manner that is reminiscent of the upside-down kiss between Mary Jane and Spider-Man from the first Spider-Man movie, she finds that she may really want a relationship with Peter Parker.

She meets Peter Parker in a coffee shop where she asks for a kiss to confirm her beliefs. Just before Peter can kiss her Doctor Octopus snatches her and runs away. Peter runs after Doc Ock and has a showdown. Mid-battle his mask gets torn off and Mary Jane sees Spider-Man's real identity of Peter Parker and understands why he could not have a relationship with her.

Mary Jane runs away from her wedding with the astronaut and comes to Peter's door where she tells him that she loves him and will take him as Spider-Man knowing the danger it poses to her life.