#this mature peter is the version of tasm peter parker that i needed but never got it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

themattress · 5 years

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Spider-Man purists are bad enough...

But MJ purists are really galling to me.

They railed against Kirsten Dunst’s portrayal in Sam Raimi’s film trilogy, they railed against Shailene Woodley’s portrayal in TASM 2 before it was cut from the movie entirely, and now they’re railing against Zendaya’s Michelle Jones in the MCU. It seems they just want Mary Jane from the 616 comics (and those spun off directly from it like MC2, SM:RYV, and the newspaper strip) directly adapted every time. But how often has that ever actually happened?

Ultimate Comics version - Pretty and popular, but also a nerdy science student, girl-next-door childhood friend to Peter and quickly becomes his secret keeper and personal confidante, basically composited with 616 Gwen Stacy and even gets a variation of the bridge scene.

Spider-Man Loves version - High-school student version based off Kirsten Dunst’s portrayal, a good-natured popular girl who is more open about all of her personal vulnerabilities.

YA Novel version - Very similar to the above.

Exiles version - Butch lesbian who has spider powers, in a relationship with Sunfire.

Mangaverse version - Hyperactive ninja girl who has spider powers.

1602 version - “Marianne Jane Watsonne”, a Scottish actress.

Spider Gwen version - Leader of a rock band and an irritating Alpha Bitch.

Life Story version - An even more damaged divergence from her introduction in the 616 comics: basically her if she had never gotten her act together. Not at all pleasant to read.

Earth X/Reign/Zombies versions - All of these versions literally just exist to be fridged. The first two literally die of the same thing (cancer), while the third is killed by a zombified Peter!

Gamerverse version - A combination of the 616, Kirsten Dunst, and Ultimate Comics MJs. There are elements of all three, but it still stands as a unique portrayal of the character.

Other video game versions - Pretty much always just an NPC supporting character that you need to help out, usually poorly voice-acted. In one famous case, she can get fridged.

1967 TV version - Accurate to the 616 version’s party girl personality at the time, but composited with Gwen Stacy in that she’s related to Captain Stacy (she’s his niece here) and has strawberry-blonde hair instead of red hair. Also, her voice-acting is laughably bad.

1994 TV version - Has the 616 version’s introduction and her personality is on point toward the start, but gradually becomes more composited with Gwen Stacy, complete with her getting the bridge scene. And not only is she badly voice-acted, but her design is an eyesore.

Unlimited version - Just a one-scene cameo in the first episode. No personality to speak of.

MTV version - Based off Kirsten Dunst’s version. Cool design, but more bad voice-acting.

Ultimate TV version - Loosely inspired by the Ultimate Comics version in that she follows a career as a journalist, but otherwise has more in common with Lois Lane or Vicki Vale.

2017 TV version - Silent cameo in a tiger (get it?) mascot suit in just one episode. That’s it.

Marvel Rising version - Based off the Spider Gwen version, but with the dumb Alpha Bitch personality removed in favor of being more good-natured like the Ultimate Comics version.

Spider-Verse version - We know nothing about her other than the fact that she’s Peter Parker’s wife. And her Peter Parker is nothing like the 616 version, so she likely is too.

So yeah, has there been any version that adapted 616 MJ precisely? Why, yes, there has:

The MJ in The Spectacular Spider-Man is a direct, faithful adaptation of the 616 version: same build-up and introduction, same beautiful red-headed appearance, same extroverted party girl facade and refusal to commit to a relationship in order to hide from her inner pain, the only thing that’s not adapted is her cringy 60s dialogue. Cool, so what does she do?

......Pretty much nothing.

She’s introduced and looks like she’ll be a big character, but then recedes into the background and mostly hangs around Gwen, trying to get her out of her shell and being a shipper on deck for Peter/Gwen. The most she gets is a storyline about a failed relationship with Liz’s brother Mark and bonding with Liz in the process, which is mostly contained to just one episode (episode 24, the third-to-last episode in the series). Yes, I get that the show being cancelled is a major contributor here, but I still don’t think that’s the only problem. Greg Weisman and co. tried to adapt 616 MJ exactly, which included her not being that important of a character for a while in spite of all the build-up, with her only becoming Peter’s true love and a three-dimensional character later (after Gwen died, although Spectacular probably wouldn’t have waited until then since the writers were unsure they’d ever kill Gwen off). The problem is that this only worked for 616 MJ due to the comic book medium, with years of issues to allow character and relationship development. But when adapting to a vastly different medium like TV, you can’t necessarily get away with that, and that’s exactly what happened here: because they didn’t do anything meaningful with MJ before the show got cancelled, she ended up being one of its more forgettable, less impressive characters. When people think of who oughta be Peter’s true love in Spectacular, it’s either Liz or Gwen, or maybe even Black Cat if you’re into Foe Yay shipping. MJ isn’t even a blip on the radar.

And this was a TV show! Can you imagine the kind of problems a series of movies could run into when trying to adapt 616 MJ? How long would be appropriate to keep the blind date build-up going before introducing her? How long would be appropriate for her to keep the party girl facade up and remain a secondary character? Would Gwen’s death be necessary for her to mature and start a relationship with Peter, or would something else be the catalyst - but would 616 stans accept something else? How long until she and Peter are married? Will they even get married? Can you keep an actress on contract for the amount of time all this will take? Will the actress be any good? Will she have chemistry with the actor playing Peter? Will audiences just find all of this annoying since at this point in time MJ as Peter’s true love is common knowledge and they’d prefer for the movies to stop beating around the bush?

Bottom line: let other versions of MJ be other versions of MJ. Stop expecting the 616 version to be brought to screen. I get it, you’re pissed off at Marvel’s treatment of 616 MJ, but the thing to do is to keep rallying for them to fix that shit in the actual 616 comics rather than constantly try to enforce this kind of conformity on every version of MJ that comes along.

#Marvel #Spider-Man #Mary Jane Watson #Opinion #Analysis #Comparison #Fandumb #Stupidity #This has been a PSA

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