Warning! Spoilers forAmazing Spider-Man#9 ahead!
Marvel just confirmed Peter Parker still wants to reunite with Mary Jane Watson, yet it refuses to make them a couple again. If there’s one thingSpider-Manfans want more than anything, it’s forMary Jane and Peter to rekindle their iconic romancein Marvel’s mainstream continuity, and the publisher keeps teasing the possibility, but has no plans to follow through.
Amazing Spider-Man#9, by the creative team of Joe Kelly and Michael Dowling, contains a tense moment between former flames Peter and MJ, madeall the more complicated by her new relationship status.
That is, her status as the new host of Venom. However, the crux of the scene comes when Peter brings up the subject of “get[ting] back together.”
Marvel Says It Loud And Clear: They Know Peter Parker Wants Mary Jane Back, But That Doesn’t Mean It Will Happen
Peter Parker finding out thatMary Jane is Venom nowis naturally the big reveal ofAmazing Spider-Man#9, but it is how their interaction ends that is most revealing about Marvel’s position on a Peter/MJ romance. That is, it reinforces the fact that Marvel prefers to keep them separated.
Why? Because it is an expedient way of generating dramatic tension, something their dialogue inAmazing Spider-Man#9 is saturated with. Despite Mary Jane’s attempt to ask Peter for superheroic help, his side of the conversation is clouded by the fact that he’s still deep in his feelings over his break-up with MJ.
“The way you were teeing this up,” he says before slamming the door to his apartment in her and Venom’s face, “I thought you wanted to get back together.” It is a raw moment for Peter, because he says this to get under Mary Jane’s skin, but at the same time it seems clear that this is actually what he wanted.
Marvel Prefers The Drama Of Peter And MJ As Exes Over The Fan-Service Of Getting Them Back Together
When Peter finds Mary Jane waiting outside his apartment, he’s already geared up for a fight, but it’s when she effectively “friendzones” him that his frustrations boil over, and he quickly terminates the interaction. The vibe Peter gives off inAmazing Spider-Man#9 is loud and clear: Peter still wants MJ back.
This reflects the fact that Marvel readers still want them to be a couple, despiteliteral decades of Marvel tearing them apart. After erasing their marriage from continuity, the publisher did make Peter and MJ a couple again for a time, but for years now, they’ve been broken up, and the prevailing sentiment at Marvel is that it’s better for business.
Which is to say, an eventual reunion for the characters is going to be a massive Marvel moment. Alternate continuity stories, such as thecurrentUltimateSpider-Man, show how Peter Parker and Mary Jane can thrive as a couple, and has proven fans' deep desire for the pairing. Eventually, Marvel will listen, but for now, it continues to tease fans with it.
