Discussing Mary Jane Watson in Adaptations of Spider-Man

[Winter]

so, I'm currently replaying the Insomniac Spider-Man games and I have to say that this is probably my favorite Spider-Man Series to date as it does a lot right, makes a lot of smart creative choices that changes key parts of the lore to the overall benefit of the series IMO and is just fun. This isn't however a series without it's outspoken critics some with ligament and obvious issues with the series and while I can understand most of them some I feel are a little unfair.

Most notably among them Mary Jane Watson and how she's been handled in the games. MJ in this series is a rather divisive character with many fans disliking her both for her personality and her gameplay sections in the two main games, feeling they drag the main story to a craw with boring and poorly designed levels. Personally, I overall like MJ AND the bits in the game we play as her.

Just in terms of the gameplay bits, they're honestly not as bad as some fans make them out to be. Even on the games hardest setting I rarely got caught/killed and for the most part they're really not that long. I saw one reviewer complaining about how these missions can take up 20 minutes of game time on even the easiest setting and I have no idea what he was talking about. It took be about 5 minutes for most of these missions with only the last mission taking about 20 minutes and that was only because I was doing all the optional stuff too.

And this was improve on the next game with some solid shooter mechanics and while their a little longer then the first game most are about only 10 minutes. And in terms of MJ's missions making the hunters look weak, it honestly doesn't bug me as I've seen this before in other games.

As for MJ's personality, yeah I can see this being off putting but she's likable and has overall solid chemistry with Peter. However, she doesn't really feel like MJ which made me realize something. Of all the characters adapted from Spider-Man's lore MJ tends to be the one most screwed over.

It's not nearly as bad as Katara in both adaptations of Avatar but that's mostly because we've had several adaptations of Spider-Man and thankfully most of them have been good but MJ rarely catches a break. In the Raimi films and Spider-Man: The Animated Series MJ is turned into a useless damsel in distress who is just there to be Peter's love interest. She has none of the elements from the comics that made her so popular to begin with. In the Amazing Spider-Man movies she was adapted out altogether all of her scenes being cut from the sequel. She's a minor character in the Spider-Verse films and her overall character was greatly changed in the Insomniac games.

As of right now the most faithful versions of MJ have been in the Spectacular Spider-Man and the MCU Spider-Man. I know that the latter may seem like a hot take but MJ in those films has most of MJ's snark, fiery personality and street-smarts. The one in SSM however is the real bread winner here. If you ever wondered why MJ became such a popular character and seen as Peter's One True Love go check that show out as she's pretty much identical to her comic book counterpart AND they gave her a Badass Biker Jacket which just makes her look so awesome.

But sadly even in these adaptations MJ has just not had much luck. She's secondary character in SSM and doesn't get much to do in the MCU. The MJ with the most active role in a SM series outside of just her relationship with Peter has been the one from the Insomniac games and again, she doesn't really feel like MJ.

I honestly do like the idea of MJ becoming a reporter as it gives her a reason to be involved in the story instead of just being in the story because she just happens to be there. But this MJ has none of her namesakes fire, her street-smarts or snark, she's not MJ in name only but she's missing a lot of what made the original character so endearing.

I do hope that we one day get an MJ like the one we got in SSM who does go on to be a reporter who helps Peter save the day but as a right now, it feels like we'll never get that character that fans of the comics feel in love with because Spider-Man: The Animated Series and the Raimi films stripped away all of those elements and turned her into the Girl Next Door who just happens to be Spider-Man's girlfriend.

[CharlesPhipps]

Mary Jane in the comics is a fun party girl and supportive of Peter as well as his quest to be a better person. I prefer Felicia but Mary Jane is the opposite of a wet blanket love interest. She doesn't need to be involved in Peter's quests to be someone he has an emotional bond with that we the audience enjoy.

[stryke]

Apart from what CharlesPhipps said, I think the problem with reporter MJ is she comes off too much as discount Lois Lane.

[CharlesPhipps]

Apart from what CharlesPhipps said, I think the problem with reporter MJ is she comes off too much as discount Lois Lane.

It's also weird that the games remove Peter from his role as a reporter, himself, perhaps for separating him from Clark Kent as an archetype only to throw her in his place.

[Winter]

Apart from what CharlesPhipps said, I think the problem with reporter MJ is she comes off too much as discount Lois Lane.

It's also weird that the games remove Peter from his role as a reporter, himself, perhaps for separating him from Clark Kent as an archetype only to throw her in his place.

The way I see it, they wanted MJ to be a more active part of the story in the games, for her and Pete to not be together at the start but then how to best involve her. She can't be a cop, making her a fellow Superhero would complicate matters to much and having her just be a regular Citizen who's just going around investigating crimes is kinda silly.

So, the only real option was to make her a reporter working for The Daily Bugle.

I think this was also to distant her from the MJ from the Raimi Trilogy who, again, is still seen as a useless Damsel Scrappy who really didn't get to do anything. Making her a reporter who has a LOT of emotional baggage with Spider-Man because he wouldn't stop treating her like a child that always needs to be rescued likely was a direct response to that.

While she stills needs to be rescued she pulls her own weight a lot more in the games. She's the one who learns about Devil's Breath, finds how that Li is working with Tomb Stone to make him APCs, that stops Devil's Breath from going off at Grand Central Station, learns where the Cure to DB is being made, finds out that Harry is sick and learns that Norman and Otto created Mr. Negative.

This is already more then MJ has done in most other medias outside the comics. In the Raimi Trilogy the most she did was distract Doc Ock and Venom, she helped save Gwen in Spectacular but that was mostly Flash's moment and in the MCU she helps not in a real notable way. And lord help me I can't think of anything she did in OG SMTAS.

Not saying it's a great choice for MJ but in comparison to most of her other adaptations I do like that they gave her a more proactive role in the series.