Word of warning, there may be a few spoilers, including one MASSIVE one that everybody knows... Don't say I didn't warn you.
Bạn đang đọc: Gwen stacy và mary jane
I just finished reading Amazing Spider-Man Renew Your Vows (which I loved by the way) và it got me thinking, this is obviously a version of Peter that we haven't seen for a good few years, married to lớn Mary Jane và with a child. Then my mind wandered further, as any #SpiderMan tín đồ worth their salternative text knows there were 2 great women in Peter's life, 2 women who arguably are his one true love, so what I want to look at here is who is Peter's true love sầu. Now before I start I know Peter has had quite a few love sầu interests - the likes of Betty Brant, Carlie Cooper, even Anna Maria Marconi thanks lớn Doctor Octopus and his brain swap - but I want to look at the 2 main women in his life, Mary Jane Watson & Gwen Stacy.
For a shy, intelligent guy Peter Parker seems to lớn have sầu a certain way with the ladies, before Gwen was killed there would often be competition for his affections from both MJ & Gwen (which most of the time he was totally oblivious to). Both girls were very different, MJ was more of a free spirit who flitted from buổi tiệc nhỏ khổng lồ party & just enjoyed life, whereas Gwen was more academic, being one of Peter's classmates at university. If Peter was with one of the girls you could guarantee that the other girl would be jealous, Peter was obviously attracted to both girls but Srã Lee liked to keep the reader guessing about which one he would pair up with.
So let's take a look at each of the girls and see what you think.
Mary Jane Watson
The evolution of Mary Jane.
Mary Jane was initially a running joke amongst the writers, she is first mentioned in Amazing Spider-Man #15 as a potential blind date for Peter. Aunt May would frequently mention her khổng lồ Peter who would often rebuff his aunt as he believed that she would not be very attractive sầu, he felt that Aunt May was taking pity on the girl & trying khổng lồ get a her a date khổng lồ improve sầu her self esteem. It became a running joke that Peter would somehow get out of meeting her & aside from a facially obscured appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #25 she did not appear until THAT iconic entrance at the end of Amazing Spider-Man #42.
Mary Jane was a không tính tiền spirit who didn't allow herself to lớn be tied down to one thing for too long and her frivolous nature began lớn irk Peter slightly và so they broke up (for the first of MANY times). As a bit of a flirt she had no trouble in finding a new boyfriover, this time it was Peter's best friover and roommate Harry Osborn. They dated for a while but MJ was unable khổng lồ stay committed for too long và the relationship soon ended, Harry did not take this well và took a drug overdose which snowballed into Norman Osborn going insane and returning to lớn his Green Goblin identity. It could be argued that this was the catalyst for the death of Gwen Stacy & certainly when MJ found out about all this her character underwent a change.
After Gwen's death Peter and MJ became closer, MJ initially trying to lớn comfort Peter & then turning into lớn a relationship. Over many years this relationship develops inkhổng lồ a marriage and a pregnancy (and there was a bit of a mess story wise with that one but I won't go there). This all is ruined in the controversial One More Day storyline which removes the wedding from history however, but even after that there are lingering feelings between Peter và MJ. They share an unspoken bond & there is a bit of romantic tension between the two.
In the Ultimate continuity their relationship is obviously that of soulmates, throughout the story Peter dates MJ on và off & she is the first person he reveals his identity as Spider-Man lớn. They care very deeply for one another and one of the issues even has them discussing whether or not they should have sex. They vì break up from time to time, particularly when Gwen Stacy appears and Peter also has a brief relationship with Kitty Pride of the X-Men, but ultimately they reconcile. Peter's death in this continuity hits MJ particularly hard, she withdraws into lớn herself và becomes somewhat a shadow of her former self. She stops seeing Aunt May & all of Peter's family & even runs away when she sees the original (Earth 616) Spider-Man who has crossed inkhổng lồ this universe.
Peter explaining why he told MJ his secret.
When Peter is revealed to be alive sầu during the Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man Resurrection arc, it turns out that Peter hides out at Mary Jane's house, clearly the love they cốt truyện is still very strong. He stays there out of shame as he feels he can't face Aunt May or Gwen so tries to run away in secret with MJ, but of course he is called inkhổng lồ action as Spider-Man and reveals himself lớn be alive sầu. At the over of the arc Peter và MJ ride off into the sunphối khổng lồ begin their lives together leaving the mantle of Spider-Man to Miles.
It is obvious that Mary Jane and Peter have a connection, but it could be argued that this only came about because of what happened with Gwen, so without further avày lets look at her.
Gwen Stacy
Gwen Stacy
Gwen Stacy was a classmate of Peter Parker at university who first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #31, initially Peter is too distracted with Aunt May being in hospital khổng lồ notice Gwen's attraction khổng lồ him & she decides khổng lồ give up on dating Peter and goes out with Flash Thompson & Harry Osborn. Eventually however her attraction khổng lồ Peter gets the better of her và Peter becomes tired of Mary Jane's buổi tiệc ngọt loving lifestyle & the two become a couple. Gwen is different to lớn MJ as she shares Peter's love sầu of science - she is attracted to his intelligence - and being the daughter of a police captain she is quite quiet. The relationship has many troubles, particularly when Gwen leaves khổng lồ live in England after her father's death.
Captain Stacy was killed during a fight between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus by some falling debris. In her grief Gwen blames Spider-Man for her father's death & leaves khổng lồ cope with her loss. Peter does actually follow Gwen to London but while he is there he has lớn be Spider-Man and leaves before he has seen Gwen. He felt it would be too easy to piece together that he was Spider-Man if Gwen had seen hlặng.
Gwen was of course part of one of the biggest comic book stories of the 1970s with The Night Gwen Stacy Died. Of course this story goes down as a turning point in both the history of Spider-man & of comic books as a medium. Before this story a superhero had never failed so catastrophically unless it was part of their origin story, never before had one of the main supporting cast who had been well established been killed by a major villain. This of course had a huge ripple effect on Peter Parker's character, he found it very difficult to get over the murder of the woman he loved và there was always the lingering doubt that it was actually hyên ổn that caused it. Stories since have sầu shown that this had a massive sầu effect on Peter, particularly the Spider-Man: Blue story. Spider-Man: Blue shows Peter taping messages to lớn Gwen long after her death, he tells the story of how they fell in love và how much he misses her. Clearly, even though Peter has moved on & had a life with Mary Jane Gwen still holds a special place in his heart. This is also shown in the Spider-Verse storyline when the newly introduced Spider-Gwen appears, Peter is very protective of her & will not let her come out khổng lồ save sầu the universe which leads lớn one of the other Spideys having khổng lồ explain to her what happened.
The moment that changed everything.
You might say that had Gwen not been killed she và Peter would be together và there would be no point in this article, you might also say that Gwen's death was a catalyst in bringing Peter & Mary Jane closer together. The simple fact is we can never know what the truth is because, just as in life, we all go through things that are hard và that change our lives forever.
Before I get too philosophical, I have sầu to say that in my opinion Peter and Mary Jane have always been the true couple, I appreciate Gwen as a character and underst& that she was a very important part in Peter's life. Maybe it's because I grew up watching the 90s animated series & aside from one brief cameo Gwen never appeared, & then my first views of Spider-Man on the big screen were Sam Raimi's films which featured Mary Jane. I've since read a lot of the early Spider-Man comic books and the one thing I did appreciate was how different the two girls were. But that is just my opinion of course.
