Mary Jane Watson (original) (raw)

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".

Comic Book Mary Jane

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

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 because his aunt liked her.

He married her, and Peter's surname made her 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.

Film Mary Jane

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 Osborn sees her cheating on him, he gets mad.

The Green Goblin kidnaps her and holds her over the George Washington Bridge. He tells Spider-Man that he must either choose for her to survive or a group of children caught in a cable car. Spider-Man manages to save both Mary Jane and the children. (In the comic book, it was Gwen Stacy that was held over the 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 does not want to associate too much with her.