Mary Jane Watson

Mary Jane Watson is a character from Marvel Comics that appears in the Marvel animated series Ultimate Spider-Man. She is Peter Parker's childhood best female friend and girlfriend. In Season 4, she bonded with the Carnage Symbiote and became the Carnage Queen, and later became Spider-Woman.
Mary Jane Watson was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
==Background==
===Personality===
Mary Jane seems to be a caring person who is a loyal friend to her two best friends Harry and Peter, the latter she knew since childhood. However, there is a hint of romance between Mary Jane and Peter as a result of their history together and the time when they were twelve and decided to get "serious" (even though they were disgusted at the thought of dating each other at that time).
She is also seen to be very committed to her strive to be a journalist going as far as putting her life and Harry's to get coverage of the battle between Spidey and his team against Venom and the enduring battle between Hulk and Spider-Man against Zzzax.
Mary Jane seems to be seriously focused on her future and plans after high school. She has been shown to befriend people very quickly, such as when she befriended Sam Alexander, Nova, shortly after he came to Midtown High School and has an abundant awkwardness when talking to the rest of Spider-Man's teammates. Mary Jane is also the most sensible amongst Peter's friends and helps soothe tensions amongst them; suggesting to Peter that he invite Ava, Sam, Luke, and Danny to hang out with Harry, who was initially put out by his best friend spending more time with new friends.
===Physical appearance===
Mary Jane is a slender, redheaded girl with fair skin, green eyes, and red lipstick. She is several inches shorter than Peter. She wears a black leather jacket over a teal hoodie and a white T-shirt, keeping them tucked into her medium blue colored jeans, with which she wears a large brown belt. Every now and then, she wears a dark green hoodie, a dark gray T-shirt, and light blue colored jeans. When she is cooking, she wears an apron.
In Season 2, she wears a black shirt, a blue hoodie, blue jeans, and brown shoes.
In Season 3, she is redesigned and looks a little more animated. Her hairstyle is slightly different, and she wears a blue striped shirt, blue jeans, and brown shoes.
===Powers and abilities===
Initially, Mary Jane had no super powers, but knew basic combat to defend herself in times of danger. After retaining a portion of the Carnage symbiote, Mary Jane gained all of its abilities from Spider-Man's powers to Carnage's shapeshifting. She can willingly summon her Spider-Woman costume from the symbiote.
==Appearances==
===Ultimate Spider-Man===
Mary Jane is a student at Midtown High interested in journalism and Spider-Man, and is a close friend of Peter and Harry Osborn. After the battle with Trapster, Mary Jane reviewed a report by John Jameson, anxious to get her big break as a journalist. She told this to Peter, who isn't a fan of the idea. She would later be present when the Frightful 4 (sans Trapster) attacked their school, when Harry took a blow for her. She later informed Peter she wished to interview Spider-Man and Peter considered giving her an exclusive but feels she will determine already if it is him.
Further on, she befriended Nova, Spider-Man's superhero ally, much to Peter charging. She called Peter (as Spider-Man) when he was battling Doombots, along with his other teammates. She called Peter again after the crisis was averted, demanded to give Nova his homework. Peter, tired after his battle, caved in and gave the phone to Nova.
Mary Jane finally got Spider-Man to agree to an interview; she went to school and recorded her friends asking questions about the interview. She interviewed Spider-Man on the rooftops and asked him several questions before Hulk seemingly attacked Manhattan. Spider-Man web-slinged her down with him. She watched as Spider-Man attacked Hulk and was bounced easily. Spider-Man saved her camera and took her underneath into a subway station. Spider-Man locked her out of the station via webbing the entrance. She then sacrificed her camera to save Manhattan from Zzzax. Spider-Man then cradled her after finding her under the rumble. She turned the footage into the Daily Bugle and was with Peter when they sent her a new camera.
Mary Jane went to the Daily Bugle at the same time that Spider-Man, White Tiger, Nova, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage were on stakeout for the Beetle to protect J. Jonah Jameson's life. She made her way past Iron Fist and Luke Cage by criticizing their attempt to stop her from going into the building. She got past Nova, by asking him to escort her out and then, pushing him out of the way, so that she and Peter could get through the elevator. In the office, Mary Jane was interviewed by J. Jonah Jameson through a monitor until Beetle crashed in and attempted to shoot her. Spider-Man stops him, but J. Jonah Jameson criticized and nagged about Spider-Man before Mary Jane turned off the monitor. She thanked Spider-Man before he and his teammates left. After the ordeal was over, she told Peter that she finally got to do an interview with J. Jonah Jameson, making the trip, at least to her, worth it.
Mary Jane called Peter for help when she and Harry, still recovering, were trapped by the Carnage symbiotes trying to get inside. Before Peter could reach them, the symbiotes managed to get in and pinned Mary Jane in one corner of the room, immediately awakening Anti-Venom. She asked Spider-Man, not knowing he was Peter, to try not to hurt Anti-Venom because her friend was in it. Spider-Man suggests she hide, but she refuses, wanting to help. Spider-Man asks her to broadcast live and help the survivors safely navigate through the city.
The Carnage symbiote reforms underneath Central Park and heads to Midtown High, where Mary Jane has been transformed into the Carnage Queen and has enveloped Midtown High. A ploy by Morbius to enslave Carnage Queen into a weapon for HYDRA, Harry Osborn (as Patrioteer), Agent Venom, and Spider-Man are able to free her from the symbiote's possession and defeat Morbius by revealing their secret identities to her. It is at this point that she finally finds out Spider-Man's secret identity. As she is taken to S.H.I.E.L.D. for a check-up, Mary Jane shows she is not mad at Peter for not telling the truth, and the two eventually appear to realize hidden feelings for each other. However, in the end, a close-up of her eye shows that the symbiote is still intact with her. Mary Jane later uses the symbiote to become Spider-Woman. Also, as she helps Spider-Man and the Web Warriors deal with Doctor Octopus and the Spider-Slayers, she ends up joining the team.
===Spider-Man===
Mary Jane appears in the episode "Venom" as Midtown High's school mascot wearing a full body tiger suit. She helps Spider-Man defeat Venom by engaging the crowd to use their air horns on Venom. She made her full appearance in Maximum Venom episode "Amazing Friends", visiting Peter Parker and his Aunt May, albeit oblivious to Groot's presence. In "Spider-Man Unmasked", Mary Jane helps convince Peter to reconcile with Gwen Stacy and Anya Corazon about keeping his identity as Spider-Man a secret from them. In "Maximum Venom", she is invited by Peter to attend to a dance in Horizon High to celebrate Max Modell's rehiring. Following the Spider-Team's final confrontation with Venom and the Symbiote Sisters, Peter and Mary Jane appear to be starting a romantic relationship.
===Marvel Rising===
Mary Jane is a supporting character in the Marvel Rising franchise. Like her Earth-65 counterpart, this version is part of a rock band and a friend of Gwen Stacy's.
==Marvel Cinematic Universe==
Mary Jane does not appear in the MCU, but there is another MJ in the name of Michelle Jones. Michelle's relationship with Peter Parker has references to Peter's relationship with Mary-Jane, especially from the Sam Rami trilogy, such as Peter falling in love with Michelle and their relationship officially starting in the second movie. Michelle even calls herself MJ in Spider-Man: Homecoming, with her new friends calling her that starting with Spider-Man: Far From Home. Michelle is later revealed to actually be called Michelle Jones-Watson (referencing Mary-Jane), but prefers to just go by Jones rather than Jones-Watson.
The Mary Jane Watson that appeared in the Spider-Man trilogy (2002-2007) is mentioned by multiple characters in Spider-Man: No Way Home, including by MJ's Peter Parker, who says their relationship was complicated before they eventually found a way to keep their relationship going. Norman Osborn also mistakes Michelle for Mary Jane, who tells him her name is actually Michelle Jones.
==Disney Parks==
===Avengers Campus===
====Shawarma Palace====
A poster for MJ's band, "The Mary Janes" is hung alongside the mementos of Shawarma Palace's past.
====Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure====
On one of the lockers in W.E.B.'s headquarters is the logo for Mary Janes' band The Mary Janes from Earth-65 (the continuity of Spider-Gwen).
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*Mary Jane was portrayed by Kirsten Dunst in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy. She was also voiced by Zoë Kravitz in the 2018 computer-animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Shailene Woodley was cast as Mary Jane in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 before her scenes were cut from the final film.
*In the comics, Mary Jane had not ever considered to be a photographer; it was Peter Parker who worked for the Daily Bugle. However, in the Ultimate Universe, she does want to become a journalist.
*The Ultimate Spider-Man incarnation is the first incarnation of Mary Jane to become Spider-Woman.
*In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Michelle Jones refers to herself as "MJ", a clear nod to Mary Jane Watson.
**Michelle's relationship with Peter in Spider-Man: Far From Home is also a reference to Mary-Jane's relationship with Peter in the Sam Rami trilogy. There is a difference where Michelle figured/got suspicious about Peter's identity as Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Homecoming and told him she knew in Spider-Man: Far From Home, where as Mary-Jane never knew that Peter was Spider-Man until she caught him without his mask on in Spider-Man 2.
**MJ's full name is revealed to be Michelle Jones-Watson in Spider-Man: No Way Home, the same surname as Mary Jane and Michelle states she does not go by Watson.
**Going by the name "Jones", she may share similar traits to Jessica Jones, who was originally a classmate of Peter Parker in the comics.
*Katherine McNamara expressed interest in playing Mary Jane Watson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
*In the comics, the original Spider-Woman was Jessica Drew, a former HYDRA agent who had been experimented on by her father in order to save her life, which granted her spider-like powers. She later operated as a vigilante under Spider-Woman, and came to become an ally of Spider-Man, later joining the Avengers. The second Spider-Woman was Julia Carpenter, who instead possessed psionic powers that allowed her to mimic Spider-Man's powers, also going by Arachne. After the death of Cassandra Webb, the original Madame Web, Julia succeeded her as Madame Web. The lesser known third Spider-Woman was Martha "Mattie" Franklin, who eventually was sacrificed by Kraven the Hunter's family. The fourth Spider-Woman was an alternate version of Gwen Stacy, hailing from a universe where she was bitten by the spider and Peter Parker died. This version has also appeared in Ultimate Spider-Man.
==External links==
*
*Mary Jane Watson on Ultimate Spider-Man Wiki
*
<tabber>
|-|Ultimate Spider-Man=
|-|Marvel's Spider-Man=
|-|Marvel Rising=
</tabber>
Category:Marvel characters
Category:TV Animation characters
Category:Ultimate Spider-Man characters
Category:Heroines
Category:Lovers
Category:Teenagers
Category:Students
Category:Characters
Category:Females
Category:American characters
Category:Animated characters
Category:Superheroes
Category:Marvel's Spider-Man characters
Category:Marvel Rising characters
Category:Musicians
Category:Acquired characters
Category:Disney XD characters
Category:Avengers Campus characters
Category:X-Men '97 characters