Mary Jane Watson (Surrender)

Mary Jane Watson-Parker was the wife of Peter Parker (known by the people of New York City as Spider-Man).

## Mary Jane Watson-Parker

### Aliases

Red (Nick Katzenberg), MJ (husband, close friends), Mary Plain (The Black Cat)

### Relatives

Philip Watson (father), Madeline Watson (mother, dead), Spencer Watson (uncle), Anna May Watson (aunt), Gayle Watson-Byrnes (sister), Peter Benjamin Parker (husband), Maybelle "May" Parker (Aunt-in-Law, dead), Richard Parker (father-in-Law, dead), Mary Parker nee Fitzpatrick (mother-In-Law, dead), Benjamin "Ben" Parker (Uncle-in-Law, dead)

### Affiliation

Spider-Man (husband), Watson family, Nick Katzenberg

### Occupation

Student (formerly), Actress, Fashion Model

## Biographical information

### Place of birth

Montoursville, Pennsylvania, United States of America

## History

### Early Years

Mary Jane Watson was born to Philip and Madeline Watson. She is the second of two children, with her elder sister Gayle having been born four years earlier. Due to her family's constant moving (as a result of her father's various teaching jobs), Mary Jane began developing a more extroverted and care-free personality, a trait which helped her make friends as the Watson's moved from one location to the next. After Madeline left Philip, the Watson women stayed with various relatives. One such relative that Mary Jane was particularly fond of was her Aunt Anna, living in Queens, New York. On the night of Ben Parker's murder, Mary Jane spotted a frantic Peter running into his house, with Spider-Man emerging from an upstairs window only moments later. At this, she deduced that Peter and Spider-Man were one and the same. Confused by the emotions set off by the discovery, Mary Jane chose to keep this information to herself, and just like Peter refused to pursue a relationship with him, out of fear that he might neglect her for his superhero duties.

### Introduction

After numerous attempts by Aunt May to pair Peter and Mary Jane together, Mary Jane finally paid a visit to the Parker home. Unfortunately, as Spider-Man was fighting the Spider-Slayer robots, he was not at home. Instead, she encountered Betty Brant and Liz Allan, who were both vying for Peter's affections at the time. Both girls were stunned by Mary Jane's natural attractiveness. Much like her mother and sister, Mary Jane had an interest in performing arts. Dreaming of a career in either Broadway or film, she starred in high school productions such as Juliet in *Romeo and Juliet*, as Blanche DuBois in *A Streetcar Named Desire* and other various plays and productions.

When her mother fell seriously ill, Mary Jane temporarily gave up her acting at school and took a series of after-school jobs to help support the family. When Madeline died, Mary Jane left home and was determined not to sacrifice her dreams of happiness as had her mother and sister.

Arriving at her Aunt Anna's house on a Saturday, Mary Jane and Peter finally met face-to-face when Aunt May and Peter came over for Sunday dinner. Knowing that Peter was Spider-Man, when a news bulletin about the escape of the Rhino interrupted the music program the pair were watching, Mary Jane suggested they try and see if they could spot the criminal. Agreeing to this, Peter later left her side with the excuse of having to take pictures for The Daily Bugle, only to reappear battling as Spider-Man. Peter soon introduced Mary Jane to his other college friends, Gwen Stacy, Harry Osborn and Flash Thompson. With the entanglement of these relationships, jealousy and rivalry were underlying constants between Stacy, Osborn, Parker and Watson.

### Early Interactions with Spider-Man

During a gunfight at the Gloom Room where Mary Jane worked as a dancer, she was put in danger when a criminal tried to use her as a human shield, but Spider-Man rescued her from the ordeal. It was the first time the pair met while Peter was in his Spider-Man costume.

During a battle between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin atop the Brooklyn Bridge, Gwen died from the impact of Spider-Man's attempt to rescue her with his webbing. When Mary Jane tried to comfort Peter, he accused her of not being able to understand what it would feel like even though her own mother died. Though hurt by his outburst, she stayed to comfort Peter regardless. Gwen's death had serious consequences for Mary Jane and Peter's on-and-off friendship; the feisty and carefree party girl Mary Jane, who had been one of Gwen's best friends, eventually became more serious and sensitive, while grief of loss brought her and Peter closer together.

### Romantic Relationships

Mary Jane broke off her relationship with Harry Osborn as he was becoming more and more unstable following the death of his father, Norman. Harry then nearly killed both Mary Jane and Peter as he set off a bomb while flying around as the second Green Goblin.

On leaving for a trip to Europe, Peter and Mary Jane exchanged a long and passionate kiss. A kiss that would prove to be the turning point in their relationship as Mary Jane realized the true depth of her feelings for Peter - feelings so strong that even a girl bearing a close resemblance to Gwen could not stop their romance. She was maid of honor at Betty Brant's wedding to Ned Leeds.

Peter proposed to Mary Jane with a box of Cracker Jacks with the real diamond ring inside. Mary Jane turned him down, claiming to be too much of a free spirit to be tied down with marriage and settling down. Though they remained friends, Mary Jane continually grew upset over Peter constantly risking his life and breaking dates in order to fight various villains and criminals as Spider-Man. When Mary Jane finally finished college, she left New York to help her Aunt Anna settle down in Florida. It was also a chance for Mary Jane to escape from the dual life of Peter Parker and Spider-Man. After a heated apartment battle between the Puma and Spider-Man, which she witnessed, Mary Jane revealed to Peter that she had known of his dual identity for quite some time. Shortly after opening up and telling Peter of her entire life story, Peter decided that he could trust Mary Jane with his secret and the two vowed to stay friends and confidantes. As time passed, Peter and Mary Jane realized that they were deceiving themselves about the depth of their feelings for each other and that they were very much in love. Peter proposed to Mary Jane for a second time. She did not immediately accept. Leaving for Pittsburgh, where her sister, Gayle, had been sent to prison, Mary Jane helped the police arrest the real culprit, her father, Philip. Mary Jane reconciled with Gayle after years of tension, followed by Mary Jane then accepting Peter's proposal of marriage.

### Marriage

Peter and Mary Jane got married on the front steps of New York City's City Hall, with her uncle, Spencer Watson, a judge, presiding over the ceremony.

They spent their honeymoon in France and made their home in a condominium apartment that Mary Jane was able to afford thanks to her highly successful modeling career. As the wife of Spider-Man, however, things were hardly ever easy. After their honeymoon, Spider-Man was captured, drugged, and buried alive in a mound of spiders by Kraven the Hunter, who was attempting to best him before his inevitable death. Wearing a cloth version of Spider-Man's costume, Kraven hunted and killed criminals, even saving Mary Jane from one, although she easily saw through his disguise. However, no villain scared her more than the symbiotic Eddie Brock, known throughout the world as Venom. She was so terrified with her encounter that she begged Peter to not wear his black costume, as it reminded her too much of the monstrous villain.

Jonathan Caesar, a multi-millionaire, became obsessed with Mary Jane and even held her prisoner for a time, but Mary Jane regained her freedom and Caesar was sent to prison. Caesar took his revenge for being rejected by Mary Jane by having her and Peter evicted from their apartment. Moreover, Caesar used his influence to blacklist Mary Jane from getting modeling jobs, and even went so far as to purchase companies to prevent them from hiring her. Her savings frozen due to legal matters, Mary Jane and Peter moved into the home of May Parker for a time. She got a role on the soap opera "Secret Hospital," but was unhappy with her character's air-headed and mean personality. Although she successfully petitioned her boss to adjust her character's personality, a deranged fan tried to kill Mary Jane out of hatred for the actions of her soap opera character, compelling Mary Jane to quit her job out of fear for her own safety. As their relationship continued to shift to a growing divide, Mary Jane briefly flirted with fellow actor Jason Jerome who then tempted her into doing a secret affair. She refused, but Jerome insisted, and she realized that she was enticed by him in spite of herself. But in the end, she chose to love Peter and rejected Jerome, while rebuking his behavior.

### Marital Problems

Due to this stress, the recent death of Harry Osborn, and the seeming return of her husband's parents, Mary Jane began smoking (a habit she had quit in high school), only increasing the tension between her and Peter.

#### Extra Marital Affair

She begins an affair after having been seduced by photographer Nick Katzenberg.