Mary Jane Watson (One Small Change)

Mary Jane Watson-Osborn used to be the wife of Peter Parker until she is hit with a bullet meant for her husband. Peter makes a deal with Mephisto in order to save her life.

## Mary Jane Watson-Osborn

### Aliases

Mrs. Osborn, MJ, Mary Jane Watson-Parker (before reality alteration), Copper Top, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Wife (before reality alteration), Mrs. Webs (before reality alteration), Pudding-Woman, Red, Mary Reilly (before reality alteration), Mrs. Parker (before reality alteration), Mrs. Spider-Man (before reality alteration), Mystery Girl, Spider-Wife (before reality alteration)

### Relatives

May Parker (daughter prior to excision of any trace of marriage, deceased), Unnamed daughter from Harry, Peter Parker (husband prior to excision of any trace of marriage), Harry Osborn (husband), Aunt May Parker (paternal aunt-in-law prior to excision of any trace of marriage), Ben Parker (paternal uncle-in-law prior to excision of any trace of marriage, dead), Richard Parker (father-in-law prior to excision of any trace of marriage, dead), Mary Parker (mother-in-law prior to excision of any trace of marriage, dead), Norman Osborn (father-in-law), Emily Lymen-Osborn, dead), Ambrose Osborn (grandfather-in-law, dead), Philip Watson (father), Madeline Watson (mother, dead), Gayle Watson-Byrnes (sister), Spencer Watson (uncle), Lou Watson (uncle), Lorraine Watson (aunt), Anna Watson (aunt), Sybil Watson (aunt), Timothy Byrnes (ex-brother-in-law), Tommy Byrnes (nephew), Kevin Byrnes (nephew), Frank Brown (cousin), Kristy Watson (cousin)

### Affiliation

Spider-Man (formerly), Harry Osborn (husband)

## Biographical information

### Place of birth

Montoursville, Pennsylvania, United States of America

### Place of death

New York City, New York, United States of America (prior to excision of any trace of marriage)

## History

### Early Life

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 women were stunned by Mary Jane's beauty. 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.

### Interacting 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.

### New Romance

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 to Peter Parker

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 Struggles

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.

When his parents were discovered to be fakes, Peter was unable to cope with the knowledge and disappeared for a time. Mary Jane visited her sister Gayle and her father for the first time in years, and finally reconciled with them. Meanwhile, Peter overcame his problems on his own. When she and Peter reunited, both were happier than they had been in a long time. Shortly afterward, Peter's clone Ben Reilly returned, marking the beginning of the Clone Saga. Mary Jane discovered that she was pregnant. While she experienced some complications in her pregnancy, Reilly's scientist friend Seward Trainer helped her. Peter and Ben were told by Trainer that Ben was the real Peter Parker, and Peter was the clone (which later proved to be a lie).

Peter, acting on hypnotic suggestion by the Jackal, attempted to kill Mary Jane, but was prevented by Ben Reilly (as the Scarlet Spider), his teammates the New Warriors, and Kaine. Later, while arguing with Ben, Peter accidentally struck Mary Jane. After this, he decided to quit as Spider-Man, because the stress of his double life was endangering his wife and unborn child. Peter and Mary Jane left New York and moved to Portland, Oregon. They lived there peacefully for several months, adapting happily to normal life. However, they missed New York City and their friends, and moved back. During the Onslaught crisis, Mary Jane was scanned by a Sentinel robot, who detected genetic abnormalities in her fetus.

Soon afterward, while Ben Reilly died at the Green Goblin's hands the same night, when Mary Jane's baby was already past due, she was poisoned by Alison Mongrain, an agent of the Green Goblin. Mary Jane's baby was seemingly stillborn, as Mongrain apparently took the sedated infant away with her, and the baby has not been seen since in the normal continuity.

After this tragic turn of events, Mary Jane begged Peter to quit being Spider-Man. He was happy to do so for several months, but soon felt the tug of his great power and great responsibility to be a hero. Mary Jane returned to college and majored in psychology, but eventually became bored and decided to return to modeling, where she reached new heights of success. Peter became Spider-Man again behind Mary Jane's back, which put strain on their marriage yet again. At the same time, she began receiving lewd and threatening phone calls from an unknown man. Soon afterwards, the plane on which Mary Jane was to travel to a photo shoot exploded in mid-air, and she was presumed dead.

### Breaking Point

This mysterious stalker was revealed to be a telepathic mutant. He had connected to Peter in some way and wanted to take over his life. He kidnapped Mary Jane as part of his plan and held her hostage for several months. The stalker, however, killed himself after finally gleaning enough of Peter's personality and morality to discover that he had done terrible things. Peter and Mary Jane were reunited.

However, the stress of her captivity drove Mary Jane away. She moved to Los Angeles and immersed herself in acting. Although Mary Jane missed Peter terribly, after he failed to meet her flight, she refused to talk to him. However, when the villainess Shathra claimed to have had an affair with Spider-Man, Peter's first act was to call Mary Jane and assure her it was a lie. Each of them tried to visit their soulmate and talk about tensions and problems, but they crossed - Peter went to L.A., and Mary Jane to New York at the same time. However, unexpected meeting in Dallas Airport helped fix the things - Mary Jane and Peter ended their separation.

Later, Mary Jane, along with Peter and his Aunt May, moved into the Avengers Tower after one of Spider-Man's enemies destroyed their Queens home. Mary Jane was glad to live in luxurious rooms with her beloved and made friends with some fellow super heroes, something she had long wanted to do. During this time the pair found stability (Peter even asked if she wanted another baby, but responded "not now".) Although the Civil War events forced him to stage a secret transfer of Mary Jane out of Avengers Tower, feeling that with the loss of his secret identity and his doubts about Tony Stark's ideas, Mary Jane had become some kind of hostage. Mary Jane remained supportive about the whole ordeal, acting as an understanding wife and partner.

### One More Day

Later, Mary Jane had fallen from a sniper's bullet intended for him, Peter was then approached by Mephisto and asked him if he wanted help. Assuming it was his soul, Peter refused. Mephisto said that he was done with trying to take heroes' souls, as they were less fun to torture, knowing they did something right by damning themselves for eternity. He explained that he wanted to take away the love they shared.

Mephisto rearranged history, and their marriage and their personal history with one another was erased from the continuity. With Spider-Man's secret identity was restored, Mary Jane became Peter's ex-girlfriend after a messy break-up rendering their relationship was considered frosty at best, and the encounter with Mephisto never happened.

### Brand New Day

Mary Jane was the happily married wife of Harry Osborn with little girl to boot.

## Personality

Mary Jane is an empathetic and understanding person, willing to give the benefit of the doubt to friends and take the time to wrap her head around something. Having grown up in an abusive household due to her father's teaching positions and frustrations in private, Mary Jane coped with the emotional trauma by acting with an extroverted personality, which was useful in her pursuits of an acting career.

Mary Jane is also shown to be a dedicated person as she kept pursuing her acting career and worked hard to open a business. Due to her training as an actress, she also has great insight and almost always knows when someone is pretending or lying. She is also an exceptionally trustworthy character, having kept Peter's secret identity as Spider-Man since high school on the night Uncle Ben died, seeing him exit his room in costume and not telling anyone. And over the years, she would secretly become fascinated by Peter with his nerdy self in contrast to his actions as Spider-Man saving people.

Her friendship with Gwen Stacy exemplified Mary Jane's extroverted nature and willingness to be around others, such as her dating Harry but also flirting with Peter and other guys they knew. After Gwen's death, a distraught Peter lashed out at Mary Jane for not caring, but despite the harsh words and instead of leaving with indignation, she stayed to be with a grieving Peter out of her compassion and empathy for his situation.

In fact, her relationship with Peter is one of the factors that most defines Mary Jane. Because of her coexistence with his superhero life, while she initially suffered a great deal of stress and insecurity from worrying about him, Mary Jane would improve her perception of herself as she matured. In general, even after so many troubles that have plagued them over the years, both never stopped supporting each other and no matter how much they got involved with other persons, they always ended up reconnecting and helping each other.

Even Mephisto points out that the love between Peter and Mary Jane is very rare, which encouraged him to want to take it from them through his Faustian deal.