Real
Name: Mary Jane Watson-Parker
Occupation: Former student and Professional fashion model
and actress
Identity: Publicly Known
Legal Status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal
record
Other Aliases: MJ
Marital Status: Married
Known Relatives: Philip Watson (father), Madeline Watson
(mother, deceased), Judge Spencer Watson (uncle), Martha (aunt),
Gayle Watson Byrnes (sister), Timothy Byrnes (ex-brother-in-law),
Tommy Byrnes, Kevin Byrnes (nephews), Frank Brown (mother's
cousin), Peter Parker (husband),
May Parker (husband's aunt)
Group Affiliation: None
Base of Operation: New York City
First Appearance: (first mentioned) AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#15, (first appeared, but with face unrevealed) AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#25, (face revealed) AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #42
History: Mary Jane Watson-Parker is the daughter of
Philip and Madeline Watson, who met as students in college.
Although Madeline wanted to move to New York City to pursue
an acting career, she gave up this ambition to be with
her husband, Philip, who took a teaching position at a
small college. Mary Jane's sister, Gayle, was born about
eighteen months after their marriage, and Mary Jane herself
was born four years later. Philip was an alcoholic and
the marriage of Mary Jane's parents was an unhappy one.
Philip Watson kept changing teaching jobs and moving form one
college to another. In order to make friends as her family
moved to different locations, May Jane began developing
the extroverted, fun-loving personality that she would
cultivate for years to come. Her good humor was her means
of compensating for and escaping from her deep unhappiness
over the growing tension in her family. Finally, Madeline
left Philip, taking her daughters with her, and went to
stay with various relatives.
Mary Jane's favorite relative outside her immediate family
was her aunt, Anna Watson. Anna introduced Mary Jane to
her friend and neighbor, May Parker, whose nephew, Peter,
was only a year older than Mary Jane. Mary Jane first
saw Peter out of a window of Anna's house one autumn when
she was twelve or thirteen; he was sweeping leaves and
did not see her.
It was in Peter's sophomore year that he underwent the accident
that gave him his superhuman powers and he took on the
secret costumed identity of Spider-Man.
Mary Jane, Gayle, and their mother moved in with Madeline's
cousin, Frank Brown. Gayle began dating high school honors
student Timothy Byrnes and continued her studies if dance.
Mary Jane began doing amateur acting in school and dreamed
of someday becoming a famous actress on Broadway of in
films. Her performance early on as Juliet in a school
production of Romeo and Juliet was not a success, but
she later did far better playing Blanche DuBois in a high
school production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Over these
years she also performed in other school plays and at
least one musical.
After graduating high school, Gayle gave up her dance studies
and married Timothy Byrnes; she soon became pregnant.
Mary Jane first saw Peter Parker as Spider-Man when he performed
on television soon after gaining his superhuman powers.
She was impressed by him, thinking he was a kindred spirit
to her. Mary Jane was visiting her aunt Anna on the night
when an unidentified burglar shot and killed Peter Parker's
uncle Ben. Watching from a window, Mary Jane saw the frantic
Peter run into his house and then saw Spider-Man emerge
from the Parker house's upstairs window. Mary Jane immediately
realized that Peter Parker was Spider-Man, but she decided
to keep the information to herself, unable to deal with
the confused emotions the discovery awakened in her.
Peter, Peter's aunt May Parker and Anna Watson tried to set
up a date between Peter and Mary Jane, who still had not
actually met each other. May thought that Mary Jane had
much in common with Peter and would make a good girlfriend
for him. May even hoped that Peter would someday marry
Mary Jane. May did not tell Peter about Mary Jane's past
but tried to get him to meet and date her. Peter, however,
had already fallen in love with secretary Betty Brant,
and was being flirted with by his classmate, Liz Allan.
He did not want any further romantic entanglement and,
moreover, assumed that a girl his aunt wanted him to date
would probably be dull and unattractive. Knowing Peter
was Spider-Man, Mary Jane did not want to get involved
with him and called off the date.
One day Mary Jane came to May Parker's house, where May hoped
she would finally meet Peter, but Peter was absent, since,
as Spider-Man he was busy fighting the first of the Spider-Slayer
robots. However, Betty Brant and Liz Allan dropped by
the house and were astounded by the beauty of the girl
they immediately regarded as their competitor for Peter.
However, Peter's romantic relationships with Betty and Liz
came to an end, although he has remained a close friend
of both. He began his college work at New York City's
Empire State University, where he met and became attracted
to a fellow student, Gwendolyne
Stacy.
Gayle and Timothy Byrnes had their first son. However, the
stress that Timothy suffered in trying to support a family
while attending college led to marital discord, and Timothy
left Gayle after she again became pregnant. Mary Jane
was pained by the family turmoil, but found escape from
her troubles in her acting and partying.
Soon, Madeline fell seriously ill. Mary Jane gave up her acting
at school and took a series of after-school jobs to help
support the family. However, Madeline finally died, and
Mary Jane, terribly upset, left home. She was determined
not to sacrifice her dreams of happiness as Madeline,
Gayle, and Timothy had done. She arrived at Anna Watson's
house on a Saturday, and Anna decided to invite May and
Peter Parker over for Sunday dinner so Mary Jane could
finally meet him.
That Sunday Mary Jane found an apartment for herself in Manhattan's
East Village. Later that day the Parkers arrived at Anna
Watson's house for dinner. When Anna introduced Peter
to Mary Jane, he was immediately overwhelmed by her beauty
and charm. After dinner Peter and Mary Jane watched a
rock music program on television, which was interrupted
by a news bulletin about the escape of Spider-Man's enemy,
the Rhino. Perhaps realizing that Peter would want to
go after the Rhino as Spider-Man, Mary Jane suggested
they go on his new motorcycle to see if they could spot
the escaped criminal. Peter agreed, but after they found
the Rhino, Peter left her, claiming that he had to take
pictures in his role as a freelance photographer for New
York City's Daily Bugle. Mary Jane was delighted to see
Spider-Man appear a short time later to battle Rhino.
Soon afterwards, Peter introduced Mary Jane to his friends,
Gwen Stacy, Harry Osborn,
and Flash Thompson. Gwen was jealous of Mary Jane, who
then went on a date with Peter. Shortly thereafter, Mary
Jane went on a date with Osborn. But later still, Osborn
arranged a double date: himself with Gwen, and Peter with
Mary Jane. Gwen was still jealous, and Peter, though he
was strongly attracted to Mary Jane, found himself still
more interested in Gwen. Gwen and Mary Jane competed for
Peter for some time, but Peter and Gwen continued to grow
closer together.
Mary Jane was hired as a dancer at a New York City dance club
called the Gloom Room, which was secretly a front for
the crime lord known as the Kingpin. During a gunfight
there, a criminal tried to use Mary Jane as a shield,
but Spider-Man rescued her. This was Mary Jane's first
meeting with Peter Parker in his Spider-Man guise.
During a temporary split between Peter and Gwen, Mary Jane
tied to become Peter's girlfriend again. However, Peter
was deeply in love with Gwen and turned Mary Jane down,
to Mary Jane's surprise. Gwen and Peter resumed their
relationship, which grew increasingly strong. Mary Jane
went back to being Harry Osborn's girlfriend, but still
flirted with Peter.
Later, Harry's father, Norman, who was secretly the first criminal
known as the Green Goblin,
murdered Gwen Stacy to take revenge on Spider-Man, whom
he knew to be Peter Parker. After Gwen's death was avenged,
the disconsolate Parker returned to his apartment to find
a sorrowful Mary Jane waiting there for him. Angry and
distraught, Peter rejected her sympathy, charging that
the happy-go-lucky Mary Jane would not be upset if her
own mother died. Peter did not realize that, in fact,
Mary Jane had lost her mother. Remembering her own past
heartbreaks, Mary stayed with Peter to comfort him.
Mary Jane broke up with Harry Osborn, who was becoming increasingly
unstable as a result of his father's death. But, claiming
she was tired of Peter's depression, she decided not to
become further involved with him. Subsequently, Peter,
as Spider-Man, rescued Mary Jane from the third Vulture.
At a party, Mary Jane feigned indifference toward Peter. But
later that night she said that she did not want to be
in love with Peter because she liked him too much. Presumably,
Mary Jane feared somehow being emotionally hurt in a serious
relationship with Peter similar to the way she had been
hurt in relationships with member of her family.
Nevertheless, Mary Jane and Peter continued seeing each other.
Harry Osborn went mad, became the second Green Goblin,
and set a bomb that nearly killed Mary Jane and Peter.
Mary Jane was hospitalized, and Peter was greatly concerned
about her. Later, the second Goblin captured Mary Jane
in an attempt to strike at Spider-Man, but she was unharmed
and was released safely.
Just before he left on a trip to Europe, Mary Jane and Peter
exchanged a long, passionate kiss at the airport that
was a turning point in their relationship. Mary Jane realized
that their relationship was becoming serious and was astonished
to discover the depth of her own feelings for Peter.
The and after returning, it seemed for a brief while the married
Jane might lose Peter to young woman who was a look-alike
for the deceased Gwen Stacy. May Parker, still determined
on a match between Mary Jane and Peter, urged Mary Jane
to take the initiative in winning Peter back. After Peter
and the Gwen look-alike agreed to part, Peter found in
Mary Jane waiting for him at his apartment and he was
overjoyed to see her.
Peter realized that he was in love with Mary Jane and even
hinted to her shortly afterwards that he wanted to marry
her.
Sometime later, Mary Jane became angry and Peter when he left
her on a date so he could investigate the killing as Spider-Man.
She retaliated by going on a date with Flash Thompson.
Mary Jane told Peter that she was uncomfortable with having
a serious relationship and disappointed of the way he
was continually leaving her to take photographs for the
Bugle. (Of course, she knew he was actually leading
to go into action as Spider-Man, thus risking his life.)
However, Peter Mary Jane recalls once more, and when she helped
Liz Alan chews a wedding gown for her upcoming marriage
to the recovered Harry Osborn, Mary Jane wondered aloud
what Peter would think of seeing herself wearing one.
Finally, Peter visited Mary Jane and presented her with a box
of cracker Jacks in which she found a real diamond ring
he had put inside. Peter then proposed to her, but the
startled Mary Jane said she needed time to think about
it. She soon return the ring, claiming shoes too much
of her free spirit to settle down with one man.
Peter and Mary Jane remain friends, but Mary Jane was upset
by his departure on to the dates to go into action as
Spider-Man and began avoiding him. She worked at another
dance club called Studio 52.
Mary Jane grew increasingly upset over the knowledge that Peter,
whom she cared for so deeply, was constantly risking his
life as Spider-Man. At last, having finished college,
Mary Jane left knee York and went to Florida to help her
Aunt Anna settle there. However, Mary Jane's real motive
in leaving was to get away from Peter Parker and Spider-Man.
In her absence, Peter had other romantic relationships, including
one with a female costing adventurer known as the Black
Cat. Eventually married Jane returned to New York and
after a while the steady work as fashion model. Various
friends tried to revive the romance between Peter and
Mary Jane, but both of them resisted. Mary Jane dated
a number of actors and man in the fashion industry, was
pleased to have her just as a front.
One day one of Spider-Man adversaries, the Puma, used his tracking
ability and superhuman senses to track Spider-Man down
to Peter Parker's apartment where Mary Jane was there
visiting. Peter pushed her out of the apartment just before
the Puma broke in. Mary Jane could hear the battle between
Spider-Man and the Puma through the apartment's locked
door. After the battle is over, Mary Jane went to Peter
and told him she could no longer bear worry about the
dangers he puts himself in and told her she knew he was
Spider-Man. still, Mary Jane had no actual proof of Peter's
double identity until at that moment the Black Cat, who
is known to be Spider-Man companion, arrived at the apartment.
In tears, Mary Jane hurriedly left the apartment.
Mary Jane was about to leave New York but decided she would
not run away from Peter. Returning to him, she told Peter
her life story for the first time, and Peter decided he
could trust her with his secret. Peter Mary Jane decided
to stay together as close friends and confidants, while
ruling out the possibility of becoming romantically involved
once more.
At long last Peter had a friend for whom he felt he did not
have to hide his secret life as Spider-Man. Mary Jane
continued to worry intensively about Parker's for risking
his life, but remained steadfastly with him as his friend,
even bravely facing danger posed to both of them by the
original Hobgoblin and a new version of the Spider Slayer.
As time passed, Peter and Mary Jane realized that they
were deceiving themselves about the depth of their feelings
for one another, and that they were very much in love.
Peter proposed marriage to Mary Jane the second time.
She did not accept immediately. She left for Pittsburgh,
where her sister, Gail, had been sent to prison. Mary
Jane helped the police arrest the real culprit, her father,
Philip, who heads stolen our rear manuscript. Mary Jane
was reconciled with Gail after the years of tension between
them. Right afterwards Mary Jane accepted Peter's proposal.
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.
However, a multi millionaire named Jonathon Caesar became obsessed
Mary Jane and even held her prisoner for a time. Marry
Jane regained her freedom and Caesar was sent to prison.
However 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 has even gone so
far as to purchase companies to prevent them from hiring
her. Her savings frozen to legal matters, Mary Jane and
Peter moved into the home of May Parker for a time.
However, Peter and Mary Jane have now moved into a new apartment
in a building that is owned by their friend Harry Osborn
and is located in Manhattan's SoHo district. Mary Jane
has also returned to acting in his one role on a daytime
serial secret hospital.
Height: 5 ft. 8 in.
Weight: 120 lbs.
Eyes: green
Hair: Red
Strength Level: married Jane Watson-Parker possesses
a normal human strength of a woman of her age, height
and build linkages in moderate regular exercise.
Known Superhuman Powers: none
Other Abilities: Mary Jane Watson-Parker is an accomplished
professional actress, dancer, and model.
NOTE: Kirsten Dunst plays her in Spider-Man
the movie.
