Mary Jane Watson

Mary Jane "MJ" Watson is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics and created by Stan Lee and John Romita Sr. The character made her first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #25. Since then she has gone on to become Spider-Man's main love interest and later his wife. Mary Jane is the most famous and prominent love interest of Peter Parker due to their long history, as she is also represented in most Spider-Man media and adaptations.

Although she made a brief first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #25 with a plant obscuring her exterior, Mary Jane's first official face reveal was in The Amazing Spider-Man #42. Designed and drawn by John Romita Sr., her entrance is regarded as one of the most iconic introductions in comic history, owing it to its build-up, her hyper-vibrant red hair and her most famous line, "Face it, Tiger... you just hit the jackpot!" Since then, 'Tiger' has been her most recognizable nickname for Peter Parker, spanning comics and media adaptations.

Initially set up by Aunt May as a blind date, redheaded party girl Mary Jane "MJ" Watson was depicted in her early appearances as Gwen Stacy's competition. Though Peter dated her briefly before Gwen, both of them broke it off as Peter saw her flamboyance, flakiness and 'life of the party' personality as shallow and MJ was not ready to be tied down by one man. She eventually became Peter's main love interest after Gwen's death at the hands of the Green Goblin. The pair formed a bond through the grief of losing Gwen, as Mary Jane grew to become a more mature and open-hearted person. She and Peter got closer, fell deeply in love, had an on-off relationship for years and eventually married. Despite their marriage being undone due to the timeline manipulations by the villain Mephisto, Mary Jane and Peter retained a close friendship and have since temporarily resumed their romantic relationship.

Starting from her memorable debut, Mary Jane Watson has earned a place in comic polls over the years—making her the most popular "non-powered" character in the Marvel universe and one of the best known female love interests in superhero pop culture.

The character has been portrayed by Kirsten Dunst in the first installment in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy. The character was voiced by Zoë Kravitz in the 2018 animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Comics

 * Mary Jane appears in Comic Con Incorporated. She is a roomer in the titular fictional hotel, next to Peter Parker / Spider-Man.
 * A version of Mary Jane Watson appears as one of the core protagonists in Ultimate Marvel: Earth-2. In the franchise, she is a human/alien hybrid and daughter of the Titanian Tiger tribe chief Soto, and the series' version of Tigra.

TV Series
Mary Jane appears in several of Iago PUC's Marvel animated ideas. In most of them, she is voiced by Ashley Johnson.
 * In Marvel's Spider-Man: Webbed Champion, she appears as a main character and supporting heroine. Like her Ultimate Marvel: Earth-2 counterpart, Mary Jane is the half-human, half-alien daughter of chief Soto of the Titanian Tiger tribe, and the show's version of Tigra. She is revealed to have known of Peter's secret life as Spider-Man since he was bitten by a radioactive spider (a flashback reveals she was the only one other than Peter himself at the Oscorp field trip who noticed the spider biting him) and has been in love with him after his first heroic success. She first made a non-speaking cameo in Season 1 episode "Venom", where she was the Football team mascot of Midtown High. She later made her full appearance in "On the Tiger's Claws", on which she is shown to have dropped out of Midtown High to enroll at Horizon High. It is later explained in "City of Heroes, Part 3: American Cats" that she dropped out of Midtown High after overhearing Flash Thompson having a heated argument with Jason Macendale (whom he kicked out of the school's Football team for dressing as a clown in a children's hospital) and indirectly insulted Mary Jane by referring to costumed party entertainers as "useless clowns", also leading to an upset and offended Mary Jane to end her friendship with Flash (who was soon left brokenhearted and felt guilty over his mistake), although she would still remain friends with Flash's estranged younger brothers Marcus (who secretly operates as the superhero Lion King) and Jack (whom Mary Jane later became babysitter of). Currently acting as one of Spider-Man's comrades, Mary Jane / Tigra also assisted him in reccent battles, such as the ones orchestrated by Doctor Octopus via the Living Brain. She and the female heroines (Gwen Stacy / Ghost-Spider, Anya Corazon / Spider-Girl, Liz Allan / Firestar and Michelle Jones / Wave) were also the main focus of episode "What Girls Are Made Of". Mary Jane also played a major supporting in the "Family Business" arc, on which she and the rest of Peter's friends helped him finish the projects his parents and expose the criminals (Norman Osborn and Red Skull) behind their deaths. Successful, Tigra and the rest of the young heroes formed the Champions, while Mary Jane and the rest of Peter's friends started a new friendship with his long lost younger sister Teresa Parker. Later in the multipart crossover finale "Legendary Universes", Mary Jane joined Spider-Man's journey across the universes from where his parents earned their scientific projects and sought to destroy the Oscorp protocols which were discarded in there. Mary Jane / Tigra was among the teammates who accompanied Spider-Man in "Part 3: Unlimted Speed", where they teamed up with Sonic the Hedgehog and the Mobian Freedom Fighters to destroy a discarded prototype of Doctor Octopus' tentacle harness in EggRobo's possession. During the episode, Mary Jane started a genuine friendship with her partner and Sonic's girlfriend Sally Acorn; the two viewed each other as "dedicated princesses" (with Mary Jane ackowledging Sally as a princess in Mobius' Acorn Empire, and Sally ackowledging Mary Jane as the daughter of a village chief) and supported each other's romance with their leaders.
 * The Mary Jane Watson incarnation of Tigra is a main character in Marvel: All New, All Different Chronicles. Sharing similar details and origins of her Ultimate Marvel: Earth-2 counterpart, Mary Jane is also a top student in Baxter Institute, and a key member of the New Champions.

Video Game

 * Mary Jane is a playable character in Marvel's The Avenging Spider-Man (a sequel to the 2018 Spider-Man video game), voiced by Laura Bailey. Following the events of the previous game, Mary Jane had reaffirmed her romantic relationship with Peter Parker, and is revealed to be raising Anya Corazon as her own surrogate sister. Later, after Spider-Man's first mission with the Avengers, Mary Jane is soon revealed to be an Inhuman descendant after she is affected by the Terrigen Mist, which awakens her Inhuman powers of flight and Pyrokinesis. Despite terrified of her changes, Mary Jane soon embraces her powers and adopts the moniker of Firestar, while under the supervision of Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel.

Comics

 * A version of Mary Jane appears in All New, All Ultimate Marvel. A member of the superhero team New Warriors and Spider-Man's love interest, this version owns a flight nanosuit made out of Adamantium and crafted by Stark technology with the capabilities to communicate with birds (both pets and wild birds) and perform sonic wave attacks, and goes by the identity of Songbird. She has a telepathic link with her pet owl Athena. Orphaned at the age of 6, she was raised by Natasha Romanoff as her own surrogate daughter.
 * A version of Mary Jane serves as the primary protagonist in Marvel's Red Falcon, on which she goes by the identity of the titular superheroine.

TV Series

 * Mary Jane appears in the second season of Coolot's version of Marvel's Spider-Man, voiced by Felicia Day.