My Spiderman Trauma

I don’t know how many of you are going to see this, or how many of you are going to care about this, but a few months ago I posted about my thoughts on the Amazing Spiderman comic run and what it did to his relationship with Mary Jane.

It was… emotional to say the least.

But I’ve had time to gather my thoughts and I wanted to share with you what I’ve been through.

I’m going to be transparent, to this day I have never picked up a Spiderman comic. All I know about his story are through the movies, clips on YouTube (comics/tv), and a Deadpool comic from 2013. I never thought I would get emotional about something like this, but I guess he holds a greater place in my heart than I thought.

As for the reason WHY I’m upset I still don’t completely know. Maybe it’s the fact I don’t enjoy breakup stories, maybe it’s a realization about how in life things can change on the turn of a dime, or maybe it’s the fear of losing MY wife to another man (the fact she kind of looks like Mary Jane does not help). It’s probably a combination of the three and then some if I’m being honest.

I remember when I first discovered this story arc I dug deeper into the story/background both in the comic and in real life and it only made me feel worse in the end. Believe it or not, it got so bad that I saw a therapist about this and while it did help in calming me down the feeling still lingers. It’s because of this that I’m intrigued to know where the story of their relationship goes, but I’m terrified of what I’ll find. I can’t tell if this is me being hooked by the plot or some kind of fear.

I know this is over a fictional relationship a team of writers cooked up, but people care about this stuff. Hell, if you go on YouTube and read the comments on recent Spiderman stuff I bet you you’ll find something including Paul or this arc.

I thought Marvel would see the backlash and do something about this and I think they kind-of did, but not really. In the beginning of the story we’re led to believe MJ and Paul’s kids are really theirs since they look like them, but it’s revealed they’re adopted and they’re written out of the story eventually (at least I hope to god they are). Despite this she’s still with him and I don’t think they’re splitting up anytime soon. It almost makes me think maybe the writers WILL just go all-in. They get married, MJ gets pregnant, and the fans storm the Marvel Building, raising the writers’ heads on pikes!

Okay, that’s extreme. Please do not hurt the writers. But you get what I mean.

The funny thing is that if the reason MJ left wasn’t so contrived I might have gone along with it. I’m not opposed to them dating other people (I am aware of Gwen, Felicia, Silk, etc), but HOW they did it was what got me. The fact that these two are also a core couple is what’s REALLY insulting. And if I was Mary Jane in her situation I would probably do the same thing. She was alone in a hostile environment for years, thinking her lover was probably not coming for her. She finds someone who comforts her to help her through these tough times and a relationship blossoms. Suddenly Peter finds his way to her, but it’s already too late. On the other hand to Peter (and us the audience) it’s only mere hours since he lost her and suddenly she’s seeing someone else with two children who look suspiciously like them. If this were handles better, like say you get to see MJ’s perspective and you get to see how her relationship with Paul blossomed through a flashback maybe the blow wouldn’t have been so severe. It’s a rough situation regardless.

I’m here hoping for the best from a bad situation. I said before that I was sure they’ll get back together in some way, shape, or form, but as of now I’m only 60% sure that will happen. At this point I think the only reason she stays with Paul is because of the time she spend with him and the kids, but I know comics can change quickly. Who knows? Maybe Paul might stick around for months or even years to come as Mary Jane’s boyfriend/husband. I just hope whatever happens doesn’t cause me to die from cardiac arrest.

If you’ve read through this thank you so much for doing so. Genuinely I mean it. Writing this has been very therapeutic and I have a feeling some of you have thoughts of your own. Or you think I’m a whiny man-child for obsessing over Spiderman.

Anyway, thank you so much for reading. Thank you for supporting my work. Thank you for everything.