User blog:ARTaylor/Face It, Tiger, You Just Hit The 50 Year Jackpot

This month is the fiftieth anniversary of the debut of Mary Jane Watson. She first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #25, which was released in June of 1965, where her face was obscured by a flower. She continued to be mentioned throughout the comics as Aunt May constantly tried to set up Peter with her. She eventually made her first full appearance seventeen issues later in November of 1966.



With her famous line "Face it, Tiger, you just hit the jackpot!" she became an instant hit with both Peter Parker and audiences. She became one of the most famous superhero love interests, rivaled only by Superman's Lois Lane. The two dated until he and her rival Gwen Stacy became more serious. In one of his most famous stories, failed to save Gwen from death during an attack by Green Goblin. Immediately following that tragedy, Mary Jane began to overcome her illusive nature and become more serious with Peter and revealed that she always knew about Peter's dual identities. She then began working on her personal insecurities with herself and her father to eventually marry Peter. At one point she even became pregnant, though tragically lost the child. She stuck with him through thick and thin, healing his wounds, fixing his costume, and even taking on a supervillain or two when needed. In one of, if not the most, controversial stories in the history of comic books, Mary Jane and Peter wished their marriage away to save the life of Aunt May so that only the audience remembers what happened. Since then they have remained close and even dated at times.

Since her debut she has been a constant figure in Spider-Man media. She has appeared in video games, series, films, toys, and Broadway shows. Her iconic line has become her catchphrase, being used in almost all of her appearances and has been referenced by many other characters including some from other companies. She has become so popular that she has gotten her own comic series and novels.

Mary Jane made her animation debut in the 1967 Spider-Man episode "The Big Brainwasher" voiced by Peg Dixon. This version was actually the niece of Captain George Stacy as Gwen did not appear. Here, she was simply the girlfriend of Peter.

Her most significant appearance was on the 1994 Spider-Man series voiced by Sara Ballantine. Her first appearance followed the comics, as Peter was initially avoiding the blind date until meeting her. The two dated throughout the first season and into the second, until Peter's feelings for Felicia Hardy caused Mary Jane to date and eventually get engaged to Harry Osborn. However, she realized that she really loved Peter and the two began dating again. In an adaptation of The Night Gwen Stacy Died, Green Goblin captured Mary Jane and she fell into an interdimensional portal while Peter and everyone else thought she had died. She then mysteriously returned, learned of Peter's identities, and married him adapting the famous issue The Wedding. Unfortunately, it was discovered that this Mary Jane was actually a clone created by Miles Warren, another feature from the comics' Gwen. The unstable clone evaporated, dying in Peter's arms, and following the defeat of Spider-Carnage Madame Web took Peter to find the real Mary Jane. Had the series gone on another season, he would have found her in Victorian London where Carnage was Jack the Ripper.

She briefly returned on the loose sequel Spider-Man Unlimited voiced by Jennifer Hale, who had voiced Felicia on the previous series. She appeared in the premiere "Worlds Apart, Part One" as once again dating Peter and knowing full well of his identity. When he leaves for Counter-Earth, he takes her picture along and spends the rest of the series trying to get back to her.

Mary Jane was a big part of Spider-Man: The New Animated Series played by singer Lisa Loeb. Intended to follow the first live action film, the two dated off and on until she had to fight for the affections of Peter with original character Indira Daimonji.

Vanessa Marshall played her on The Spectacular Spider-Man. Once again, she is introduced as a blind date and introduces herself with the iconic line. While she and Peter occasionally dated, he tended to spend his time divided between Gwen Stacy and Liz Allan.

Most recently, Mary Jane is a recurring character on Ultimate Spider-Man played by Tara Strong. Taking their inspiration from post-One More Day comics, this version previously dated Peter but they are now just friends.