What About Mary Jane (Watson)?

You know the girl. She walks down the halls, and he sees her in slow motion. At lunch they sit in opposite social spheres, yet from afar, he memorizes the contours of her face. She is his first thought each morning, and last thought each night; he worships her from afar.

The most common knowledge I can think of would have to be Spiderman. Mary Jane Watson is the quintessential girl-next-door. She is popular, gorgeous, sweet, and a damsel in distress. Peter Parker has always loved her and then one day, they end up together.

You see it all from Parker's perspective; you see how much he loves and cares for her.

But what about Mary Jane? Did she grow up caring for Peter just as he did her? Did she know he was in love with her? Was she falling too? What made her fall for him? Was it the way she felt safe around him? His awkwardly adorable attempts at conversation? Or simply the fact that he cared for her so much?

But no one tells you that. No one tells you how to deal with being Mary Jane. Only the "Peter Parker" role is ever portrayed; comic after comic, over and over again.

Stan Lee never wrote Mary Jane's story. What does that say about her? Why was she not important enough for personal account? Just because she had no radioactive spider-induced super powers, does that make her any less of a worthy person? Does it make her dreams, her desires, her accomplishments, her struggles, any less real or important?

You see I always wanted to be that girl: the Mary Jane, the Lois Lane; the one who was so adored by the super hero, that she herself seemed super in his eyes. They are the princesses of the modern age, pretty, perfect, often distressed, and adored by their knight in shinning spandex.

But what if, Mary Jane had no romantic interest in Peter Parker, what then? How could she have spared him? What if Lois Lane had already found her Superman before Clark entered the picture? What if she was already so in love that she never even considered Clark as a possibility, leaving his feelings unrequited? What then?

In the world of Marvel, the lives and thoughts of these women seems to have been lost behind the art-deco skylines and pop art pages.

I really wish I could know what they'd been thinking. I mean, what about Mary Jane? Why was more of her story not told? I really wish that someone, anyone, would write it.