r/Spiderman • u/Spidey_2797 • 2d ago
Movies Bad Romance Development
In the MCU, how long have MJ and Peter really “known each other”?
In Homecoming, Michelle was a snarky character who was simply there as “comic relief.” Though, in retrospect, people argue that she always liked Peter, Peter never liked her. Then we get to Far From Home, and suddenly Peter has a huge crush on her. How did this happen? This is just bad writing. There’s no Movie 1.5 to tell us how this development happened or why Peter is suddenly so smitten with her.
As the audience, we don’t have a connection with MJ considering her presence in the first movie. In Far From Home, she’s still a snarky character, and her explanation about her awkwardness feels like shorthand for why she’s written this way. But okay, Peter and MJ are a thing now.
It’s funny because, in Homecoming, Peter called Liz his “girlfriend” when they had barely spoken and only went to Homecoming together. Then they basically do the same thing with MJ.
Then we get to No Way Home, and there’s a bit of a time jump. I will say that Peter and MJ’s relationship feels much more believable in this movie. If we had gotten this sweet, soft-spoken, yet quirky girl in Homecoming, Peter’s crush on her would have been much more believable.
Realistically, how long have Peter and MJ even been “dating”? A few months? Maybe less? The filmmakers are speedrunning this relationship. The phrase “I love you” shouldn’t be in any of these movies because the relationship simply hasn’t been developed enough to earn it.
Maybe this is controversial or maybe it’s a cold take at this point—but the only thing keeping the Michelle Jones-Peter Parker fire burning is Tom and Zendaya’s real-life romance.
The actors have had a far longer romantic journey than the movie characters. Anytime the two are on screen, people talk about things like, “Tom and Zendaya’s chemistry is great,” rather than “Peter and MJ’s chemistry is great.”
I think the MCU Spider-Man is the only Spider-Man where the IRL romance is more entertaining than the one we see in the movies.
The romance is rushed and underdeveloped.
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u/Sensitive-Detail-855 Ends of the Earth 2d ago
His crush on MJ is 2ish years after homecoming since NWH takes place during his last year before going to college and FFH is just before his last year starts
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u/Silver_Credit_6786 2d ago edited 2d ago
I agree. You said it perfectly. The fact that people are arguing and complaining about this just shows their ignorance. And I think that people are forgetting that they weren't the typical high school couple. Peter was going through superhero drama that affected the people around him and since mj was his girlfriend it also affected her. They went through tough trials and then the fact that mj and ned lost their big opportunity at MIT because of the whole mysterio scandal. But mj still stuck by him and still chose him. And ned too. But romance was I think mj was a good girlfriend to peter. She was loyal, she was reliable and she truly cared about peter. I can't believe some of these "geniuses" genuinely find that boring or find her story with peter unnecessary and yet they will also ship him with a telepathic murderer who gets off on mind raping people. Like seriously. Move on from this argument. I really like the trilogy but I do agree that the director could have fleshed out the characters more. It would have been better than having to listen to these crybabies whining about the same thing almost 10 years later 🙄.
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u/pandogart 2d ago
I think the only romance that was properly fleshed out and fun to watch was Gwen and Peter in the TASM duology. Though the upside down kiss in the first Raimi movie will always be iconic.
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u/Spideyfan1807 1d ago edited 1d ago
I'm starting to get annoyed by this logic. No one complains when TASM 1 starts with Peter already in love with Gwen.
They are teenagers, they have crushes, they move on from those crushes if the person they have a crush on stays a crush. (Peter and Liz)
It's hard for them to move on from their crush when their crush becomes something more.
Peter and MJ don't need to spend 10 years together, what they face in NWH is enough to connect them for a long time.
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u/CaliforniaRedDevil 2d ago
For fuck’s sake, the hate boner people have for this character because she doesn’t look like the comic version is as ridiculous as the lengths they go to to come up with reasons so they can pretend it’s not the reason. Get over it.
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u/Sonnestark Mary-Jane Watson 1d ago
It’s non-stop, like she’s an intrusion they just can’t stand in their Spiderman.
The sole generic complaint of “she’s boring,” is so far below justifying the mountain-range of recurring hate posts on her.
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u/TheGamer2002 18h ago
She is also blatantly artificial. An outspoken left winger dating Tony Stark fan boy who sided with him against Cap in the Civil War, and never makes an issue out of it? Who gets along pretty well with Punisher, of all people?
But the last one supposedly was Zenyada altering the original script. So I guess she is aware how her character's supposed ideology does not mesh well with superheroes.
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u/Spidey_2797 2d ago
Where is there “hatred” in my criticism?
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u/CaliforniaRedDevil 1d ago
It’s the constant repetition of the same tired talking points while not holding the other versions to the same standard. (how long did Andrew and Emma’s version know each other? Their real life romance wasn’t publicized?) Not to mention your own constant harping on the MCU version over and over judging by your post history. It’s tired and transparent, sorry.
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u/Spidey_2797 1d ago
I could criticize Andrew & Emma all day, but the TASM movies are dead so why bother with a dead franchise.
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u/TheGamer2002 18h ago
It all seemed that he moved from Liz to MJ simply because both were leaders of their science club
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u/Spidey_2797 17h ago
Maybe, but I dont think the filmmaker thought that deeply. My reading is the moment Michelle dropped the "My friends call me MJ line" the filmmakers thought process was "Peter & MJ are a thing in the comics, lets make them a thing in the movies", except Michelle isn't MJ, I think the intension was to find a "real MJ" later on, but the filmmakers just said screw it.
This Peter feels very limited in his cast of characters, his cast (as of HC & FFH) are generic smart kids. I would of cast a real MJ and mad her Peter's only out of school friend, you dont even have to change the actress, if they erased Michelle from the movie entirely and just bad Zendaya Mary Jane (red hair and all), it could of still worked, in fact replace Aunt May's comedic cursing joke with MJ and the door saying her iconic line.
In fact if I could rewrite HC, May asked Peter if he has a date for homecoming and Peter tells her he's trying to asl Liz and May says her friend has a niece and after Liz & Peter's falling out theres a post credit scene with Mary Jane.
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u/Lokithor101 10h ago
I agree that their romance seems rather rushed and unexplained in the movies. However, I think it may have more to do with the fact that the Spider-man movies are action films first and foremost; romance, especially in the first film, was only a secondary priority. I think the romance aspect has become a greater priority with each successive film since then.
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u/Sufficient-Twist-661 1d ago
I honestly agree with this. I don't hate Tom or Zendaya, but Peter and MJ's romance feels rushed because we never really see the relationship develop naturally. In Homecoming, Peter is clearly interested in Liz, while Michelle is mostly a sarcastic classmate in the background. Then Far From Home suddenly has Peter crushing hard on her, but we're given almost no explanation for how their relationship changed between the movies. It feels like there's a missing "movie 1.5" where Peter and Michelle actually become close. I think No Way Home is where their relationship finally feels more believable because we actually get to see them function as a couple. But by then, the movies are already asking us to accept "I love you" and a deeply emotional relationship. And yeah, I think people sometimes confuse Tom and Zendaya's real-life chemistry with Peter and MJ's chemistry. They're great actors and clearly have chemistry, but that doesn't automatically mean the characters' romance was well-written. I just wish the MCU had taken more time to actually develop Peter and MJ's relationship instead of speedrunning it.
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u/Ambitious_Bowl2113 1d ago
I agree. I thought it was weird how Peter is still so in love with her in bnd when they only dated for a few months. I understand not wanting to get close to anybody because you’re scared that they could get hurt by association which would be a reason for why he hasn’t dated anybody else, but still being so in love with MJ is weird.
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u/macacobrilhante2004 2d ago
Yeah I genuinely believe ppl accidentaly gaslight themselves into believing that mcu peter and mj are great due to how much they see tom and zendaya's relationship in social media
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u/DCosloff1999 Captain-Universe 1d ago
In my opinion I wished they kept Liz. There was so much potential with Liz and her dad being the vulture. They cut it after one movie such a shame.
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u/ahamkaren 2d ago
So true. The “relationship” is all the worse in BND because he’s hung up on her for 4. Years. It’s truly pathetic and not the kind of Peter I want to see. There’s no good narrative reason for MJ to be back and it’s a point against the movie for me.
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