The characters of Spider-Man and Mary Jane “are better served” if they remain unmarried, says longtime Marvel editor

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Like any celebrity, Spider-Man is facing a great deal of scrutiny about his marriage, or lack thereof. We at Popverse aren’t immune to interest in the subject either – you may recall our reporting last week on Marvel’s Tom Brevoort speaking to the Peter Parker/Mary Jane Watson union. Now, the longtime Executive Editor has more to say on the subject, and as The Daily Bugle would surely want us to, we’ve tuned in to hear it. 

Brevoort’s latest comments come from his weekly substack newsletter, Man with a Hat. In this week’s edition, fan Stephen Nulty writes in to defend the idea of good stories coming out of a comic wherein Spider-Man and Mary Jane are married. “[…] people who want to write compelling relationships/drama between settled characters can do it,” Nulty says, “they just have to imagine it’s possible.”

Brevoort (who we should point out, is not the current Spider-Man editor, but the X-Men’s), partially agrees with Nulty’s statement. “[…] your point that good stories can be told about married people isn’t wrong,” Brevoort writes, but then follows up by saying, “However, the question in this instance is about these specific characters—and there, I tend to think that those properties are better served with their main characters unattached.”

Acknowledging that Marvel fans are welcome to disagree (“that’s what makes horse races,” he quips), Brevoort reiterates his idea that a Peter/MJ marriage in particular not working in the mainline Marvel Comics universe. “I’m not worried about any possible story about a married person being all that it can be,” he says, “I’m worried about a specific individual character, Spider-Man.”

It’s surely not a great omen for fans who love that individual character and wish to see him, well, less individual, but at least 616 Peter Parker isn’t alone in his frequent loneliness. Later in the substack, Brevoort answers a question about a longterm romantic partner for Wolverine, saying:

“Kind of the same answer that I gave above […] I don’t know that Wolverine is best served in the same sort of relationship that might work for Rogue and Gambit or Cyclops and Phoenix. Perhaps there could be, but we’re not really there yet.”

Oh well. At least a different Marvel Peter has found lasting love.