The latest Amazing Spider-Man run has been met with some backlash and controversy. As Marvel teases the “most shocking issue in 50 years” with issue #26, this week’s Amazing Spider-Man #25 answers questions surrounding what has been going on with Mary Jane Watson’s kids.
The first issue of this run from Hellions writer Zeb Wells ends with a stunner, revealing Mary Jane Watson not only has a new partner, Paul, but that she also now has two kids named Stephanie and Owen. This penultimate issue, before a major death in issue #26, answers the question of how these kids came into existence—and it may not be what you think!
The origin of Mary Jane Watson’s kids
Amazing Spider-Man #25 catches up the reader on everything with Mary Jane. When we meet MJ in the first issue, the last page shocks readers by revealing Mary Jane Watson’s kids. Many assumed she had these kids with her new partner, Paul; but this story gives a different explanation.
Recent issues reveal that Mary Jane and Paul got stuck in an alternate dimension when MJ pushed Peter through a portal back to our reality in an attempt to save him. The twist is that time works differently in this reality. In an inverse of how the Quantum realm works in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, the main reality is slower than the alternate reality that MJ and Paul were stuck in. This means that four years in the alternate reality is merely a month in the main world.
While stuck in this alternate reality, MJ and Paul are forced to hide from a man named Benjamin Rabin—a mathematician obsessed with the Mayan deity Wayep from Wells’ 2008 Amazing Spider-Man issue.
Rabin became keen on sacrificing MJ for his God’s death, until Paul finds an opening amidst a battle and kills Rabin himself. With the two no longer needing to hide—or seemingly wait for Peter to rescue them—they both venture off into the world and find two children hiding in a shed.
That’s right, Mary Jane Watson’s kids are adopted—not conceived. The new “found family” lives happily in this world for four years. That is, until Rabin somehow returns and wreaks havoc on their lives once more.
Just when things get to their lowest, Spider-Man miraculously returns to this realm to save the day. But Peter’s newest battle isn’t with a villain, it’s with himself. Now, he needs to accept the new life that MJ has with her family.
What’s next for Mary Jane Watson?
Amazing Spider-Man #26 is being teased as the most shocking issue in 50 years. With the 50th anniversary of Gwen Stacy’s death coming in June, and Mary Jane still on the run from Rabin’s sacrifice, it is being heavily speculated that MJ’s time is coming soon.
Mary Jane Watson made her first appearance as a cameo in Amazing Spider-Man #25 (1965). Though it would have been poetic to see her conclusion in the 2023 release of Amazing Spider-Man #25, web heads must wait for the next issue to see how it all plays out.
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