For this “Versus” round up, it’s not really a sidekick match, but in a way it is. “Behind every good man is a good woman!” The women that love the heroes we love so much!
Back when we had our “Versus” match-up between Lana Lang and Gwen Stacy, one voter commented that he preferred Lois Lane and MJ. Never to turn down a request, we waited for the release of the much anticipated Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice movie so that the two iconic battles would coincide with one another.
So we present to you the women behind the heroes match up! We have Marvel’s web crawling Spider-Man’s one and only Mary Jane! And then we have DC’s Boy Scout’s, (Superman), Lois Lane! Whom do you think is the strongest to survive a battle between these two women? Here is a little history between the two, and in the end we will let you decide! So make sure you vote at the poll below.
Mary Jane
Mary Jane Watson, often shortened to M.J., is a supporting character appearing originally in Marvel comic books and later in multiple spin-offs and dramatizations of the Spider-Man titles as the best friend, love interest, and one-time wife (as Mary Jane Watson-Parker) of Peter Parker, the alter ego of Spider-Man, after the death of Gwen Stacy. Initially, upon her introduction, she had a friendly rivalry with Gwen for Peter’s affections.
In the 2002–2007 Spider-Man film trilogy, Mary Jane was played by actress Kirsten Dunst as Spider-Man’s main love interest.
Mary Jane is depicted as an extremely beautiful, green-eyed redhead, and has been the primary romantic interest of Peter Parker for the last twenty years, although initially competing with others for his affection, most prominently with Gwen Stacy and the Black Cat. Mary Jane’s relatively unknown early life was eventually explored in The Amazing Spider-Man #259.
Early issues of The Amazing Spider-Man featured a running joke about Peter dodging his Aunt May’s attempts to set him up with “that nice Watson girl next door”, whom Peter had not yet met and assumed would not be his type, since his aunt liked her (in the Parallel Lives graphic novel an identical scenario is shown between Mary Jane and her Aunt Anna). Mary Jane made her first actual appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #25 (June 1965), although her face was obscured. It is not until The Amazing Spider-Man #42 (November 1966) that her face is actually seen. In that issue, on the last page, Peter finally meets her, and he is stunned by her beauty even as she speaks the now-famous line: “Face it, Tiger… you just hit the jackpot!
Mary Jane’s face is shown for the first time, and her famous catchphrase first uttered.
Art by John Romita Sr. From The Amazing Spider-Man #42.
Peter begins to date her, much to the annoyance of Gwen Stacy. Her apparent superficiality proves to be an irritation, and Peter subsequently chooses to date Gwen. Mary Jane, who becomes Harry Osborn’s love interest and girlfriend, remains a close friend to Peter and Gwen.
Despite her enjoyment of life, her friendships, and dating, Mary Jane refuses to be tied down for too long. When her relationship with Harry Osborn comes to an end, it has significant impact on Harry, driving him to a drug overdose. This in turn creates a boomerang effect, driving his father Norman Osborn to the brink of insanity, temporarily restoring his memories as the Green Goblin.
After the Green Goblin murders Gwen in The Amazing Spider-Man #121, Mary Jane attempts to comfort Peter. Peter, who is distraught over the loss of Gwen Stacy, angrily confronts M.J. about her seemingly flighty and carefree attitude. He questions her ability to ever care about people like him and Gwen, and states “You wouldn’t be sorry if your own mother died,” unaware that her mother had actually died. Mary Jane is hurt by Peter’s comments. She attempts to leave, but hesitates as she approaches the door, and ultimately chooses to stay with him.This served as a turning point in their relationship, and over the next couple of years, she and Peter become very close friends. Eventually, upon realizing the feelings that they share for one another, they decide to take their relationship to the next level. Their relationship has a few initial hurdles, such as M.J.’s hot temper and Peter’s always dashing off to be Spider-Man.
Despite loving Peter, M.J. does not wish to be tied down, and when she allows the relationship to progress too far, she is left with a difficult decision when Peter proposes to her. After taking a short time to consider, she turns him down. Following a series of traumatic experiences involving Peter’s absences and his costumed alter ego endangering his Aunt May, a spiritually exhausted M.J. leaves New York for several months. Peter meanwhile dates other women, most notably Felicia Hardy.
M.J. eventually returns, her behavior showing a marked change with her abandonment of her false front. Following an attack on Peter by Puma, she breaks down and admits her knowledge of Peter’s secret identity in The Amazing Spider-Man #257. After learning of her own family history in The Amazing Spider-Man #259, Peter finds a new respect for her and begins to truly understand her. M.J. makes it clear to Peter that knowing his identity changes nothing about her feelings, and that she only loves him as a friend.
Despite the one-shot graphic novel “Parallel Lives” and Untold Tales of Spider-Man #16 revealing that Mary Jane discovered Peter’s secret when she noticed Spider-Man climbing out of Peter’s bedroom window, many comics published before this revelation claimed that she had simply “figured it out”, with the details of how and when left ambiguous to the reader.
After yet another period of reconsidering his priorities in life, Peter contemplates letting go of the Spider-Man mantle, with Mary Jane backing the decision, but his relationship with Felicia Hardy soon resumes. Feeling lost and guilty, Peter visits Mary Jane and apologizes with an awkward kiss before heading to Berlin with Ned Leeds.
Following Ned Leeds’ murder at the hands of the Foreigner, a changed and bitter Peter returns to New York, where his lack of direction in life is not helped when Ned is framed as the Hobgoblin, and Felicia elects to leave Peter behind as she is tied to the Foreigner. Mary Jane returns to Peter, presumably to patch things up, but Peter surprises her with a second proposal of marriage, which M.J. again turns down. She returns to her family to settle old debts with her father, with Peter following her. After aiding her sister in having her crooked father arrested, and aiding Peter against a Spider-Slayer, Mary Jane has an epiphany on marriage, and agrees to become Peter’s wife.
In the 2002 feature film Spider-Man, Mary Jane Wearing a New Pink Shirt is Peter Parker’s childhood and high school crush, and high school girlfriend to Flash Thompson. Desperate to escape her abusive, alcoholic father, and to pursue a happier future, she breaks up with Flash after they graduate, and an aspiring actress, waiting tables to support herself. She dates Peter’s best friend, Harry Osborn, who knows of Peter’s interest in her, but notes that Peter has never asked her out. She first develops an attraction to Spider-Man after the latter repeatedly rescues her, first from the Green Goblin (who is secretly Harry’s father Norman), and later from thugs in an alley, after which they share a kiss. She also grows closer to Peter, and in response, Harry breaks up with her. When Norman deduces Spider-Man’s identity, he kidnaps Mary Jane, and in a recreation of the Goblin’s kidnapping of Gwen Stacy from the comics storyline, holds her at the top of a city bridge, but Spider-Man rescues her. Mary Jane and Peter later share a kiss as she tells him that she loves him, but Peter, who fears that a relationship between them would endanger her, rejects her. A heartbroken Mary Jane realizes that her kiss with Peter reminded her of the one she shared with Spider-Man.
In the 2016 Marvel comic series “Civil War II,” Mary Jane will don the Iron Spider Armor. At least she does on the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #15.
Lois Lane
Lois Lane is a character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, the character first appeared in Action Comics #1 (June 1938). Lois is an award-winning journalist and the primary love interest of Superman. For fifteen years in DC Comics continuity, she was also his wife. Like Superman’s alter ego Clark Kent, she is a reporter for the Metropolis newspaper, the Daily Planet.
The character was created from many influences. Her physical appearance was originally based on Joanne Carter, a model hired by Superman co-creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and Siegel’s future wife. Siegel based Lois’ personality on Torchy Blane—a gutsy, beautiful, and headline-hunting reporter, portrayed by Glenda Farrell in the 1930s Warner Bros. film series. Siegel took the character’s name from actress Lola Lane, who played Torchy on one occasion. Lois was also influenced by the real life journalist Nellie Bly.
Depictions of Lois Lane have varied since her character was created in 1938, spanning the entire history of Superman comics and other media adaptations. During the Silver Age of Comics, she was the star of Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane, a comic series that had a light and frivolous tone. The original Golden Age version of Lois Lane, as well as versions of her from the 1970s onwards, portrays Lois as a tough-as-nails journalist and intellectual equal to Superman. Throughout the character’s long history, she has always remained the most prominent love interest in Superman’s life, and is considered the archetype comic book love interest.
Lois Lane made her debut in Action Comics #1 (June 1938) in the first published Superman story.Aspects of Lois’ personality have varied over the years, depending on the comic book writers’ handling of the character and American social attitudes toward women at the time. In most incarnations she has been depicted as a determined, strong-willed person, whether it involves beating her rival reporter Clark Kent to a story, or, in what became a trademark of 1950s/1960s era Superman stories, alternating between elaborate schemes to convince Superman to marry her or attempting to expose and prove to others her suspicion that Clark Kent was in reality Superman. Lois traditionally had an disinterested attitude toward Clark Kent, who in her view pales in comparison to his alter ego Superman.
Lois’ appearance has varied over the years, depending either on contemporary fashion, or media adaptations. For instance, in the mid-1990s, when the television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman began airing, Lois received a haircut that made her look more like actress Teri Hatcher, and her eyes were typically violet to match her character on the animated television series Superman: The Animated Series, after that show began airing. Traditionally, the character has black hair, though for a period from the late 1980s through the late 1990s, Lois was depicted with reddish brown hair in the comics.
Lois is the daughter of Ellen (alternately Ella) and Sam Lane. In the earlier comics, her parents were farmers in a town called Pittsdale; the modern comics depict Sam as a retired soldier, and Lois as a former “Army brat”, born at Ramstein Air Base with Lois having been trained by her father in areas such as hand-to-hand combat and the use of firearms. Lois has one younger sibling, her sister Lucy Lane.
In most versions of Superman, Lois is shown to be a crack investigative reporter, one of the best in the city and certainly the best at the newspaper she works at. In the Golden Age and particularly in the Silver Age stories, Lois suspects that Clark Kent is Superman; however, Superman thwarted Lois’ suspicions. While this was sometimes played for humor, stories since the 1970s greatly decreased Lois’ interest in Superman’s secret identity.
n 1958, DC Comics gave Lois her own comic book series, Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane. The series focus on Lois’ solo adventures and began publication in April 1958. In the 1960s, the comic series was one of DC’s most popular titles and was the top ten best-selling comic books in America.
Lois has been shown occasionally obtaining superpowers and becoming a superhero. Some of her superhero identities include Superwoman and Red Tornado of Earth 2.
After Clark proposes to Lois, and reveals to her that he is Superman, she accepts and marries him in the December 1996 special Superman: The Wedding Album. She keeps her maiden name for professional purposes.
Lois underwent a character alteration beginning with John Byrne’s The Man of Steel miniseries, which significantly rewrote Superman’s origin and history. In this modern version of events, Lois was portrayed as a tough-as-nails reporter who rarely needed rescuing. She was depicted as strong, opinionated, yet sensitive.
Lois’ first real relationship in this version was with Jose Delgado, a Metropolis vigilante whose legs are shattered in a battle with a Lexcorp cyborg/human hybrid gone amok. Delgado eventually recovered. He and Lois would have several on and off experiences together before the relationship completely disintegrated, due to Delgado accepting help from a Lexcorp subsidiary ARL and Lois’ attraction to Superman with whom Delgado felt he had to compete.
Another major change made was that Lois did not fall in love with just Superman, although she was attracted to him. One reason was the revised nature of the Superman/Clark Kent relationship. In the original Silver Age stories, Superman had been the man who disguised himself as Clark Kent. In this new revised concept, it was Clark Kent who lived a life in which his activity as Superman was decidedly secondary. Lois initially resented the rookie Clark Kent getting the story on Superman as his first piece when she had spent ages trying to get an interview. This sometimes ill-tempered rivalry remained the case until The Adventures of Superman #460–463 and Action Comics #650.
Actress Amy Adams portrays Lois Lane in the Superman reboot film Man of Steel (2013), with Henry Cavill as Clark Kent/Superman, directed by Zack Snyder and produced by Christopher Nolan.
With all that history, how can one choose! But you must! Make sure you participate in the poll, and let us know how you feel with who should win and why. Will it be Mary Jane or Lois Lane? Would you like to hear us debate about who would win this battle of the leading women? Well now you can! Head on over to podcastunlimited.com and go to our archive section and listen to or download episode 87!
Face it, Tiger, you just hit the jackpot! – Mary Jane Watson (Parker)
The Engineer