Garfield Wants Michael B. Jordan as MJ
The past few months have been quite historic in terms of gay
rights, at least in the US. To complement this momentum, current Spider-Man
actor Andrew Garfield has suggested
having a gay Spider-Man. While talking to
producer Matt Tolmach, Garfield mused about making Mary Jane Watson (better
known as MJ) a male. When speaking to EW
he had this to say,
“I was kind of joking, but kind of not joking about MJ. And
I was like, ‘What if MJ is a dude?’ Why can’t we discover that Peter is
exploring his sexuality? It’s hardly
even groundbreaking! So why can’t he be gay? Why can’t he be into boys?”
So is this the reason for Mary Jane’s sudden exit from the
sequel and Shailene Woodley’s delayed entrance as MJ? Perhaps. To augment the
discussion, Garfield even threw in a candidate for the potential male MJ,
Michael B. Jordan. He said this,
“I’ve been obsessed with Michael B. Jordan since The Wire.
He’s so charismatic and talented. It’d be even better—we’d have interracial
bisexuality!”
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| Michael B. Jordan |
Director Marc Webb shrugged off these ideas without any
hesitation, so such revisions are purely constricted to Garfield’s imagination.
Hardcore fanatics who feared a deviation from the character’s comic book
origins can sigh in relief. The only person who should be concerned is Garfield’s
co-star and girlfriend Emma Stone, who plays Gwen Stacy. She might turn up at
home one day to find Garfield and Michael B. Jordan in bed together.
Just in case such a dramatic turnaround does happen, it’s
best to make sure we remember Peter Parker’s lovers and girlfriends in case
they get forgotten. You might be oblivious to some names on the list, though. (Spoiler Alert)
Betty Brant
Parker met Brant at the Daily Bugle and she happens to be
the secretary of foul-mouthed editor J. Jonah Jameson, who constantly mounts
campaigns against Spider-Man. This romance became awkward when Brant’s brother
was killed during a battle between Spidey and Dr. Octopus, something she blamed
Spidey for. It wasn’t the reason for the relationship’s undoing, however. That
happened when reporter Ned Leeds walked into Brant’s life and stole her heart.
Brant was played by Elizabeth Banks in the first Spider-Man series.
Gwen Stacy
Peter’s current love interest (in the movies that is)
perhaps was the one he had the most enduring relationship with. Despite
friction over his disappearing acts (Spider-Man needs to save the city and she
wasn’t aware of the duel identity) the relationship remained intact, and gave
Parker hope of a future with Stacy. But trouble started when Stacy’s father was
killed during yet another encounter between Dr. Octopus and the superhero,
while Colonel Stacy was trying to save a child. Gwen blamed Spider-Man for her
father’s death and this took a toll on Peter’s conscience. Having to keep his
identity secret didn’t help either. Parker attempted to remove his powers to
alleviate the guilt but failed. What eventually ended the relationship though
was death, when the Green Goblin dropped Stacy off the Brooklyn Bridge.
Cissy Ironwood, Dawn Starr, Amy Powell
After Gwen Stacy’s death, Peter grew close to Mary Jane
Watson, the girl that aunt May had been trying to hook Peter up with
persistently. Before graduating from college, Peter proposed to her but she
declined, due to her own troubles with her family and because she wanted to
pursue a modeling career in Florida (there you go!). He entered post-graduate
studies and realized that he was the only one single amongst his friends and
family. Harry Osborn had found love with Liz Allan and Aunt May was also
dating. Parker decided to rush things and he had several unsuccessful flings.
The first was with Cissy Ironwood. The second was with Dawn Starr who was using
Parker to steal an exam. Finally, Amy Powell utilized Peter to make her fiancé
Lance Bannon a tad jealous.
Felicia Hardy
Peter crossed paths with a burglar named Felicia Hardy who
was infatuated with Spider-Man. Spidey convinced Hardy (Black Cat) to turn away
from crime to fight it instead and the two formed an alliance in super duties
in addition to their romance (yes, she knew both his identities). However, she
didn’t possess any powers and had a near fatal accident, something that caused
Peter to protect her from his world-saving duties. Dissatisfied, she went in
search of powers in the wrong place, and ended up being tricked by villain
Kingpin. Inevitably, the romance then ended.
Mary Jane
Finally, back from Florida, Mary Jane and Parker
reconnected, and Jane confessed that she knew of Peter’s other superhero alias.
Their relationship prospered and Parker’s second proposal wasn’t rejected. MJ,
though, struggled to deal with intense loneliness went Peter was off as a
savior to the world while risking his life at the same time. MJ was carrying
Peter’s baby when Norman Osborn rose like a Phoenix from his apparent death, creating
a conniving scheme that resulted in a miscarriage for MJ.
Opting to focus on their family, Peter decided to resign
from his post as Spider-Man, but found that he just couldn’t let go. Instead of
confiding in his wife, he decided to feed this appetite for crime fighting
secretly. Once MJ found out of course, she left Peter. After MJ found herself needing rescuing from
her stalker and with the aid of aunt May, their relationship was rekindled.
While Aunt May was ill facing imminent death, a supernatural
known as Mephisto said that Aunt May would be healed if the bond of matrimony
between Parker and MJ was broken. MJ makes the tough decision realizing that
Peter would struggle to do so and Aunt May survives, while the marriage was
erased from history.
During the Civil War story line, the world discovers that
Peter is Spider-Man, and he wishes to change this fact. With the aid of Mr.
Fantastic, Tony Stark and Stephen Strange, Parker gets the world to forget that
he is Spider-Man and confuse people if they ever tried to consider that option,
exempting MJ of course. But MJ couldn’t cope being Spidey’s girlfriend, and
their long run ended.
Carlie Cooper
Later, while working at Horizon Labs, Parker started seeing
Carlie Cooper, a forensic detective. However, as soon as she figured out he was
Spider-Man the romance ended, but the two still manage to be friends.
Most of the details have been dumbed down, so at times
reading the above bits could seem hysterical, especially the breaking up
between MJ and Parker. Their comic book romance has lasted several years in the
literature and fitting it into a handful of paragraphs is criminal of me.
Going through the material, however, it becomes clear that
Parker has shown no interest in men sexually and the key players in the movie
industry are unlikely to change the course of the movies over a light-hearted
idea from Andrew Garfield. On the other hand, if Stan Lee opts to squeeze some
gay romantic interest in the future comics, you may see Peter Parker hitting it
off with a guy, but not in the foreseeable future. It would have to be done in
his teenage years because that’s when most people begin to experiment in their
dorm rooms. Until then, it seems that Peter Parker will have his hands full
with Gwen Stacy and MJ later.
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