Spider-Man’s love life has always been complicated. From the earliest days of trying to woo Betty Brant to the modern wars over who Peter should settle down with next, the Friendly Neighborhood Wall-Crawler has been in romantic turmoil for what feels like forever at this point. Of course, when it comes to Spider-Man’s love interests, while there are over a dozen incredible ladies who all deserve their due, two always rise to the surface as the loves of Peter’s life. Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy are Spider-Man’s main love interests, and the debate over who he loves more has raged for decades.
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Marvel has never seemed to want to commit to one answer or the other. While Gwen has been dead for decades, her ghost has always hung over Peter, her absence weighing him down more than anything else, sans maybe Uncle Ben’s death. On the other hand, MJ is the person that Peter has always chased, even when she is constantly yanked out of his reach. You can make an argument for either one of them, and plenty of writers have decided to simply label both as Peter’s main love, but now we finally have a true answer. Spider-Man: Torn #5 just revealed who Spider-Man really picked between the two lovely ladies.
Love As Peter’s Ultimate Choice
Spider-Man: Torn is a five-issue miniseries set during Peter’s college years. Before the Green Goblin ripped away a chunk of Peter’s heart forever, the hero was still in an awkward love triangle. He was dating MJ, but he had plenty of unresolved feelings with Gwen, leaving him in a strange limbo that he didn’t know how to escape. The plot of the series hammered home this feeling of being torn in two, with Peter fighting Evangeline, a woman transformed into a soulless demon to serve as the harbinger of an alien invasion.
In the end, a portal to the interdimensional alien’s home was opened, and Spider-Man was prepared to sacrifice himself to seal it. He grabbed the book that acted as a gateway, but before he could throw himself into the other side, Evangeline took it. She sacrificed herself to save the world, leaving Spider-Man with nothing to do but clean up the destruction. As he did, he thought about everything he almost lost. He nearly died, and his final thoughts were of the two women he loved more than anything else in the entire world. Still, as much as he loved them both, he had finally come to terms with who he wanted to spend forever with.
After making sure nobody died, Peter went to find MJ, only for Harry to give him a letter. MJ knew that Peter was torn between her and Gwen, so she decided to break up with him and move to Europe for the semester to give him a chance to figure out who he wanted to be with. Peter, who had planned to talk with MJ, fell into a depression. The book ended with him looking up to the sky, seeing the face of the woman he loved. In many ways, MJ made Peter’s choice for him, but before she did, he finally realized what he always wanted.
Spider-Man and MJ Are Meant to Be
Spider-Man and MJ are one of the best romances in comics. Neither one started out being perfect for the other. They both had to learn and grow for years before they were ready to connect, only truly coming together after they both lost Gwen. They found each other in tragedy and taught each other how to smile again, and kept reminding each other how to smile for the rest of their relationship. Still, many could argue that Spider-Man was only with MJ because he lost Gwen. Plenty of What-Ifs and alternate universes implied that he would always have stayed with Gwen, after all. Now, however, we have this context.
Peter wanted to choose MJ, but he couldn’t because she took away that option. By the time she returned, Peter had given his heart to Gwen, but this still completely recontextualizes everything. Just like always, Peter was chasing MJ until she ran to a place he couldn’t follow. His dedication to being Spider-Man kept him from finding her before she left, and with nothing else, he went back to giving his heart fully to Gwen. This isn’t to call Gwen a consolation prize or anything, but to show that Peter was willing to give everything in his heart to MJ.
With MJ’s departure, Peter never got the chance to say how he felt or to get closure. He was left adrift and naturally gravitated towards the woman who didn’t leave him. He loved Gwen, but before that, Peter loved MJ enough to want to be with her forever. This, if nothing else, proves that MJ is the love of Peter’s life that he would have been with if everything had worked out. Just like always, the Parker luck did everything it could to keep them apart. Still, no matter how far apart these two are torn, they always find their way back into each other’s arms eventually. Peter and MJ are forever, and this story proved it.
Spider-Man: Torn #5 is on sale now!
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