Spider-Man’s Brand New Day comic book story was a somewhat divisive soft reboot for fans of the Web-Slinger, but it also introduced one great new ally of Spidey’s into Marvel Comics. The beginnings of Brand New Day are traceable back to Marvel’s Civil War story, in which Peter Parker publicly unmasks as Spider-Man to comply with the Superhuman Registration Act. Unfortunately, this eventually leads to the Kingpin ordering a hit on Peter’s beloved Aunt May after his secret’s out. After exhausting every possible option to save Aunt May, Peter and his wife Mary Jane strike a bargain with the malevolent Mephisto, who agrees to save Aunt May and restore Peter’s secret identity in exchange for wiping Peter and MJ’s marriage away.
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This bargain, which forms the basis for the Spider-Man: One More Day story, was met with widespread backlash by comic book readers, with many perceiving it as a ploy to reset Peter to his pre-marriage status quo. Nonetheless, One More Day and the follow-up of Brand New Day did a lot right, with the former even serving as heavy inspiration for 2021’s big-screen mega-hit Spider-Man: No Way Home, and the latter to serve as the basis for its upcoming sequel, also titled Spider-Man: Brand New Day. However, one thing that Brand New Day did extremely well was the introduction of the new superheroine Jackpot, who went through multiple women holding her mantle until she was eventually the superheroic identity of MJ herself.
Jackpot’s Role in Brand New Day Explained
Following Peter and MJ’s Faustian bargain with Mephisto, the Marvel Universe effectively resets with Peter once again single and making his way as a freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle. Peter still leads his Web-slinging double life as Spider-Man, and eventually crosses paths with another masked hero by the name of Jackpot – a superheroine with powers of agility and superhuman gymnastics, flowing red hair, and a codename that curiously harkens back to the first words MJ spoke to Peter on their first blind date, “Face it tiger, you just hit the jackpot”.
Despite this very on the nose tease that Jackpot was a disguised MJ, she was actually a young woman named Alana Jobson, who had adopted the Jackpot identity from its previous holder, Sara Ehret. While Spidey and Jackpot initially hit it off, their mission to locate the villain known as Menace ends tragically with a city councilwoman being killed. Despite holding herself responsible, Jackpot continues her crime-fighting life, until she is afflicted with a blindness serum delivered by the villain Blindside. Though Spider-Man successfully restores Alana’s vision with a serum of his own, the combination of it and the serum in her bloodstream that originally bestowed her powers to her tragically proves fatal with Alana dying.
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How Mary Jane Eventually Became Jackpot
Following Alana’s tragic demise, Sara Ehret returned to her Jackpot identity. After her husband and daughter are murdered by the villain Boomerang at the behest of Rose, Sara puts a stop to Rose before retiring from superheroics for good, while adopting the pseudonym of Alana Jobson to honor her old friend. However, Jackpot was not gone for good, with MJ taking on the superheroine moniker after she and Peter are warped into the Earth of an alternate universe, upon which the ruthless god Wyep had wreaked havoc.
While Peter is able to get back home, MJ wasn’t immediately able to return, and with the assistance Paul Rabin, was able to develop a slot machine with the ability to grant its user superpowers, depending upon where a spin of the dial landed. Upon MJ’s return to her home world with Paul, she eventually learns that the two children she and Paul had adopted, Owen and Stephanie, were actually illusory constructs. Grieving their loss, this leads MJ to take up the identity of the third Jackpot. This wouldn’t be the only brush with superpowers the traditionally human MJ would have, with MJ becoming the new host of the Venom symbiote (and, at writing, the current one).
Jackpot Was a Tease Character Who Ultimately Paid Off Marvelously
Despite the rather obvious prodding Marvel was doing to convince Spider-Man readers that Jackpot was a masked MJ, immediately making her into Jackpot right after the events of One More Day would have been far too on the nose (though it admittedly would have likely mitigated the gargantuan fan backlash to the story that surpassed even that of The Clone Saga). Nonetheless, what made Alana, Sara, and MJ’s versions of Jackpot great was their shared sense of free-spirited adventure that made them naturals to pair with Spider-Man. At the same time, all three are also driven by various personal tragedies that mirror Peter’s own with the murder of Uncle Ben, and in the case of Alana, her selflessness leads her to die a heroine. Despite the darkness each is born out of, all three Jackpots brought their own level of charm and fun to their superheroic adventures.
In the case of MJ’s Jackpot, her power set was also the best and cleverest of all in being derived from a literal slot machine that could grant random powers, the usefulness of which naturally varied a lot. Additionally, MJ’s slot machine also brought with a risk not unlike that of actual gambling, with roll landing on three skulls spelling death for MJ. Despite this, the idea of Mary Jane Watson as a superheroine was too great an idea to pass up, especially with Gwen Stacy web-slinging into her own renaissance as Spider-Gwen. It may have taken over 60 years, but Brand New Day eventually set the stage for Mary Jane Watson becoming a superheroine in a lineage of two equally strong Jackpots before her – and perhaps even setting up Zendaya’s MJ to become Jackpot herself in Brand New Day‘s forthcoming big-screen adaptation.
