MovieChat Forums > Ultimate Spider-Man (2012) Discussion > So Mary Jane is going to be Toxin?

So Mary Jane is going to be Toxin?


That's an interesting way to bring her back into the fold.

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No, it's not. It's pure stupidity. This show has really gone off the deep end. Why even bother calling it Spider-Man? Make up your own character; don't ruin the original.

Proud member of the Common Sense Resistance

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She was *beep* Demogoblin in the Ultimate comics. So why not?

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Genius ideas like that are why they canceled the Ultimate comics in the first place. Personally couldn't stand that series. Just about every villain knew who Spider-Man was. Made no *beep* sense.

Proud member of the Common Sense Resistance

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What? Ultimate Spider-man was still selling even after Ultimatum and currently lives on in Miles Morales' series.

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I agree with Edgeworth. I dislike the idea of turning the civilian characters like Mary Jane, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Alfred Pennyworth, etc into superheroes. Their purpose is an important one: to represent the humane side of the heroes, to show they relate to a normalized setting. Once characters like these begin to shift into costumed superheroes, the stories tend to lose this important element. Ultimate Spider-Man (the show) mostly focuses on Spidey and barely does anything with Peter Parker, and viewers miss out on one of the most special parts of the mythos, that Parker was a young guy being forced to juggle his home life with being a masked hero.

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Okay, that's an understandable position.

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Thanks!

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Exactly. Why on earth would you give Mary Jane super powers and make her a bad guy? It completely misses the point of the character. What's worse is that they don't really even take the opportunity to do anything with these significant changes to the source material. Harry Osbourne and Flash Thompson are now super heroes too, but all this has accomplished is the addition of more overdone comedy hijinks and more action figures to sell. Which is fine I guess for this show's target audience (10 year olds apparently), but for people who actually grew up with the character, it's awful. I don't really even watch this show, but whenever I do, I just keep seeing more changes like this.

It's a real shame they canceled the Spectacular Spider-Man. Now THAT is how you do a Spider-Man show.

Proud member of the Common Sense Resistance

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I also forgot that this applies to civilians becoming supervillains, as well. It all seems like shock value publicity stunts, especially in comics. On the show, it is an excuse for selling more overpriced merchandise and to milk it for 'hilarity'. I get that Harry and Flash's powers originated in the comics but I was never fond of it, particularly in the case of Flash.

I liked his development of going from bully to joining the military to become a friend of Peter's and coming to an understanding with him...and also dealing with his disability. Giving him use of his legs again, and having him run around with the Avengers or whoever just...detracts so much from his arc, in a way. It doesn't help that the writers add no nuance or depth to these developments either. This also applies to the show as well. Flash didn't really develop? We barely saw him and then one day, the symbiote bonds with him. Now he's Agent Venom. Yay? It's so shallow.

I feel like MJ is going to follow suit with this. I've seen a fair amount of episodes of USM, mostly because I have DXD on by default or I watch out of boredom on Sunday mornings, and I can only recall her being in ONE episode. One where she's working at the Bugle or something. If/when she inevitably becomes Toxin, the narrative's going to want us to care...But will we?

And yes, Spectacular Spider-Man was amazing. It's a shame that the timing screwed it over. The show deserved the multiple seasons that we are now stuck with for USM...

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I don't think they are going to make her a bad guy. They did say there is going to be a new Spider, so she'll likely be a hero.

Flash and Harry being Venom and American Son was actually in the source material.

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It was on the trend of losing readers though. That's why they ended up killing Peter off and replacing him with Miles all of the sudden. That wasn't always the plan. It was a desperate attempt to get back the readers it was losing. Ultimately, they decided to *beep* it, destroy the whole universe and bring Miles on board in the 616 universe.

Proud member of the Common Sense Resistance

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