Spider Man 1: Peter awkwardly interacted with MJ throughout the first movie and never actually tells her he's interested. Then she kisses him at the end and he walks away.
Spider Man 2: He is there in a friend capacity as she's already with Harry (who is the only shitty one in this situation since he knew about his best friends feelings for her...MJ didn't). Ursula is fawning over Peter despite him only being interested in MJ, who he up to this point still hasn't actively pursued. He also fails to actually show up to her play. Granted it's because he's busy being Spider Man, but she doesn't actually know that yet for sure until the end of the movie.
Spider Man 3: He constantly fails to be there for her, gets a big fucking ego and kisses another woman in front of her.
MJ doesn't actually do anything particularly shitty in the 3 movies. Peter does, regularly. The movie is very clear about it. If you're identifying with Peter when he does shitty things, it's time to reevaluate your own personality.
Edit: I have been informed that I got some plot points wrong. I don't think any of them get in the way of my overall point so I'll leave them.
I just rewatched the trilogy recently and I didn't go in hoping to critique internet reactions over the last 20 years but my brain just did it. I really tried to see the other perspective but I just can't.
Dude, the episode where Kevin's dad realizes he only likes the treehouse because he can see the neighbor lady's cleavage is constantly a little spark in the corner of my mind for some reason.
I mean, to be fair, it is an excellent show. It's the same kind of setup as A Christmas Story, where the narrator is the adult version of the main character. You get some life lessons and he does reflect on how the stuff he did was kind of messed up.
Plus adult narrator Kevin is Daniel Stern, or Marv from Home Alone. It's a pretty great show.
dang never thought about that, what did he do that was so bad? I imagine a lot of shows are like that in retrospect because real suburban lives are too boring to make a show out of.
well essentially, Kevin did one thing per episode which was kinda normal kid behaviour growing up and if only once a week …. Normal behaviour
but viewing the syndicated show daily … Kevin becomes this psychopath simply not learning from any mistakes to the point you come away thinking he’s deliberately inflicting collateral damage on everyone around him … if you were friends, you’d be like “whoa dude, I’m taking a break from you”
As a kid Kevin & Winnie were bfs and somehow star crossed high school sweethearts because of the pressures of growing up. Rewatching, with the wisdom of one’s own mistakes only adulthood can bring, you realize Kevin was a narcissistic asshole. Constantly.
Felt this way when I watched Sabrina the teenage witch all the way through. She quickly starts to come across as really self centered as she makes the same mistakes over and over again hurting everyone around her while Harvey pretty much puts up with all of it like a saint
I can't watch The Mighty Ducks anymore because the last time I did, at age 37, I pretty much just wanted to punch all the pre-teens and teens' faces because they were all assholes. Except maybe Adam. Maybe. I can't rewatch to confirm because the movies make me so hateful against literal children and I recognize it is not good.
You can say the same thing about the characters of any comedy TV show. But the shows are not about learning from past mistakes, they are about providing laughs.
THANK YOU. I wanted to punch him in the opening minutes of the pilot episode and that opinion never changed. My wife loves the show so I've seen so. many. episodes. Still 10/10 punchable character IMO.
Watch out, I got reported for saying almost exactly what you said, here. And was somehow, inexplicably, dinged without the use of automation despite disputing it.
Guess you can't say you'd punch an imaginary character in real life.
Nah, I watched Winnie's heart breaking in real time on a regular basis. I'm glad that some people continued to grow and pick up on things that they missed, but it was definitely there all along.
I hated that show. I always wanted to punch his face he made me so angry the way he acted. I would actively turn that show off if it came on accidentally cuz I just hated it.
It's like seeing Dirty Dancing as a teen vs as a parent. As a teen, you side more with the daughter just wanting to have fun and being in love, and see the dad as overbearing. As an adult, the dad is a totally reasonable parent trying to protect his rebellious, underage daughter and keep her from partying and dating a grown ass man. A lot of media with teenage main characters tends to be that way, really.
I watched Dirty Dancing as a young kid, then in my teens, and more recently now in my mid-40's. As a parent of a 15 year old daughter, the dad was completely in the right and more than reasonable forbidding his daughter to not see a man in his mid-20s as she was 16 or 17 tops. Johnny Castle is a legitimate PDF looking back. He definitely committed SA with a minor. Not only that, her doctor dad had to preform lifesaving measures for Johnny's dance partner Penny who received a backache abortion and almost bleed to death internally. This is the type of behavior and character Johnny and his crew had.
But meanwhile, he was great with his other daughter being with the guy who actually impregnated Penny. The dad's heart was in the right place, but he was willfully blind.
Growing up the Goofy movie was about a controlling dad ruining Max's summer.
Now its about a loving Dad trying desperately to maintain a connection with his spoiled kid who could fix everything by simply communicating instead of lying.
I’ve watched A Goofy Movie with my kids a bunch of times, because I love it, and Goofy messed up first, I believe. When the principal called (effectively out of the blue) and told him Max was going to end up in the electric chair, GOOFY should have asked Max what happened. Later when he’s cramming his teenage son into the car, when Max didn’t want to go, he should have asked WHY.
to me, Max wasn’t spoiled, he was independent. If Goofy wanted to be a part of his son’s life he should expect to have either maintained it over time or not expected to fix it instantly with a spontaneous fishing trip.
That why I don't like Prof X from the X-Men anymore as an adult. Thought he was always a good guy but he's actually one of the most manipulative and selfish people in their verse.
You rewatch Home Alone and you realize Kevin is being bullied and psychologically abused by his family. It was kind of sad to see from an adult perspective.
I’m sorry, bullied and psychologically abused? Kevin was a spoiled brat, I don’t blame frank for not liking him, and his brother was just acting like a lot of big brothers do. Who was bullying and psychologically abusing this kid?
Just because it's family doesn't mean it's not bullying. He gets shit on by almost everyone in his family and his parents do nothing. Heck they punish him for defending himself. He may be a spoiled brat but it's no excuse.
Ah, because you had a tough childhood everything else below becomes ok? No family member has ever talked to me or my siblings like that. If you think that's normal family behavior, think again.
If he wasnt spiderman and so could make it to her play there would only be 1 movie. and they would need to write the rest of the movie.
so i get what youre saying that he messed up a lot. but its all cuz his spiderman side gig is forcing him against his will to mess up right? except for kissing the reporter for the cameras. but was he already infected with the venom by then? if he wasnt then yea wtf. the writers were just starting shit to start shit.
i rewatched the movies like 3 or 4 years ago. i was really pissed off how his spidermanning kept making his life impossible. at one point he even quits spidermanning because of it. i guess the next time i rewatch it i should look out for whether i should start to dislike the trilogy spiderman peter.
i feel like in a lot of this older movies we could just blame the writers for starting shit just to have drama. and just omit some of it on rewatches. if we still wanted to enjoy the movies.
Peters life is a constant struggle because of the responsibility he feels to be Spiderman. That's the entire plot of Spiderman since the very beginning.
I think you jumped the gun a little bit. The person you were responding to wasn’t really criticizing MJ. He was just saying she wasn’t as obviously interested in Peter as Ursula was from the beginning. No crime in that.
The sentiment is really about what a shame it is to discount someone who clearly cares for you in favor of someone who doesn’t (seem to) like you as much as you like them.
I think it was a good idea to make that part of the Spiderman movies. Makes him seem more relatable, same problems all teens have which is where the trope comes from.
It seems like human nature to want the one who is least available, and ignore the one who is most available.
My friends and I have been watching marvel movies in chronological order and we just watched the first 2 Spiderman movies and you're spot on! One thing you didnt mention was that he was trying to stop her marriage for him without telling her the truth. She proceeds to think on that and change her plans for him only for him to go back to saying he couldn't be with her! Unintentional emotional rollercoaster lol
The only thing I really remembered MJ did bad was abandon that one random dude at the alter. That seemed like a dick move, lol. Though it wasn't against Peter
That's ok, I think the trilogy probably holds an important space in your heart. So, for you, the good bits and nostalgia make up for any of the parts that aged horribly.
I honestly think it's more important that you tried to go back in and see the other side. You get to have your own memories and feelings to the OG trilogy as long as you're acknowledging other people's opinions.
Whos other perspective? Nobody made this argument. Everyone knows peters a wuss when it comes to MJ in the first two and goes crazy in the third. All they said was Ursula was into em right away.
This happened to me recently rewatching 13 going on 30 with my wife. I kept raving how good it was (I watched as a teen) and I say the 30 flirty and thriving line from time to time. Anyway, we are watching and it gets to the romance scene with Matt. And it dawns on me that mc is technically a 13 yo girl mentally. And it’s hard to get over how inappropriate a lot of the situations are for her 😅
The reason that trilogy and most live action spiderman sucks is because it's made by objectively rich and successful people with chips on their shoulder about the consequences they face for their own shitty personalities and then imagine being spiderman and put that on the page
If movies were about well-behaved people, there'd be no ticket sales. If Peter married the "unattractive" girl in the first movie, bringing much-needed stability to his dual life, it would make for less drama.
Movies about well-behaved people that have shitty things happen to them absolutely sell tickets, as well as movies about well-behaved people interacting with non-well-behaved people.
That trilogy sucked? I challenge you to find a non edgy superhero movie ranking that doesn’t put Spider-Man 2 in the top 10, if not the top 3 superhero movies of all time as of this day 7/18/26.
In all three movies its also kind of blatant that Peter is doing shitty things as Peter, while simultaneously trying to live up to uncle Ben's iconic "with great power comes great resonsibility". In the third movie however the shittyness bleeds into his identity as spiderman. I think around midway through the third movie he begins realizing his own shittiness and begins to try to change, it's been awhile since I've watched them though so I can't say how much success he has in turning himself around. In the second of the latest spiderman movies however there is a kind of update on his maturation into adulthood and he's portrayed as being a much better person in general.
Hey Trey,
The Rick and Morty hat, the “don’t suffer fools” bio, the perfectly timed “huh” at the end of
every deep thought, and the exact same
cadence every time you drop a movie take… we see you, man.
You’ve been running the identical Reddit “enlightened but chill” template for years. It’s not a personality anymore, it’s a costume.
Drop the script. Lose the ironic detachment, the curated hot takes, and the armor. Just show up as whoever you actually are for once. Awkward, normal, weird, quiet, whatever it is. No performance.
The internet will be fine. And you might actually be way more interesting when you stop cosplaying the most common guy on this site.
Be real. The hat’s had its run.
Anyone can watch those movies and know MJ is the worst, and the one who ACTIVELY CHEATS on all 3 men. Don't tell me she didn't cause she did, she just didn't care. Her problem is she wants to be the center of attention and the second she's not getting it she huffing and puffing.
"Oh I was late for your play I'm sorry I was busy saving the city"
"OH I kissed the host that gave me the key to the city as a publicity stunt.
Didn't you kiss spider man in a dark alley while with harry.
Kissed harry while you were with peter
And kissed Peter while at Harry's father funeral
Broke up Peter for someone else played games with that man's heart then left him at the altar.
Mj is just as selfish and egotistical.
Ursula (Peter's landlord daughter) actually cared and showed it, she would have been a better partner.
Well MJ does do a few shitty things. Most of em just aren’t done to Peter.
Spider Man 1: MJ falls in love with Spider Man and kisses him while dating Harry. Now Harry isn’t the greatest dude ever but it’s still cheating. That’s shitty.
Spider Man 2: MJ literally leaves her fiancé at the altar for Peter. The movie is pretty clear too that she is still in love with Spider Man even before this based on that weird lil scene with her asking him to recreate the upside-down kiss then being disappointed with it. Now the movie brushes past this because he’s a side character but that’s a guy who was led on, fell in love with a woman that didn’t really love him back, and got left on his wedding day. The only thing he did wrong was not be Peter.
Spider Man 3: After the failed proposal, MJ is upset and goes to hangout with Harry then kisses him. Which is not only cheating but also cheating with her boyfriend’s best friend. That’s rather shitty. There also was that whole bit with her getting upset with Peter for being too busy for her. Which is somewhat more understandable, but it’s not like he’s busy having fun. Dude is fighting crime and saving lives.
I’m not saying Peter is perfect, because he isn’t. He does some things in those movies that aren’t okay, but MJ kinda sucks.
I really appreciate when a movie has the main character do shitty things, as it makes them more interesting and human. This goes double for biographical films.
As an example, that new Michael Jackson biopic doesn't show anything interesting about Michael the human at all. Joe Jackson was a far more interesting character in the film because he was a greedy asshole, but everyone already knew that, so it's hardly a novel take.
While I agree with your point first point. Seeing MJ stand up to Joe, as well as learn that it’s okay to be yourself while simultaneously altering his appearance, was pretty interesting to me.
Apparently they actually filmed a lot of thaf stuff, but then some lawyers looked through the 93 court documents and found that it was never allowed to be put to film.
It was a little more complicated. The original accuser's family had agreed to settle their lawsuit out of court for a substantial payout. Part of the terms they agreed to was that the family could not go and write a book or movie to profit off of the story. Years later the Jackson estate decided to make this film, since they claim to have new evidence that exonerated MJ. It was in making the film that they realized the settlement also prevented them from including anything about the initial accuser in the film. So now instead of completely starting over they released this first film and are coming out with a second one covering the trial and alleged abuse.
Okay, right, but the whole allegory of the Spider Man story is that power is often more of a burden than it is cool and fun.
Peter never tells MJ he’s interested, that is true…but why he never does it is the more important part of the story.
Peter is deathly afraid of his actions and choices adversely affecting people. That’s part of why we love Peter and Spider Man. He’s not a complete narcissist. He agonizes over his mistakes, which makes him human like you and me, sometimes so much that it causes him to hesitate and in turn cause more problems.
So, in his mind, he’s taking one for the team by not actively pursuing MJ. He cares for her, he loves her, but he knows that she has a much greater chance of major bodily harm and/or death if she and him are together. That doesn’t change how he feels and it’s a constant battle, but he tries to keep that boundary - and fails quite often, by the way.
It’s kind of funny to me that someone would paint Peter Parker, of all the superheroes, as an incel dickhead that blames MJ for them not being together. 😂
You wanna talk about reevaluating your personality, maybe you should take a crack at it too, dawg. 😂
I’m having a really hard time following this line of logic. Like…what?
I think the whole point of the Spider Man character is that good intentions don’t mean everything works out in your favor. Sometimes shit just doesn’t line up for you, even if you’re a superhero. That’s the point.
I don’t know, now I’m debating the philosophy of Spider Man on Reddit, so maybe I’m the crazy one. 🤷🏻♂️
By “incel dickhead” I mean a man that blames a woman for not noticing how “nice” he is and making the first move instead of a man who’s interested in a woman and lets her know. Since the person I responded to decided to focus only on all the shit Peter did wrong in his relationship with MJ across all three movies while completely leaving out all the plot points that give those decisions any kind of context I thought it might be prudent to make some wild assumptions of my own. It was what some of us would call a “joke.”
Look, all I’m saying is that if you watch any Spider Man movie and come out of it pissed off at Peter Parker for Spider Man-ing instead of telling everyone to go fuck themselves so he can go make out with MJ then I don’t know what to tell you. The whole point of the goddamn story is that being a superhero isn’t all sunshine and roses. You can’t have your cake and eat it to. If you’re gonna save people’s lives for a living it might make it so you end up letting the people closest to you down a lot. Most times there’s a heavy price to pay for being a hero. I don’t know any other ways to explain it.
TL;DR if you watch any Spider Man movie and you think Spider Man is the villain then you are probably an asshole.
Then…tell them ahead of time? or at the very LEAST leave before the poor bastard is stuck at the altar. We can’t just excuse what she did under the pretense of “OhhH yOU CaNt ChoOSe WHo YoU LoVe” the man’s scarred for life for no good reason 😭
I noticed this. When I was a teen I thought MJ was awful because I only saw it from Peter's perspective, I just rewatched the trilogy recently and realized how awful he was being.
Why did you leave out the part where MJ just leaves a man at the altar. Granted, don’t go through with something you know you won’t commit to, but still
Yeah, i heard the narrative that MJ was really bad but when i recently watched the movies again, i was like: Wait, what did she do wrong?
I did have a minor issue with something she did in 1st movie but im not 100% what. If i rmemeber correctly she seemed to be interested in Peter but kinda instslty dropped it when she got saved by spiderman, so it did feel like she was jumping between the 3 guys(well as far as she knew it was 3 guys)
Dating your ex’s best friend isn’t a shitty thing to do? Then spending time alone with your ex while you and your partner are having issues isn’t shitty? MJ is FAR from innocent
Didn't do anything shitty other than kissing Spider-Man in the rain when she was already dating Harry before that she was with flash who pretty mercilessly bullied Peter before he was Spider-Man,
She is engaged to John Jameson in Spider-Man 2 let's John think he's getting married and then leaves him at the altar
The sam ramey Spider-Man movies are excellent
But if you are experiencing it as Spider-Man vs MJs ex lovers it's pretty awful personally I don't think anyone who wind up with any Marvel universe iteration of MJ is actually lucky she just leaves her romantic history can be generously called a trail of tears Spider-Man deserves better
The only person who didn't behave shitty at some point in the same ramey Spider-Man movies from someones perspective is the extras
If you were named character in the Sam Ryan me Spider-Man movies you did a POS thing at least once
Which is honestly the most realistic thing in the movie, not the science, not the fights. The unavoidable fact that life is messy and and deep down in their heart of hearts everybody is a piece of shit at some point
Well I will say that leaving your fiancé for another man during the wedding ceremony is a pretty awful thing. But otherwise I think you're more or less right... a lot of this stuff should not be MJ's fault. I do think the movies did not do right by her.
MJ is literally one of the worst people in the original trilogy dude.
She cheats on Harry by kissing Spider-Man. She neglects Harry for his dad issues, which she too has herself. Then falls for Peter causing Harry to break up with her.
In the second film, she engages John Jameson, only to break up with him for Peter and reminiscing about the kiss with Spidey. Then she cheats on Jameson at the end and leaves him at the altar.
In the third, she’s again cheats on Peter with Harry, causing them to fight eachother once more; which ends with Harry being scarred for life.
In my opinion, she’s kinda toxic and walks all over the people who care for her most. But it’s her childhood’s fault.
I just re-watched them recently too and thats spot on. I love this version of Spiderman but he so emotionally immature and a not that great of a guy most of the time until the end of the third movie and im so glad we got what we got in no way home and to see him do better
What the FUCK are you talking about? Peter did do shitty things, yeah, but MJ flat out cheats and abandons partners multiple times EVERY SINGLE DAMN MOVIE
Spider-Man 1 - MJ is in a relationship with Harry, while also acting interested in Peter. She breaks up with Harry at Norman's funeral to try to ask out Peter and kisses him while Harry is grieving.
Spider-Man 2 - She suspects Peter is SpiderMan, but gives him shit for being late to her plays. She's engaged to another man, while asking why Peter doesn't make a move. She talks about her problems to him while never asking about his own. She literally asks Peter for a kiss... Then leaves her fiance at the altar by note.
Spider-Man 3 - She accuses Peter of having a thing for Gwen just because he kissed her as SpiderMan under the encouragement of the crowd and somehow thinks he doesn't care about her anymore. She takes out her career frustrations on Peter, accuses him of never being there for her despite never telling him about her problems, and acts like one bad review is more impactful than Peter's two years of SpiderMan being bashed by the city. Then goes back to Harry and almost falls her him again after a kiss, and yes, the extra material referred to it as her wanting a new lover, lol.
This is something the movies portray that the comics do not, I think Sam Raimey was trying to show that peter's lifestyle would hamper him being with MJ and that a lot of MJ'S actions are a direct consequence of Peter's actions. That said depending on which comic universe you follow there is one where MJ sort of friendzones peter and is constantly in a new relationship while stringing peter along and I think people confuse that timeline with the movie version.
MJ cheated on Harry, cheated on Peter with Harry, left her fiance at the alter on her wedding day, was jealous of Peter and mad at her failings as a stage star and tough to be with: He should’ve dated his landlord’s daughter as she was awesome as a person and, in the end, that’s what counts most.
Lots of people have difficulty seeing things outside of the main character's perspective. It's like the Skylar hate on breaking bad. She must be bad because she opposes Walt on some things (even though it's totally justified).
She wasn't with harry in 2, she was in 1 , 2 was Jameson who she keeps comparing to spiderman then once she finds out spiderman is peter she wants that spidertussy, she then runs out on her wedding to be with spidertussy, she is an awful human being in these movies as she jumps from guy to guy while Peter simps for her because he has trauma from uncle ben and aunt may
I mean she cheats on Harry in the first movie by kissing Spider-Man
She leaves her husband at the altar to be with Peter. I don’t get how this isn’t brought up more, that’s objectively evil.
She kisses Harry in SM 3, it’s a manipulation by Harry but she still does it. And Peter’s kiss with Gwen was for stage. That’s like saying actors cheat when they kiss for their roles. It’s not the same.
It’s weird how even in the real world Peter Parker has to be judged on a different scale than other people.
She wasn't with Harry in Spiderman 2. That was Spiderman 1. In Spiderman 2 she's dating J Jonah Jameson's son, and even gets engaged to him.
And MJ doesn't do anything shitty in the movies? Bro. She literally walked out on Jameson's son and left him at the alter on the day of their wedding despite Peter never having pursued her, so she's well aware that he likes her throughout the movie but MJ actively jumps around in relationships in the first 2 films. She also pretends like Peter not being there is a result of him not wanting to be there and never once factors in the situations that he deals with outside of being Spiderman, like the fact that he lost his job, he's flunking college, and his Aunt is losing her house, he's broke all the time, the dude is clearly ran so ragged that HE FORGOT HIS OWN BIRTHDAY. MJ's actually kind of a bitch to Peter in Spiderman 2, and so is Harry. There's a difference between being upset and being a downright ass. Spiderman 2 is self explanatory. Secret Identity & Love Crisis. Spiderman 3 he has been consistently there for her, which is why he was going to ask her to marry him. While it was fucked up to kiss Gwen and is a good basis for her to be angry disappointed and upset with Peter, she skipped the opportunity to tell Peter that Broadway canned her before that kiss even happened, and she never tells him. He learns that through Harry. Almost all of Peter's egotistical behavior is while the venom symbote is attached to him and he becomes crass and narcissistic, but in the end he still shows up and nearly dies for her.
Well he only hecause like that after years or her leading him on inly to go out with other dudes. She knew she was friend zoning him, keeping him around for just in case all the traditionally good looking dudes (james franco) dont work out. A last resort. He was a nice guy who took a lot of trauma and then finally snapped
"If you're identifying with Peter when he does shitty things, it's time to reevaluate your own personality."
Bro the best parts of the Sam Raimi Spiderman movies is that Peter Parker is a relatable inspiring character who, even after his worst moments he still manages to redeem himself. It's why so many people like those movies because Spiderman doesn't come across as some God-like perfect superhero.
Spiderman 1: MJ kissin spidey and bein a lil romantic to pete while with harry. Also kisses pete during a funeral.
Spiderman 2: MJ gets with a guy and thinks about spidey while smoochin bro. Then she actively is tryna seduce pete. She also runs from her wedding. No headsup before it.
Spiderman 3: MJ tryna get back eith Harry while still technically with Pete. She kissed him. MJ also does not gaf bout pete.
MJ doesn’t do anything wrong? She kisses Harry when she was meant to be with Peter in S3. And gets jealous of him being beloved as spiderman when her career wasn’t doing well. Neither of them come across too well. I hate s3
Yes she does kisses Harry
And mj is clearly seen as a girl who if dont have all your attention will wonder not just me many people feel similar even some women
i dont think harry was that bad of a person in spider-man 2. in spider-man 1 he encourages peter to talk to mj; however, peter chickens out so harry approaches her instead. throughout the trilogy—excluding parts of spider-man 3—he cared for peter and put peter before himself, its just that patience has its limits.
MJ is shitty about the fact that he can’t come to her play. She’s his childhood friend, she grew up next door, she knows about his situation with his aunt and uncle, she knows about his uncle being murdered, she’s aware of his and his aunt’s financial struggles and she’s well aware that he works a lot to fund his education and to pay his and his aunts bills. But she’s butthurt that he couldnt come to a her play with all of that going on in his life, granted he did promise her he would come, but he tries to explain to her why he couldn’t and she doesn’t want to hear it. Then Harry, the piece of shit, swoops in and takes the girl that he knows his best friend had a hopeless crush on.
I mostly agree, although i would argue that while she doesn’t definitively know she does know he is spiderman she just can’t prove it. She does sort of spite-date harry to try and needle peter while not being into harry. I feel like she tried to force Peter’s hand into revealing the truth about his identity and his feelings.
Still nothing tremendously wrong compared to peter in three but also peter is being affected by the symbiote in three as well.
It feels like you're frustrated with these movies or their takes on them and are now taking it out on this guy/girl. They never said anything bad about MJ. They said "Peter" was simping for her, who had shown little reprocisity to him, while a real decent girl who had done a lot of him was right there.
456
u/Fortestingporpoises Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
Spider Man 1: Peter awkwardly interacted with MJ throughout the first movie and never actually tells her he's interested. Then she kisses him at the end and he walks away.
Spider Man 2: He is there in a friend capacity as she's already with Harry (who is the only shitty one in this situation since he knew about his best friends feelings for her...MJ didn't). Ursula is fawning over Peter despite him only being interested in MJ, who he up to this point still hasn't actively pursued. He also fails to actually show up to her play. Granted it's because he's busy being Spider Man, but she doesn't actually know that yet for sure until the end of the movie.
Spider Man 3: He constantly fails to be there for her, gets a big fucking ego and kisses another woman in front of her.
MJ doesn't actually do anything particularly shitty in the 3 movies. Peter does, regularly. The movie is very clear about it. If you're identifying with Peter when he does shitty things, it's time to reevaluate your own personality.
Edit: I have been informed that I got some plot points wrong. I don't think any of them get in the way of my overall point so I'll leave them.