Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man: Who She Is and Who Plays Her

Mary Jane Watson is Peter Parker's neighbor and love interest in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, played by Kirsten Dunst. Mary Jane is her full name and MJ is the shorthand. In Spider-Man (2002), directed by Sam Raimi, Peter is a shy high school student in Queens with a crush on his neighbor, and Dunst plays her through all three Raimi films. She is billed third in the first film behind Tobey Maguire and Willem Dafoe, then moves up to second billing in Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007).

The credits use two forms of the name. The live action films list her as Mary Jane Watson, while Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman, lists Mary Jane (voice), with Zoë Kravitz billed eighth. That animated film belongs to the Spider-Verse line rather than the Raimi one, which is why it sits apart from the trilogy. It also includes a Stan Lee cameo, one of the series' nods to the co-creator of the comics.

What about Zendaya? She is credited as Michelle in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and as MJ in Spider-Man: Far From Home, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which makes her a separate character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films with Tom Holland. You can read about her on the Michelle Jones page. The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 have no Mary Jane Watson in their credits, because Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) is Peter's love interest there. Shailene Woodley was cut from The Amazing Spider-Man 2, so she does not appear in that film either.

Kirsten Dunst's three Mary Jane Watson films grossed $811 million, $788 million and $887 million worldwide (Box Office Mojo). That is a very large audience for one version of the character.

Mary Jane's arc runs through three films and moves her from the neighbor Peter admires to the person he keeps pushing away in order to protect her, until the story finally lets them stay together.

In Spider-Man (2002), Peter's feelings grow even as his friend Harry Osborn starts dating her. Norman Osborn, as the Green Goblin, captures her and takes her to the Queensboro Bridge, where Spider-Man fights him. By the end she admits she loves Peter, but he turns her away because he believes his double life puts the people close to him at risk.

In Spider-Man 2 (2004), two years after the first film, she is an actress and Peter has been keeping his distance. She gets engaged to the astronaut John Jameson. Doctor Otto Octavius, now known as Doc Ock, kidnaps her, and Spider-Man fights him across a speeding elevated train before rescuing her. Harry sees Peter's identity in the aftermath, and Mary Jane leaves her own wedding to be with Peter.

In Spider-Man 3 (2007), Peter plans to propose after her Broadway debut, but her stage career is struggling and the couple drift apart. Under the influence of the black symbiote suit, Peter flirts with Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard) to hurt her, and he accidentally strikes her during a fight. Harry, who has regained his memory, tricks her into leaving Peter. Venom and Sandman then seize her to lure Spider-Man into a trap. After Harry's funeral, Peter and Mary Jane reconcile and dance together.

Mary Jane's most important relationship is with Peter Parker, and the Raimi films test it through a chain of other people who sit between them.

Harry Osborn, the son of Norman Osborn and Peter's friend, dates her in the first film, which puts Peter's crush in direct conflict with a friendship. That tension later feeds into the villain storylines around Harry Osborn and Norman Osborn. Norman, as the Green Goblin, is the first villain to target her, using her as bait on the Queensboro Bridge.

In the sequel, the threat comes from Otto Octavius, whose fused mechanical arms take over his mind and lead him to kidnap her. Her fiancé John Jameson, played by Daniel Gillies, is an astronaut, which gives her a life with its own obligations beyond Peter's.

Gwen Stacy, played by Bryce Dallas Howard in Spider-Man 3, is a separate character from Mary Jane, and Peter flirts with her to hurt Mary Jane. She is the daughter of police captain Stacy. You can read about Gwen Stacy on her Gwen Stacy character page.

Mary Jane survives every film she appears in, and Spider-Man 3 ends with her and Peter reconciled after Harry's funeral.

The films never stage a wedding between her and Peter. The one wedding on screen is her own to John Jameson in Spider-Man 2, which she walks out of, and Spider-Man 3 ends with the two of them dancing together rather than marrying. She is left alive and reconciled with Peter.

Her credit as Mary Jane (voice) in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, played by Zoë Kravitz, sits in a separate animated universe and has its own continuity. For the full line of films she appears in, see the Spider-Man movies in order guide.

In my opinion, the best Mary Jane Watson moment is her leaving her own wedding in Spider-Man 2, with the elevated train rescue a close second.

The wedding walkout works because it answers the first film. In Spider-Man (2002), Mary Jane tells Peter she loves him and he refuses, so she spends most of the sequel as the person who waits. Walking out is the first time she makes the decision herself. It could be argued that the train sequence is the bigger set piece, since Octavius holds her while Peter saves the passengers, but she is mostly a hostage there, while the wedding scene is her own choice.

The Queensboro Bridge fight in the first film is the other one I would keep, mainly because it ties the Goblin's threat to something Peter cannot punch his way out of. Perhaps Spider-Man 3 gives her the least to do, since the symbiote storyline crowds her out, but the closing dance is a modest, sensible way to end her arc. Compared with Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Emma Stone), who falls to her death, Mary Jane's story is the one that lets its couple survive.