Viewers were surprised at the reveal of Michelle Jones as “MJ” in Spider-Man: Homecoming, as this meant she was supposed to take on the role of Peter Parker’s main love interest in the MCU and was another version of Mary Jane. We’d already seen a live-action Mary Jane in the Spider-Man trilogy, and it was inevitable that comparisons between Michelle Jones and Mary Jane would come about.

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For this reason, we’re comparing the film versions of “MJ” here and aren’t taking into account the comic book Mary Jane as she has too much of a history, meaning it wouldn’t be a fair comparison with the film versions. With that said, here’s an assessment of the “MJ” characters and who is better for Peter, Spider-Man, and as a whole.

10 Spunk: Michelle Jones

Having an engaging supporting character around and remain relevant without any powers in the Marvel universe requires a lot of spunk, and this was the kind of quality the comic book Mary Jane carried. The film version lacked all of this, unfortunately, as she was more of a girly girl.

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Michelle Jones kept closer to this personality style, as her appearance in Spider-Man: Homecoming was loaded with her being a girl with a case of attitude. She was seen in places she didn’t need to be, she didn’t care about social standings and always carried a sarcastic remark with her. It’s this quality that makes her a fun person to follow.

9 Romantic Interest Quality: Mary Jane

It helped that the films set up Mary Jane as the romance of Peter’s life, and the quality of the storytelling was such that we believed in it too, no matter how many times Mary Jane messed up the relationship. She was seen as that ultimate woman in Peter’s life, which carried the story forward and established Mary Jane as the girl everyone wants.

Unfortunately for Michelle, she wasn’t nearly as strong a character in Spider-Man: Far From Home, mainly because her romantic involvement with Peter seemed to come out of the blue, and Michelle wasn’t nearly as spunky as before because of it.

8 Chemistry With Peter: Michelle Jones

There’s more than just romance that makes a good onscreen combination, and Michelle shined in most scenes with Peter in both her outings. In particular, the scenes where she wasn’t buying any of Peter’s excuses were those where you saw how opposite, yet meant-to-be these two were.

Mary Jane’s connection with Peter was also more interesting when she wasn’t in a couple with him, but the numerous problems they had both before and after they were together hampered the chemistry between the characters as you’d always be looking out for that one big fight or some new issue to arise.

7 Friendship With Peter: Mary Jane

Interestingly, the scenes where Peter and Mary Jane were as friends rather than as romantic interests were the ones that played out best. It added to the believability that they could be a couple when the time came mainly because they had been seen as good friends beforehand. And if the series had them strictly as friends it might even have turned out better.

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Michelle wasn’t shown as Peter’s friend at any point in the MCU, with her role in the first Spider-Man film being that of a lurker who was around just to make sarcastic comments toward Peter, while the second film had her solely as his object of affection. There could be a friendlier relationship between them in the third movie, but we’ll have to wait and see.

6 Long-Lasting Potential: Michelle Jones

Since the MCU seems to have no expiration date in sight and Spider-Man is expected to last all the way till at least Avengers 5, there’s a world’s worth of breathing room for Michelle Jones to make her mark in the series and further her progress.

Most people are certain that she will also develop powers somewhere down the line like Jane Foster is about to in Thor: Love and Thunder, and we’ve still got the whole love story with Peter to follow, so there’s too much potential to even mention all of it here. Mary Jane reached just about the end of her potential by Spider-Man 3, and we can’t see what else she would’ve had to offer.

5 Ties With Other Characters: Mary Jane

So far, Michelle has been mainly based either as her own person or someone whose stories connect with Peter; there’s been close to no interaction for her with the other characters, even the main villains of the two movies.

Here, Mary Jane fared better as she had an established connection with almost every major character there was in the Spider-Man trilogy. We saw her antagonism toward Norman Osborn, the failed romance with Harry, the friendly relationship with Aunt May, and even a rivalry with Gwen Stacy. These connections made her more relevant to the story of each movie.

4 Independence: Michelle Jones

The difference between Liz Allen and Michelle Jones can also be applied with the latter and Mary Jane, as Michelle stood out for being someone who could handle herself. A character like this is especially important to Marvel considering DC already has such female characters in spades.

By Spider-Man 3, some fans were exasperated at Mary Jane always being in a relationship but never truly feeling content with herself; she wasn’t seen happy at her work either. Michelle can live without Peter or any other romantic interest, and she seems to exist on her own plain of thought without resorting to feeling sorry for herself or having continual angst.

3 History With Spider-Man: Mary Jane

Peter and Spider-Man should be seen as two separate individuals in this regard, as his superhero persona acts differently compared to the actual person. Here, Mary Jane’s iconic upside-down kiss seals the deal for her connection with Spider-Man, as it was then supplemented with her equally iconic scene with Spider-Man in the second movie where they swung across New York.

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Michelle has hardly had any interaction with Peter’s superhero persona, and the ending of Spider-Man: Far From Home didn’t do this any favors when she was shown regretting ever swinging around New York with him. Add to that, Mary Jane had also played parts in Spider-Man’s fight against Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, and Venom.

2 Character Development: Michelle Jones

Continuing on from our earlier point about Michelle having more potential to show in the future, her current development as a character has also been stronger than Mary Jane’s. Michelle had started out as a loner in Homecoming, but even there we saw by the end how she grew into the idea of making friends. Her quieter role in the sequel worked because we saw how she had now opened herself up to the idea of love and danger.

Mary Jane, meanwhile, pretty much remained the same throughout the trilogy, with the only development being that she’d figured out that Peter was the one she truly wanted to be with; this was then downplayed when Spider-Man 3 had her questioning this decision.

1 Winner: Michelle Jones

Even though she isn’t a live-action version of the comic book Mary Jane, we have to say that Michelle Jones plays out better than the Mary Jane we saw in the Spider-Man trilogy, mainly due to her character having more stand out qualities such as her independence and surety.

Mary Jane worked well given the storylines she got in her series, but she doesn’t have much to show for when she’s placed on her own without her connections to Spider-Man. Michelle’s immense potential also means she pips Mary Jane for the winning position, as fans are excited to see what she’ll be up to in the next Spider-Man movie.

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