Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Marvel Comics, Spider-Man, Venom | Tagged: mary jane watson, Paul Rabin

Could All-New Venom Spell The End Of Mary Jane Watson And Paul Rabin?

Could All-New Venom spell the end of Mary Jane Watson and Paul Rabin? And in that case, would it make this all okay?

So, it's all out in the open now, tomorrow's All-New Venom #5 will see the reveal of Mary Jane Watson as the new host of Venom. And plenty of Spider-fans are crying foul, saying that House Of Ideas is out of them, that it's creatively bankrupt, and saying that Mary Jane Watson is ruined now that she's a superhero, forgetting that she's been Jackpot for some time as well. But I think some of the more committed old-school Spider-fans could be missing a trick here. Because what if Mary Jane's identity meant the end of her relationship with Paul Rabin? Let's recap. Peter Parker has no longer been with Mary Jane Watson since the last Amazing Spider-Man relaunch over five years ago. They had moved in together but then split up. When we rejoined them, things had changed…

Mary Jane was now living with someone called Paul, making phone calls to Peter Parker, telling him not to talk to her from inside a cupboard. Which did not entirely look healthy.

Peter Parker seemed to be stalking Mary Jane. And it wasn't just Paul (later revealed as Paul Rabin)  she was with.

Two children who called her "Mommy".  Which, by anyone's standards, was moving fast.

No explanation was given back then. Especially when Paul came calling to see Peter Parker.

What did he deserve? Put a pin in that. And he was not alone. Peter and Paul. It all felt rather biblical, didn't it? With Paul even paying out for Peter. So stuff continued to go down, Mary Jane blew up at Peter talking about Paul.

The Black Cat got all involved… as Peter Parker redefined his relationship with Mary Jane Watson and with Felicia Hardy. Mary Jane Watson got it off her chest as well.

We saw the original encounter with Doctor Rabin, The Emissary, who bound them all using sigil magic. As well as meeting Paul for the first time. Who knew how to fight back. And who knew the Emissary of old as his son, though he didn't admit to that at first.

The battle would see Mary Jane and Paul trapped in another dimension with time travelling differently, and Peter Parker doing whatever he had to, to try and rescue them. And so we learned the truth about Mary Jane Watson's time away with Paul…

… after burning every bridge he has as Spider-Man, he makes the trip, forces himself through dimensions, through an impossible journey and despite all the odds, and all the deities foreshadowing their own death, somehow finds Mary Jane. And Paul. And… the kids.

And how Mary Jane Watson had spent four years moving on without Peter, now living with Paul, and their two children. It had just been too long.

Even if it turned out that they were mystical creations who didn't actually exist.

By then, Mary Jane Watson had moved on, and Peter Parker had to deal with this.

Peter Parker did not deal with it very well. Neither did Paul Rabin.

Paul's expertise with sigil magic also helped to formulate Mary Jane Watson's superhero identity as Jackpot.

He became her man in the chair while she patrolled the streets. And going through the same things that Peter Parker had done as Spider-Man.

Even if the Venom symbiote didn't think there was much in it. But then Paul Rabin and Mary Jane Watson were looking to become parents again.

At least foster ones, for now… and they may have their hands full… with Dylan Brock.

But now it is revealed that Mary Jane is the new host of Venom, Dylan Brock's symbiotic parent. So Venoim was keeping Dylan Brock close all this time. But while Mary Jane will have known, Paul Rabin clearly has not. So Mary Jane has lied to Paul about a) her new role and identity and b) the reason why Dylan Brock is with them. Can their relationship intake the strain of all these lies? Will Paul Rabin really want to be the man in the chair when Venom himself will play that role? Has he been super-cuckolded by a symbiote? Might this be enough to split them up for good? And for that reason might some of the people screaming about the Mary Jane/Venom combo decided to shut up for a bit and see how this goes?

Previously, Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort stated to critics, "look for a key appearance from Paul on Free Comic Book Day—may it be all that you dreamed." Let's see what we can find out about that shall we?

Face it tigers, you may have just hit the jackpot.

ALL NEW VENOM #5
MARVEL COMICS
FEB250798
(W) Al Ewing (A) Carlos Gomez (CA) Adam Kubert
WHO IS THE ALL-NEW VENOM…REVEALED?! When all the red herrings have been weeded out – who's left? The clues have been in front of you the whole time – and by the end of this issue, you WILL know the name of the ALL-NEW VENOM…but with M.O.D.O.K. out for symbiote blood, you might just be identifying the corpse! RATED T+In Shops: Apr 02, 2025 SRP: $4.99

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2025: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN/ULTIMATE UNIVERSE #1
Written by Joe Kelly, Deniz Camp & Cody Ziglar
Art by John Romita Jr. & Jonas Scharf
Joe Kelly and John Romita Jr. remind us who Peter Parker and SPIDER-MAN are! Plus, an exclusive prologue to this summer's blockbuster ULTIMATE event from Deniz Camp, Cody Ziglar & Jonas Scharf!

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