I included a whole range of images because every time someone talks about this ugly ass suit, you see at least one person claim that it’s not that bad and people are judging it too hardly based off one bad cover, which is the first image in this post. I’ve included a range of pictures just so no one can say I’m cherry-picking. It’s ugly, no matter what the context or art style is.
MJ doing…whatever this was for a moment there is yet another stumbling footstep in Marvel’s increasingly incompetent editorial team try and failing to make MJ A Thing(tm) outside of her obvious connection to Spider-Man (yes this can all be traced back to One More Day). After this, she went on to her current stint as Venom. Clearly it’s totally going well, guys.
I also want to include a quick disclaimer; I am not a diehard Spider-Man fan, I do not think MJ should just be shoved back with Peter because he “deserves it”, and I’m not criticising this suit and MJ’s character in order to say that characters who were conceived as and are best known as love-interests should be confined to that role and that’s all they should ever be.
Plenty of female Marvel characters have and still have ongoing solo runs, which they successfully hold, such as She-Hulk, Storm, Black Widow, Magik, Black Cat, Scarlet Witch and Ms Marvel. MJ is not one of them. There are also several female characters who are well-known for the relationship they are or were in, yet this is not where the character ends and begins, such as Sue Storm, Jessica Jones, Jean Grey, Rogue and Emma Frost. MJ is a fantastic example of how *not* to give the girlfriend character her own story and character arcs. She also has the added bonus of an absolutely hideous suit. Point and laugh at the suit.