This one has probably been asked before, but I figured what the hell. Might as well get it off my chest.

So... Lets say Gwen never died first off. Then lets assume she learned Peter's identity (I think around this time she had somewhat forgiven Spidey for the death of her dad) and decides to be with him....

BUT, lets also assume the Mary Jane has somehow gone through her post Gwen death character development, which is what made her a viable partner to Peter as well (and we can also assume that she is aware of Peter's identity like she was in the original comics). So she has shown herself to be more than the simple party girl she had previously been portrayed as, and she also wants to be with Peter.

Who do you think he would choose? Who would you choose?

It's a question that's likely been asked before, but it interests me because I wonder if Gwen's death and Mary Jane's Character Development are Mutually exclusive in a sense. The latter only happened due to the former, and without it, Mary Jane would have never become the beloved partner of Peter that she did until One More Day.

So if Gwen lived, but MJ still evolved, what do you think would happen?

edited 30th Apr '12 7:46:17 PM by HandsomeRob

Peter would've ended up with Gwen. They were thinking about marriage when she died.

I'd have been interesting to see Gwent living up to the point where the whole twins thing was revealed...

I suppose, though I'd prefer it if that never happened at all.

I may not have actually known Gwen, but I'd rather not have the whole fast aging babies thing hovering over everyone's head.

Neither. He's Married to the Job. Downer Ending!

edited 1st Jun '12 1:53:25 PM by romanticaveman

He woulda tried to sell his marraige to Gwen to save Aunt May, but Gwen proabably wouldn't have gone through with it considering how she acted before she was post humorously sainted.

I'm still going with Mary Jane. She always supported Peter more as both Peter and Spider-Man. She had a more interesting character in my opinion, since I felt they did more with her and Peter than they did with Gwen and Peter. Gwen felt like the love interest, whereas MJ felt like a character.

...at least that's how I see it.

Although to be honest, MJ only gained depth after the Stern retcon saying she always knew Pete was Spidey.

Well it's like I said. It's kinda seems like Gwen and MJ's Character Development is Mutually exclusive.

So if they both got equal development (and if Gwen had known Peter was Spidey, and dealt with it like it seemed he was doing just before her death) who would have ended up with him.

edited 4th Jun '12 7:58:26 PM by HandsomeRob

I honestly don't know if Gwen could ever truly get over knowing Peter was Spider-Man after what happened to her Dad. And she only loved Peter while MJ loved both sides of him. Of course he'd probably dump them both to make out with Quuesadillas daughter/

It's tough to tell if Gwen would've been able to deal with Peter being Spider-Man. When it comes down to it, I don't think she would've been strong enough. I think she would've wanted Peter to stop being Spider-Man. And I'm pretty sure he never could've done that. Not for any length of time.

So in the end, it seems doubtful, to me, that they would've stayed together.

The question is whether he would've then hooked up with MJ. I don't think she would've developed the same way if Gwen had survived. I think she would've kept up the flighty party girl act a lot longer. So I'm not sure Peter would've ended up with MJ.

So then that would've opened the door for Felicia. But at first, she didn't want Peter Parker, she only wanted Spider-Man. So she still would've rejected him, initially.

Silver Sable then becomes an option. They had a good chemistry. Even before Slott recently showed that she has the hots for him, there was a What If issue where he ended up with Sable.

There are quite a few other super-women who are also strong possibilities.