Quotes / Designated Love Interest

"Why does Peter Parker want Mary Jane so badly? Because he does. Why is he in love with her? Because he is. The first two films tell us next to nil about MJ and why we, as an audience, would want to be with her. Most people agree the first two films are great, but that the romantic aspect was botched. There is still tension about her, but it comes from being the center of the plot, from being an object to acquire. Mary Jane is a donut."

—Peter Paltridge accuses the Spider-Man Trilogy of treating Mary Jane like a Macguffin

After recently re-reading a number of issues going back to Gwen’s first appearance in ASM #31, my one complaint about the whole development of their relationship is the whole thing came across as a little too out of nowhere for me. Not that there weren’t flirtations there — it’s established early on that despite his social aloofness, Gwen sees something a little different in Peter. Peter is very open about the fact that he finds her attractive, but during the span of about 20-or-so issues he flirts with her, goes out a few times with MJ, gets into a couple of arguments, has amnesia thanks to Doc Ock and then suddenly is on the cusp of dropping the “L” bomb with her after they have a huge misunderstanding...Point being that while Peter and Gwen went on to have a very passionate romance in the pages of ASM, I was initially stunned when I was rereading these earlier issues and in one comic Gwen and Peter were just flirting and by ASM #59, Gwen is throwing her arms around him and smooching him in front of her father. Then two issues later, she’s so beside herself on what she thinks Peter has done to her father, that she’s absolutely depressed and despondent until her father clears up the misunderstanding and Peter is absolved of any potential wrong-doing. Despite the fact that Stan had been teasing this romance for dozens of issues, there still wasn’t any real build from "occasional interaction at school" to "going steady."

— Mark Ginocchio, on Spider-Man's romance with Gwen Stacy

I have no idea why we’re supposed to root for Superman to win Lois back in this movie, other than that we all already know that’s going to happen. There’s no real reason to think they should be together, or to think that Superman is doing a good job of getting her back. [...] Dude: Not only did Superman leave the planet for five years, but Richard has literally been raising Superman’s kid for that entire time! How is he not the hero of this movie?

— Chris Sims of Comics Alliance on Superman Returns

Producer: It's gonna be tough to wrap up the movie if Neo is dead.
Writer: Actually, it's gonna be super easy. Barely an inconvenience.
Producer: How?
Writer: Well, The Power of Love is gonna bring him back to life. Trinity's gonna give him a little kiss.
Producer: Oh, so they had a romantic thing going on?
Writer: Not really, no, but he's the male lead and she's the female lead.
Producer: That is pretty romantic.

—Screen Rant Pitch Meetings, on The Matrix

Oh, and then there’s Rotor. Rotor is hanging around this old echidna scientist named Cobar now. He’s just another character to have around so that Rotor isn’t talking to himself when he gives exposition. Nothing really special. No real obvious connection there.

According to Penders, this is Rotor’s husband.

Now, if there’s one thing anyone knows about me, it’s that I am an extremely bisexual woman, and I want every cartoon in the universe to be the gayest and transest shit imaginable. The Sonic comics are no exception. Sally and Nicole for life, babey. But Ken’s attempt at writing Rotor as gay could not have been weaker. It’s all the mildest subtext possible, with no real passion. Sure, gay narratives are often censored, and you can only get away with so much. But Rotor and Cobar barely even seem to be friends.

— Bobby Schroeder, "I read every Sonic comic by Ken Penders, and they’re wilder than you could ever imagine"

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