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Mary Jane Watson

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165-544: As Jackpot: Mary Jane " MJ " Watson is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . The character was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko , making her first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #25 (June 1965), and subsequently designed by John Romita Sr. in #42 (November 1966). Since then, she has gone on to become Spider-Man 's main love interest and later his wife. Mary Jane

330-487: A naturalistic style of superheroes with human failings, fears, and inner demons - heroes who squabbled and worried about the likes of paying the rent. In contrast to the super-heroic do-gooder archetypes of established superheroes at the time, this ushered in a revolution. With dynamic artwork by Kirby, Steve Ditko , Don Heck , and others, complementing Lee's colorful, catchy prose, the new style became very popular among teenagers and college students who could identify with

495-478: A Spider-Slayer , Mary Jane has an epiphany on marriage, and agrees to become Peter's wife. In spite of Peter and Mary Jane's mutual worry that they were marrying too early, Peter's concern for her safety, and her unwillingness to give up her "party girl" lifestyle, they marry . She adds Peter's surname to her own, making her Mary Jane Watson-Parker . They were, at that moment, really in love. Spider-Man wears his black costume around this time, but after Mary Jane

660-607: A USO tour to entertain U.S. servicemen in South Vietnam and other parts of South-East Asia. A moderately successful remake of the classic John Ford Western Stagecoach followed, with Ann-Margret essaying the role of a prostitute. She then starred in the "hopelessly confused" sex comedy The Swinger which, in Stephen Vagg's words, "came close to killing her Hollywood career more than any other [film] by virtue of its sheer incompetence." Ann-Margret ended 1966 by featuring in

825-431: A cameo appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #42. Designed and drawn by John Romita Sr., her entrance is regarded as one of the most iconic introductions in comic history, owing it to its build-up, her hyper-vibrant red hair and beauty, and her introductory line, "Face it, Tiger... you just hit the jackpot!". Since then, 'Tiger' has been her most recognizable nickname for Peter, spanning comics and media adaptations, with

990-493: A tabloid -sized, 10-by-15-inch (250 mm × 380 mm), 36-page magazine with a card-stock, non-glossy cover. An anthology , it mixed humor features such as the funny animal comic "Pelion and Ossa" and the college-set "Jigger and Ginger" with such dramatic fare as the Western strip "Jack Woods" and the " yellow-peril " adventure "Barry O'Neill", featuring a Fu Manchu -styled villain, Fang Gow. Issue #6 (Oct. 1935) brought

1155-545: A Lifetime Ann-Margret portrayed the woman for whom Gene Hackman 's character left his wife. The next year she appeared as the wife of Roy Scheider 's character in the crime thriller 52 Pick-Up . In 1987 she co-starred with Elizabeth Ashley (and also with Claudette Colbert , in the last on-screen role of the film legend's career) in the NBC two-part series " The Two Mrs. Grenvilles ". It earned Ann-Margret another Emmy Award nomination, this time for Outstanding Lead Actress in

1320-520: A Mini Series or a Special. In 1989, an illustration of Oprah Winfrey appeared on the cover of TV Guide , and although the head was Oprah's, the body was from a 1979 publicity shot of Ann-Margret. The illustration was rendered so tightly in color pencil by freelance artist Chris Notarile that most people thought it was a composite photograph. In 1991, she starred in the TV film Our Sons opposite Julie Andrews as mothers of sons who are lovers, one of whom

1485-491: A Siegel/Shuster creation from the slush pile and used it as the cover feature (but only as a backup story) in Action Comics #1 (June 1938). The duo's alien hero, Superman , was dressed in a cape and colorful tights. The costume, influenced by Flash Gordon 's attire from 1934, evoked circus aerial performers and circus strongmen, and Superman became the archetype of the " superheroes " that would follow. In early 1939,

1650-404: A TV job, which takes her back to New York City. Mary Jane and Peter agree to meet with each other. Peter does not remember when or where as he had been drunk, and is further delayed due to his activities as Spider-Man. MJ also was drunk (while waiting for Peter to muster his courage to talk to her) and while she recalls their meeting she has overslept it. Issue 605 flashbacks to Mary Jane recalling

1815-496: A Whip , saw Ann-Margret give a "balls-to-the-wall performance" as a juvenile delinquent who entraps a politician. She followed up with The Pleasure Seekers , yet another musical romantic comedy. Ann-Margret was excited to do her next project, Bus Riley's Back in Town ; its writer William Inge had penned her favorite film Splendor in the Grass (1961). However Inge was so infuriated by

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1980-569: A brief encounter with Doctor Doom and Latverian terrorists. During the events of the 2006–2007 " Civil War " storyline, when Peter and Mary Jane's apartment and Aunt May's house are burned down by Charlie Weiderman, and Spider-Man joins the New Avengers , Mary Jane and Aunt May accompany him to live in Stark Tower . Mary Jane immediately feels at home with the New Avengers and is happy to finally be

2145-533: A broken left arm, cheekbone, and jawbone. She required meticulous facial reconstructive surgery that required wiring her mouth shut and putting her on a liquid diet. Unable to work for ten weeks, she returned to the stage almost back to normal. Throughout the 1970s, Ann-Margret balanced her live musical performances with a string of dramatic film roles that played against her glamorous image. In 1973, she starred with John Wayne in The Train Robbers . Then came

2310-456: A cameo appearance for The Limey , but her performance was cut from the movie. Ann-Margret also starred in several television films, including Queen: The Story of an American Family (1993), Following Her Heart (1994), and Life of the Party (1999), the latter of which she received nominations for an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award . In 2000, she recorded

2475-608: A close friendship and have had on-and-off relations since. Unbeknownst to them, they are further destined to have a daughter who will end Mephisto's eventual reign over the Earth, and whom Mephisto seeks to erase from reality. Since her debut, Mary Jane Watson has been described as one of Marvel's most notable non-powered female characters. In film, Kirsten Dunst portrayed the character in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy , while Shailene Woodley had an uncredited silent cameo appearance as

2640-718: A collection of English-language newspaper inserts originally published in Europe as the 1837 book Histoire de Mr. Vieux Bois by Rodolphe Töpffer . The G. W. Dillingham Company published the first known proto-comic-book magazine in the US, The Yellow Kid in McFadden's Flats , in 1897. A hardcover book, it reprinted material—primarily the October 18, 1896, to January 10, 1897, sequence titled "McFadden's Row of Flats"—from cartoonist Richard F. Outcault 's newspaper comic strip Hogan's Alley , starring

2805-665: A couple again during Nick Spencer 's run in Amazing Spider-Man . She got a spin-off comic later, The Amazing Mary Jane , by Leah Williams, Carlos Gomez and Carlos López. Mary Jane is depicted as an extremely beautiful, green-eyed redhead and was the primary romantic interest of Peter Parker for the majority of the forty years between her first full appearance in 1966 and the One More Day story in 2007 (Peter and Mary Jane married in 1987). Initially, she competed with others for Peter's affection, most prominently with Gwen Stacy and

2970-412: A definite style of her own, which can easily guide her to star status". Ann-Margret is a stepmother of three children of her husband Roger Smith , an actor, who later became her manager. She and Smith were married for 50   years from May   8, 1967 until his death on June   4, 2017. Before this, she dated Eddie Fisher and was romantically linked to Elvis Presley when they co-starred in

3135-465: A degree of immunity that protected her from Adriana Soria 's mutative side-effects of the transformation. Peter successfully cures all of New York. Shortly after, Carlie Cooper breaks up with Peter, having deduced his secret identity. Conflicted over her lingering feelings for Peter, Carlie confides in Mary Jane, and the two begin to bond over their experiences with Peter. In the 2012 storyline " Ends of

3300-707: A drug overdose. This in turn creates a boomerang effect , driving his father Norman Osborn to the brink of insanity, temporarily restoring his memories as the Green Goblin . After the Green Goblin murders Gwen in The Amazing Spider-Man #121 , Mary Jane attempts to comfort Peter. Peter, who is distraught over the loss of Gwen Stacy, angrily confronts MJ about her seemingly flighty and carefree attitude. He questions her ability to ever care about people like him and Gwen, and states "You wouldn't be sorry if your own mother died," unaware that her mother had actually died. Mary Jane

3465-472: A fight with Peter while he was dressed as Spider-Man, where she said that she did not care where he was and that he had a responsibility to their relationship. Peter begins to explain about his Uncle Ben , but Mary Jane interrupts him to say that he cannot let a single moment define his life. In the 2010 " One Moment in Time " storyline, it is revealed that Mary Jane whispered to Mephisto that Peter would not agree to

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3630-519: A great team "in another life" and longingly touches a monitor screen showing his face, hinting that she still has strong feelings and misses him. Peter does not learn that Mary Jane is the girlfriend of Carr nor that she was the voice on the intercom. Mary Jane is seen at the conclusion of the issue contemplating a phone call to Peter, but is hesitant to do so. She is asked for an autograph by Sara Ehret, an associate of Jackpot . Mary Jane tells her she does not know when she will return to New York. She left

3795-481: A growing divide. She briefly flirts with actor Jason Jerome, who tries to tempt her into a secret affair. She resists out of faithfulness to Peter, but her weak rebuffs fail to convince Jerome, and she realizes she is enticed by him in spite of herself. However, she eventually realizes that her craving for romance can be filled by her husband as easily as an extramarital affair, and she pointedly rejects Jerome's advances while rebuking his behavior. Due to this stress, and

3960-509: A message on Peter's machine but it was cut off before she could say anything. Mary Jane has been living on the West Coast pursuing her acting career. She returns to New York after Carr is found to be taking Mutant Growth Hormone for a movie role, supplied by the White Rabbit . Carr complains that now she would tell them all about his drug use. His shallowness makes MJ walk away from him and take

4125-596: A million copies a month each; comics provided very popular cheap entertainment during World War II especially among soldiers, but with erratic quality in stories, art, and printing. In the early 1940s, over 90 percent of girls and boys from seven to seventeen read comic books. In 1941, H. G. Peter and William Moulton Marston , created the female superhero character Wonder Woman , who debuted in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941) and Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman in 1942. MLJ 's Pep Comics debuted as

4290-425: A motorcycle in rural Minnesota in 2000. In a 2012 interview, she stated, "All my life I've had this feeling, deep, deep, deep inside of me   ...my faith and my feelings.   ...I mean you go outside and you see flowers. You see the trees. You see all your loved ones, you see   ...and then you think of Who created it all." She described her relationship with God, and with Jesus Christ as "something which

4455-555: A new respect for her and begins to truly understand her. MJ makes it clear to Peter that knowing his identity changes nothing about her feelings, and that she only loves him as a friend, her best friend. Despite the one-shot graphic novel Amazing Spider-Man: Parallel Lives and Untold Tales of Spider-Man #16 revealing that Mary Jane discovered Peter's secret when she noticed Spider-Man climbing out of Peter's bedroom window after his uncle's murder, many comics published before this revelation claimed that she had simply "figured it out", with

4620-473: A part of Spider-Man's world. The Civil War events forced Peter to stage a secret transfer of Mary Jane out of Stark Mansion, feeling that with the loss of his secret identity and his doubts about Tony Stark 's ideas, Mary Jane had become a hostage in a luxurious house. Now residing in a cheap motel, her whole life had been affected, from her increasing difficulties in finding a new job as an actress to her being an easy target and prey, along with Aunt May, for

4785-500: A profound impact upon the American comic-book industry. Their popularity, along with mainstream media attention and critical acclaim, combined with changing social tastes, led to a considerably darker tone in comic books during the 1990s nicknamed by fans as the "grim-and-gritty" era. The growing popularity of antiheroes such as Wolverine and the Punisher exemplified this change, as did

4950-442: A promotional item to consumers who mailed in coupons clipped from Procter & Gamble soap and toiletries products. The company printed 10,000 copies. The promotion proved a success, and Eastern Color that year produced similar periodicals for Canada Dry soft drinks , Kinney Shoes , Wheatena cereal and others, with print runs of from 100,000 to 250,000. Also in 1933, Gaines and Wildenberg collaborated with Dell to publish

5115-452: A role on the soap opera Secret Hospital , but is unhappy with her character's air-headed and mean personality. On top of that, Caesar, who has been released from prison and is still obsessed with Mary Jane, plots to kidnap her again—this time intending to whisk her away to a private island he owns in the Caribbean. After luring Mary Jane to an abandoned studio and threatening to kill her, Caesar

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5280-434: A running joke of the series, as Peter Parker 's Aunt May repeatedly attempts to set her unwilling nephew up on a date with her. Parker (also known as Spider-Man) consistently worms his way out of meeting Mary Jane who, aside from a brief appearance in #25 (June 1965) with her face obscured, is never actually seen until The Amazing Spider-Man #42 (November 1966). Peter David wrote in 2010 that artist John Romita Sr. "made

5445-442: A series of riots across the city. Saved by the intervening Future Foundation , MJ later locates Peter and Carlie, the latter having also been granted spider-powers. MJ encourages Peter to use his civilian disguise when displaying his powers and rally the city against the chaos. She would later attain spider-powers herself and come to the aid of defenseless citizens, her prolonged contact with Peter during their relationship granting her

5610-684: A short time to consider, she turns him down. Following a series of traumatic experiences involving Peter's absences and his costumed alter ego endangering his Aunt May, a spiritually exhausted MJ leaves New York for several months. Peter meanwhile dates other women, most notably Felicia Hardy . MJ returns, her behavior showing a marked change with her abandonment of her false front. Following an attack on Peter by Puma , she breaks down and admits her knowledge of Peter's secret identity in The Amazing Spider-Man #257. After learning of her own family history in The Amazing Spider-Man #259, Peter finds

5775-511: A standing ovation. On October 14, 2010, Ann-Margret appeared on CBS' CSI . In the fall of 2011, she co-starred with Andy Williams for a series of concerts at his Moon River Theater in Branson, Missouri. These proved to be Williams' last performances before his death in 2012. In 2014, she began appearing in a recurring role in the Showtime original series Ray Donovan . On October 1, 2018, it

5940-450: A strange illness culminating in the restoration of Peter's powers. During the Onslaught crisis, Mary Jane is scanned by a Sentinel robot, who detects genetic abnormalities in her fetus . Soon afterward, when Mary Jane's baby is already past due, she is poisoned by Alison Mongrain , an agent of the Green Goblin . Mary Jane's baby is stillborn . Combined with Ben's death in a battle with

6105-520: A superhero, science-fiction and adventure anthology, but after the title introduced the teen-humor feature "Archie" in 1942, the feature's popularity would soon eclipse all other MLJ properties, leading the publisher to rename itself Archie Comics . Following the end of World War II, the popularity of superheroes greatly diminished, while the comic-book industry itself expanded. A few well-established characters such as Superman , Batman and Wonder Woman continued to sell, but DC canceled series starring

6270-469: A television miniseries loosely based on the 1991 book of the same name written by Alexandra Ripley as a sequel to Margaret Mitchell 's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind . In 1995, Empire magazine ranked her tenth on its list of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history. She also filmed Any Given Sunday (1999) for director Oliver Stone , portraying the mother of football team owner Cameron Diaz . She filmed

6435-494: A ten-cent pricetag [ sic ] on the comic books". When Delacorte declined to continue with Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics , Eastern Color on its own published Famous Funnies #1 (cover-dated July 1934), a 68-page giant selling for 10¢. Distributed to newsstands by the mammoth American News Company , it proved a hit with readers during the cash-strapped Great Depression , selling 90 percent of its 200,000 print, although putting Eastern Color more than $ 4,000 in

6600-402: A third of all North American sales in the early 1950s. Its 90 titles averaged a circulation of 800,000 copies per title for every issue, with Walt Disney's Comics and Stories peaking at a circulation of three million a month in 1953. Eleven of the top 25 bestselling comic books at the time were Dell titles. Out of 40 publishers active in 1954, Dell, Atlas (i.e. Marvel), DC, and Archie were

6765-503: A true comic book. But it did offer all original material and was sold on newsstands ". The Funnies ran for 36 issues, published Saturdays through October 16, 1930. In 1933, salesperson Maxwell Gaines , sales manager Harry I. Wildenberg , and owner George Janosik of the Waterbury, Connecticut , company Eastern Color Printing —which printed, among other things, Sunday-paper comic-strip sections – produced Funnies on Parade as

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6930-579: A version of " Heartbreak Hotel " and other songs stylistically similar to Presley's. She scored a minor success with " I Just Don't Understand " (from her second LP), which entered the Billboard Top 40 in August 1961 and stayed six weeks, peaking at number 17; the song was later performed by the Beatles in 1963. In 1962, Ann-Margret was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist . Her only charting album

7095-751: A way to keep their presses running. Like The Funnies , but only eight pages, this appeared as a newsprint magazine. Rather than using original material, however, it reprinted in color several comic strips licensed from the McNaught Syndicate , the Ledger Syndicate , and the Bell-McClure Syndicate . These included such popular strips as cartoonist Al Smith 's Mutt and Jeff , Ham Fisher 's Joe Palooka , and Percy Crosby 's Skippy . Eastern Color neither sold this periodical nor made it available on newsstands , but rather sent it out free as

7260-456: A year. In 1929, Dell Publishing (founded by George T. Delacorte, Jr. ) published The Funnies , described by the Library of Congress as "a short-lived newspaper tabloid insert" and not to be confused with Dell's 1936 comic-book series of the same name. Historian Ron Goulart describes the 16-page, four-color periodical as "more a Sunday comic section without the rest of the newspaper than

7425-505: Is a Swedish-American actress, singer, and dancer with a career spanning seven decades. Initially gaining notoriety in 1961 as a singer with a sultry, vibrant contralto voice, she quickly rose to Hollywood stardom. Her many screen roles include Pocketful of Miracles (1961), State Fair (1962), Bye Bye Birdie (1963), Viva Las Vegas (1964), Carnal Knowledge (1971), The Train Robbers (1973), Tommy (1975), The Return of

7590-470: Is confronted by Officer Goldman, a policeman assigned to Mary Jane's original case against him. Goldman then shoots Caesar dead, saving Mary Jane's life. Although she successfully petitions her boss to adjust her character's personality, a deranged fan tries to kill Mary Jane out of hatred for the actions of her soap opera character. Mary Jane quits her job out of fear for her own safety and returns to modeling. This, along with Peter's role as Spider-Man, triggers

7755-673: Is dying of AIDS. In 1992, she co-starred with Robert Duvall and Christian Bale in the Disney musical Newsies . In 1993, Ann-Margret starred in the hit comedy Grumpy Old Men reuniting with Matthau and Jack Lemmon . Her character returned for Grumpier Old Men (1995), the equally successful sequel which this time co-starred Sophia Loren . Ann-Margret published an autobiography in 1994 titled Ann-Margret: My Story , in which she publicly acknowledged her battle with and ongoing recovery from alcoholism. She played Belle Watling in Scarlett (1994),

7920-990: Is flying across America when her airplane explodes in midair in Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2 #13 (January 2000). Peter is shocked and goes into deep denial over her death. Although he is set up with several other women, and his friends encourage him to move on, he believes she is still alive. Her mysterious stalker, an unnamed, telepathic mutant, has telepathically connected to Peter in some way, and wants to take over his life. He kidnapped Mary Jane as part of his plan and held her hostage for several months. The stalker kills himself after finally gleaning enough of Peter's personality and morality to discover that he had done terrible things. Peter and Mary Jane are reunited in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #29 (June 2001). The stress of her captivity drives Mary Jane away. She moves to Los Angeles and immerses herself in acting — starring as

8085-412: Is frightened by a stalking Venom , she convinces him to change back to his old costume. Mary Jane continues to model after her marriage, but is stalked by her wealthy landlord, Jonathan Caesar. When she rejects his advances, he kidnaps her, but she manages to escape. While Caesar is briefly incarcerated, he uses his powerful business connections within the city and has her blacklisted as a model. She gets

8250-412: Is happy to do so for several months, but soon feels the tug of his great power and great responsibility to be a hero. Meanwhile, Mary Jane is offered a new modeling contract and reaches new heights of success. Peter becomes Spider-Man again behind Mary Jane's back, which puts strain on their marriage. At the same time, she begins receiving lewd and threatening phone calls from an anonymous stalker. Mary Jane

8415-401: Is his most famous and prominent love interest due to their long history, and one of the most iconic in all of comics. Although she made a brief first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #25 with a plant obscuring her face, as part of a then-long-running recurring gag about Aunt May attempting to set Peter up with her friend's "nice girl" niece, Mary Jane's first official face reveal was

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8580-409: Is hurt by Peter's comments. She attempts to leave, but hesitates as she approaches the door, and ultimately chooses to stay with him. This served as a turning point in their relationship, and over the next couple of years, she and Peter become very close friends. Eventually, upon realizing the feelings that they share for one another, they decide to take their relationship to the next level, having sex in

8745-515: Is located at 6501 Hollywood Boulevard . Ann-Margret starred opposite Bruce Dern in Middle Age Crazy (1980). In 1982, she co-starred with Walter Matthau and Dinah Manoff in the film version of Neil Simon 's play I Ought to Be in Pictures . That same year also saw the release of Lookin' to Get Out , filmed two years prior in 1980, in which she co-starred with Jon Voight and played

8910-511: Is not strong enough to be at his side. She tells him he has to move on and find somebody who can be with him. Peter soon begins a new relationship with Carlie Cooper . Though initially jealous, MJ decides to respect their relationship, and encourages Peter to reveal his secret identity to her. During the " Spider-Island " storyline, much of New York City becomes infected with a virus that gives its inhabitants Peter's Spider-like abilities. MJ, who did not manifest any powers, finds herself caught in

9075-540: Is prevented by Ben Reilly (as the Scarlet Spider), his teammates the New Warriors , and Kaine . Later, Peter and Mary Jane leave New York and move to Portland, Oregon. They live there peacefully for several months, adapting happily to normal life after an accident causes subtle damage to Peter's genetic structure that disrupts his ability to use his powers. However, they miss New York City and their friends, and move back,

9240-511: Is really important to me. If I thought that I would never see my mother and father again, I couldn't make it. I could not go a step further." On May 14, 2022, she was awarded an honorary doctoral degree in Humane Letters by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas . Ann-Margret began recording for RCA Victor in 1961, first recording "Lost Love". Her debut album And Here She Is ... Ann-Margret

9405-434: Is shown between Mary Jane and her Aunt Anna ). Mary Jane made her first actual appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #25 (June 1965), although her face was obscured. However, she was seen by both Liz Allan and Betty Brant , who are both shocked by how attractive she is. It is not until The Amazing Spider-Man #42 (November 1966) that her face is actually seen. In that issue, on the last page, Peter finally meets her, and he

9570-637: Is stunned by her beauty even as she speaks the now-famous line: "Face it, Tiger... you just hit the jackpot!" Peter begins to date her, much to the annoyance of Gwen Stacy. However, they eventually become irritated with each other and Peter subsequently chooses to date Gwen. Mary Jane, who becomes Harry Osborn 's former love interest and former girlfriend for about a year, remains a close friend to Peter and Gwen. Despite her enjoyment of life, her friendships, and dating, Mary Jane refuses to be tied down for too long. When her relationship with Harry Osborn comes to an end, it has significant impact on Harry, driving him to

9735-460: Is taken symbolically as the beginning of a new era, although his success was not immediate. It took two years for the Flash to receive his own title, and Showcase itself was only a bimonthly book, though one which was to introduce a large number of enduring characters. By 1959, the slowly building superhero revival had become clear to DC's competitors. Archie jumped on board that year, and Charlton joined

9900-469: Is the real Peter Parker, and Peter is the clone. After conducting the tests themselves (tests which Seward rigged) they confirm Seward's story. A disbelieving Peter, while arguing with Ben, strikes Mary Jane. After this, he decides to quit as Spider-Man, because the stress of his double life is endangering his wife and unborn child. Peter, acting on hypnotic suggestion by the Jackal , attempts to kill Mary Jane, but

10065-538: The Black Cat . Mary Jane's relatively unknown early life was eventually explored in The Amazing Spider-Man #259. Early issues of The Amazing Spider-Man featured a running joke about Peter dodging his Aunt May 's attempts to set him up with "that nice Watson girl next-door", whom Peter had not yet met and assumed would not be his type, since his aunt liked her (in the Parallel Lives graphic novel an identical scenario

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10230-513: The Elvis 1968 TV and Aloha from Hawaii specials. Other notable films she co-starred in during the late 1970s include Joseph Andrews (1977), The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977), the horror/suspense thriller Magic (1978) with Anthony Hopkins . She had a cameo in The Cheap Detective (1978). Ann-Margret was an early choice of Allan Carr 's to play the role of Sandy Dumbrowski in

10395-649: The Flash and Green Lantern and converted All-American Comics and All Star Comics to Western titles, and Star Spangled Comics to a war title. The publisher also launched such science-fiction titles as Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space . Martin Goodman 's Timely Comics , also known as Atlas, canceled its three formerly high-selling superhero titles starring Captain America (created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby ),

10560-601: The Human Torch , and the Sub-Mariner , briefly reviving the characters in 1954 only to cancel them again shortly thereafter to focus on horror, science fiction, teen humor, romance and Western genres. Romance comics became strongly established, with Prize Comics ' Young Romance and with Young Love , the latter written and drawn by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby; those two titles' popularity led to an explosion of romance comics from many publishers. Dell 's comic books accounted for

10725-638: The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie in 1983 for her role in The Thorn Birds , she mentioned Ann-Margret's performance in Who Will Love My Children? , stating at the podium "I would like to pay a personal tribute at this time to a lady who is a wonderful entertainer...I think she gave one of the finest, most beautiful performances I have ever seen...Ann-Margret, you were superb." In Twice in

10890-733: The Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency held hearings on comic book indecency from April to June 1954. In the wake of these troubles, a group of comics publishers, led by National and Archie, founded the Comics Code Authority in 1954 and drafted the Comics Code, intended as "the most stringent code in existence for any communications media". A Comic Code Seal of Approval soon appeared on virtually every comic book carried on newsstands. EC, after experimenting with less controversial comic books, dropped its comics line to focus on

11055-657: The Yellow Kid . The 196-page, square-bound, black-and-white publication, which also includes introductory text by E. W. Townsend , measured 5 by 7 inches (130 mm × 180 mm) and sold for 50 cents. The neologism "comic book" appears on the back cover. Despite the publication of a series of related Hearst comics soon afterward, the first monthly proto-comic book, Embee Distributing Company's Comic Monthly , did not appear until 1922. Produced in an 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 -by-9-inch (220 mm × 230 mm) format, it reprinted black-and-white newspaper comic strips and lasted

11220-410: The " Brand New Day " storyline, Mary Jane makes her return as the girlfriend of actor Bobby Carr. In The Amazing Spider-Man #561, Mary Jane is seen getting into bed with Carr, and is later attacked by Paperdoll. Concealing herself in the panic room, Mary Jane observes a battle between Spider-Man and Paperdoll, and communicates with Spider-Man over the intercom. Mary Jane says that she and Spider-Man made

11385-426: The 1938 publication of Action Comics , which included the debut of the superhero Superman . This was followed by a superhero boom that lasted until the end of World War II . After the war, while superheroes were marginalized, the comic book industry rapidly expanded and genres such as horror, crime, science fiction and romance became popular. The 1950s saw a gradual decline, due to a shift away from print media in

11550-520: The 1960s, DC, and then Marvel, began to include writer and artist credits on the comics that they published. Other notable companies publishing comics during the Silver Age included the American Comics Group (ACG), Charlton , Dell , Gold Key , Harvey Comics , and Tower . Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll were featured, as the anti-authoritarian underground comix made waves in 1968, following

11715-457: The 1970s coincided with the appearance of comic-book specialty stores across North America. These specialty stores were a haven for more distinct voices and stories, but they also marginalized comics in the public eye. Serialized comic stories became longer and more complex, requiring readers to buy more issues to finish a story. In the mid-to-late 1980s, two series published by DC Comics , Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen , had

11880-495: The 1978 film Grease . At 37 years old, she was ultimately determined to be too old to convincingly play the role of a high school student. Thirty year-old Olivia Newton-John got the role instead, and the character was renamed "Sandy Olsson" (after Ann-Margret's birth surname) in her honor. For her contributions to the film industry, Ann-Margret received a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1973. Her star

12045-542: The 1990s changing the format and distribution of their comic books to more closely resemble non-comics publishing. The " minicomics " form, an extremely informal version of self-publishing , arose in the 1980s and became increasingly popular among artists in the 1990s, despite reaching an even more limited audience than the small presses. The development of the modern American comic book happened in stages. Publishers had collected comic strips in hardcover book form as early as 1842, with The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck ,

12210-453: The 2004 comedy Taxi , co-starring Queen Latifah . In 2001, Ann-Margret worked with Art Greenhaw on the album God Is Love: The Gospel Sessions . The project resulted in her second Grammy Award nomination and first Dove Award nomination for Best Album of the Year in a Gospel category. They teamed up again in 2004 for the album Ann-Margret's Christmas Carol Collection . She performed material from

12375-515: The 36-page Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics , which historians consider the first true American comic book; Goulart, for example, calls it "the cornerstone for one of the most lucrative branches of magazine publishing". Distribution took place through the Woolworth's department-store chain, though it remains unclear whether it was sold or given away; the cover displays no price, but Goulart refers, either metaphorically or literally, to "sticking

12540-580: The American comic book has been adapted periodically outside the United States, especially in Canada and the United Kingdom . While comics can be the work of a single creator, the labor of creating them is frequently divided between a number of specialists. There may be a separate writer and artist , or there may be separate artists for the characters and backgrounds. Particularly in superhero comic books,

12705-675: The CCA) stopped publishing crime and horror titles, which was their entire business, and were forced out of the market altogether, turning to magazine publishing instead. By 1960, output had stabilized at about 1,500 releases per year (representing a greater than fifty percent decline since 1952). The dominant comic book genres of the post-CCA 1950s were funny animals, humor, romance , television properties, and Westerns . Detective, fantasy , teen, and war comics were also popular, but adventure, superheroes, and comic strip reprints were in decline, with Famous Funnies seeing its last issue in 1955. In

12870-448: The Earth ", Mary Jane purchases a nightclub. Mary Jane remains in the role of best friend and confidant to Peter until he begins to take an interest in her romantically again. They begin dating again. Unknown to MJ, Peter has had his mind swapped by Otto Octavius . The real Peter Parker, trapped in his rival's dying body, breaks out of prison and attempts to switch back, only for his body to eventually give out on him before he can complete

13035-587: The Modern Horror age. But as of 2009 historians and fans use " Bronze Age " to describe the period of American mainstream comics history that began with the period of concentrated changes to comic books in 1970. Unlike the Golden/Silver Age transition, the Silver/Bronze transition involves many continuing books, making the transition less sharp. The development of the " direct market " distribution system in

13200-563: The Soldier (1982), 52 Pick-Up (1986), Newsies (1992), Grumpy Old Men (1993), Any Given Sunday (1999), Taxi (2004), and Going in Style (2017). Her accolades include five Golden Globe Awards and an Emmy Award in addition to two Academy Award nominations and two Grammy nominations. She released Born to be Wild , her first classic-rock album, in April 2023. Ann-Margret Olsson

13365-542: The Vulture gang, Mary Jane moves to kiss him, but Octavius, who has by now developed genuine feelings for her, rebuffs her, and breaks up with her, though vowing to continue to protect her. Peter's mind is returned to his body, and informs Mary Jane that it was Octavius' mind in control of Peter's body for the past several months. Mary Jane tells him that she knows Octavius' actions were not Peter's fault, but she cannot let his dual life affect her anymore. She recognizes and admires

13530-701: The album at two auditorium church services at Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, and broadcast worldwide on the program Hour of Power . In November 2005, Ann-Margret reunited with Chuck Day and Mickey Jones for an encore of their 1966 USO tour for veterans and troops at Nellis Air Force Base , Nevada. In 2006, Ann-Margret had supporting roles in the box-office hits The Break-Up with Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn , and The Santa Clause 3 with Tim Allen . She also starred in several independent films , such as Memory (2006) with Billy Zane and Dennis Hopper . In 2009, she appeared in

13695-448: The alternate MC2 universe, in which Peter and Mary Jane are happily married, is a "natural progression" of the characters. The erasing of Peter and Mary Jane's marriage was initially adopted in the newspaper strip as well, but due to negative reader reaction Lee later revealed it to be a bad dream. Mary Jane remains Spider-Man's wife in the newspaper strip continuity. Although the marriage stayed erased, Mary Jane and Peter Parker became

13860-407: The angsty and irreverent nature of characters like Spider-Man , Hulk , X-Men and Fantastic Four . This was a time of social upheaval, giving birth to a new generation of hip and more counter-cultural youngsters, who found a voice in these books. Because Marvel's books were distributed by its rival, National, from 1957 until 1968 Marvel were restricted to publishing only eight titles a month. This

14025-408: The art may be divided between: The process begins with the writer (often in collaboration with one or more others, who may include the editor and/or the penciller) coming up with a story idea or concept, then working it up into a plot and storyline , finalizing it with a script . After the art is prepared, the dialogue and captions are lettered onto the page from the script, and an editor may have

14190-471: The bandwagon in 1960. In 1961, at the demand of publisher Martin Goodman (who was reacting to a surge in sales of National's newest superhero title The Justice League of America ), writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four for Atlas, which now re-named itself Marvel Comics . With an innovation that changed the comic-book industry, Fantastic Four #1 initiated

14355-449: The central themes of the critically acclaimed " Kraven's Last Hunt ", published the same year as the wedding. DeMatteis commented that "'Kraven's Last Hunt' has a lot of darkness in it, but the story primarily is about Peter and his journey into the light and the power of simple human love. The reason Peter makes it out is because he has Mary Jane in his life, and that is his salvation". Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada said that he feels

14520-454: The character becoming the third to assume the superhero mantle of Jackpot in August 2023. Throughout her initial appearances, Mary Jane was written as a foil to Peter's initially intended soulmate, Gwen Stacy , with her extroverted, fun-loving personality (a mask for her troubled home life) contrasting with Gwen being more like Peter in demeanor and intellect. Nonetheless, following Gwen's death in " The Night Gwen Stacy Died " story arc,

14685-455: The character in the 2014 film The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ; Zoë Kravitz voiced Mary Jane in the 2018 animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse , with Nicole Delaney and Melissa Sturm voicing other versions of the character in its 2023 sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse . Mary Jane Watson is mentioned in The Amazing Spider-Man #15 (August 1964), and is initially used as

14850-484: The choices Peter has made in his life, but now she wants to build her own life, mostly thanks to the successes she has enjoyed with her nightclub and her new relationship with Ollie. American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States , on average 32 pages, containing comics . While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after

15015-690: The comedy Old Dogs with John Travolta and Robin Williams . Ann-Margret guest-starred in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit , " Bedtime ", which first aired on March   31, 2010, on NBC . She received her sixth Emmy nomination for her performance. She also appeared in the Lifetime series, Army Wives , in the episode "Guns and Roses" (season four, episode five), which originally aired May   9, 2010. On August 29, 2010, she won an Emmy, her first, for Guest Performance by an Actress for her SVU performance. The Emmy venue audience gave her

15180-494: The comic books. An American comic book is also known as a floppy comic . It is typically thin and stapled, unlike traditional books . American comic books are one of the three major comic book industries globally, along with Japanese manga and the Franco-Belgian comic books . The typical size and page count of comics have varied over the decades, generally tending toward smaller formats and fewer pages. Historically,

15345-529: The comic-book debut of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster , the future creators of Superman . The two began their careers with the musketeer swashbuckler "Henri Duval", doing the first two installments before turning it over to others and, under the pseudonyms "Leger and Reuths", they created the supernatural -crimefighter adventure Doctor Occult . In 1938, after Wheeler-Nicholson's partner Harry Donenfeld had ousted him, National Allied editor Vin Sullivan pulled

15510-432: The countercultural era. Legal issues and paper shortages led to a decline in underground comix output from its 1972 peak. In 1974 the passage of anti-paraphernalia laws in the US led to the closing of most head shops, which throttled underground comix distribution. Its readership also dried up as the hippie movement itself petered out in the mid-1970s. Wizard originally used the phrase "Bronze Age", in 1995, to denote

15675-459: The country. Some cities passed laws banning comic books entirely. In 1954, psychiatrist Fredric Wertham published his book Seduction of the Innocent , where he discussed what he perceived as sadistic and homosexual undertones in horror comics and superhero comics respectively, and singled out EC Comics due to its success as a publisher of these genres. In response to growing public anxiety,

15840-404: The couple separated. By the end of that period, MJ has moved to California to become an actress, but continues to visit New York from time to time. In the epilogue to "One More Day", she attends a "coming home" party held by ex- Harry Osborn during one such visit, with Peter catching a small glimpse of her before she left, after ignoring her. At the end of The Amazing Spider-Man #560, as part of

16005-586: The cover for the second time and announced that the "torrid dancing almost replaces the central heating in the theater." Her performance earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress . She was then asked to sing " Baby Won't You Please Come Home " at President John F. Kennedy 's private birthday party at the Waldorf Astoria New York , one year after Marilyn Monroe 's famous " Happy Birthday to You ". A few months later, Ann-Margret voiced an animated version of herself, named "Ann-Margrock", on

16170-564: The darker tone of some independent publishers such as First Comics , Dark Horse Comics , and (founded in the 1990s) Image Comics . This tendency towards darkness and nihilism was manifested in DC's production of heavily promoted comic book stories such as " A Death in the Family " in the Batman series (in which The Joker brutally murdered Batman's sidekick Robin ), while at Marvel the continuing popularity of

16335-408: The deal unless Mary Jane tells him to make it, and that Mephisto will leave Peter alone forever when the deal is done. Mephisto replies "Agreed, as far as I'm concerned—this never happened." MJ did that to protect Peter. In present time MJ shows up at Peter's door. They talk about how they have been acting towards each other lately and both agree they want to be friends. They recall how Peter missed what

16500-649: The definitive statement of his arrival by pulling Mary Jane out from behind the oversized potted plant [that blocked the readers' view of her face in issue #25] and placing her on panel in what would instantly become an iconic moment". Romita has stated that in designing Mary Jane, he "used Ann-Margret from the movie Bye Bye Birdie as a guide, using her coloring, the shape of her face, her red hair and her form-fitting short skirts". According to co-creator Stan Lee , he and Romita had intended for Gwen Stacy to be Spider-Man's one true love, and introduced Mary Jane "just for fun", but that "somehow, Mary Jane seemed to have all

16665-487: The details of how and when left ambiguous to the reader. After yet another period of reconsidering his priorities in life, Peter contemplates letting go of the Spider-Man mantle, with Mary Jane backing the decision, but his relationship with Felicia Hardy soon resumes. Feeling lost and guilty, Peter visits Mary Jane and apologizes with an awkward kiss before heading to Berlin with Ned Leeds . Following Ned Leeds' murder at

16830-619: The doomed love interest in the film Lobster-Man . Although missing Peter after he fails to meet her on a visit back to New York, she refuses to talk to him; Aunt May gets Peter to visit her in Los Angeles, however the two remain separated. Peter's encounter with the supernatural Spider-Wasp Shathra eventually leads to the two of them flying to New York and Los Angeles to see each other. Despite missing each other at their respective homes, they meet in an airport in Denver, Colorado where they reconcile after

16995-471: The early days of comic books, this practice had all but vanished during the 1940s and 1950s. Comic books were produced by comic book companies rather than by individual creators (EC being a notable exception, a company that not only credited its creative teams but also featured creators' biographies). Even comic books by revered and collectible artists like Carl Barks were not known by their creator's name— Disney comics by Barks were signed " Walt Disney ". In

17160-549: The family, Ann-Margret's mother became a funeral parlor receptionist after her husband suffered a severe injury on his job. While a teenager, Ann-Margret appeared on the Morris B. Sachs Amateur Hour , Don McNeill's Breakfast Club , and Ted Mack 's Amateur Hour . She continued to star in theater as she attended New Trier High School in Winnetka , Illinois. Two fellow movie stars Charlton Heston and Rock Hudson , had graduated from

17325-500: The family. After World War II , his wife hesitated and Gustav emigrated alone, but was joined by his wife and daughter in 1946. In 1949, Ann-Margret became a naturalized American citizen. Ann-Margret took her first dance lessons at the Marjorie Young School of Dance, showing natural ability from the start, easily mimicking all the steps. Her parents were supportive, and her mother made all of her costumes by hand. To support

17490-520: The film Viva Las Vegas in 1964. A keen motorcyclist, Ann-Margret rode a 500 cc Triumph T100C Tiger in The Swinger (1966) and used the same model, fitted with a nonstandard electric starter, in her stage show and her TV specials. She was featured in Triumph Motorcycles ' official advertisements in the 1960s. She suffered three broken ribs and a fractured shoulder when she was thrown off

17655-444: The final say (but, once ready for printing, it is difficult and expensive to make any major changes), before the comic is sent to the printer. The creative team, the writer and artist(s), may work for a comic book publisher who handles the marketing, advertising, and other logistics. A wholesale distributor, such as Diamond Comic Distributors , the largest in the US, distributes the printed product to retailers. Another aspect of

17820-471: The first time in years, and finally reconciles with them. Meanwhile, Peter overcomes his problems on his own. When she and Peter reunite, both are happier than they had been in a long time. During the 1994–96 " Clone Saga " storyline, Peter's clone, Ben Reilly , appears. Mary Jane discovers that she is pregnant. While she experiences some complications in her pregnancy, Reilly's scientist friend Seward Trainer helps her. Peter and Ben are told by Trainer that Ben

17985-430: The following issues, MJ and Peter were never married but instead "dated seriously for years". According to interviews conducted with then-Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada , every story prior to this story remains canon (this would later be contradicted as the events of later stories imply MJ never fell pregnant). Quesada also stated that a gap of undefined duration occurred between pages in "One More Day", during which

18150-717: The hands of the Foreigner , a changed and bitter Peter returns to New York, where his lack of direction in life is not helped when Ned is framed as the Hobgoblin , and Felicia elects to leave Peter behind as she is tied to the Foreigner. Mary Jane returns to Peter, presumably to patch things up, but Peter surprises her with a second proposal of marriage, which MJ again turns down. She returns to her family to settle old debts with her father, with Peter following her. After aiding her sister in having her crooked father arrested, and aiding Peter against

18315-451: The heartbroken Mary Jane became more caring and empathetic, and eventually one of the few people to consistently know Peter's secret identity. This would result in the two falling deeply in love and eventually getting married. Despite their marriage being undone in the widely panned storyline " One More Day " due to the timeline manipulations by the villain Mephisto , Mary Jane and Peter retained

18480-668: The hit Dean Martin –starrer Murderers' Row , a spy spoof. Looking at Ann-Margret's uneven draw at the box office, Vagg points out that after Viva Las Vegas , her roles in hit films "had been parts any girl could have played" but the star vehicles that were tailored for her were all flops. During a lull in her film career in July 1967, Ann-Margret gave her first live performance in Las Vegas, with her husband Roger Smith (whom she had married that May) taking over as her manager after that engagement. Elvis Presley and his entourage came to see her during

18645-443: The hitman. Spider-Man brings the wounded Mary Jane to Doctor Strange, who performs a healing spell on her. Peter insists that Doctor Strange should make people forget he is Spider-Man. Peter enters a protective shell to shield himself from the changes. At the last moment, he leaps out of the shield and pulls Mary Jane in with him so she will not forget either. Back in the present, Mary Jane explains that, although she still loves him, she

18810-483: The introduction of the Comics Code Authority in the wake of Senate hearings on juvenile delinquency , which, ignoring the social problems caused by the wars of 1939–45 and 1950–52, sought to blame those problems solely on comics. While there was only a 9% drop in the number of releases between 1952 and 1953, circulation plummeted by an estimated 30–40%. The cause of the decrease is not entirely clear. Television had begun to provide competition with comic books, but there

18975-623: The late 1940s and early 1950s horror and true-crime comics flourished, many containing graphic violence and gore. Due to such content, moral crusaders became concerned with the impact of comics on the youth, and were blaming comic books for everything from poor grades to juvenile delinquency to drug abuse. This perceived indecency resulted in the collection and public burning of comic books in Spencer, West Virginia and Binghamton, New York in 1948, which received national attention and triggered other public burnings by schools and parent groups across

19140-500: The late 1970s and early 1980s, she had hits on the dance charts, the most successful being 1979's "Love Rush", which peaked at number eight on the disco/dance charts. In 2001, working with Art Greenhaw , she recorded the album God Is Love: The Gospel Sessions . The album went on to earn a Grammy nomination (forty years after her first) and also a Dove Award nomination for gospel album of the year. Her album Ann-Margret's Christmas Carol Collection , also produced and arranged by Greenhaw,

19305-433: The major players in volume of sales. By this point, former big-time players Fawcett and Fiction House had ceased publishing. Circulation peaked in 1952 when 3,161 issues of various comics were published with a total circulation of about one billion copies. After 1952, the number of individual releases dropped every year for the rest of the decade, with the biggest falls occurring in 1955–56. The rapid decline followed

19470-426: The marriage ages the characters, making them less appealing to young readers, and lessens the dramatic, " soap opera " possibilities, but also stated that "divorcing or widowing, or annulling the marriage... would only be worse". He has also pointed out that the marriage itself was editorially mandated; Stan Lee decided to marry the characters in his daily newspaper strip and, even though the two were not even dating at

19635-483: The mother of a five-year-old Angelina Jolie in Jolie's screen debut. To round out 1982, she appeared alongside Alan Bates , Glenda Jackson , and Julie Christie in the film adaptation of The Return of the Soldier . She also starred in the TV movies Who Will Love My Children? (1983) and a remake of A Streetcar Named Desire (1984), winning Golden Globe Awards for both performances. After Barbara Stanwyck won

19800-550: The musical Tommy in 1975, for which she received her second Oscar nomination, this time for the Academy Award for Best Actress . In addition, she has been nominated for ten Golden Globe Awards , winning five, including her Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical for Tommy. On August 17, 1977, Ann-Margret and Roger Smith traveled to Memphis to attend Elvis Presley's funeral. Three months later, she hosted Memories of Elvis featuring abridged versions of

19965-415: The pain exhibited by those vestiges for eternity. MJ, despite loving Peter, accepts Mephisto's offer, but only with the caveat that Mephisto promises to restore Spider-Man's secret identity. She also asks to put his life back as it was and have a chance at happiness. Mephisto accepts these terms, and in the revised timeline, which begins at the end of The Amazing Spider-Man #545, and is further explained in

20130-413: The party' personality (a mask in reality) were written as a contrast to Gwen, being more on Peter's intellectual and emotional wavelength. However, following Gwen's death in " The Night Gwen Stacy Died " story arc, the character was reworked to be more emotionally grounded and open-hearted. The names "Mary Jane" and "MJ" are also common slang terms for marijuana . When asked about this, Stan Lee claimed it

20295-435: The personality, and much as we tried to make Gwen more attractive, we couldn't! We, ourselves, felt that Mary Jane ended up being not only more beautiful but more fun and more interesting, and we finally decided to let Peter end up with her, but it was... as though the characters had taken over!". Mary Jane Watson's unexpected popularity with readers after her debut changed the course of the plan for Gwen Stacy's character, who

20460-633: The private-eye television series 77 Sunset Strip , was performing a live club show at the hungry i on a bill with Bill Cosby and Don Adams . That meeting began their courtship, which was met with resistance from her parents. Ann-Margret starred in four films in 1966. Made in Paris , the first of these, was a fashion-focused romantic comedy in which Ann-Margret received top billing. FilmInk attributes its box office failure to "dodgy writing and uninspiring male leads". A month after its release, she teamed up with entertainers Chuck Day and Mickey Jones for

20625-675: The procedure. As a last resort, Peter downloads all of his memories and experiences into Octavius' mind, convincing his foe to develop some sense of responsibility. Octavius, as Peter, continues to date Mary Jane after this, but she begins noticing distinctly different character traits displayed by him, such as a heavy intake of alcohol and his rude behavior towards his loved ones. Octavius intends to become more intimate with her and makes several advances, only to be rebuffed each time. In desperation and frustration, Octavius relives Peter's memories with MJ, which infuriates Peter. After one of Octavius' Spider-Bots detect Mary Jane in trouble and saves her from

20790-559: The process involved in successful comics is the interaction between the readers/fans and the creator(s). Fan art and letters to the editor were commonly printed in the back of the book, until, in the early 21st century, various Internet forums started to replace this tradition. The growth of comic specialty stores helped permit several waves of independently-produced comics, beginning in the mid-1970s. Some early examples of these – generally referred to as "independent" or "alternative" comics – such as Big Apple Comix , continued somewhat in

20955-457: The process. Their relationship has a few initial hurdles, such as MJ's hot temper and Peter's always dashing off to be Spider-Man. Following the events of the original clone saga, Peter realizes that Mary Jane is the girl he has always loved, and the two begin dating again. Despite loving Peter, MJ does not wish to be tied down. Yet, she allows the relationship to progress and is left with a difficult decision when Peter proposes to her. After taking

21120-505: The publication of Robert Crumb 's irregularly published Zap Comix . Frank Stack had published The Adventures of Jesus as far back as 1962, and there had been a trickle of such publications until Crumb's success. What had started as a self-publishing scene soon grew into a minor industry, with Print Mint , Kitchen Sink , Last Gasp and Apex Novelties among the more well-known publishers. These comix were often extremely graphic, and largely distributed in head shops that flourished in

21285-505: The reborn Norman Osborn and the revelation that the tests identifying Peter as the clone were actually rigged as part of Osborn's plan to break Peter's spirit, Peter returns to the role of Spider-Man. Mary Jane returns to college to major in psychology , but the stress of the ongoing manipulations of Norman Osborn take their toll. After the Gathering of Five incident and the return of Aunt May, Mary Jane begs Peter to quit being Spider-Man. He

21450-650: The red. That quickly changed, with the book turning a $ 30,000 profit each issue starting with #12. Famous Funnies would eventually run 218 issues, inspire imitators, and largely launch a new mass medium . When the supply of available existing comic strips began to dwindle, early comic books began to include a small amount of new, original material in comic-strip format. Inevitably, a comic book of all-original material, with no comic-strip reprints, debuted. Fledgling publisher Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson founded National Allied Publications, which would evolve into DC Comics , to release New Fun #1 (Feb. 1935). This came out as

21615-614: The result that he took his name off the credits of Bus Riley . She then featured in Once a Thief , a crime film intended to be a star-making vehicle for French actor Alain Delon in the United States. The actress learned decades later that during this time she had been offered the title role in Cat Ballou , a critically acclaimed box-office smash that the American Film Institute ranked as

21780-404: The run. During the 2007 " One More Day " storyline, Peter is forced to decide whether he will accept Mephisto 's offer to save Aunt May in return for wiping the knowledge and memory of Peter and MJ's life together as husband and wife from the face of reality, which would leave only a single, subconscious piece of their souls to remember their love and life together, allowing Mephisto to feast on

21945-620: The satirical Mad —a former comic book which was now converted to a magazine format in order to circumvent the Code. DC started a revival in superhero comics in 1956 with the October 1956 revival of its former golden age top-seller The Flash in Showcase #4. Many comics historians peg this as the beginning of the Silver Age of American comic books, although Marvel (at this point still known variously as both Timely and Atlas ) had started reviving some of its old superheroes as early as 1954. The new Flash

22110-586: The school many years earlier. She was part of a group known as the Suttletones, which went to the Dunes hotel and casino in Las Vegas, which also headlined Tony Bennett and Al Hirt at the time. George Burns heard of her performance, and she auditioned for his annual holiday show, for which she and Burns performed a softshoe routine. Variety proclaimed that "George Burns has a gold mine in Ann-Margret... she has

22275-459: The seeming return of her husband's parents, Mary Jane begins smoking (a habit she had quit in high school), only increasing the tension between her and Peter. Peter ultimately convinces her to stop smoking when he tricks her into visiting Nick Katzenberg suffering heavily from lung cancer. When his parents are discovered to be fakes, Peter is unable to cope with the knowledge and disappears for a time. Mary Jane visits her sister Gayle and her father for

22440-496: The set of The Train Robbers in Durango, Mexico, in June 1972, she told Nancy Anderson of Copley News Service that she had been on the " grapefruit diet " and had lost almost 20 pounds (134 to 115) eating unsweetened citrus. On Sunday, September 10, 1972, while performing at Lake Tahoe , she fell 22 feet (6.7 meters) from an elevated platform to the stage and suffered injuries including

22605-574: The show were nominated for a Primetime Emmy in Outstanding Choreography. In 1970, she returned to films with R. P. M. , where she starred alongside Anthony Quinn , and C.C. and Company with Joe Namath as a biker and her portraying a fashion journalist. In 1971, she starred in Carnal Knowledge by director Mike Nichols , playing the girlfriend of a neglectful, arguably abusive character played by Jack Nicholson . She

22770-696: The show's five-week run and celebrate backstage. According to Ann-Margret's autobiography, Presley sent her a guitar-shaped floral arrangement for each of her Vegas openings. After the first Vegas run ended, she followed with a CBS television special The Ann-Margret Show , produced and directed by David Winters on December 1, 1968, with guest-stars Bob Hope , Jack Benny , Danny Thomas , and Carol Burnett . Then, she returned to Saigon as part of Hope's Christmas show. A second CBS television special followed, Ann-Margret: From Hollywood With Love , produced, directed and choreographed by David Winters, with guest-stars Dean Martin and Lucille Ball . David Winters and

22935-408: The size was derived from folding one sheet of Quarter Imperial paper (15 in × 11 in or 380 mm × 280 mm), to print 4 pages which were each 7 + 1 ⁄ 2 by 11 inches (190 mm × 280 mm). This also meant that the page count had to be some multiple of 4. In recent decades, standard comics have been trimmed at about 6.625 x 10.25 inches. The format of

23100-729: The success of Superman in Action Comics prompted editors at National Comics Publications (the future DC Comics) to request more superheroes for its titles. In response, Bob Kane and Bill Finger created Batman , who debuted in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). The period from the late 1930s through roughly the end of the 1940s is referred to by comic book experts as the Golden Age of comic books . It featured extremely large print-runs, with Action Comics and Captain Marvel selling over half

23265-606: The superpowered foes of Spider-Man. Peter, Mary Jane, and Aunt May are targeted by an assassin working for Spider-Man's old foe, the Kingpin . When Peter returns to the Parker family's motel hideout, the assassin takes aim at Peter and fires, but hits Aunt May instead. Peter and MJ scramble to save Aunt May's life, rushing her from hospital to hospital while trying to maintain their fragile cover of anonymity. In trying to keep May alive and hidden from Spider-Man's enemies, they become fugitives on

23430-492: The television series The Flintstones . She sang the ballad "The Littlest Lamb" as a lullaby as well as the rocker, "Ain't Gonna Be a Fool". Ann-Margret met Elvis Presley on the MGM soundstage when the two filmed Viva Las Vegas (1964). Filmink argued "She had so much energy and pep that she had blown her previous three male co-stars off screen, but Elvis could match her. He was the best on-screen partner she ever had, and she

23595-427: The tenth greatest Western film of all time. Her agent had turned down the role without telling her. Ann-Margret broke her flop streak with The Cincinnati Kid , in which she played a femme fatale opposite Steve McQueen . It was her first hit since Viva Las Vegas , but her role was not a large one. While she was working on Once a Thief , she met her future husband Roger Smith , who after his successful run on

23760-702: The theme song, a modified version of the Viva Las Vegas theme, to the live-action film The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas . She made guest appearances on the television show Touched by an Angel in 2000 and three episodes of Third Watch in 2003. In 2001, she made her first appearance in a stage musical, playing the character of brothel owner Mona Stangley in a new touring production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas . The production co-starred Gary Sandy and Ed Dixon . She played Jimmy Fallon 's mother in

23925-470: The time in the comic book series, it was decided to marry them in the regular Marvel Universe as well. In 2007, Quesada presided over the controversial " One More Day " storyline, which he also drew, in which Peter and Mary Jane's marriage is erased from history and everyone's memories by the devil Mephisto . Quesada states he is an avid fan of the Peter and MJ relationship, and in several interviews has claimed that

24090-417: The tradition of the earlier underground comics , while others, such as Star Reach , resembled the output of mainstream publishers in format and genre but were published by smaller artist-owned ventures or by a single artist. This so-called " small press " scene (a term derived from the limited quantity of comics printed in each press-run) continued to grow and diversify, with a number of small publishers in

24255-433: The two roles seemed to represent the two sides of her real-life personality. She was shy and reserved offstage but wildly exuberant and sensuous onstage, transforming "from Little Miss Lollipop to Sexpot-Banshee", in her words. In a 2021 retrospective of Ann-Margret's career for FilmInk , Stephen Vagg argued "she wasn't that well cast as a bad girl. Because she had so much energy and shape, producers thought she was; but she

24420-512: The various X-Men books led to storylines involving the genocide of superpowered "mutants" in allegorical stories about religious and ethnic persecution. In addition, published formats like the graphic novel and the related trade paperback enabled the comic book to gain some respectability as literature. As a result, these formats are now common in book retail and the collections of US public libraries . Ann-Margret Ann-Margret Olsson (born April 28, 1941), credited as Ann-Margret ,

24585-468: The wake of television and the impact of the Comics Code Authority . The late 1950s and the 1960s saw a superhero revival and superheroes remained the dominant character archetype throughout the late 20th century into the 21st century. Some fans collect comic books, helping drive up their value. Some have sold for more than US$ 1 million. Comic shops cater to fans, selling comic books, plastic sleeves ("bags") and cardboard backing ("boards") to protect

24750-554: Was Beauty and the Beard (1964), on which she was accompanied by trumpeter Al Hirt . Other career highlights included appearing on The Jack Benny Program in 1961 and singing the Bachelor in Paradise theme at the 34th Academy Awards in 1962. Her contract with RCA Victor ended in 1966. In 1963, Life Magazine mentioned that her recordings had sold in excess of half a million units. In

24915-408: Was a cloud with a silver lining, and proved the making of Marvel, allowing the company to concentrate its brightest and best talent on a small number of titles, at a time when its rivals were spreading their creative talents very thin across a huge number of monthly titles. The quality of Marvel's product soared in consequence, and sales soared with it. While the creators of comics were given credit in

25080-464: Was also a rise in conservative values with the election in 1952 of Dwight Eisenhower . The Comics Code Authority, a self-censoring body founded to curb the juvenile delinquency alleged to be due to the crime and horror comics, has often been targeted as the culprit, but sales had begun to drop the year before it was founded. The major publishers were not seriously harmed by the drop in sales, but smaller publishers were killed off: EC (the prime target of

25245-462: Was awarded her first Golden Globe , for New Actress of the Year alongside Jane Fonda and Christine Kaufmann . Then came a 1962 remake of Rodgers and Hammerstein 's musical State Fair , in which she played the "bad girl" role of Emily opposite Bobby Darin and Pat Boone . She had previously tested for the part of Margie, the "good girl", but the studio bosses deemed her too seductive for that role. In her autobiography, Ann-Margret wrote that

25410-563: Was born on April 28, 1941, in Valsjöbyn, Krokom Municipality , Jämtland County , Sweden , to Anna Regina ( née  Aronsson ) and Carl Gustav Olsson, a native of Örnsköldsvik . She described Valsjöbyn as a small town of "lumberjacks and farmers high up near the Arctic Circle". Her father had emigrated to the United States, but returned to Sweden in 1937 and married Anna Aronsson. After Ann-Margret's birth, Gustav wanted to emigrate again with

25575-406: Was hired because Ann-Margret was his dance student and recommended him for the job. It was Winters' first choreographer credit on film. He would go on to become a common collaborator for both Presley and Ann-Margret. Bye Bye Birdie and Viva Las Vegas had established Ann-Margret as Hollywood's biggest new star, but a string of box-office flops followed until October 1965. The first, Kitten with

25740-447: Was his." She recorded three duets with Presley for the film: "The Lady Loves Me", "You're the Boss", and "Today, Tomorrow, and Forever"; only "The Lady Loves Me" made it into the final film and none of them were commercially released until years after Presley's death, due to concerns by Colonel Tom Parker that Ann-Margret's presence threatened to overshadow Elvis. Choreographer David Winters

25905-499: Was intended to be the true love for Peter and was characterized as a sweet Daddy's girl in contrast to Mary Jane's '60s counterculture , vampy and liberated personality. Fans surprisingly liked Mary Jane more and demanded for her to replace Gwen's role as Peter Parker's main love interest as readers found Mary Jane more exciting and that "no matter how we [i.e. Lee and his artist/co-plotter collaborators] wrote it, Mary Jane always seemed more interesting!". Mary Jane flamboyance and 'life of

26070-556: Was just a nice person. I don't think she had a mean bone in her body, and wasn't likely to do something that was likely to screw things up for Peter, out of some misguided sense of self-aggrandizement, which Mary Jane was quite capable of doing—which makes her a much more interesting character". In 1987, the character was married to Spider-Man in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 . As a consequence, writer J. M. DeMatteis made Mary Jane and her marriage to Spider-Man one of

26235-516: Was more effective in parts closer to what she was in real life: an energetic good girl with a twinkle in the eye." Her performance as the all-American teenager Kim in Bye Bye Birdie (1963) made her a major star. Its premiere at Radio City Music Hall, 16 years after her first visit to the famed theater, was the highest first-week grossing film to date at the Music Hall. Life magazine put her on

26400-471: Was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress , and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress . Filmink argued this amounted to a comeback "in a way...because she never really regained her former status as an above-the-title star of feature films – her follow-up movies were 'girl' parts... the seventies were tough times for female stars who were not Barbra Streisand." On

26565-450: Was purely coincidental, that he knew nothing about drugs and had never tried marijuana. Gerry Conway succeeded Stan Lee as writer of The Amazing Spider-Man in 1972. Conway pushed Mary Jane to the forefront of the cast, and made her a serious love interest for Peter Parker. Like Lee, Conway found Mary Jane to be more compelling than Gwen: "[Mary Jane] hadn't lost the edge that made her an interesting character. Gwen didn't have an edge. She

26730-496: Was recorded in 2004. 2011 saw the release of " God is Love: The Gospel Sessions 2 " In 2023, she went back into the studio to record a full-length album of new recordings for Cleopatra Records. " Born to Be Wild " featured 13 covers including " Splish Splash ", " Earth Angel ", " Son of A Preacher Man ", and a new take on " Teach Me Tonight " featuring Pat Boone . Other guest performers included Pete Townshend , The Fuzztones , Paul Shaffer , The Oak Ridge Boys , and more. The album

26895-625: Was recorded in Hollywood, arranged and conducted by Marty Paich . Later albums were produced in Nashville with Chet Atkins on guitar, the Jordanaires ( Elvis Presley 's backup singers), and the Anita Kerr Singers , with liner notes by mentor George Burns. She had a sexy, throaty contralto singing voice, and RCA Victor attempted to capitalize on the "female Elvis" comparison by having her record

27060-462: Was released on April 14, 2023, on vinyl, compact disc, and on all streaming platforms. In 1961, Ann-Margret filmed a screen test at 20th Century Fox and was signed to a seven-year contract. She made her film debut in a loan-out to United Artists in Frank Capra 's Pocketful of Miracles with Bette Davis ; it is a remake of Capra's own Lady for a Day (1933). For her performance Ann-Margret

27225-412: Was supposed to be their wedding day due to his activities as Spider-Man, leading MJ to demand that he retire from crimefighting. His refusal to do so convinced MJ that they must remain unmarried, since any children they might have would be endangered by his being a superhero. Mary Jane goes to check on Anna Watson, just in time to stop a hitman, who goes after her. Spider-Man saves Mary Jane and dispatches

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