Marvel's Weirdest Wedding Ever Saw Spider-Man & MJ Marry In Real Life
While the pages of Marvel Comics have seen their fair share of bizarre marriages over the years, none were quite as strange as the time Stan Lee officiated a real-world wedding between Spider-Man and Mary Jane Wason in front of a crowd of tens of thousands in Peter Parker's hometown of Queens, NY. Seriously.
The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 was set to release in 1987 and would finally see Peter Parker and MJ tie the knot. This was a big deal for Marvel and, accordingly, the publisher decided to pull out all the stops to promote it. And Marvel did not disappoint, staging a bizarre faux-wedding between actors in character as Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson at Shea Stadium on June 5, 1987
The Associated Press reported at the time that 45,000 people were in attendance (though, to be fair, they were really there for the Mets/Pirates game that followed). But Spidey and his bride-to-be were far from the only comic book characters invited. Also in attendance were Iceman and Firestar; Hulk served as best man and Captain America as ring bearer. For some inexplicable reason, Green Goblin, and Doctor Doom also made the guest list. Tragically little footage of the event seems to exist anymore, but what does is as ridiculous as one might expect, with real reporters and news anchors trying to keep straight faces while interviewing "Spider-Man" and "Mary Jane" regarding the upcoming nuptials.
Naturally, Stan Lee was the affair's officiant, and, according to a transcript of the spectacle from Birth. Movies. Death., the vows were just as strange as the rest of the situation:
Do you, Spider-Man, being of sound mind and superbody, take Mary Jane to be your lawfully wedded bride, forsaking all other superheroines? Do you promise to never leave footprints on the walls or ceilings, or cobwebs in the corners? And do you agree to pinch-hit for the Mets if they ask you?
Do you, Mary Jane Watson, being of sound mind and spectacular body, agree to forsake other masked Marvelites, to never ever swat a spider and to hug, comfort and kiss away any bruises incurred after a long day of bashing bad guys - and to stay out of the Mets locker room?
The event had even reportedly been preceded by a mock bachelor party for Spidey that saw... Green Goblin jumping out of a cake, for some reason. "Wedding guests" were sent home with gift bags containing commemorative Spider-Man pins and posters to remember the occasion.
Funnily enough, this whole affair wouldn't be the last time Lee officiated a wedding between iconic Marvel characters, except the next time it was actually in the comics. Decades after the Shea Stadium event, in New Avengers Annual #1, Stan Lee also helped Jessica Jones and Luke Cage tie the knot. In a tragicomic footnote to 1987's mock ceremony, Peter and MJ's real-life wedding venue was demolished in 2009 to make way for the new Citi Field. This came less than two years after the One More Day story arc, which saw Spidey's marriage wiped from Marvel's mainstream continuity after Peter made a deal with Mephisto - Marvel's version of the devil - to save his Aunt May.
So it seems, whether in real life or in comic book pages, the marriage of Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson was always destined for a tragic end in one way or the other, but at least the late, great Stan Lee could say he played a major role in both of them.
Source: AP, Birth. Movies. Death.