EARTH-901220What if Spider-Man had not married Mary Jane Watson?
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What if Spider-Man married the Black Cat?
EARTH-901220
What if Spider-Man had not married
Mary Jane Watson?
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What if Spider-Man married the Black Cat?
Type: Alternate Earth
Environment: Similar
Usual means of access: Vibrational attunement
Dominant Life Form: Humanity
Significant Inhabitants: Black Cat (Felicia Hardy), Electro (Max Dillon), J. Jonah Jameson, the Green Goblin (Norman Osborn), Nick Katzenberg, Kraven the Hunter (Sergei Kravinoff), Larsen, Harry Osborn, May Parker, Joe Robertson, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Silver Sable and the Wild Pack (Sandman, Paladin, Spider-Man, other operatives) and its affiliated (Fortunov), Jack Smith, Alistaire Smythe and his Spider Slayer Mark 8, Gwen Stacy, Flash Thompson, Venom (Eddie Brock), the Vulture (Adrian Toomes), Anna Watson, Mary Jane Watson
Significant Organizations:
The Wild Pack, the Daily Bugle
Significant Locations:
The Symkarian Embassy; Ryker's Island; New York City, New York
Significant Paraphernalia:
A sonic gun suitable to kill the Venom-alien
First Appearance: What If II#20 (December, 1990)
History:
(What If II#20 (fb) - BTS) - The Earth-901220 timeline was apparently
identical to Earth-616, until a decisive event: On Earth-901220, during a fight
between Spider-Man and Alistaire Smythe's Spider-Slayer (paralleling the events of Amazing
Spider-Man I#292), Smythe's Spider-Slayer harmed
Mary Jane Watson, and she had to be hospitalized.
(What If II#20 (fb) ) - The traumatic event convinced Peter Parker that he could not share his super-hero life with a normal person, because that danger would cost the life of his loved, so he left Mary Jane at the altar.
(What If II#20) - The
divergence had a great effect on Spider-Man's life and on some of his
friends and enemies.
Firstly, Spider-Man began working for Silver Sable and the Wild Pack, activity that gave him a
steady financial support, that gave Silver Sable a deeper knowledge of
the man behind the Spider, and that gave the Wild Pack greater
incomes.
Secondly, but not for importance,
Spider-Man and the Black Cat rebuilt the relation that had broken months
before. It was presumably this heavy superhero-oriented relationship that
conditioned Felicia and made her more reckless than her Earth-616
counterpart.
This reality had similar events that paralleled Earth-616's, such as the defeat of Spider-Man at
Kraven the Hunter's hands, and the Wall-crawler's burial. However,
Felicia's presence in Spider-Man's life changed the way the event was
resolved.
(What If II#21) - Peter
Palmer and Felina Harvey married at Niagara Falls, New York. They had a
reception at May Parker's house in Forest Hills, where the Vulture
placed a bomb. The explosion destroyed the house in the Queen, killed
some guests, and wounded aunt May. Spider-Man's rage and sense of guilt
grew so much that he almost killed the Vulture.
The instability and the obsessions of the Black Cat made her a murderer. She knew that, even if Spider-Man had captured the Vulture, Peter's secret identity could be spoiled in any moment. She went to Ryker's Island to kill the Vulture, and spotted him right when he was evading. She slashed Toomes, leaving him dying in a pool of blood.
The greatest divergence, however, happened to Felicia, when the Black Cat was killed by Paladin.
Life went on.
Silver Sable and Spider-Man became
personally involved. Spider-Man found a perfect mate for his adventuring
life, a woman that could share and face front the dangers of such a
life; on the other hand, Silver Sable opened her heart, letting some
color enter into her silver-greyed feelings, having met someone who
could understand the sense of guilt for a loved parent's death.
Comments: Created by Danny Fingeroth, Jim
Valentino and Chris Ivy
The Bugle published the kiss between the Spider and the Cat on April 26th, 1990 [topical].
Of course, Mephisto subsequently altered Reality-616' such that Peter Parker and Mary Jane were never married. Not a fan of that, personally...
Profile by Spidermay.CLARIFICATIONS:
Earth-901220 has no known connection to:
(What If II#20 (fb) ) - As happened on Earth-616, Mary Jane Watson learned about Peter Parker double life quite early, even before the two met each other.
Their friendship, their relationship and their love
story were the same on Earth-901220, until some days before the
marriage.
Alistaire Smythe's Spider-Slayer wounded Mary Jane, more heavily than how happened on Earth-616. Mary Jane had to be treated in the hospital, and, during those days she firmly choose to share her life at Peter's side, more aware of the dangers she would face in such a position.
Nonetheless, Peter's enormous sense of responsibility)drove him to leave her. His assumption was that she (a person without super powers) was in too grave danger while so close to Spider-Man.
The refusal happened during the marriage, and Mary
Jane, broken-hearten, accepted it.
(What If II#20) - Weeks passed, and Mary Jane learned by the Bugle that Spider-Man and the Black Cat were a super-couple in love. MJ, still caring for Peter, wondered if he had previously planned to involve the Cat in his life, so she called him. She found the Black Cat on the other end of the cable, and the conversation immediately faded out.
Mary Jane was unaware that Peter and Felicia's relationship had reached a peak point. Some moments after her call, Peter asked Felicia's hand in marriage, and she accepted. Felicia's jealousy had been heightened by Mary Jane's call, so while MJ went out of her home to clear her thoughts and feelings about Peter, the Black Cat reached her.
On Earth-901220 Mary Jane was as famous as on Earth-616, so she was recognized by a man that knew both Peter Parker and her. So, when Felicia harshly told to Mary Jane to stay out of Spider-Man's life, this man overheard their conversation.
(What If II#21) - The revealed secret led
to murders of innocents, and to the wounding of May Parker at the
hands of the Vulture.
Peter broke off his relationship with Felicia, and he was
almost going to talk to Mary Jane, whom he considered the only one
that could understand him. Spider-Man instead went
to talk to Silver Sable. Mary Jane spotted him from the window, while
he web-dangled away.
Some nights later, Mary Jane went out with Brad,
and when the two were entering into her apartment, she found
Spider-Man waiting for her. She hadn't time to talk to him. Peter,
hearing Brad's voice calling her "Mary," ran away. Neither Peter nor Mary
Jane knew that Spider-Man was wanted for the Vulture's murder (actually slain by the Black Cat). The
Wild Pack found Peter outside MJ's window, and Mary Jane vouched for
Spider-Man.
A fight arose, and the Wild Packe shot at Spider-Man, and the ricochets almost hit Mary Jane. The Black Cat intervened, carrying MJ away from the bullets. Dragged on the eaves of the building, Mary Jane heard the Cat confessing the murder of the Vulture. Mary Jane sbusequently tripped on a web, falling from the eaves, and Paladin shot at the Black Cat, killing her. Peter saved MJ, but he was devastated by his wife's death, regardless of their current circumstances.
Mary Jane choose not to interfere in Peter's pain, and she disappeared
from his life.
--What If II#20, 21
(What If II#20 (fb) ) - The Black
Cat had an adventuring life and a romantic relationship with Spider-Man, as
happened on Earth-616.
(What If II#20) - Felicia
entered again in Spider-Man's life with the sentence: "Face it tiger... you just hit the jackpot!"
The two restarted the relationship that had been broken
months before, intensifying their super-heroes life and their attacks to
the criminals. Felicia, however, was more prone to violence than before,
and Spider-Man had to restrain her.
Months passed, and it was Felicia's turn to save
Spider-Man, when he was buried alive by Kraven the Hunter. She imbued her talons with poison, which made the
difference to save her. The worry for her lover made her so violent and
reckless that she badly beat Kraven. Digging out Spider-Man from the tomb,
Felicia heard him muttering some words about Mary Jane. Peter was
heavily drugged and stunned, but something told Felicia that those words
weren't only caused by that.
More reckless, Felicia saved Peter's life again.
After two sonic blasts that stunned Venom, Felicia was going to shoot
again at Brock, but the blast would have killed both the symbiote alien
and Brock. Spider-Man stopped her in time.
The stunts and the love of the two superheroes became
of public domain.
That night Mary Jane tried to call Peter, but it was
Felicia who answered the phone. A few minutes later, Peter asked
Felicia to marry him. The Black Cat joyously accepted, even if she
slightly suspected that she was not Peter's real love. Sprung by
Peter's declaration and by a surge of jealousy, the Black Cat reached
Mary Jane while she was heading out from her home. Felicia shouted out
to M.J. that she was going to marry Spider-Man, the man that had left
her on the altar. Unfortunately a man who knew Mary Jane Watson
(probably for her past of top model and actress) spotted them and
overheard the conversation, and he realized Spider-Man's civilian
identity.
The man contacted the Vulture to sell him the
information.
(What If II#21) - Few
days later Felina Harvey and Peter
Palmer married at Niagara Falls, NY.
However, that very night, Felicia did not feel well.
She was still unable to accept Peter Parker, the "civilian" side of her
relationship.
A few days after, Felicia was more unhappy
with Peter's civilian life because it forced her to live apart from
him, as he could not reveal his true identity due to wanting to protect
his friends and relatives.
That night, the Vulture learned Spider-Man's secret
identity, and killed the informer. Seeking vengeance against
Spider-Man, the Vulture placed a bomb in May Parker's house, which
subsequently exploded. The Vulture also stunned the Black
Cat using gas, but Spider-Man stopped right before the could shot the
deadly bullet. Spider-Man's desire for revenge was great, but the
Wild Pack arrived there to capture the Vulture, and they stopped
Spider-Man from committing homicide.
In the quarrel that followed, Peter learned from
Felicia that she was the one that had spoiled his secret identity. Still
full of worry and rage for her aunt's health, Peter broke up with Felicia.
Several days later, the Vulture shot at a guard and
escaped from Ryker's; however, the Black Cat was there, and she slew
him. This was her way of protecting her lover's secret identity,
because she knew that if the Vulture remained alive, the secret would
have spread further.
When the news reached Silver Sable, she ordered the
search for her agent Spider-Man, believing he was the murderer. Sable
led Sandman, Paladin and many other operatives, and they found the
Wallcrawler out of Mary Jane Watson's apartment. Peter, still in pain,
still enraged, escaped from Sandman's grasp, but some of the Wild Packe shot at him,
and some bullets ricocheted near Mary Jane. The Black Cat saved her,
dragging MJ on the eaves of the building, after which she confessed her crime.
In that moment, however, Mary Jane tripped on a web and fell down, with Spider-Man
jumping to save her. Arriving on the scene, Paladin mistook the
situation, believing that the Cat was killing MJ, and so he fatally shot at the Black
Cat. Felicia only had the strength to declare her
love for the Spider, after which she died.
--What If II#20, What If II#21
Note: Reality-1089's Felicia did slay the symbiote alien using a sonic blaster where the alien took total control of Peter Parker (see What if II#4).
(What If II#20) - May Parker's existence was identical to the May of Earth-616, and, even after Peter's refusal to marry Mary Jane, her life did not diverge a lot, initially.
She was worried about Peter (as always)
remaining without love, and her suggestions contributed to Peter writing to
Felicia.
(What If II#21) - The Vulture set a bomb up her house, where she hosted some elderly people. The bomb killed six of them and wounded May. She survived because at the moment of the explosion, she was in the cellar.
She was rescued by Spider-Man. She was already
shocked, and Spider-Man's hurry scared her. On the other hand,
Spider-Man was already scared (and over-weighted by his sense of
responsibility), but seeing her aunt into those conditions drove him so
mad that he left to kill the Vulture (after letting the paramedics take
care of May).
--What If II#20, 21
Note: Her suggestions were probably the butterfly's flapping wings that widened the divergence
Earth-901220 Electro's story was probably identical to his counterpart's on Earth-616 until he had to fight the combined forces of Spider-Man and the Black Cat.
(What If II#20) - Electro faced the combined forces of Spider-Man and the Black
Cat. The fight ended when the two heroes simultaneously hit him, and
knocked him down.
--What If II#20
(What If
II#20) - Kraven the Hunter of Earth-901220 succeeded in defeating
Spider-Man in his last hunt, as
happened on Earth-616 (see Web of Spider-Man I#31).
Kraven also buried Spider-Man and wore the black
suit, to become him, to take his place. However, the presence of the
Black Cat in Spider-Man's life changed the subsequent events. The Cat
found Kraven on Spider-Man's tomb and attacked him. The poison on the
Cat's talons had immediate effects on Kraven. Before he was scratched,
he was going to vanquish the Cat, but after some scratches he became
easy prey for her (on Earth-616, the Black Cat was not present at
all, see Amazing Spider-Man I#293).
--What If II#20
(What If
II#20 (fb) ) - Alistaire Smythe was the counterpart of the Earth-616
Alistaire Smythe.
The divergence between the two dimensions began when
Smythe, in his Mark
8 Spider-Slayer was fighting, and beating, Spider-Man in
Pittsburgh.
When Mary Jane helped Spider-Man, hitting the android with a baseball bat, Smythe clutched her. On Earth-901220, Spider-Man recovered only few seconds longer than what Earth-616 Spider-Man did. But this tiny lapse of time caused Mary Jane to be hurt more seriously.
Spider-Man defeated the android and Mark 8, but the hospitalization of Mary Jane widened the divergence from Earth-616.
--What If II#20 (fb)
(What If II#20) - Venom was the
symbiosis between Eddie Brock, an alien and their shared hate for
Spider-Man.
--What If II#20
Note: On Earth-616, Peter spared Venom thus he was beaten and defeated, see Amazing Spider-Man I#300. Moreover, weeks later, Venom badly beat the Black Cat to learn where Spider-Man was hiding, see Amazing Spider-Man I#316.
(What If II#21) - The
Vulture had the same powers of his counterpart of Earth-616, but seemed
more ruthless.
Toomes took a
date for lunch with "Otto" before the call of the criminal
that wanted to sell Spider-Man's secret identity,
Apparently, the Vulture had no
remorse for killing the informer. Worse, he had no problem at all blowing out May
Parker's house, killing some old people and wounding others. His only
concern was to have Spider-Man suffer.
His revenge plan included the Black Cat's death, and he may have succeeding in doing it, had not Spider-Man reached him in time.
He was beaten by Spider-Man, but after Silver Sable
saved the Vulture's life, he faked his sufferings. It was not revealed
why he had a bounty on his head.
The deception worked, the surveillance on him was
not restricted, so he managed to escape from Ryker's Island, almost. To
get out, he shot a guard, but he was surprised by his killer: the Black
Cat. The Cat considered Toomes to be a constant threat for her love,
and killed him to bury Spider-Man's secret identity with the old
criminal. Even dying in a pool of blood, Toomes whispered
"...Spider-Man".
--What If II#21
Note: "Otto" was
probably Otto Octavius of Earth-901220, another historical enemy of
Spider-Man.
(What If II#20) - The Daily Bugle was
the counterpart of Reality-616's newspaper publication by the same name.
The editor was J.Jonah Jameson. Other people that worked there were Nick
Katzenberg, "Clar", Jack Smith, Peter Parker and Robbie Robertson.
The Bugle published an article revealing the love
affair between Spider-Man and the Black Cat. The paparazzi was Nick
Katzenberg and the article was written by someone which name begun with
"Clar".
On the same page, Jack Smith wrote an article about
Larsen confessing a crime.
Weeks later, when May Parker's house was blown to
pieces, Robbie Robertson went on the scene of the crime and watched
Spider-Man running to save May Parker.
--What If II#20
Note: On Earth-616
there is at least one journalist named "Clark".
images: (without ads)
What If II#20, cover (Peter and Mary Jane didn't
marry)
What If II#21, p16, pan1 (Mary Jane Watson)
What If II#20, p14, pan5 (the Black
Cat as "the jackpot")
What If II#21, cover (Spider-Man and the Cat did marry but not in
super-hero suits)
What If
II#21, cover (May Parker)
What If II#20, p14, pan5 (Electro)
What If II#20, p14, pan5 (Kraven defeating Spider-Man)
What If II#20, p4, pan3 (the
Spider-Slayer strangling Mary Jane)
What If II#20, p19, pan3 (Venom)
What If II#21, p8, pan4 (The Vulture going to kill the Black Cat)
What If II#21, cover (J. Jonah Jameson)
Appearances:
What If II#20 (December, 1990) - Danny Fingeroth
(writer), Jim Valentino (pencils), Chris Ivy (inks), Nel Yomtov
(colors), Craig Anderson & Tom deFalco (editors)
What If II#21 (January, 1990) - Danny Fingeroth (writer), Jim Valentino
(pencils), Chris Ivy (inks), Tom Vincent (colors), Craig Anderson &
Tom deFalco (editors)
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
First Posted: 05/08/2022
Last updated: 05/08/2022
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