Anna Watson - Spider-Man's Other Great Mother Figure by Dan
On the other great mentor of Peter Parker
When one thinks of superhero mothers, what comes to mind? Martha Wayne? Perhaps Ma Kent. Maybe you think of Susan Richards. And what of Spider-man’s Mother figure? One might assume Aunt May, however, reading the comics, there’s another character that we see. May’s neighbor, who early on tries to help May set up Peter and Mary-Jane get together, probably the most popular and famous married couple in all of comic book history, safe maybe Clark and Lois.
In the early comics, she is often seen alongside May, and she may have been seen sometimes doing the fainting routine, however, once the comics were cleaned up a little, and upon Mary-Jane’s introduction, that changed, with Anna playing a supportive role. She is often seen caring for Peter and May, And even becoming a more stern maternal figure for Peter, as May often is unable to scold and punish Peter as a child, and Ben sometimes has a hard time saying no to his little boy, who does worship his Uncle Ben. She was the one who worked hard to try and curb Peter’s temper, as he was growing up. (And boy, did he have a temper. Looking through the arc where Peter went to college, he could dish just as much out to Flash, as Flash could dish out to Peter.)
She was a woman who lived a hard life, but still found time to care for those around her. Her husband died possibly of cancer, her brother abused his wife and daughters, one who Anna pretty much raised and adopted, Mary-Jane, being more of a mother to her, even grieving for Ben, a man she treated like a brother, and seeing Peter getting more and more angry as time passed. When things went down, she took charge, even scolding the adult Peter whenever he needed it. Whenever a slight breeze would knock May down, she would often cover the costs, to her detriment.
The woman had a big heart, and had no patience for any of the Parkers misbehaving and mistreating each other, like the time Peter had to step away from university to reevaluate what he wanted to do in life, to the point where May disowned him. Her fiancé at the time, Nathan Lubensky worked to try to mend the bridge, and he worked hard, even scolding both sides, Peter for disrespecting May’s feelings, and May for ignoring and ghosting Peter. (In fact, Peter at the time was closer to him than May, and took his advice to heart.)
Him and Anna worked hard to mend the bridge, and Anna was frustrated that after a lifetime of pretty much being a Doormat, May decided to get stubborn and headstrong about Peter abandoning his dream university, claiming that she doesn’t want to hold him back, frustrating both Anna and Nathan, who were to tell her that she was twisting Peter’s words, and even trying to convince her that it is perfectly natural for Peter to question his old dreams, and create new ones. Both moved into her house, and Anna continued with her support of the Parkers.
It’s only when May ends up sick (again) and hospitalized that she finally makes peace with Peter, but there is a problem. First off, there is only so much money that even Anna can afford. Therefore, Peter needs to get a job, and often begs Jameson, who sometimes anonymously covers May’s bills, and learns to be a far more professional photographer, putting off Peter’s choice to return to university, in order to make sure May can be taken care of. But when a judgemental doctor looks down upon Peter for not always being with his aunt 24/7, Anna and Mary-Jane explode several times at him, with Anna telling him that Peter is young, and does need to work, and that he also shouldn’t just live his youth inside a hospital caring for an ailing mother figure, telling him that it is her job to make sure that Peter can come back to her, when he has an opening in his schedule. After a rather explosive argument, we no longer see the doctor, so we can assume that Anna filed a complaint about him, or fired him or something.
The woman was so kind towards Peter and MJ, that she insisted on giving MJ a limited amount of time for the two to be present at the hospital to visit May, so that they could live their own lives, something that May actually supported. She loved seeing Peter, but she never wanted to hold him back, and this time, not in the same obtuse way. As the series progressed, she would become a lot more like MJ, with it implying that MJ took after her, and her passionate, Irish temper, and how she’d care for everyone. Sure, this was changed since her early depictions, but it was done for the better, and added a bit more of a stable figure in Peter’s life. She wants the best for Peter, and would try to play matchmaker between the two young Peter and MJ, even when there was Harry and Gwen still trying to court the two.
Anna never liked either of them, and for good reason. People judge Mary-Jane for “cheating” on Harry, but the problem is, it was a “She doesn’t break up with me, I break up with her” situation, and Harry did deal with addiction issues, and actually laid hands upon MJ, something she did not like. As for Gwen, it looked like Anna never liked her, and really glib with her, but if you were to see how Gwen treated Peter… Honestly, she’s the definition of toxic.
It is why Anna tried to get Peter and MJ together, and subtly convince Peter to leave Gwen, cause she knew the young superhero was not well treated. Sometimes hearing from Peter what Gwen would tell him, and what melodrama she brought up, she would tell Peter what she thought about that girl. But it didn’t mean that she wanted Gwen to die. She had a conversation with May about young people dying, melancholically. It was clear she was there to support Peter, as Gwen was not very nice to MJ, and even spread rumours about her not being faithful to Harry or Peter.
When the 90s were leading into the Howard Mackie run, she was not pleased when Peter’s mental health went so low, that he freaked out on Mary Jane, and she ran, but didn’t want to leave Peter. Anna decided to tell Mary Jane to go make peace with her sister Gail, so that when Mary Jane came back, she’d be able to fully commit to Peter, and deal with her demons. In the meantime, she was the one who went to Peter, and set him straight, even telling him that he isn’t permitted to see May, until he smartens up and apologizes to his wife.
At some point, she comes across Ben Reilly at the cemetery, and even if she recognized him as Peter, she is one of the first people to tell that there are two Peters, and a reason why Ben Reilly avoided her for so long. She tested Ben to see if it truly was the one who was married to her niece, but he failed the test, as he tried to improvise what he assumed was what happened in Peter’s life. She did bring it up to Peter, asking about the cemetery, but he said he didn’t go that day. May may not notice some things, but Anna is far more perceptive than the very trusting May Parker. She often wondered about Peter’s “cousin”, as she had a really good idea about the Reilly family tree, something that would require explanations, one that was not addressed, as Marvel often put her on the bus, especially after May’s death.
It is certainly a pity that Marvel was to end up disrespecting her so much. There was so much potential there, that she was to appear in titles like “Mary Jane Loves Spider-Man”, only to matter little according to Marvel, wanting to subplant her role with May Parker surviving. Anna was a voice of reason, even over the more level headed members of the family.
I really do like the role she plays, as a source of support for everyone, there even when May dies, and the family needs her.
Honestly, I would much rather write her, than have every slight breeze have her fall over, and bring her to a hospital to meet every doctor or nurse that judges Peter for actually needing to work to make sure the bills are paid, and needing to drop out whenever he gets focused on his studies because of that.
At least then, we can put aside that constant revolving door with May’s storyline, and move onto the next phase of Peter and Mary Jane’s lives. A reason why the line that is stated when May dies is from Peter Pan. It was time to stop letting Peter be a boy, and let him become a man, a man that can raise his own children. As for May’s role, Anna filled it far better. Just like Ben Reilly was able to take Peter’s role as Spider-Man, Anna could take over May’s role as the loving Aunt that cares deeply for her boys and girl.
I can see aspects of myself in Anna, and none at all in May. These are all comics? Any books or other media?
Been awhile since i heard about her, always wonderd what happened to her.