Highlights
- Spider-Man's romantic relationships offer insight into his personal struggles and add to his appeal as a relatable everyday hero.
- Carlie Cooper, a forensic scientist, challenges Spider-Man intellectually and is one of his complex supporting characters.
- Black Cat provides a dangerous and unpredictable romance, challenging Spider-Man's values and beliefs. Gwen Stacy's demise is one of Spider-Man's darkest moments. Mary Jane Watson is his most famous and longest-running love interest.
Since first setting the comic book medium alight back in 1962, seminal Marvel hero Spider-Man has had a variety of love interests. From fellow superhumans to civilians he's met in his regular life, Peter Parker has dated multiple, memorable characters over the years.
Romantic relationships have helped to provide a deep look into the personal struggles, heartaches, and joys of Peter Parker's notoriously difficult personal life. Presented to readers as more of a lovable everyman than heroes who had come before, Spider-Man's relatable everyday struggles, including his dating life, have proven to be a key aspect of his long-enduring appeal. Due to his double life, writers have often focused on the web-slinger's moral dilemmas as he's forced to balance his responsibilities as Spider-Man and his desire for a normal life. Of the many romantic entanglements the Queens-based hero has had, some stand out above the rest.
6 Carlie Cooper Is A Neat, Intellectual Match For Peter Parker
Debuting soon after the critically maligned events of One More Day, Carlie Cooper received considerable fan backlash. With Mary Jane Watson out of the picture due to Mephisto's shenanigans, Cooper was brought in as Peter Parker's first post-retcon love interest.
Despite the fan outcry at the storyline, the actual Cooper character is a neat fit for Spider-Man thanks to her work as an expert forensic scientist for the NYPD. Her career choice and interests align with Peter Parker's, as she too is both scientifically gifted and focused on the pursuit of justice. In turn, she manages to challenge the brainy hero intellectually, helping to push him to reach his full potential. Interestingly, Cooper is one of the few Spidey love interests to have experienced true villainy, having become the dreaded Monster for a short spell after being sprayed with the Green Goblin's Goblin Formula. This shocking arc lends further credence to why Cooper is one of Spider-Man's most complex, underrated supporting characters in recent years.
5 Betty Brant Is An Early, Short-Term Romance Of Peter Parker's
A classic, but often overlooked, love interest in the Spider-Man pantheon, Betty Brant is one of Peter Parker's earliest dates in the classic comic book series. A co-worker at the Daily Bugle, Brant offers a more grounded dynamic with the wall-crawler.
Offering a more standard sense of normalcy and stability via her professional connection to Parker, Brant is one of the many effective supporting characters that have helped to flesh out Spider-Man's grounded, often relatable life outside of the mask. Later stories have seen Brant become a love interest to other super-powered figures in the Spider-Man cast, including Flash Thompson during his acclaimed Agent Venom arc, and even marrying the crazed Ned Leeds, aka the Hobgoblin. Originally, however, she had a subtle, but impactful relationship with the titular hero and has consistently remained a key figure in the Daily Bugle setting.
4 Silk (Cindy Moon) Makes For An Intriguing Match For Spider-Man
The similarly super-powered Cindy Moon makes for a compelling Spider-Man love interest due to their unique connection. Moon's powers stem from being bitten by the exact same spider that bit Parker and gave him his abilities.
The major connection between the pair allows them to understand one another on a level no one else ever could. With her powers and backstory intertwining perfectly with Spider-Man's, the pair quickly forged a deep bond soon after Moon entered the comics back in April 2014. Better still, Silk's strong-willed and independent mindset adds an exciting element to her dynamic with Peter Parker, as she does her own crime-fighting, even joining the Agents of Atlas at one point. One of the most interesting concepts for a romantic partner for Marvel's most beloved hero, Silk has proven to be a hit with fans.
3 Black Cat (Felicia Hardy) Is An Unscrupulous Counter To Spider-Man's Noble Ways
A devious cat burglar turned anti-hero, the devious Felicia Hardy has frequently tip-toed the line between friend and foe when it comes to her dynamic with Spider-Man. Their complex relationship is built on both mutual attraction and trust issues.
Despite their obvious differences, the pair share an emotional understanding of one another due to their respective commitments to leading double lives. Similar to Catwoman's presence in Batman's life, Black Cat lends a dangerous sense of unpredictable romance to the web-slinger's adventures. Despite the character's popularity, Hardy has yet to enjoy a full-on film adaptation as her Black Cat alter ego, with only a minor appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 thus far. She has, however, been a frequent presence in Spidey video game adaptations. Perhaps most interesting of all is the character's knack for challenging the morally upright Peter Parker's sense of right and wrong, with their romance often forcing him to question his values and beliefs, making for one of the most complicated relationships in the hero's long history.
2 Gwen Stacy's Demise Is One Of The Darkest Moments In Spider-Man History
Peter Parker's original, long-term high school girlfriend was a leading character during the '60s golden years of Spidey comics. Unfortunately for Stacy, the creative team's interest in upping the ante in Parker's feud with the Green Goblin led to her shocking departure.
Well aware of Spider-Man's real identity, the dastardly Norman Osborne kidnaps Stacy and throws her off a bridge. Despite his best efforts, Spider-Man is unable to save her, with many even suggesting that his attempt to catch her with web might've been the inadvertent killing blow. The grim tragedy was brought to life in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, where Harry Osborne was the Goblin, putting a sad end to the well-received dynamic actors Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone had put together on-screen. Prior to the bleak ending, Stacy represented a more innocent time in Spider-Man's life and remains a landmark character in the Marvel icon's mythology. More recent years have seen Stacy explode in popularity thanks to the Spider-Gwen incarnation.
1 Mary Jane Watson Is Spider-Man's Longest-Running, Most Famous Love Interest
The most well-known of Peter Parker's many loves has been a central figure in Spider-Man stories for many decades. Originally introduced as a running-joke, rarely seen character while Parker dated Gwen Stacey, MJ took off with readers to the point that Stacey wound up on the infamous Green Goblin chopping block.
Promoted to being Spidey's leading lady in the comics, she has also served as his main love interest in both the Tobey Maguire and Tom Holland film incarnations of the character. Sporting a more fiery, adventurous personality than Gwen Stacey, the more independently-natured MJ has frequently been depicted as having undeniable chemistry with the web-slinger, and was even married to him prior to the infamous One More Day arc back in '07. Regardless of some of the more polarizing storytelling in the comic books, Mary Jane remains Spider-Man's most seminal and recognizable romantic interest across every entertainment medium the character has appeared in.