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Video: When Spider-Man And Mary Jane Got Hitched At Shea Stadium
By
Garth Johnston
Published Aug 21, 2012
Modified Aug 21, 2012
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Aug 21, 2012
Modified Aug 21, 2012
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It can be easy to forget that long before super heroes took over Hollywood they weren't always so serious—especially when they left the comics for the real world. Thank goodness the interwebs never forget. Don't believe us? Just check out this amazing footage from Spider-Man's wedding to Mary Jane Watson at Shea Stadium in 1987. The cheesiest Hulk and Captain America's this side of Halloween dropped by for the ceremony, officiated by Stan Lee! Yes, this publicity stunt really happened.
Now, there are lots of spectacular parts to these two clips—Stan Lee offering to write MJ out if it gets "too heavy" and the woman they have playing MJ, for example—but what really struck us 25 years after the fact is that the press keeps referring to these characters as cartoons. Now that super hero movies are the "tentpoles" for summer blockbusters you really don't hear that word used about them much anymore. Comic book characters, sure, but rarely cartoons (unless we are talking about Joel Schumacher's Batman—but let's not?).
Meanwhile, in case you were wondering, Spidey and MJ actually got hitched three times in the summer of 1987. First in the daily Spider-Man comic strip (remember those?) then the bizarre ceremony you see above and then finally in The Amazing Spider-Man Giant-Sized Annual #21 (a steal at just $1.25!). And it was actually kind of a thing? Mary Jane's dress was even designed by real life designer Willi Smith!
Sadly in 2007 some stuff happened in the comics, as they do, and now Mary Jane and Peter Parker's wedding never happened. Or something. Comics!
[h/t onecoolthingaday]
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