Mary Jane's Boyfriend Paul from The Amazing Spider-Man comic.

Mary Jane's Boyfriend Paul (The Amazing Spider-Man)

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Updated May 31, 2023 at 04:39PM EDT by Zach.

Added May 31, 2023 at 01:23PM EDT by Phillip Hamilton.

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About

Paul Rabin is Mary Jane Watson's boyfriend in volume six of The Amazing Spider-Man comics, first appearing in the premiere issue of the series, released on April 27th, 2022. Throughout the series, he is depicted living happily with Mary Jane and his two kids. Paul became the subject of criticism in the Spider-Man fandom following his debut, with many Spider-Man fans disliking the abrupt introduction of the character after Mary Jane and Peter Parker were together for many issues prior and wanted to see Mary with Peter rather than Paul, inspiring numerous memes mocking him online.

Origin

On April 27th, 2022, a reboot of The Amazing Spider-Man comics, written by Zeb Wells and John Romita, was released. In the first issue, a character named Paul is introduced (shown below). Paul is Mary Jane Watson's boyfriend, who has moved on from Peter Parker and lives with Paul and their two adopted children, Romy and Owen, who they saved from a creature called the Scribble Man. The two met in a dimension where time moves differently than on Earth after Paul was sent there while researching "cheat codes" for reality.[1][2]


EVERYTHING OKAY? I SEE THAT. HELLO, PETER. LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE DOING BETTER. TV MUCH BETTER. THANK YOU. 20 GLAD TO HEAR IT. OH, YEAH. HA HA. PAUL! EVERYTHING'S GREAT. I BUMPED INTO PETER. WE SHOULD GET BACK TO THE KIDS. THAT'S NOU!! THUD PAUL! OOP. YEP. GOTTA GO. HEY, WE SHOULD DO DINNER SOMETIME. PAUL. THAT'S... YEAH. 00

Spread

Upon his introduction, Paul became widely criticized in the Spider-Man fandom, with many readers wanting to see Peter Parker with Mary Jane rather than Paul. Fans also felt the quality of the comics had dropped in general and disliked the sudden introduction of the character as MJ's boyfriend, after she had been dating Parker for numerous issues prior to this.[8]

This backlash resulted in criticism and memes about people hating Paul on sites like the /r/Spiderman subreddit and on Twitter. For example, on August 10th, 2022, a Redditor posted a panel from an issue of The Amazing Spider-Man featuring Paul to /r/spiderman,[3] writing, "We get it Marvel, Paul is a thing. You don’t need to keep sidetracking the plot to remind us…," garnering over 2,400 upvotes in nine months. On February 25th, 2023, a Redditor posted a meme about hating Paul to /r/spiderman,[4] garnering over 2,100 upvotes in three months (shown below).


SPIDER-MAN FANS FIGHTING OVER THE BEST VILLAN SPIDER-MAN FANS AGREEING PAUL NEEDS A VIOLENT DEATH imgflip.com

On March 31st, 2023, SportsKeeda[5] published an article about the hatred for Paul. On May 5th, 2023, Redditor TheCreature27 posted a drawing of Spider-Man punching Paul in the face to /r/spiderman,[6] writing, "I drew a picture of Peter wrecking Paul's shit #epic," garnering over 4,800 upvotes in a month (shown below). On May 31st, a Redditor then posted to /r/OutOfTheLoop[7] asking about the hatred of the character.


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Various Examples


aimée dangerously @sapphyreblayze · Jan 11 I don't think there's even been a character I've hated more than comics more than Paul. Every time I see his stupid specky face I wanna punch him. 4 27 2 aimée dangerously @sapphyreblayze 53 1,833 بار I see him with MJ and I'm like "GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!" like an overprotective dad or something. 1:44 PM. Jan 11, 2023 2,715 Views ... SCREW PAUL ALL MY HOMIES HATE PAUL Literally anything else Hating on Paul The Virgin Spider-Man (616) Not in a relationship with Mary Jane Uncle is Dead His kid is hypothetical Destined to be Dirt Poor Poor work life balance Spider-Sense Mephisto loves f------ with him In a relationship with Mary Jane Uncle is probably alive Adopted 2 Orphans like a Paul The PAUL 6 figure income Can juggle work life and family. Has Paul-Sense Probably is Mephisto THANKS, MY GIRLFRIEND LEFT ME FOR PAUL. NICE NEW OUTFIT, SPIDEY. Z SPIDERMAN CORE PAUL VERSE AR "Spectacularly fun," -ComicBookcas.com SLOTTGAGE DAVID • COSTA CAMUNCOLI COIPEL MARVEL KUBERT DIAZ LAND HOPELESS NOW! WILLIAMS LEONARDI

Search Interest

External References

[1] Fandom (Marvel) – Paul

[2] Bleeding Cool – What About Paul And The Kids

[3] Reddit – Spiderman

[4] Reddit – Send Paul to the ranch

[5] SportsKeeda – Who is Paul and why are comic fans angry with him

[6] Reddit – spiderman

[7] Reddit – OutOfTheLoop

[8] Reddit – spiderman

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Recent Images 14 total


Top Comments

pocketlint60
pocketlint60

> Paul became a largely hated character

The thing is though, he actually hasn't. It's the writers getting the hate. This isn't people enjoying this "villain" that serves as a romantic rival to Peter. This is people resenting that the character exists at all.

+37
Sheeps44
Sheeps44

Paul is a good representation of bad spider-man writing; not letting spider-man get a win.

I know the whole philosophy of spider-man stems from him struggling and having bad luck but c'mon.

He has canonically saved the universe like three times already, just let him advance his journey and get some wins.

+35

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