Warning! Spoilers for Amazing Spider-Man #26!When Mary Jane Watson came back from another dimension, she shocked Amazing Spider-Man fans by bringing her two kids with her. The mystery of how Mary Jane’s new family came to be has been the driving force of the current volume of Amazing Spider-Man, and it appeared to be settled after the over-sized 25th issue revealed the children to be adopted orphans. That was not, however, the true origin of Mary Jane’s children.
In Amazing Spider-Man #26 by Zeb Wells, John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, Marcio Menyz, Erick Arciniega, and Joe Caramagna, the villain Rabin tells Mary Jane that he created her kids to act as a tether connecting him to MJ. The evil mathematician, Rabin, needs to sacrifice Mary Jane, whom he calls the Scarlet Woman, in order to attain godhood. The revelation explains why Mary Jane’s adopted children look so much like her and her new boyfriend, Paul. It also pulls together many of the actions and words of Rabin that, before now, seemed like the bizarre ramblings and deeds of a mad man.
Mary Jane’s Got Kids?
A year before the launch of the new series, Spider-Man and Mary Jane were transported to another dimension so that Benjamin Rabin could sacrifice Spider-Man to the god Wayep. When Mary Jane used their one chance at returning to their home dimension to save Spider-Man, Rabin’s original plan was foiled. The sacrifice now had to be the Mary Jane. In the few days it took Spider-Man to return and rescue MJ, nearly four years had passed in Rabin’s dimension. Mary Jane was stranded all that time with Paul, with whom she fell in love. Together they adopted Owen and Romy, two children they discovered hiding in a cellar, scared of the “Scribble Man” (Rabin). It has now been revealed that the kids were planted there by Rabin in order to bind him to Mary Jane, enabling him to follow her through space and time.
Secret Origins of Mary Jane’s Children
There were clues to the children’s origin in the previous issue. After Mary Jane used a new symbol-based weapon that briefly defeated Rabin, the villain obsessed with symbols drew two figures in the sand and said, “May the Scarlet Woman accept her chains.” The two symbols were Rabin creating Owen and Romy out of the sand. He prayed that MJ would accept her chains, referring to the children, because if she developed a bond with the kids it would create the tether Rabin needed. The mathematician then promises to “return when you accept your bindings.” It is only once Mary Jane, Paul, and the children have fully bonded as a family that Rabin returns to kill MJ.
Related: Spider-Man’s Doomed MJ Romance Highlights the Pitfalls of Superhero ComicsThe sinister part of Rabin’s plan is not that he created something to bind him with MJ, but that he used her love to do so. He was clever to have the children appear to be as helpless as Mary Jane felt, stranded in that foreign dimension. The most heartbreaking moments were when Owen begged Mary Jane not to even touch him, like he was aware of the machinations at play and wished to prevent their success.
Rabin’s tether-children worked. He follows Mary Jane to her dimension and reveals to her that the children she has developed such a deep love for are not real, and they disappear out of Paul’s arms. The realization that her children were manifestations of a mad man as a successful link to her destruction is devastating, and Mary Jane vows to kill him. After the revelation and events of this issue, it remains to be seen if Mary Jane Watson will stay with the mysterious Paul now that there are no children binding them together as a family.
Amazing Spider-Man #26 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.
