Background

Mary Jane's aunt Anna Watson, older sister to her father, Philip Watson, always seemed to be the nice friend of Peter's Aunt May Parker. Anna invited May to live with her so they could help each other out as they got older, set Peter up with Mary Jane, brought him vegetable soup and comforted May when he left for college.

Anna, unlike May, tended to stay out of trouble when it came to New York's super criminal element. That changed when she was kidnapped by Alistaire Smythe, who thought he was taking Spider-Man's aunt, to be used as bait. Mary Jane held on to her aunt as she was taken by Smythe's flying saucer, and later managed to convince Alistaire that she was actually Spider-Man. This managed to buy Peter enough time to find and rescue the Watson's. Aunt Anna stayed a close friend of the Parkers and moved in with Peter and MJ after May Parker "died." Living with Peter exposed Anna to his unusual comings and goings and made her suspicious of how he could be gone for days at a time. She also didnt trust his habit of making last minute changes in plans.

Anna confronted MJ with her concerns but Mary Jane was just glad that she hadnt discovered Peter's secret. Instead of accusing Peter of being Spider-Man, she believed that he was having an affair. Returning home that night after being under the control of Calypso, Peter was confronted by a furious Anna Watson. MJ, tired of her aunt's nonsense, told her that Peter was Spider-Man. Anna believed that Mary Jane made up the story of Peter being Spider-Man to show her how foolish she sounded for accusing him of having an affair. She appologized and confessed to Peter that she had been married to a man named Jacob Hilliard after moving out to California to become an actress. She was 19 years old and married Jacob, a radio writer, within a month of meeting him.

Their romance quickly went stale and Anna soon met a singer named Johnny Dipalma while at an audition. He asked her to lunch and she soon convinced herself that she was in love. The guilt made her feel terrible. She stopped seeing Johnny and told Jacob the truth. She came back to New York and never told anyone that she had been married, not even May Parker.

She assumed that Peter hated her for accusing him of cheating on Mary Jane, but Peter said he loved her and he had nothing to forgive her for. She returned to Florida after May was revealed to be alive, though she still stops to visit May and have tea.

She took part in the seance with Madame Web to contact the comatose May after she was shot by a sniper hired by the Kingpin. Oddly, she didnt rush off to save May when Peter sensed that she was in danger from Eddie Brock.

Thanks To:

The assistance of the Marvel Chronology Project is gratefully acknowledged.

Some of the above information is extracted from the various versions of the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe and the more recent Marvel Encyclopaedias.