In the first book, Mary Jane moves back to Forest Hills, where she reunites with her old friend, Peter Parker. Then their class attends a field trip to Osborn Industries, where Peter is bitten by a spider and gets spider-powers. Norman Osborn uses the drugs that he injected into the spider that bit Peter to create a soft drink, which he markets to MJ's classmates, but is thwarted by Peter and Mary Jane as part of their science project.
The second book introduces Gwen Stacy, an "ugly duckling" who MJ gives a makeover to, accidentally creating a rival for Peter's affections. At the same time, Harry Osborn returns to school, now broke due to his father being thrown in jail.
The novels were a hit with girls who weren't familiar with comics, but was criticized by fans of the comics for its characterization of some characters (particularly Harry) and the changes it made to continuity.
Despite being advertised as part of Marvel's Ultimate line, it really has nothing to do with the Ultimate comics.
Provides examples of:
- Adaptational Dye-Job: Peter's eyes are described as being "blue with little flecks of green". Peter's eyes are usually portrayed as brown.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Mary Jane and Peter first met in elementary school, then later met again in high school. In the comics, Mary Jane and Peter didn't meet until college. Harry Osborn also knows both Peter and MJ in high school.
- Adaptational Skill: Instead of being an actress, Mary Jane is a ballerina and she was a cheerleader for a short time. Peter also briefly gets into basketball shortly after getting his superpowers. Although he later quits after the death of Uncle Ben.
- Adaptational Ugliness: Invoked. Gwen Stacy is a knockout in the comics. Here, she's initially portrayed as a homely girl before being revealed as Beautiful All Along.
- Canon Foreigner: Wendy Gonzales is a new character who becomes Mary Jane's friend at Midtown High.
- Create Your Own Villain: Not quite, but Mary Jane does accidentally create a rival for Peter's affections when she gives Gwen her makeover.
- Drugs Are Bad: In the first novel, there's a subplot where Norman Osborn creates an addictive soft drink called OZ. By the end of the book, Norman gets arrested and goes onto trial due to him using the students of Midtown High as an experiment for the soft drink's effects.
- Protagonist Title: As the title suggests, MJ is the main character.
- Very Special Episode: The first book deals with anorexia, drugs, and peer pressure, with references to Spider-Man thrown in.
