No franchise illustrates the son-mom-romance triangle better than Spider-Man . Peter Parker’s entire identity is bifurcated by two women: his Aunt May (the surrogate mother) and Mary Jane Watson/Gwen Stacy (the romantic interest).

The son-mom action relationship is not the enemy of romance. It is its foundation. Every romantic storyline a man enters is haunted—not by ghosts, but by habits. The way he holds a woman’s hand was first taught by the hand that held him. The way he fights for his lover mirrors the way he once fought (or failed to fight) for his mother’s smile.