Is Zendaya Playing A Familiar Character in Spider-Man: Homecoming?

By Danny F. Santos (doddleNEWS)

Before we get into possible casting news, a new poster for Spider-Man: Homecoming was captured using Instagram’s new story feature at the fashion trade show for apparel vendors called Magic Las Vegas, via TheWrap. If you’re wondering why the poster would show up at a fashion trade show, /Film points out that vendors like to know what is forthcoming from studios, like Marvel, in the future, so there aren’t surprises when it comes to pushing merchandise.

Check out the poster below, followed by a possible casting rumor as to who Zendaya is playing in the upcoming film (spoiler warning)!

Possible spoilers for Spider-Man: Homecoming below!

Casting for Spider-Man: Homecoming has been exciting not only because of some of the big names attached to the movie, with Robert Downey Jr. and Michael Keaton, but also because it’s one of the most diverse casts in any Marvel Studios franchise. Marvel has been changing the background of characters recently with Baron Mordo, and, more recently, Tony Revolori has been revealed to be Flash Thompson, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that Zendaya (Shake It Up!, K.C. Undercover) could get the same treatment.

She was originally cast as a character named Michelle, which I assumed was wasn’t her character’s actual name. I suspected that Marvel may have thought both Gwen and Mary Jane were overplayed characters, so she would be playing someone else, but TheWrap is indicating that Zendaya is actually playing Mary Jane Watson.

As casting goes, this could totally work since the whole idea is that MJ is completely out of Peter Parker’s league. While she’s famously known for her red hair, I don’t think that’s much of a deal breaker, or Zendaya could experiment with dyed hair in high school.

One thing that I should point out is that this is not confirmed, and it’s possible that Umberto Gonzales of Heroic Hollywood is wrong about the casting. It wouldn’t be the first time something like this happened, and there may be a bit of evidence that supports Zendaya not playing MJ.

Now, the tweet itself doesn’t come from an insider, but the interesting thing is that it was briefly retweeted by Laura Harrier, who is playing Peter’s love interest Liz Allen in Homecoming. It could be that Harrier is just trying to muddy up the waters a bit, or it could mean that MJ and Gwen really aren’t in the film.

Another possibility is a slight name change for Zendaya’s character, where she’s known as Michelle throughout the movie, only for Peter to learn her middle name is Jane and she asks him to call her MJ. Considering the flack Christopher Nolan got for hiding the fact that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is actually Robin, as well as Marion Cotillard as Talia al Ghul in The Dark Knight Rises, and JJ Abrams received similar criticism for hiding Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness, I really hope this isn’t the case. Those types of reveals don’t seem to work well, and MJ’s reveal adds even less to the plot than those.

I would personally rather leave both Gwen and MJ until the next film, and have them both appear as equals. Just like in the comics, we wouldn’t know who Peter would end up with in the end, or if he would even end up with either of them.

Spider-Man: Homecoming will premiere in theaters on July 7, 2017.