Zendaya's 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' surprise may have just been revealed
SPOILER ALERT: If you don't want to spoil a key surprise from Spider-Man: Homecoming, read no further.
LOS ANGELES -- Zendaya was cast in the Marvel/Disney/Sony reboot Spider-Man: Homecoming back in spring, and Comic-Con got to see her interacting with the new Peter Parker (Tom Holland) in a sizzle reel shown exclusively during Marvel's panel in Hall H. But who, exactly, would she be playing?
"Michelle" is the only name that had ever been floated -- not a name of any significance in the Spider-Man comics universe. But that first initial (M) was our first clue. And according to new reports, it's not the only letter associated with her name we'll hear being uttered.
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Now comes Hollywood trade website TheWrap with the news that the 19-year-old singer and Disney Channel star will be playing Mary Jane Watson -- played by Kirsten Dunst in previous Spidey films -- a detail that the studios clearly didn't want us to know before the movie's July 7, 2017 release.
(They like to surprise us because, well, we like surprises. But hey, when the Christmas presents are right there and mom and dad are out running errands, we're gonna shake them, peel back the paper, X-Acto knife the tape off ... whatever it takes.)
Now here's where it gets tricky: Will Zendaya be Mary Jane Watson -- full stop -- or some kind of spiritual descendent of the character who's been in Peter Parker's life since 1965? That seems to still be somewhat in question, and this is why:
TheWrap writes, in a somewhat equivocating citation of its sources, that "at least one recent draft of the script has Zendaya’s character dropping several clues to her identity as Mary Jane."
Meanwhile, over at Vulture, they're saying that "Michelle's real identity was a twist meant to be confirmed near the end of the film when she would finally invite Peter to call her 'M.J.'" And as any good Spidey fan knows, "M.J." is what Peter Parker calls that erstwhile red-headed girl next door.
In the end, there can be only one "M.J."
What a tangled web we weave.
Josh Dickey is Mashable's Entertainment Editor, leading Mashable's TV, music, gaming and sports reporters as well as writing movie features and reviews.Josh has been the Film Editor at Variety, Entertainment Editor at The Associated Press and Managing Editor at TheWrap.com.A finalist for the Los Angeles Press Club's Best Entertainment Feature in 2015 for "Everyone is Altered: The Secret Hollywood Procedure that Fooled Us for Years," Josh received his BA in Journalism from The University of Minnesota.In between screenings, he can be found skating longboards, shredding guitar and wandering the streets of his beloved downtown Los Angeles.
