After months of speculation on who Zendaya could be playing in the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming film, the news finally seems to have been revealed. The Wrap reports that while the script calls her “Michelle”, Zendaya will in fact be playing Peter Parker friend and love interest Mary Jane Watson.
When the casting and original name were first announced fans speculated that Zendaya could be playing Michelle Gonzales, an adult friend of Peter’s or perhaps White Tiger. What’s interesting is that when she was first cast it was announced that Zendaya would have a “key role”, but would not play a love interest. Was that just to throw fans off the scent?
Mary Jane was previously played by Kirsten Dunst in Sami Rami’s original Spider-Man trilogy featuring Tobey Maguire and had yet to make her appearance in the Amazing Spider-Man reboot starring Andrew Garfield.
Spider-Man: Homecoming filming is currently underway, but recently Zendaya and Spider-Man himself, Tom Holland, took a break from filming to share a little video of them dancing on Instagram. Looks like this cast has some pretty great chemistry already! The video was posted by Deja Carter, a dancer and choreographer, who recently spent some time with the cast.
Spider-Man: Homecoming also stars Robert Downey Jr, Michael Keaton, Jacob Batalon, Laura Harrier, Tony Revolori, Donald Glover, and Marisa Tomei. It is being directed by Jon Watts and is set for release next summer, July 7th, 2017.
A poster for the film was also leaked online earlier this week showing Spider-Man in his classic pose.
How do you feel about this casting news? Excited to see Spidey’s famous flame? Or wishing Zendaya was playing someone new? Sound off below!