If rumours are to be believed, Zendaya is portraying Mary Jane Watson in next year’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, although in a new interview with THR, the pop star and actress has suggested that her character is not a love interest for Tom Holland’s Peter Parker.
“My character is not romantic,” said Zendaya. “My character is like very dry, awkward, intellectual, and because she’s so smart, she just feels like she doesn’t need to talk to people, like, ‘My brain is so far ahead of you that you’re just not really on my level.’ So she comes off very weird. But to me, she is very cool because she’s deep. She’s always thinking about something, always reading. I like that. And I also like that I don’t really have to do anything for hair and makeup. I just get to walk in and walk out.”
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Of course, just because she isn’t romantically involved with Peter in Homecoming doesn’t mean that love won’t be in the air in a sequel, so we can’t rule out of the possibility that she is indeed playing Mary Jane. And if so, Zendaya also had a few words for those who argued that MJ should be played by a white actress:
“Of course there’s going to be outrage over that because for some reason some people just aren’t ready. I’m like, ‘I don’t know what America you live in, but from what I see when I walk outside my streets of New York right now, I see lots of diversity and I see the real world and it’s beautiful, and that’s what should be reflected and that’s what is reflected, so you’re just going to have to get over it.’”
A young Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland), who made his sensational debut in Marvel Studios’ “Captain: Civil War,” begins to navigate his newfound identity as the web-slinging superhero in “Spider-Man: Homecoming.”
Spider-Man: Homecoming sees Tom Holland and Marisa Tomei reprising their roles from Captain America: Civil War as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Aunt May, alongside Marvel veterans Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark and Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan. New additions to the cast include Michael Keaton (Birdman), Michael Barbieri (Little Men), Zendaya (K.C. Undercover), Angourie Rice (The Nice Guys), Tony Revolori (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Logan Marshall-Green (Prometheus), Martin Starr (Silicon Valley), Donald Glover (Community), Laura Harrier (One Life to Live), Kenneth Choi (Captain America: The First Avenger), Hannibal Buress (Broad City), Isabella Amara (The Boss), Jorge Lendeborg, Jr. (Graceland), JJ Totah (Glee), Abraham Attah (Beasts of No Nation), Michael Mando (Better Call Saul), Selenis Leyva (Orange Is the New Black), Bokeem Woodbine (Riddick), Tyne Daly (Cagney & Lacey), Garcelle Beauvais (Hollywood Today Live), Tiffany Espensen (Kirby Buckets), Michael Chernus (Orange is the New Black), Jona Xiao (Halt and Catch Fire) and Martha Kelly (Baskets). The film is set for release on July 7th, 2017.
Originally published November 10, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
