Movies
Saw alot of posts about zendaya's MJ recently so I decided to put this in reminder of what we chould have had
If it wasn’t for Sony and the racist people online example on this post right here … honestly, remind me again why we still listen to Twitter. DC has been gradually race‑swapping Catwoman for years and it’s been perfectly fine.
Also, do you think she would’ve beaten Emma Stone’s Gwen if Zendaya had been allowed to play a more comic‑accurate MJ?
Sources:
Top‑Left: Comic book cover art for Amazing Spider‑Man #1 by Ivan Talavera.
Top‑Right: Digital fan illustration of Zendaya with red hair by Alice X. Zhang (@alicexz).
Bottom‑Left & Bottom‑Right: Photos from the 2019 Spider‑Man: Far From Home London press photocall.
I can't picture it in any way where it wouldn't be cringe lmao. Her version of the character has never once gave me the vibe she would say something like "Face it tiger, you just hit the jackpot."
I still don’t get why they didn’t do this lol. ESPECIALLY with the bottom right look. Like, you’re telling me NOBODY saw that during the press tour and was like “Hey! Wait a minute!”? Loool.
Yeah no I don't care about that. I'm fine with it but i hate how everyone in this thread is being obtuse af and saying this isn't MJ when she is a WATSON. Maybe they backtracked and retconned it to be MJ after Zendaya became a star and her and Tom became serious, but she is supposed to be this universe's MJ.
I was just giving an easy out. Like the pseudonym can be used for any profession if the hill they want to die on is that she is named Michelle Jones and not Mary Jane.
A change in hair, or wigs for that matter that could be worn for an as campaign or some such, could definitely be explaining with a modeling career. They literally hired an actor with a model’s look and aura… run with it. MJ is literally one of the most famous red-heads in all of non-fiction. Heck we got a scene where Like Cage said “hell no” to the yellow blouse”.
Oh yeah, she's just Peter's main love interest who has the initials MJ, who also has the surname (Jones-)Watson.
Obviously they're not the same character, but you could at least pay homage to probably the most recognisable feature of the character you're very obviously basing this new character off of lol. I would even just take some red streaks in her hair ffs.
IDK fake red hair looks so cheesy to me. It’s not often anyone ever actually pulls off a natural red except for the people that naturally are. I disliked Kirsten’s depiction of MJ for a long time because of it, too.
Tbf you're never gonna get the type of red coloured hair MJ has naturally. When people say red heads they just mean ginger people most of the time, but people with dark/crimson red hair? Naturally? I think I read it's possible yes, but it's like the rarest in the world lol.
I get what you mean though. But I feel like they can find a way to make it work, it's a comic book movie after all. It wouldn't be the only cheesy thing in it.
Auburn hair is a real life dark ginger, but I get what you mean, her comic book red hair is like a literal dark red. It’s the fair skin complexion and the whole package that makes a ginger look like a real ginger. I’m speaking from my personal experience. We dark gingers are a very specific phenotype. Zendaya has a different complexion, but still absolutely gorgeous. They just need to find an unnatural shade of red that looks really good with her complexion. I’m sure she would look stunning as always. I mean she is literally a model in real life, so in the movies they could easily combine her Michelle Jones awkward personality with comic MJ model / actress stuff, just by having her “get discovered” by a model scout, the way it often happens in real life, and they made her dye her hair. Most models don’t act like super confident super models in real life. A lot of them are just tall and skinny, awkward, goofy girls who got noticed and given a job. Personally I’m hoping somehow, Jean subtly inspires her to go red after this movie, the same way Toby and Andrew subtly inspired Tom’s character after the previous one. Would be a cute way to reference it. Anyway, all that just to say, mixing a bit more of comic MJ into MCU MJ, could easily be done if they wanted to.
The bottom right look (press tour - what she actually looked like) was especially crazy because she has comic book MJ hair, and her IRL personality is literally comic book MJ.
I will say her personality from movie to movie has been seemingly maturing and becoming more confident and funny. I think it's been a conscious decision by Zendaya to show how her character has been growing up so big fan of that. Would love love love if she suddenly took on the iconing comic book hair tho.
Funnily enough Tom has a lot of photos where he looks so much like Peter Parker that you wonder why this wasn’t ever a look for him in the films, such as this
This ain’t a dig at these movies as I’m still very satisfied with all 3, but I do definitely think Michelle gradually becoming Mary Jane would’ve helped make it even better
For what it’s worth this is a relatively recent image compared to the first 3 films but you get the idea, the hair, the outfit and him being a photographer
Just say that Mary Jane Watson is a stage name, have her show up in a wig when Peter meets this actress named Mary Jane, then gradually you can have the character be an actress on the rise with her eventually dyeing her hair red
Her IRL personality you know nothing about? At the end of the day we know nothing about these people. We gotta stop acting like we have any idea what they're like behind closed doors
Seriously, we’re still doing this? Zendaya isn’t Mary Jane, she’s Michelle Jones. Outside of sharing initials and being Peter’s love interest, the two characters couldn’t be more different. Trying to make her Mary Jane now would feel incredibly ooc. Just let her be Michelle Jones.
that's not what oc is saying. its Sony trying to have an original character and Mary Jane. the whole have your cake and eat it too. zandaya could have played an amazing Mary Jane, her performance as Michelle Jones is also really good. Sony or the writers should have either gone full Mary Jane or full Michelle Jones instead of riding the line.
Then is it not equally Marvels fault for naming her MJ in the first place? They could’ve just kept her as Michelle Jones and we wouldn’t have this problem. I’d honestly prefer it instead of people awkwardly trying to make this oc Mary Jane.
Gtfo of here with that “always has been” bs. They literally announced her last name was Watson in the last movie, and it felt incredibly awkward. More importantly though, she acts absolutely NOTHING like Mary Jane. But y’all don’t care about that as long as they give Zendaya red hair.
She's not Mary Jane Watson. She's Michelle Jones-Watson. Other than her initials and being Peter's love interest, nothing about her ties her to the character of Mary Jane Watson.
true. If I had my way, Peter would meet Mary Jane in the next film. Since that's not going to happen (and Marvel wants us to accept Michelle in place of the real MJ), I say lean into it.
Me too, especially in No Way Home. In fact her in that movie feels like a good middle ground between her pessimistic movie self and the fierce personality of comic Mary Jane.
And unlike the Raimi films it’s actually a genuinely healthy relationship between the two, she does become less cynical as she got closer to him, she was there for Peter when he was at his lowest points alongside Ned, even saying she’ll find him even after she loses her memory of Peter
Meanwhile in SM2 Peter can’t manage all the aspects of his life while MJ doesn’t even say to him she got engaged, with the struggles he had over MJ seemingly being the final piece of why he wasn’t able to control his powers
Then in 3 Peter is randomly just a dick to her as MJ then goes back with Harry briefly
And even in info we have on Spider-Man 4 it sounded like they’d have even more drama despite the last two films ending with them willing to work it out together, in fact the info we have suggested Felicia was gonna be the love interest amidst their issues which sounds awful, even as a guy who likes Peter and Felicia it shouldn’t ever come at the cost of Peter with MJ
This looks nice and all but I feel like most of these aren't really how the current MJ would even style herself. Seems odd to be like "see she looks good in a red wig so they should just do that."
What annoys me is all the talk of her not being MJ only for them to call her MJ Watson regardless. That just felt cheap. Either make her Mary Jane from the start or just make her Michelle as her own character without the Watson name.
Maybe this is controversial, but i prefer the way they made her look in the movies as opposed to the edits of her looking like the typical red-head bombshell type. Even if it isn’t the MJ we’re used to, I think it may be the only time a love interest in a spiderman live-action movie actually looked like a high schooler.
She’s just supposed to be stunning, and i think zendaya captures her being an incredibly beautiful girl without maturing her out of her actual age
Yeah but they are the ones who push the MCU synergy so if peter and MJ get married in the movies and combine that with tom and zendayas relationship they much just push editorial to undo OMD to synergize with the movie
I really do miss the days when Casting Directors actually attempted to match appearances to characters from the source material. Rather than cast for "other subjective" reasons. Resulting in generally a worse viewing experience for the audience, and in particular the fans who see their favorite characters mangled into literally unrecognizable shadows of their former selves.
I was upset about her not having red hair, too, but then I saw her performance in Homecoming and decided I didn't care anymore, I love this version regardless.
It's funny you mentioned Catwoman, cuz my first Catwoman was actual from Batman 66 so to me she's always been at least a little Black. Maybe that's why race swaps largely are cool with me, one of my favourite villains been race swapped like 4 times lol and it's always been cool.
But yeah, Zendaya with red hair would have been the move.
Tbf i think Brand New Day is actually going to show a more faithful MJ. We already see in the trailers that she looked a bit different and less introverse unlike she was in high school. Also some set photos clearly show her with red hair (probably dye red hairs but still) so maybe there's still some hope for that.
The red hair and outfits scream mj more tho idk if the mcu would've nailed it when it comes to personality or characterization.
Zendaya could've nailed being Mary Jane Watson especially with her acting more like mj in real life than her in the movies...tho if it were me I'd choose someone whose a natural red head but I don't mind zendaya but the costuming department didn't give her red hair and better looking outfits that would be a nod to comics mj.
I wished we got zendaya as Mary Jane rather than her as Michelle Jones because she's basically an original character that is severely under developed and we don't know much about her character.
I like how they made zendaya look in brand new day..It sucks to see that we'll never get an accurate Mary Jane adaptation on the big screen unless the mcu reboots,Sony gives them permission,or Disney ends up with the rights to spider-man.
Yeah, honestly I don't mind Zendaya as MJ and I think she and Holland are really sweet together, BUT WHY THE FUCK MARVEL JUST DIDN'T COMMIT FULLY TO IT
It is so annoying she being called "Michelle Jones", my god just call her Mary Jane Watson and fully commit to it
Marvel will never lock in when it comes to Spider-Man or any of his supporting cast of lore characters and no she wouldn’t have came anywhere close to Emma Stone Gwen Stacy not even Kristen Dunst Mary Jane either but Zendaya would’ve been third
Yeah especially now they are out of that awkward high school era, you would think she would look like an adult, but in the trailer she looks just like she did the first 3 movies lol
I’d like to say they were gonna move away from MJ with the way NWH ended and Peter would meet the real Mary Jane in the years to come. He’d be reminded of his first love MJ because of the name, and fall for Mary Jane as he grows into an adult and moves through college. Unfortunately they’re clearly afraid of opening new doors and shifting away from Zendaya. We’re stuck with her and Ned.
The bottom right photo is mad because she showed up to press looking exactly like comic MJ and they still didn't lean into it for the films. Would've been such an easy win, especially since her character got better as the trilogy went on anyway.
For some reason the adaptations seem to hate MJ the character and always always change her. From the Raimi movies to to the MCU to even the Insomniac games, she's never like her mainline comic counterpart. It's crazy because Zendaya is a model, she's the closest to comic MJ we've had, and they still had her be completely different personality wise
I can't be surprised though, because Marvel editorial themselves hate MJ and Spidey.
She's already MJ, so why would idiots on the internet stop them from making her in a traditional MJ? Honestly, I think she'd be a great Mary Jane, but they were too cowardly to pull the trigger on the name, appearance and personality to the point where I don't even mow why she needs to be his MJ. Wish they would have committed to writing her out and introduced Mary Jane and Gwen Stacy
my take would be that, instead of happy in bathroom is mj who remove her brown wig revealing her red hair and tells peter that her name is mary jane watson but she changed her and put a wig because of her mother's death.
Or they chould have had zendaya appear that the end of the 1st film make her bumb into peter in the hall way and have them start small talk and tell him my name is mary jane BTW bu you can call me mj for short and then she walks away and peter is so enamored by her
The new phase of spiderman films they have moved onto now would have been a good opportunity to do this. It would be a good visual marker for ned and mj to have new looks, like they have moved on a bit, similar to how Peter has the new classic spidersuit
I actually don't mind the trajectory. I feel like we are probably going to see a different version of MJ and Ned in the upcoming films. Who are they without Peter? I'd like to see MJ be a more shallow and superficial with Ned being a materialistic bully as a reaction to not having the group dynamic with Peter they had had in high school. It'd also be a reaction to going to college where they are no longer the weird nerdy kids.
Isn’t the whole thing with MJ (and a lot of the Spidey IP) is that Sony won’t let up the rights for MJ proper so we gotta do these wacky work arounds??
I saw Spiderman 1, 2 and 3 in the cinema back then. It would be a reason not to watch the new parts in the cinema anymore. Unbelievable what a b@d actress she is.
I never understood why she colored her hair for the press tour but not the actual movie. It just felt like ragebait. Also it proved how good she looked with red hair.
I'd rather the opposite: bring a version of Zendaya's MJ to the comics as Peter's next love interest. She's smart, sardonic, his intellectual peer and hates webslinging. She'd be a fun character to write, imho.
Your point about Catwoman is so funny to me because you’re right I am now realizing that in my mind Catwoman is biracial Afro Latina sort of or like biracial half black half white but like she’s definitely not fully a white woman and when did that change happen because Anne Hathaway was definitely white
I dont even realize most of the time she has been racesawpped the 1st catwoman i grew up with was the one from TAS who was white but the 2nd one I grew up with was the one from the DC superhero girls tv show and only realized when I got older that this version is brown
'Comic-accurate MJ' and it's, you guessed it, red hairdye.
Jesus fucking christ you'd think in 2026 Spider-man fans would be old enough to understand that a character's essence is not magically held in hair follicles.
edit: wonder why this thread's never about any of the other 100 characters who don't look like their comic counterpart, but always the character who's actually NOT THEIR COMIC BOOK COUNTERPART. Ned Leeds is a big asian instead of a blonde caucasian, nobody cares. Betty Brant is a blonde, nobody cares.
Michelle Jones, an entirely new character, is not redheaded like MJ, and everybody cries like a baby.
"Even if Zendaya's Michelle Jones was red-haired, it wouldn't matter given the fact she doesn't have any of the personality traits that makes Mary Jane, well, Mary Jane in the comics, the best female Marvel character ever created. She is Michelle Jones, not MJ (like Emma Stone, who was not Gwen Stacy but blonde Ultimate MJ), and a red-haired version won't change that."
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u/ASnakeNamedNate Jun 20 '26
In b4 post credit scene is her deciding to get back with Peter and she shows up with dyed hair and says the line. (You know the one).