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Zendaya's role in SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING has been revealed!

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SpaceWolf

Banned
I can't say I'm surprised. You could see this coming from a mile away, especially given how secrecy seemed to surround the actress's initial casting.

I generally approve. I haven't really seen Zendaya act before (if anyone has any reassuring YouTube clips showcasing the actress's acting ability, I'd be grateful) but from an outsiders perspective she does seem like a great fit for the character.

However, I do confess I feel a little unhappy about the casting purely on account of how it might prevent the character from being portrayed with her iconic red hair. I know it might seem comparatively trivial to some but I feel Mary Jane Watson's red hair is an absolutely vital component of the character's visual identity, certainly in the original comic books from which she hailed from. The hair is just so iconic. The idea that we're finally getting an official MCU version of Mary Jane Watson and that she might not even have red hair is unthinkable to me, especially considering we've never really had a faithful version of Mary Jane Watson on screen before, both visually and in terms of the character's vivacious, fun-loving personality.

Zendaya's been specifically spotted on set WITHOUT sporting any kind of red hairdo as well, which only adds to my relative sense of superficial dread.

I'm sure the actress will do great, but depicting a version of Mary Jane Watson who just has brown or black hair for this new series will definitely be a considerable disappointment for me.

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Oh, absolutely.
 

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
Okay im more interested in this movie now...only saw Zendaya ones on a Black-ish episode and she seemed pretty cool there.
 

Kinyou

Member
It's good that you mentioned that though, since the reception she's had so far for being cast as Mary Jane and the convenient scapegoat of hair color (lmao) shares the same root cause as the snarky comments she got for wearing dreads: tragic racist undertones.
Really now? Most people just want that they dye her hair. I don't see people here saying that they should replace the actress.

I mean seriously, this a forum where people care if Spiderman has mechanical web shooters, is it that crazy to believe they'd care about an iconic haircolor?
 

Henkka

Banned
I don't really understand what the point is. Change for change's sake, I guess. I'm sure her performance and acting will be great, Marvel's casting doesn't miss.
 

DeathyBoy

Banned
Which people got over in like roughly the first 2 minutes of Casino Royale or hell roughly first minute of the first trailer.

You're kidding, right?

There's still entire sites and forums full of people complaining he's not a real Bknd. And is as dumb as this entire thread is because the hair doesn't matter. At all.
 

AMUSIX

Member
I love all the people still holding out for red hair, or streaks of red, or whatever, when on-set shots of her have already been shown. They don't add red in post production....
 
Though I don't understand it myself, Zendaya is kind of beloved among a certain age group. Her casting makes a lot of sense with the direction of the film.
 
I give no shit about her origin.

But red hair or gtfo.

Also no sure skipping Gwen is a good idea. We know they did it because of the Amazing turds...
They can still have Gwen... Not every Spider-Man story starts with Gwen as the first girl (Raimi, Ultimate Spidey)
 

Cuburt

Member
I thought John Watts said she was Michelle

https://youtu.be/XDXUK7wC3P8

If they did change to race of characters as big as Flash and MJ and made the whole rest of the cast diverse, it's disappointing that the buck stops at Peter. I suppose it gives an opportunity for Miles to have that as part of hos character, if he shows up, but if feels too Hollywood safe for them to diversify the entire cast but stick to a super white guy for Peter. Guess it is what it is.
 

pbayne

Member
No problem with the casting but i hope they give MJ some cooler stuff to do this time around rather than be generic love interest/damsel in distress. Surely she must have got powers at some point in the comics right?
 

Angel_DvA

Member
WOW... They are people that are calling other people racist because they want MJ to have red hair even if they haven't talked about her skin color or switching actress because of it ?!, that's embarrassing...
 
I don't really understand what the point is. Change for change's sake, I guess. I'm sure her performance and acting will be great, Marvel's casting doesn't miss.

We've had two spider-man franchises in the last decade and a half that have been "traditional" with their casting

Like, I don't think anyone should be saying "for changes sake"
 
I thought John Watts said she was Michelle

https://youtu.be/XDXUK7wC3P8

If they did change to race of characters as big as Flash and MJ and made the whole rest of the cast diverse, it's disappointing that the buck stops at Peter. I suppose it gives an opportunity for Miles to have that as part of hos character, if he shows up, but if feels too Hollywood safe for them to diversify the entire cast but stick to a super white guy for Peter. Guess it is what it is.

Why is it disappointing that the cast is diverse, expect Peter? I know people want to see people of different ethnicities or of different colour or something else in movies, and that's ok, I have aspergers and I am happy that Flash (I mean the one from Justice League) maybe has autistic traits. However, there are people who want to see the movie characters resemble their comic book counterparts and that's totally ok, too. Also, a movie having a diverse cast doesn't mean it shouldn't have white characters.
 

JimiNutz

Banned
No idea who the actress is but just looked her up and she's smoking hot.
Looks like she could suit dark red hair and make for some seriously sexy MJ.

If she doesn't have red hair in this one then maybe they will roll out the red hair for the sequels?
 

Bearthgar

Banned
The troll nature of all of the "can't wait for the white people tears!" is concerning. It's intentionally inflammatory and adds nothing to the conversation outside of purposefully dumbing it down to a racewar.

Good for Zendaya for performing the best audition and getting cast. I hope race had nothing to do with it.
 

Cuburt

Member
Why is it disappointing that the cast is diverse, expect Peter? I know people want to see people of different ethnicities or of different colour or something else in movies, and that's ok, I have aspergers and I am happy that Flash (I mean the one from Justice League) maybe has autistic traits. However, there are people who want to see the movie characters resemble their comic book counterparts and that's totally ok, too. Also, a movie having a diverse cast doesn't mean it shouldn't have white characters.
Where did I say they shouldn't have white characters?

I'm specifically talking about the lead and Hollywood ideas of progressiveness and diversity.

And what if it didn't have any (main) white characters? Would that somehow be a problem? The opposite happens all the time.
 

Reckheim

Member
No problem with the casting but i hope they give MJ some cooler stuff to do this time around rather than be generic love interest/damsel in distress. Surely she must have got powers at some point in the comics right?

Not in the old ones I used to read, not sure about the new ones.
 
Where did I say they shouldn't have white characters?

I'm specifically talking about the lead and Hollywood ideas of progressiveness and diversity.

And what if it didn't have any (main) white characters? Would that somehow be a problem? The opposite happens all the time.

You said they made the cast diverse, but the protagonist is white. So, I guessed you wanted him to be non white, too.
A film having not a single non white character isn't a problem, like the opposite.
 
She's pretty and young and is talented, I can dig it.

I'd like her with redhair because its an easy fix and non-permanent and seems silly not to do it, but if they don't? Not a big deal.

Personally holding out for muh Black Cat anyway. Gimme Alice Eve or Alexandra Daddario.
 
I thought John Watts said she was Michelle

https://youtu.be/XDXUK7wC3P8

If they did change to race of characters as big as Flash and MJ and made the whole rest of the cast diverse, it's disappointing that the buck stops at Peter. I suppose it gives an opportunity for Miles to have that as part of hos character, if he shows up, but if feels too Hollywood safe for them to diversify the entire cast but stick to a super white guy for Peter. Guess it is what it is.

To be fair, Watts wasn't involved in casting Peter since he got the gig for directing the solo film the same time that Tom landed the role for Civil War and I seem to remember hearing that Watts was a driving force for aiming for a very racially diverse cast with the film. I'd need to double-check on that though.
 

Oddduck

Member
But I'm black. I want red hair. And your argument is bullshit.

Look there's racist people out there. Racist people will say all kinds of wild stuff that doesn't fly with me. But this reeks of Ghostbusters all over again.

You're putting the people who want red hair and the people you view as racist in the same box to fit an agenda when you shouldn't be. Sure some of the people who are saying that are trying to hide their thinly veiled racism but that doesn't mean most saying that are.

I don't see why people in this thread are associating racism with wanting red hair.

Just throw some red highlights into Zendaya's hair. They don't have to make her hair fully red.
 

m4st4

Member
You may not be racist, but if you care that much about red hair you're still crazy.

Not really. Can Gwen Stacy be a redhead? And Mary Jane blonde?

Suddenly it matters. These characters exist for decades, core visual references come to mind immediately.

Zendaya can easily start as a brunette and dye her hair for the inevitable 'face it tiger' scene (during a homecoming party?).
 
Without a doubt she'll be a redhead at some point in this MCU Spidey movie series. Way too obvious not to do.

But seeing as how her name is supposed to be a secret (for plot reasons?), it might just have to wait a bit is all.
 

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
I haven't paid much attention to the news revolving around this casting but I'm assuming there is a wonderful section of humanity who is not taking this news very well at all?
 
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