Homecoming The Zendaya is possibly someone, maybe thread - Part 4

[JP]

"Michelle" was the worst part of the movie for me. Pointless, useless character that meant nothing, has no smiliarities with MJ in any way shape or form being dubbed "MJ" at the end. Just awful. Reminded me of Joseph Gordon-Levitt being called "Robin" at the end of TDKR. Ugh.

I was never a fan of the casting of Zendaya as Mary-Jane, but if she actually played Mary-Jane I would have gotten over it. Casting her as this weird frumpy, nasty Michelle character that has nothing to do with Mary-Jane and has virtually no similarities then calling her "MJ" at the end of the movie is just plain awful.

I know some people are allergic to criticizing Marvel Studios, but this is a clear fail for me. Just a bad idea. If you don't want to include Mary-Jane or Gwen Stacy because you don't want to rehash material that has been done to death, I get that. But don't do some weird half-assed fake version like this with no basis for it. Sooo much worse.

Dang. Zendaya was amazing and I thought Michelle was a highlight.

 

[Kane52630]

I concur.

 

[Smegger56]

Michelle was awful. Never liked her. Now, characters like this can go two ways, uber annoying or damn lovable. She was annoying. And that "moment" at the end... urgh!!!

IMO of course.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

Zendaya/Michelle was fantastic. She had some of the best lines in the movie and was hella charming.

IMO of course.

 

[Surfer]

Here is another article where Kevin Feige discusses Michelle is not Mary Jane Watson.

http://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/...oming-ending-kevin-feige-talks-some-surprises

I think Michelle is supposed to be Michele Gonzales from the comics. Maybe her middle name is Jennifer, or something like that. I don't think they ever gave her a middle name in the comics, so it is plausible her middle name can begin with the letter J. However, their decision to specifically use those initials seems confusing as it makes it feel like forshadowing to Mary Jane, and if not why use it. If this is supposed to be Michele Gonzales from the comics, it might be a good idea to have her reappear in them for a brief time and to somehow integrate that she has a middle name that begins with the letter J. Sure it is backpedaling but it legitimizes the character being the same. They can have Michele and Peter catching up and she gets pulled over by the police or something and on the panel it shows her Drivers License as Michele Jennifer Gonzales or something like that. Anyways, just my thoughts.

Surfer

 

[lililatigresse]

I loved Michelle as a character but I wish they just called her Mary Jane.

Same. I wish they were not scared of the fanboys.

 

[Guard82]

I thought Zendaya was fantastic, and I want to see more of her. Her scenes were some of my favorites.

 

[R_Hythlodeus]

I thought Zendaya was fantastic, and I want to see more of her. Her scenes were some of my favorites.

I agree, also, she was stunningly beautiful in that role. Even more so than ally Sheedy was, before they f***ed her up in Breakfast Club

 

[Guard82]

I agree, also, she was stunningly beautiful in that role. Even more so than ally Sheedy was, before they f***ed her up in Breakfast Club

Yeah, she did look gorgeous. Loved her combination of beauty and sarcastic attitude.

 

[terry78]

She did well, but it kinda fell by the wayside a little bit because of how droll and sarcastic everybody else in the movie kinda was. I caught that Chris McKenna, one of the writers for American Dad worked on this and I can kinda see where some of her gags may have been his.

 

[writer0327]

Dang. Zendaya was amazing and I thought Michelle was a highlight.

Man I REALLLY loved Michelle. I've known plenty of girls like her in my day. Zendaya did an amazing job. Awesome character.

 

[GuestStar2004]

She is definitely building up to being the next love interest.

the way they always had her look at peter as he walked away just screams crush.

its gonna be the unlikely love interest transformation into love interest

 

[Ozbridge]

Hey guys who is Spider-Man sub-forum's mod I want to make a request to change the thread name current thread name is ridiculous

 

[writer0327]

She is definitely building up to being the next love interest.

the way they always had her look at peter as he walked away just screams crush.

its gonna be the unlikely love interest transformation into love interest

I thought it meant she possibly figured out his secret identity.

 

[GuestStar2004]

edit

 

[The Infernal]

The detention scene made it look like she was stalking him. The only nuance I felt her character had. If she turns out to be Michelle Gonzales (or a version of her) it would be funny seeing her continually given Peter crap as an awkward way of expressing her unrequited feelings for him only for Peter to be totally oblivious to her.

 

[Mike Murdock]

She is MJ

Probably should change it to "is Michelle" since that's a non-spoiler and correct title.

 

[The Joker]

Here is another article where Kevin Feige discusses Michelle is not Mary Jane Watson.

http://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/...oming-ending-kevin-feige-talks-some-surprises

I think Michelle is supposed to be Michele Gonzales from the comics. Maybe her middle name is Jennifer, or something like that. I don't think they ever gave her a middle name in the comics, so it is plausible her middle name can begin with the letter J. However, their decision to specifically use those initials seems confusing as it makes it feel like forshadowing to Mary Jane, and if not why use it. If this is supposed to be Michele Gonzales from the comics, it might be a good idea to have her reappear in them for a brief time and to somehow integrate that she has a middle name that begins with the letter J. Sure it is backpedaling but it legitimizes the character being the same. They can have Michele and Peter catching up and she gets pulled over by the police or something and on the panel it shows her Drivers License as Michele Jennifer Gonzales or something like that. Anyways, just my thoughts.

Surfer

It's nice to have official confirmation.

 

[GuestStar2004]

The detention scene made it look like she was stalking him.

Yeah i did wonder whether she was only there because he was there.

 

[terry78]

She does like him, it's pretty obvious.

 

[The Infernal]

Yeah i did wonder whether if she was only there because he was there.

That's what I thought when the teacher said "why are you here? You don't have detention".

 

[Faith_Cassidy]

The detention scene made it look like she was stalking him. The only nuance I felt her character had. If she turns out to be Michelle Gonzales (or a version of her) it would be funny seeing her continually given Peter crap as an awkward way of expressing her unrequited feelings for him only for Peter to be totally oblivious to her.

I'm going to see the movie later today, so I'll have a better idea of what she and her dynamic with Peter are like afterwards. But I can tell you now that I have no interest in seeing an "unrequited feelings" angle, where Peter remains oblivious to her. It's ok for this movie but having this as a recurring theme throughout the sequel? No. And to be clear, I don't think that's going to happen but just the idea of a teen girl continuously "stalking" Peter Parker is insulting. He's not *that* interesting or cute.

 

[terry78]

I'm going to see the movie later today, so I'll have a better idea of what she and her dynamic with Peter are like afterwards. But I can tell you now that I have no interest in seeing an "unrequited feelings" angle, where Peter remains oblivious to her. It's ok for this movie but having this as a recurring theme throughout the sequel? No. And to be clear, I don't think that's going to happen but just the idea of a teen girl continuously "stalking" Peter Parker is insulting. He's not *that* interesting or cute.

He was always garnering attention of chicks that were out of his league in the books.

 

[DACrowe]

Dang. Zendaya was amazing and I thought Michelle was a highlight.

She really was. I do wish they just named her Mary Jane Watson, but she is great in this, no doubt.

 

[Surfer]

It's nice to have official confirmation.

Well the official confirmation came a few pages back on this thread with a link to an IGN article. However, this article from Den of Geek definitely supports it and gives some additional details. What I find most interesting about this new article is this comment below.

“Peter’s had a lot of friends over the years in the comics, and a lot of schoolmates and characters he’s interacted with. It wasn’t just Mary Jane Watson; it wasn’t just Gwen Stacy; it wasn’t just Harry Osborn. So we were very interested in the other characters, and that’s where Liz came from and that’s where the version of the character Michelle came from.”

So Kevin basically is stating Peter has a lot of Friends in the comics and not all of them are large supporting characters, some of them are smaller supporting characters. Then he says thats where Liz came from and that is where this version of Michelle came from.

Okay first off the word "version" suggests that she is an interpretation of a character that was already made. 2nd off it is precluded by his statement "that's where (they) came from", which refers to the previous statement of "In the Comics". And since he has already confirmed Michelle is not Mary Jane Watson. The question becomes then what character from the comics is she.

So, I did a little research and while definitely younger in the MCU, I can see Zendaya being Michele Gonzales from the comics. Their personalities match up pretty well and she did have an interest in Peter. Link below.

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/michele-gonzales/4005-62208/

Also, as I mentioned earlier, to my knowledge they have never given her a middle name in the comics, so they could reintroduce her in the comics, suggesting she wants to catch up with Peter and during that process something happens that makes her disclose her middle name is Jennifer or something like that. It therefore gives the MJ legitimacy in the MCU even though it is backpedaling and would have been less confusing if they did not use those initials to begin with. It does rectify it at least to some degree. At least that's how I see it.

Surfer