Warning: A potentially massive spoiler is included in this article.
The mystery of Zendaya's Spider-Man: Homecoming character might not be a mystery anymore.
The Disney actress's Homecoming role has only ever been referred to as Michelle since her casting, but TheWrap is reporting that 'Michelle' is potentially a smokescreen for her actually playing Peter Parker's one true love Mary Jane Watson.
Marvel and Sony have yet to confirm or deny this latest round of rumours, but they also shied away from acknowledging Michael Keaton's casting as The Vulture for months.
If it's true that Zendaya is the new Mary Jane, it will undoubtedly be the breakthrough of her budding movie career.
The 19-year-old singer and actress became a star on the Disney Channel sitcoms Shake It Up and K.C. Undercover, and finished second on Dancing with the Stars three years back.
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Earlier in 2016, Zendaya said her casting in a superhero movie broke down major barriers: "It's very exciting - when it comes to the acting space, I am basically unknown. I've never been in a real movie before or anything like that, so I had to start from the bottom like anyone else.
"I auditioned and auditioned and auditioned and [broke] down those walls because a lot of people do have that pre-conceived notion of who I am based off previous things I've done, so you got to really break that down and go hard, put in the work, take all the meetings, take all the auditions."
(Kirsten Dunst as MJ in Spider-Man 2)
Mary Jane Watson was created by Marvel Comics visionaries Stan Lee, John Romita and Steve Ditko some 51 years ago - and was most famously played by Kirsten Dunst in the original Spider-Man trilogy.
Shailene Woodley shot scenes as Mary Jane for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, although they did not make the finished cut.
Spider-Man: Homecoming has been described as a coming-of-age high school story with the potential to spawn sequels like the Harry Potter franchise did.
As a spinoff of Captain America: Civil War, Spidey (Holland) will join forces with Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) to battle Vulture (Keaton) and the Tinkerer (Michael Chernus).
In other Spidey news this week, the first theatrical poster apparently leaked within the Marvel fan community.
Spider-Man: Homecoming swings into cinemas on July 7, 2017.
Justin is a freelance entertainment journalist and writer. He first joined Digital Spy as a freelance entertainment reporter in 2010 and also worked as a sub-editor for the brand, serving as Night News Editor from 2016 to 2024. Over more than a decade, Justin has covered numerous major entertainment events from the US and has interviewed a wide-ranging group of public figures, from comedian Steve Coogan to icons from the Star Trek universe, cast members from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reality stars from numerous Real Housewives cities and the Below Deck franchise. Justin has also been on the ground to cover major pop culture events like the Star Wars Celebration and the D23 Expo. He's written for titles across the Hearst network, plus the likes of CBR and Us Weekly.
