Is Zendaya taking on this legendary role in 'Spider-Man: Homecoming'?
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Molly Driscoll Staff writer
Actress Zendaya will reportedly be portraying a famous 鈥淪pider-Man鈥� character in the upcoming film 鈥淪pider-Man: Homecoming.鈥澛�
, 鈥淪hake It Up!鈥� actress Zendaya is set to take on the role of Mary Jane Watson, a part previously played by actress Kirsten Dunst in the original 鈥淪pider-Man鈥� film series with Tobey Maguire. Mary Jane is famously the love interest of Peter Parker, also known as Spider-Man.聽
鈥淗omecoming,鈥� which will be released in the summer of 2017, is the newest film take on the web-slinger. In addition to the three movies in which Mr. Maguire and Ms. Dunst starred, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone starred in the 2012 movie 鈥淭he Amazing Spider-Man鈥� and 2014鈥檚 鈥淭he Amazing Spider-Man 2,鈥� though Ms. Stone played 鈥淪pider-Man鈥� character Gwen Stacy rather than Mary Jane Watson.聽
The actor portraying Spider-Man in 鈥淪pider-Man: Homecoming,鈥� Tom Holland, was introduced to screen audiences in this year鈥檚 Marvel film 鈥淐aptain America: Civil War鈥� and was largely positively received.
The last 鈥淪pider-Man鈥� film series featuring Mary Jane Watson became very financially successful, with the first film, 2002鈥檚 鈥淪pider-Man,鈥� becoming one of the highest-grossing films of the year, and the others succeeding financially, as well.聽
In these movies, MJ is often threatened by the villain of the day; the highly-praised 鈥淪pider-Man 2,鈥� for example, ends with the villainous Doc Ock taking her captive.聽
Yet some critics praised Ms. Dunst鈥檚 portrayal of the character as going beyond a one-dimensional young woman in peril. wrote that Mary Jane is 鈥渁 comic book character who鈥檚 no cartoon, but a sharp and talented young woman.鈥�
惭别补苍飞丑颈濒别,听聽wrote that, 鈥淭he action climax, which could have ended the picture in a routine way, is followed by a satisfying emotional exchange between Peter and Mary Jane 鈥� Dunst gets more screentime than before and fleshes out the damsel-in-distress aspects of her part with a nice portrait of a young woman trying to figure out where her future lies.鈥澛�
Dunst "remains convincingly human all throughout the campy franchise as the sweet yet complex girl next door,"聽 wrote of her performance in the series.聽
If Zendaya is indeed playing Mary Jane, we'll see when "Homecoming" arrives in theaters how the new movies portray the famous character.
