The Michelle Gonzales Link Was Meant to Keep Us From Guessing Zendaya's Character

My last post looked at 3 characters on the leaked cast call sheet, and discussed why their source material characters had to be updated. Characters like Miles and Raymond Warren, Ned Leeds, and Abraham Whistler have great potential to introduce new villains and storylines for SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING sequels. But the characters had some issues that could benefit from a complete makeover. SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING is making awesome choices by avoiding token minority casting, and giving us several characters of color who will play relevant parts on screen.


However, half of the debate of this new blog is that I don't believe Zendaya is playing Mary Jane or "MJ". SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING was fearless about casting Laura Harrier as Liz Allan, and Tony Revolori as Flash Thompson. Why would Marvel be shifty about announcing that Zendaya is playing the first black Mary Jane? It doesn't make sense since Marvel isn't bothered about race, nor does it make sense since Zendaya doesn't seem to be playing an accurate Mary Jane at all.

The Michelle Gonzales debate

Lots of people were guessing that Zendaya's "Michelle" character is actually Michelle Gonzales below:


Image copied from Marvel.Wikia.com; I don't own the rights to this picture!

Although Michelle's feisty personality matches up with Zendaya's behavior in the mini-trailer at Comic-Con, I think that there are problems with using Michelle Gonzales as she was drawn in the comics:

•  Michelle was kind of a rebound relationship for Peter Parker after he broke up with Mary Jane. Their story was like Sammi and Ronnie of Jersey Shore. Michelle and Peter Parker were roommates who drifted into hooking up with each other while they were drunk. Michelle actually punched Peter in the face, and later pulled a SHOTGUN on him. Michelle also sold Peter's clothes. She locked him out of the fridge. That sort of drama can be funny in the comics, but uncomfortable to watch on screen.
• Michelle wasn't a part of any meaty storylines. She didn't turn into a villain or superhero at any point. She wasn't even a part of Peter's life for very long. Who would care if she was adapted for the movies?

Zendaya's "Michelle" doesn't look like Mary Jane Watson or Michelle Gonzales. Zendaya's "Michelle" wears frumpy clothes with messy hair. Michelle and Mary Jane have something in common: they dress in flattering clothes!


You could argue that Jacob Batalon's "Ned" doesn't look like Ned Leeds, or Tony Revolori's "Flash" doesn't look like Flash Thompson. But those characters actually had real roles to play in the comics, which I think that Marvel could show us in the sequels. Michelle Gonzales doesn't fit into any story that's worth putting on the big screen. There's no point in using Michelle and changing her characteristics, too.

The name "Michelle" is a red herring to keep us from guessing who Zendaya's character really is

Here are some of the reasons why I believe that Zendaya's character "Michelle" is another superhero who is spying on Peter Parker. My guess could be wrong when the movie opens in theaters. I think 1 thing is for certain: Marvel went out of their way to give Zendaya's character a name that wouldn't be traced easily.


Can you imagine how many women have appeared in the comics from the beginning? Spider-Man Wikia has 20 pages of female characters. I wonder who did the research and kept track of all of the names like Carlie, Ashley, Andrea, and Donna!


The name of Zendaya's character only points to an obscure character in the comics that didn't do anything significant. We've guessed about the rest of the cast, but we're still not totally sure who Zendaya's playing. That's a good thing for Marvel if they're trying to keep a big secret!


Michelle being "MJ" or Mary Jane is just speculation, like this blog. The source of the rumor, The Wrap, says that they believe Michelle is Mary Jane Watson based on clues from a recent draft of the script. Did Umberto Gonzalez get to see the final draft of the script? What if he was reading a dummy script?


I want to write about "El Mayimbe", but that will be in my next post.

Clues point to Zendaya's "Michelle" being a retconned character

Selenis Leyva is reportedly playing Ms. Warren, but she's probably not named "Ms. Miles Warren" or "Ms. Raymond Warren". It's safe to assume that her first name will be unique, if it's ever mentioned in SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING.


Marvel may have done the same thing with Zendaya's character. She may be a mix of several characters, but Marvel might have given her a new name, "Michelle". It supports the idea that Marvel is taking characters with messy backgrounds but interesting stories, then re-imagining the characters, and incorporating them into the MCU.

Spider-Woman: the messiest character of them all

Image copied from Pinterest.com; drawn by Dawn McTeigue and Sabine Rich. I don't own the rights to this picture!

Jessica Drew is the most popular, but not the only characterization of Spider-Woman. Actually, 5 different characters have been Spider-Woman in the comics: Jessica Drew, Julia Carpenter, Mattie Franklin, Charlotte Witter, and Veranke.


Not only does Spider-Woman have continuity issues, but her film rights were a big mess. I've read that Sony owns the rights to any character that has "Spider" in their name. That would include Spider-Woman, but Sony doesn't have the rights to put Jessica Drew in their movies. Marvel owns the character of Jessica Drew, but they couldn't use "Spider" characters in the MCU until the Sony and Marvel deal.


Now that Sony and Marvel are working together on SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING and its sequels, there are so many possibilities. But in the comics, Spider-Woman and Spider-Man stories were kept pretty separate from each other. Spider-Woman isn't a sidekick. Spider-Woman has slightly different powers than Spider-Man, different friendships, and her own part to play with the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. Spider-Woman and Spider-Man never dated in the comics, but they were friends in different scenarios.


If any character has a reason to be tweaked before bringing her potential to the movies, I think it's Spider-Woman. What do you think?


Sincerely,


A Comic Girl