"Michelle" is a Cover-Up Name ... Just Not For "Mary Jane" or "MJ"

When the name "Michelle" was leaked as the name of Zendaya's character in SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING, many people guessed that the real name of Zendaya's character was being concealed. "Michelle" doesn't occur in the Spider-verse except as Michelle Gonzalez, who played a minor role in Peter Parker's life. Most people have never heard of Peter Parker's roommate / lawyer fling, nor would they care if Michelle never appeared in the movies.


Thanks to the unconfirmed rumor started by The Wrap (piggy-backed by Vulture), people are coming up with all kinds of theories as to why Marvel would state that Zendaya is playing Michelle, when she's really supposedly playing Mary Jane.

• "Michelle" is a relative of Mary Jane
• "Michelle" doesn't like her real name Mary Jane, so she calls herself by something else
• "Michelle" is trying to conceal her double life as a famous model
• There won't be a Mary Jane. Michelle "MJ" has replaced that character in the MCU.

Vulture claims that it has its own sources who say that Zendaya's character asks Peter Parker to call her "MJ" at the end of the movie. But even Vulture cites The Wrap as the original source of the Mary Jane Watson story.


I do believe that Michelle will be a character reveal, but her secret identity isn't Mary Jane. In no particular order, here are my reasons:

The Breakfast Club Theme

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

I'll admit that when Marvel released the picture of the cast, at first I thought that the connection to the movie The Breakfast Club should be taken literally. After all, Laura Harrier is copying the pose of the hot and popular girl played by Molly Ringwald. Tom Holland is in the center, where Anthony Michael Hall sat when he played the brainy character.


But Jacob Batalon is playing Ned Leeds, who is reportedly a friend to Peter Parker, not the bully / criminal that Judd Nelson played. Tony Revolori's Flash Thompson is the character who bullies Peter Parker, but Tony is sitting in the jock / athlete's spot - a character played by Emilio Estevez.


Zendaya's character Michelle seems just like Ally Sheedy's basket case character in The Breakfast Club. Zendaya described her character as "dry" and "awkward". Her description is supported by the pictures of Zendaya on the set of SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING looking frumpy af:

Image copied from DailyMail.co.uk; I don't own the rights to this picture!

The connection between The Breakfast Club and SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING is probably the theme of both movies. The Breakfast Club was about identity: people being deeper than what's on the surface. If that theme is applied to what we know about SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING:

• Tom Holland is obviously playing the character that everybody thinks is just a geek and a loser. Nobody would ever guess that he's Spider-Man.
• Laura Harrier is playing a pretty popular girl, but she doesn't seem to be dating the hottest guy in school. Maybe she doesn't date for looks, and she takes a romantic interest in Peter Parker.
• Tony Revolori doesn't look like the Flash Thompson everybody was expecting. Maybe he bullies Peter Parker due to his character's own insecurities, which are reflected in Peter Parker.
• Zendaya is the weird girl that nobody pays attention to. She's flying under the radar.

Ally Sheedy's character in The Breakfast Club had a makeover near the end of the movie, so it's easy to guess that Zendaya's character undergoes a makeover to transform herself into Mary Jane or "MJ". But a lot of people didn't appreciate the makeover scene in The Breakfast Club, because it kind of took away the character's charm. Many viewers thought she was better and more interesting as the basket case, not Molly Ringwald's character clone. It also sent the unintended message that girls are only noticeable when they wear makeup and dress up. It's a tired trope from movies like She's All That that was spoofed in Not Another Teen Movie. The movie Clueless was clever about Brittany Murphy's makeover. Near the end of the movie, she reverted back to her true nature as a skater girl, and found happiness dating the grungy boy that liked her better before she tried to copy Cher.


Would Marvel take the risk of sending the wrong message to girls by giving Zendaya a hot girl makeover in SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING? Maybe, but I don't think so.


Ally Sheedy's makeover was a surprise at the end, and I think that a surprise will happen with Zendaya. Peter Parker may find out that Michelle isn't just the strange girl in the background at school. He may find out that Michelle has a secret superhero identity just like himself.

"What Are You Hiding, Peter?"

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

CinemaBlend gave the scoop on some of the details of SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING that were shared at Comic Con this summer. People at the convention got to see a little trailer of the movie. In one part, Zendaya's character mysteriously asks Peter Parker: "What are you hiding?" And other reports corroborate that she went on to say "Never mind, I don't really care." Also, Zendaya's character supposedly called Peter Parker a loser in another part of the trailer.


None of this sounds like anything Mary Jane Watson would say. It's too sarcastic and cruel, which is out of character for the popular girl that playfully teased Peter, but still treated him with respect. Reports say that Zendaya's character shows signs of crushing on Peter, because she's involved in a game of F***-Marry-Kill the Avengers, and she says that Spider-Man is hot. But that sounds like Michelle is infatuated with Spider-Man, not Peter Parker. That sounds like a description of almost everybody in the movie, since nobody seems to really appreciate Peter Parker in this John-Hughes-like version of Midtown High.


Why would Michelle care about what Peter Parker could be hiding? That sounds like something a spy would ask.

K.C. Undercover connection?

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

There are some interesting similarities between the girl that Zendaya plays on K.C. Undercover, and Peter Parker:

• K.C. is sort of a loner at her high school. She only has 1 really close friend. In the pilot episode, K.C. was an awkward girl who tried to get a hot guy to like her. She also had some girls at school making fun of her.
• K.C. is super smart.
• K.C. has a secret identity as a girl who saves the world.
• Nobody knows that K.C. is a famous spy, except for the people that she chooses to tell.

There are also some similarities between K.C. and Michelle in SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING:

• K.C. has a sarcastic, biting sense of humor that kind of jokes about much smarter she is than everybody else.
• K.C. lurks in the background and studies people.
• K.C. is a master of disguise. Since people are assuming that Michelle's disheveled look is a disguise for her Mary Jane reveal, I'll include disguising oneself as an argument.

I think that the role Zendaya landed in HOMECOMING was tailor-made for her, but not because she is also a model in real life. "Michelle" sounds like one of K.C.'s many spy disguises. It's right up Zendaya's alley as an actress.

Jessica Drew / Spider-Woman was a spy

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

According to her Wikia, Jessica Drew was trained to be a spy and assassin by a leader of HYDRA. Her backstory is so convoluted that it's ripe for the retelling. But if Spider-Woman becomes part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one aspect of her character that could be kept is her origin as a private investigator. That would be a perfectly good reason for Marvel to keep her identity a secret for a reveal later.

Names on the leaked call sheet

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

I think that this call sheet is legit, because it confirms that Selenis Leyva and Martin Starr are playing teachers, after Martin gave hints of his role to Conan O'Brien. This appears to be a call sheet for a school scene, because most of the names on the list are classroom characters. Some people question the legitimacy of this picture, because you don't see Iron Man, Aunt May, or the Vulture on the list. But the call sheet clearly skips numbers #2 to #7, and we don't know which actors and characters fill those slots. It also doesn't show #13, #15-19, and many more. The cast has to be much larger than critics are giving Marvel credit for.


I won't rehash that Hannibal Burress confirmed he's playing a gym teacher; you can find that here. I want to point out that it seems like certain characters are spying on Peter Parker. #14 is Schultz / The Shocker, who is reportedly one of the villains in the movie. He's out of place among a bunch of schoolteacher names and classmates. #20 is "Goon #2 (Balinger)". Wikia has a character named Ballinger who is part of Empire State University Faculty. If a criminal / goon is working undercover as a teacher, and possibly helping The Shocker, then I don't think it's farfetched to guess that "Michelle" is also at school for something deeper.

Back to Comic-Con

Watch how Tom behaves when the interviewer asks who everybody is playing. He looks as if there's a secret between himself and Zendaya. Jon Watts steps in and names all of the characters, and then Tom says that those are the real names. I don't think there was a need for any of them to lie about Mary Jane at Comic-Con, but I do think that they're hiding something important about Zendaya's character.


I hope that if you're reading, you're thinking about the possibility that Zendaya is NOT playing Mary Jane. Either way, I'd love to know your opinion.


Sincerely,


A Comic Girl