El Mayimbe Claims that Zendaya Plays Mary Jane Watson. He's Wrong. Here's Proof

Image copied from iFunny.co; I don't own the rights to this meme!

Umberto Gonzalez, also known as @ElMayimbe on Twitter, is a reporter for The Wrap who shares spoilers about upcoming Marvel and DC movies. Not all of the spoilers turn out to be true, but I don't think that he always deserves the blame. There are constant last-minute changes behind the scenes, and sometimes even the sources lie to protect big secrets. See STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS.


Umberto started the rumor that Zendaya is playing Mary Jane Watson, and it spread like wildfire because it's so exciting. Publications aren't questioning the credibility of the rumor, but it needs a deeper look.

The Wrap's strangely written "exclusive" article

A quote from The Wrap says (emphasis mine):

Zendaya will be playing long-time Spider-Man love interest Mary Jane Watson in next summer’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” two individuals with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.

What does "two individuals with knowledge of the project" mean? The right way to credit sources is to call them sources. "Two individuals with knowledge of the project" could be the caterers working at the set of SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING in Atlanta. They could even be employees of The Wrap.


Basically, "two individuals" could be anybody.


Another quote from the article reads (emphasis mine again):

At least one recent draft of the script has Zendaya’s character dropping several clues to her identity as Mary Jane, one of the most familiar love interests in the Marvel superhero’s universe — and played by Kirsten Dunst in Sam Raimi‘s 2002-07 movie trilogy starring Tobey Maguire as the webslinger.

In my previous post, I asked if Umberto has seen the script that is being used to shoot SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING. "At least one recent draft of the script" says no.


Umberto has no clue what's in the final draft of the script.


It makes sense that SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING went through some script changes. The cast wasn't complete when shooting started in June. Marvel is trying to keep some characters a secret, like Donald Glover's role, and here's 1 way to do that: write fake scripts to prevent themselves from being spoiled.


Did somebody let El Mayimbe's "two individuals" take a look at a dummy script?


The clues are in the phrase: "At least one recent draft". Recent draft would mean that some things were in an older script, but they aren't going to be in the movie. At least one would mean that Zendaya's character wasn't Mary Jane in all of the draft scripts!


Even saying that Zendaya's character was going to be Mary Jane at one point, is an assumption. The Wrap stated that Zendaya's character was "dropping several clues". That's not a confirmation.


Why didn't they just read to the end of the script and make sure that it's Mary Jane?

Did Vulture get fooled by a fake script thanks to El Mayimbe?

Vulture.com published the quote below:

As per the Wrap, Zendaya is actually playing Mary Jane Watson, Peter Parker's best-known love interest and one brought to the big screen by Kirsten Dunst in the first three Spider-Man films. According to Vulture's own sources, Michelle's real identity was a twist meant to be confirmed near the end of the film when she would finally invite Peter to call her "M.J.,"

It's a little interesting that Vulture found some sources after The Wrap broke the story. Too bad that Vulture didn't break the story first.


But I don't think that Vulture is being dishonest at all. Unfortunately, it seems like Vulture was possibly tricked by the same "two individuals" in El Mayimbe's exclusive.


Vulture's article says that its sources told them that Zendaya's character says "Call me M.J.". That fits into El Mayimbe's story of a draft script "dropping several clues". "M.J." is only a clue, because it's just 2 initials. Sure, the obvious guess is "Mary Jane", but assumptions must be fueling the news.


Zendaya's character is "M" for Michelle. What if Zendaya's character was telling a sarcastic Michael Jackson joke, after she surprises everybody at the homecoming dance with her moves? Zendaya is a fan of Michael Jackson, and a trained hip hop dancer:

I'm just saying.


Even if Zendaya was written as Mary Jane in the draft, it doesn't prove that SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING is filming with that version of the script. Since only "at least one" of the scripts made Zendaya seem like Mary Jane, it's possible that one script which doesn't sound like the others is a fake.


At least Vulture tried to get script details from their sources, since they value their integrity as a news publication. El Mayimbe heard that at least one script had several clues, but he published that as an exclusive. Jumping the gun may be why some of his "scoops" end up being completely untrue.

Star Lord's father in "Guardians of the Galaxy 2"

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

In a situation eerily similar to this Mary Jane Watson rumor, El Mayimbe claimed that several sources told him who Star Lord's father would be revealed to be in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2". Here's a quote from his article:

For a story of this magnitude, I took my time and gathered as many sources as I possibly could on this one. I got a total of four. They were tasked with one objective: get me a name. Nothing else. No specifics, no details, just a name. What are the chances that four individuals who don’t know each other getting such a crucial piece of information wrong? The chances are highly unlikely.

Pause ... Umberto wrote that he went to the trouble of finding 4 sources, only to ask for the name of a character. He specifically said that he didn't want details.


Details are a way to corroborate a story and fact-check sources. What reporter goes out of their way to ignore the facts?


Compare this story to the exclusive about Zendaya being Mary Jane. The Wrap article says that El Mayimbe didn't check the facts there, either. His "two individuals" pulled some clues from at least one draft script out of possibly several.


In both cases, El Mayimbe heard some information from a 3rd party, but he didn't ask for facts. Here's another quote from the Star Lord scoop article:

I was warned that this would be heavily denied so if Marvel comes out swinging don’t buy it. It’s expected. After all, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 is still two years out. Again, what are the chances of four different sources being wrong.

GOTG2 wasn't going to come out for another 2 years after El Mayimbe posted this scoop. SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING isn't due until next summer, almost a year from now. In both cases, what made his sources confident that they had the right names?


And how would he know which information made his sources sure that they were right, since El Mayimbe doesn't think it's important to examine the details?


This last quote doesn't make any sense to me, but here it is:

Again, what are the chances of four different sources being wrong. Also, the following character plays a pivotal role in the origin of another Marvel signature character getting a solo film.

El Mayimbe said earlier that he told his sources to bring him nothing but a name, no details or specifics. Where did he get any of the information about "a pivotal role" and a "Marvel signature character" getting his or her own film??


Director James Gunn actually made a statement to deny El Mayimbe's scoop, after the rumor spread just like it's happening now with Mary Jane. Here's part of his statement:

All right. From this moment on I’m going to stop commenting on any rumors surrounding Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, because, eventually, someone is going to come up with a spoiler that has some truth to it. That said, the rumors surrounding Quill’s parentage at the present moment are completely false, and aren’t even close to the truth. I don’t know how people come up with this stuff, but it certainly isn’t through legitimate sources.

... this will be my last comment squelching a rumor until May 2017. But if you do pick up on some plot detail between now and then, be aware, A) They are likely full of shit, as has been everyone so far who has claimed to have had inside info, and B) We’re creating a film that doesn’t rely on plot twists to be an enjoyable experience. They’re only a very small part of what we’re cooking up for you. 

Were shots fired at El Mayimbe in this statement?


The story has a pretty embarrassing ending, summarized at Gamezone.com. Via Twitter, El Mayimbe tried to force James Gunn to admit that the Star Lord scoop was true. James Gunn kept denying it, but he was accused of lying. Finally, El Mayimbe apologized to Marvel, and tweeted that his spoiler was wrong.

Maybe if he had asked for details ...

Marvel knows better than to give El Mayimbe REAL information

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

El Mayimbe doesn't care about ruining the movie experience for us. If Zendaya really was supposed to be a Mary Jane reveal at the end of SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING, then we can all thank El Mayimbe for taking away the surprise.


Why would Marvel trust him with spoilers? He didn't show any respect for Marvel when he harrassed James Gunn on Twitter, after James Gunn had already given a statement saying that he wasn't going to talk about it anymore.


Deadline, Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter aren't saying anything about the Mary Jane rumor. They get reliable information, and were the first ones to say that Zendaya would be in the movie, playing Michelle.


I think that Sony and Marvel are probably laughing their heads off at this Mary Jane rumor. El Mayimbe's "individuals with knowledge" possibly fell for a fake script. The free publicity from this rumor is hyping everybody up to see SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING. And secret details about the movie are staying unrevealed!

What happens to El Mayimbe if the rumor is proven false?

I think he'll try to go on with business as usual. Sometimes spoilers really don't pan out because of changes behind the scenes.


I think that some people will be very angry and disappointed, though. Some of Zendaya's fans are only planning to see the movie because they heard that she's playing Mary Jane. Some comic book fans have already decided that they won't see the movie, because the frumpy look of "Mary Jane" in pictures taken from the set are not promising the right character.


Some people who don't regularly report comic news, published news articles based on El Mayimbe's scoop because of Zendaya's popularity. Zendaya has more than 20 million Instagram followers, and almost 7 million Twitter followers.


He may not care, but I could see this possibly being the biggest blow to El Mayimbe's credibility yet.


Next, I wanted to write about Stan Lee endorsing Zendaya as Mary Jane. What do you think? Should El Mayimbe be believed about the Mary Jane scoop?


Sincerely,


A Comic Girl