Guardians of the Galaxy Director James Gunn took to Facebook on Friday to talk about Zendaya’s possible role in Spider-Man: Homecoming and why it’s not a big deal.
Full disclosure, if you’re trying to stay away from the Zendaya casting rumor going around until it’s officially confirmed, now would be a good time to hightail it out of here.
Yesterday, we told you about a rumor that Zendaya will be playing Mary Jane in Spider-Man: Homecoming. We knew she was starring opposite Tom Holland as Peter Parker, as a potential love interest, and that her name was Michelle.
Turns out Michelle was probably just a placeholder for the character’s real name, as several hints were dropped in the latest version of the script that points to the fact Zendaya is probably playing MJ.
Nothing has been officially confirmed yet, but James Gunn took to Twitter and Facebook to talk about why the color of the actress’ skin should have no bearing on her ability to portray the character.
First came his comment on Twitter:
If you’re complaining about the ethnicity of Mary Jane your life is too good. https://t.co/b6XDUpRQ3i
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) August 19, 2016
He later followed up on Facebook with a longer, more in depth look at the situation. Gunn specifically says this doesn’t mean he’s confirming Zendaya as Mary Jane — in fact, he specifically wrote this post before he went into a meeting with Marvel where he would undoubtedly learn the truth about the rumor.
The most important bit comes closer to the end when Gunn discusses which characteristics of Mary Jane are most important to her fans, the color of her skin and hair or her personality and aspirations? Zendaya can still be Mary Jane even though she isn’t white and doesn’t have red hair.