In terms of a more contemporary version of MJ as '60s liberated woman, yeah. Zendaya's MJ is a protestor and politically engaged zillenial and aloof from others but also upstages everyone at the same time does update her originally.
We don't actually know that "MJ wasn't supposed to be the franchise's most iconic love interest".
Remember that Steve Ditko was the plotter on all issues from ASM#25 to ASM#38. Ditko was the one who wrote MJ's first Pre-Introduction where she's at Aunt May's house and Liz and Betty look at her and collectively think "Yep we're done when Peter sees her". Then in ASM#38 what he knew going in was his last issue, he took care to add in that subplot on the way out, setting her up. In other words, it's possible (but as of now, not provable) that Ditko intended MJ to be the big love interest going forward.
Stan Lee of course did that whole song and dance that he intended Gwen to be the love interest and MJ to be a tease but you don't sustain and build a "tease" for 28 issues. Mary Jane's first mention in ASM#15 (Kraven's first issue) was May saying that some day she and Peter would be married. So she was established and set-up to be someone special for a good long while. Likewise Gwen being intended to be the love interest doesn't explain how she was characterized in Ditko's issues as a spoiled Liz Allan-in-College copy (although she is grandly entertaining in a Proto-Emma Frost sense).
Given that Stan Lee is a proven liar* and unreliable narrator of the highest degree, there's no reason at all to prioritize anything he says over close-reading of the original comics.
While that's true and you are right to pushback against that exaggeration, Mary Jane being red-headed per '60s norms was intended to suggest or signify that she was a "loose woman" and so on. A lot of writers (Owsley, Larsen, and others) have said sexist stuff about MJ which fits in with that old stereotype. The fact that MJ was popular and beloved was pretty shocking and upsetting to those schooled in old stereotypes.
* Some people might object to the phrase "proven liar" as a touch too strong (might favor the Lee has a "bad memory" defense) but again when someone is documented more than 10-20 times for saying things in public that are easily disprovable and doing so consistently over decades (when he'd be young enough for "poor memory" to fly less as an excuse) I don't know how you can't call him a "proven liar". People like Stan Lee I guess, but people like Pinocchio too and he's also a "proven liar".
Last edited by Revolutionary_Jack; 08-23-2021 at 04:28 AM.
Whatever Ditko's intentions were in regards to Mary Jane are forever unknowable, but it's pretty clear that Romita made a statement when MJ was finally properly introduced not long after he took over as the artist. Ditko's Gwen was certainly written the way the female love interests were always written under Ditko.
It's not about redheads. Jason Mamoa as Aquaman (a blonde haired white guy in the comics)? Pedro Pascal as Maxwell Lord (a brown haired white guy in the comics)? Jurnee Smollett as Black Canary (usually depicted as a blonde haired white woman in the comics)? Aldis Hodge as Hawkman (a dark haired white guy in the comics)? Sasha Calle as Supergirl (a blonde haired white girl in the comics)?
A lot of these characters were introduced a very long time ago. And are not indicative of the world as it exists today.
But you didn't mention Scott Lang (a redhead in the comics) being portrayed by the white but also dark haired Paul Rudd. Or his (in the comics) usually blonde haired daughter Cassie having brown hair in the MCU (although we don't know if Cassie will still have brown hair with her recast for the next Ant-Man film).
Supergirl is playing a future kid of Superman IIRC, not Kara.
But it's definitely a pattern.Look it up online, I'm not making this up.
And if anything red was viewed as loose back in the day, we have people with colored hair more now than ever so if anything we should get more.
You gave 4 examples of different cases.I gave examples of red-heads being race-changed or loosing the red hair or both.
5 red-heads have been race changed in recent times(I would say 6 but I'm not sure about Hawkgirl), and Batgirl is race changed in the new casting as well so make it 6-7.
You don't have to agree w/ it but there is a tendency at the very least.
White or otherwise, I think red hair is an important character trait for Mary Jane.
I hate that we have never had "Face it, tiger" in a Spider-Man film. Aunt May setting her nephew up with MJ, who later reveals herself to actually be a great partner for Peter, is an elevating factor for the characters. There's a lot of subtext that is just gone without it.
She might as well have had "future girlfriend" tattooed on her forehead when she first appeared in Homecoming. So disappointing.
Okay here's a controversial opinion I've been keeping from myself for some time.
"Face it tiger" is a terrible nonsensical line of dialogue that makes no damn sense. It's an overrated bit and not at all essential to Mary Jane as a character.
Having this bizarre fixation on Stan Lee's bizarre attempt to write dialogue for a character that he admitted he lost control over, is people letting their nostalgia goggles override their senses.