Zendaya Joins "Spider-Man" Reboot in Leading Role

[kalorama]

Funny, but I was referring to it being 91/2 weeks until Captain America 3: Civil War where we will find out if Tom Holland is good at being Spider-man.

Yeah. I know.

[kurenai24]

Do people not realize this actress is black.

People keep naming this Michelle Gonzalez chick, Ava Ayala, Anya Corazon or other Latina characters, unless Marvel wants the backlash, they better have not cast a black actress to play a Latina character when they have many young Latina actresses to choose from. So she's either racebent or an original character.

Seems like sloppy writing by Deadline. The title of the article says "lead", but the article itself says "key role". Those are different things, no? I'm going to assume Michele is the actual character name, not some code to keep white America from freaking out (I don't think Marvel would give up the free publicity from doing that).

Three things come to mind. First, ASM has one of the best cast of characters to draw from. It's not yet time to be making up new characters or "reimagining" ones that have almost zero presence in the comic. If it is Michelle Gonzalez, the only thing that might be interesting is if this involves Vin Gonzales as part of some Goblin King story. But that would mean another Norman Osborn arc, so I doubt it.

Second, her bio does not indicate that she is latina. Non-latinos playing latinos doesn't really go over well, so again I doubt it.

Third, she is biracial -- half Disney Channel star, half Disney record label artist. I don't think much else factored into the casting. How about that corporate synergy! (maybe I'm a little cynical)

I would say that Deadline saying she's a lead as well as saying she's in a key role means they are using them synonymously, in which case sounds like a villain or a love interest, especially when they say 'playing opposite of Tom Holland', whether that means she's a racebent character or an original one is up in the air.

Also good on you for doing your research and realizing Marvel/Disney would be calling for a shitstorm if they cast a black actress to play a Latina character or if they racebent a Latina character.

As for her being cast b/c of her connection to Disney, that could be it, she is also a rising fashion icon, she models, launched a shoe line, and for those of you who hate sjw, she is loved by them, plus she's a poc, so she's definitely gonna be bringing some fans.

I can't say whether her acting is good, b/c Disney and Nick are not something you should really judge an actor by especially with their cheapened comedy kid shows, but I have faith in her.

[Divine Spark]

I'm getting Spectacular Liz Allen vibe. She was black in that.

Do people not realize this actress is black.

People keep naming this Michelle Gonzalez chick, Ava Ayala, Anya Corazon or other Latina characters, unless Marvel wants the backlash, they better have not cast a black actress to play a Latina character when they have many young Latina actresses to choose from. So she's either racebent or an original character.

Ava Ayala is an Afro-Latina.

[Tracer Bullet]

Second, her bio does not indicate that she is latina. Non-latinos playing latinos doesn't really go over well, so again I doubt it.

Lol since when? Never stopped Ben Affleck, Jennifer Esposito, Al Pacino, or others.

[rpmaluki]

She'll be Mary Jane, watch. And I have NO problem with that.

Race bending Mary Jane? Yeah, I can see that going well with fans, lol.

[PretenderNX01]

Race bending Mary Jane? Yeah, I can see that going well with fans, lol.

Technically she'd only be half race-bending since she's half white.


I can see MJ

[kurenai24]

I'm getting Spectacular Liz Allen vibe. She was black in that.

Ava Ayala is an Afro-Latina.

Really, cause all I see on wikis and "Latino" sites is that Ava is Puerto Rican, that she is just latina, but on "black" sites she's afro-latino, so I guess I'll have to find the issue that confirms this.

If Ava is Afro-Latina that certainly changes things, I wonder how people would feel if a black actress played a afro-latina character like how some afro-latinos get casted in black specific roles...

I did not know that Liz Allen was black in Spetacular Spider-Man, I still don't think that is true either, there sites which specified Liz Allen being Latina when talking the series, as well as people on other forums stating the same thing.

Lol since when? Never stopped Ben Affleck, Jennifer Esposito, Al Pacino, or others.

Marvel hasn't been shown to do that, have they? So far they've only replaced their Asian characters in the MCU with white actors b/c of the tropes/stereotypes those Asian characters embodies instead of taking the time to improve and subvert those tropes so they can cast Asian actors in those roles, and not look like their whitewashing the few Asian comic characters they have.

But Marvel hasn't yet shown they think poc are synonymous with each other, even if they are under Hollywood's umbrella.

Technically she'd only be half race-bending since she's half white.


I can see MJ

It brings to question why it's okay for biracial black actors to play black characters, but not "white" characters when most are half white, but that's a discussion for another day and thread.

I like that her hair has a red/brownish tint here, looks nice.

~~~~

Edited:

Wanted to add that Variety says she's not a lead, but she's in a key role that will be expanded on in the later frachise.

They also confirmed that she's not a love interest which kind of contradicts their report that she was testing with Holland, since you don't necessarily do 'tests' or rather 'chemistry tests' unless the actors own characters will be romantic. It makes me believe that she could be a love interest later on down the line, which makes it seem less likely she's Liz Allen since that character and Peter's have alternating crushes on each other and wouldn't necessarily need their actors to have a chemistry test, but who knows what they're going to do.

Marvel is hush hush, Zendaya hasn't retweeted any articles, the only sign that this is even true is Zendaya liking Superhero feed tweets about it. We won't be getting any answers until June or July when they start filming and maybe are actually willing to reveal some things.

I actually hope she's an original character (who doesn't die), so that her character could possibly be introduced into the comics I'm always here for more black female comic characters.

[Tracer Bullet]

Liz was brown skinned Puerto Rican in Spectacular Spider-Man.

[Divine Spark]

Really, cause all I see on wikis and "Latino" sites is that Ava is Puerto Rican, that she is just latina, but on "black" sites she's afro-latino, so I guess I'll have to find the issue that confirms this.

If Ava is Afro-Latina that certainly changes things, I wonder how people would feel if a black actress played a afro-latina character like how some afro-latinos get casted in black specific roles...

I did not know that Liz Allen was black in Spetacular Spider-Man, I still don't think that is true either, there sites which specified Liz Allen being Latina when talking the series, as well as people on other forums stating the same thing.

Puerto Ricans are the descendants of Spanish settlers and African slaves like most of the Caribbean. That is why a lot of them have brown skin, they are a mixed people.

"Latino" isn't really an ethnicity, tbh. But a rather silly label created by the US in the 70s.

[VivaChiba]

"Latino" isn't really an ethnicity, tbh. But a rather silly label created by the US.

THANK you.
Italians, Spanish, Portugese, etc. are WHITE and caucasoids; Indians/Pakistanis and Egyptians are also caucasoids, though few would label them as being "white".

The whole difference between "races" came about with physionomy, which was anthropologists trying to determine how man migrated and changed over time, with the shape of the face being the main determining factor. I don't recall all the groups now, but caucasoid, negroid, mongoloid and polynesoid are the ones I remember... you can look the rest (last one?) up if you're interested in learning.

ANYway, my theory is that Latino is something American cops came up with to quickly establish the type of supect they were looking for in a single word. Black is used intead of negroid, whereas caucasoid still represents "whites"... or, only those of fair skin. It's not too accurate but on the whole it works in getting the point across.


* * *

Back on topic:

I hope to hell that we won't have to sit through yet another origin! Just about everyone in the western world knows Peter Parker is Spider-man and that he gained his powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider (which really should have killed him instead... or at least very badly f**ked him up).

I also hope that the actress WON'T be the MJ some of you are talking about. I'm all for NEW black characters, but 100% against changing their race to suit political whims.

[Divine Spark]

They already stated that they are not doing the origin. Though I be surprised if it wasn't at least mentioned.

[Tracer Bullet]

Puerto Ricans are the descendants of Spanish settlers and African slaves like most of the Caribbean. That is why a lot of them have brown skin, they are a mixed people.

"Latino" isn't really an ethnicity, tbh. But a rather silly label created by the US in the 70.

Hispanic is the label you're thinking of(Nixon started that). Latino comes from Latin America, the region. Shortened version of latinoamericano.

PR had also had waves of European immigration, explaining why a lot of them are fair skinned as well.

[MaxMatrix]

"I'm all for black characters" is white Nerds version of "I have a black friend"...
And blaming things on "SJW" is the funniest thing ever...

Back on topic:
I hope she's a new character...