MCU Has Officially Butchered Zendaya’s MJ With the Ugliest Move

Zendaya’s version of MJ in MCU is clever, funny, suspicious of authority, and never intimidated by Tom Holland‘s Peter Parker’s superhero life. The actress also gives her a wonderfully awkward, deadpan personality that separates her from Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane Watson in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy.

But there is a problem here. MCU rarely looks beyond those traits. Across four Holland Spider-Man movies now, she has largely been defined through Peter. Even what could have connected her to Peter’s iconic love interest in comics (her full name) is revealed fleetingly and is never explored again. It is as though Marvel is ashamed of that little detail. 

No Way Home Reduced Zendaya’s MJ Connection to a Throwaway Reveal

Spider-Man: Homecoming introduces Zendaya’s character as Michelle. Later, we learn her friends call her MJ (since her full name is Michelle Jones, though her full name in records is different). She was not literally Mary Jane Watson. But her nickname was clearly intended to make that connection. It would be too much of a coincidence otherwise.

No Way Home pushes it further. Following Mysterio’s revelation of Peter’s secret identity in Far From Home, the Department of Damage Control questions Peter, Ned, Aunt May, and MJ individually in NWH. While MJ is being interrogated, the agent directly calls her by her full name: Michelle Jones-Watson (via YouTube).

MJ immediately lets him know that she doesn’t go by Watson. This moment serves to establish that Zendaya’s character bears Mary Jane Watson’s iconic surname, but we don’t know why she doesn’t use it. The answer could have provided insight into a different aspect of Michelle’s character, but we get no explanation, not even in the second movie. In fact, in Brand New Day, the newest Spider-Man movie and one of the best Tom Holland’s Spidey movies, we find out more about Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey’s background than the MCU has told us about MJ across four films.

The surname thing is not even a bad thing per se. It’s a nice little detail. Also, Zendaya’s MJ didn’t even have to turn into the Mary Jane Watson adaptation. The problem is just good old Marvel hinting at a meaningful backstory and then treating it no more than an Easter egg.

The MCU Never Gave Zendaya’s MJ a Life Beyond Peter Parker

Zendaya as MJ in Spider-Man: Brand New Day | Credits: Columbia Pictures

Michelle has certain qualities that can be easily recognized. However, these qualities do not replace a full-fledged personality or even a character arc. She is smart, politically savvy, academically talented, and has a fascination with the macabre. She is also a bit of a nerd like Peter and Ned. Even her dream to get into MIT is presented within the framework of the same story with Peter and Ned.

With Far From Home and the moment when MJ becomes Peter’s girlfriend, all important moments of her story have been about him, from the moment she figures out who he really is to her help against Mysterio, to the multiversal crisis. Even when she forgets about him because of Doctor Strange’s spell, her story is told with respect to Peter’s.

Mary Jane from the Sam Raimi trilogy was also the love interest of Peter Parker; however, she had some aspirations and struggles beyond Peter. This also earned the ire of many, who argued her difficulties are nothing compared to Peter’s. We knew she came from an abusive family, was a waitress, had ambitions to become an actress, failed at various auditions, and ended up on Broadway. Her romantic decisions were messy, certainly. But they were a part of her life that was going on whether Peter was there or not.

But there is no similar history to Zendaya’s MJ. No Way Home’s ending comes from how well Zendaya plays the confusion and the bond she had with Peter. But even then, the movie asks people to care more about what her loss will do to him.

Zendaya has done remarkably well with the material she’s had. Her performance exudes an aura of someone complex underneath the script. The worst thing that Marvel ever did was keep that complex person hidden. Michelle Jones-Watson’s reveal should have been the start of MJ’s story. Perhaps the next Spider-Man movie can finally course-correct.

Do you think the MCU has wasted Zendaya’s MJ? Share your thoughts in the comments.