Spider-Man: Far From Home Star Zendaya Has Perfect Response to Online Troll

Zendaya is bringing the spirit of Mary Jane Watson to a whole new generation in Spider-Man: Far From Home, and it looks like that includes not being phased by the occasional troll. After the actress debuted her newly-dyed red hair on the Far From Home press tour, a troll proclaimed in a now-deleted tweet that she was “not [their] MJ”. Zendaya responded back with a rather-fantastic reaction image of Rihanna, alongside the caption “Too late”.

While Zendaya’s MCU character technically goes by the name of Michelle, a twist at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming revealed that MJ is her nickname. At the time, the film’s creative team confirmed that it was nothing more than a clever Easter egg, and a potential hint at MJ and Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) budding romantic relationship.

“We never even looked at it as a big reveal necessarily but more of just a fun homage to his past adventures and his past love.” Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige explained in 2017. “She’s not Mary Jane Watson. She never was Mary Jane Watson. She was always this new high school character, Michelle, who we know there’s an “M” in Michelle and an “M” in Mary. [laughs] So we’re so clever and we thought, “Wouldn’t it be neat if her initials were MJ?” And then I think it leaked that she would be playing MJ and then it became a whole headache for Zendaya to have to navigate,” Feige revealed. “It was never a big, “Oh my God, it’s a big reveal!” There are big reveals in the movie. That’s not one of them.”

“She is not going to end as being Mary Jane Watson,” Sony exec Amy Pascal added, confirming Michelle is a character in her own right.

“She’s not Mary-Jane Watson,” Feige said before tacking on, “Is she going to date Peter? Are they going to fall in love? She seems to be intrigued with him. There’s a nice chemistry there. Who knows what will happen in the future films?”

Even then, fans have certainly praised Zendaya for honoring the essence of MJ, both on and off the screen. As the actress confirmed on social media earlier this week, her hair color change was definitely a Mary Jane homage.

What do you think of Zendaya’s nod to Mary Jane Watson? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Avengers: Endgame is in theaters now. Spider-Man: Far From Home will land in theaters on July 2nd.