Who Will Zendaya Play In The ‘Spider-Man’ Reboot?

Get ready, Marvel fans, because I have some news that is going to make your day so much better. It was announced on Monday that Zendaya will be starring in the new Spider-Man reboot due out in the summer of 2017. And, while the Internet practically exploded from the news, I spent the rest of my day wondering one thing: Who will Zendaya play in the Spider-Man reboot? What little we know about the reboot — it takes place during Peter Parker’s high school years — is incomparable to how much less we know about Zendaya’s role in the film. To be frank: Not a single person has confirmed who the actress would be playing when the news was announced on Monday. Instead, fans were left to wonder. And by wonder, I mean scour the Spider-Man archives for some indication of which character Zendaya would play in the new movie.

There are definitely some hints floating around in Marvel-land. As much as fans may want Zendaya to star as Peter Parker’s love interest, Variety reports that their sources stress she is not a love interest, nor will she have a lead role. Sad face. Instead, Variety reports that Zendaya’s role will play a bigger part in future installments. But does that mean installments that are all her own? In which case, does that mean she’ll be playing a female superhero?

The report led me straight to the archives, because, if the new movie takes place when Peter Parker is in high school, and Peter Parker was in high school for about 30 volumes of the Marvel comic, then there are likely some hints as to who Zendaya will be playing in the reboot. Because, as any good Spiderman fan knows, Peter Parker went to high school with some pretty well-known characters. Remember Jessica Jones? She was one of his classmates.

So, I dug deep, and I kept my eye out for any female friends of Parker’s in high school who went on to become superheroes. And then I found someone: Sally Avril. Fans of the comic know that Sally was a classmate of Peter Parkers at Midtown High School. And guess what? She later went on to become Bluebird. Sure, Bluebird isn’t a technical superhero — more like a girl who dresses up like one but has no real super powers — but she does enough good to warrant a compelling spinoff, don’t you think?

A human who wants to be a superhero? That sounds about as compelling to me as someone like Jessica Jones, a superhero who wants to be human. But with nothing officially confirmed, there’s just as good of a chance that Zendaya will be playing an entirely new character as there is that she will be playing one that is already long-established. Maybe even a Marvel villain? Maybe she's playing Michele Rodriguez, a rumor that many sites, including Deadline, have fun with?

I just hope we won’t have to wait until July 7, 2017, when the film is released, to find out for sure. But, until we do know which character Zendaya will be playing, I’ll be over here, dreaming of all the fierce costume choices that woman will undoubtedly rock.