Marvel Head Explains The Full Story Behind Zendaya's 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' Character Michelle (aka MJ)

Whether you’ve seen Spider-Man: Homecoming once, or twice, or even five times (guilty over here!), you might still be confused about the story behind Zendaya‘s character, Michelle.

You’ve heard all the other stories about Michelle, how she shares a last name with Vulture, and how she refers to herself as “MJ” in the film as well…so Marvel head Kevin Feige took time out to fully explain just who Michelle is.

One thing is for certain though — Michelle IS NOT, nor has she ever been, Mary Jane Watson.

“We never even looked at it as a big reveal necessarily but more of just a fun homage to his past adventures and his [Peter Parker's] past love,” he says. “She’s not Mary Jane Watson. She never was Mary Jane Watson.”

Michelle is just Michelle, and that’s perfect.

Kevin adds, “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?’”