Stan Lee, creator of the Mary Jane Watson character who came to life 50 years ago in the pages of “The Amazing Spider-Man” comic book, has endorsed the surprise casting of Zendaya Coleman in the upcoming “Spider-Man: Homecoming.”
“If she is as good an actress as I hear she is, I think it’ll be absolutely wonderful,” Lee said in an interview with the Toronto Sun.
TheWrap exclusively broke the news of Zendaya’s casting earlier this month, after which many fans came out both in for and against the casting decision. Stan Lee, however, counts himself squarely among the former group.
The 93-year-old also said it’s perfectly acceptable to look beyond the ethnicities of comic-book characters when casting them for the big screen.
“In the ‘Daredevil’ movie, the Kingpin — who had been white in the comics — he was a black man playing the role, and he played it beautifully,” said Lee.
Zendaya’s role in next year’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming” was originally billed as a mystery character named Michelle, however she will be the second actress to portray the character of Mary Jane on screen after Kirsten Dunst‘s turn in the original Sam Raimi-directed Spider-Man trilogy.
Shailene Woodley was also set to play the character in the Amazing Spider-Man series, but was later cut out of the film.
“Spider-Man: Homecoming” will be released in theaters on July 7th, 2017.