Spider-Man: Homecoming - Zendaya Will Actually Play Mary Jane Watson

Hold on to your panties, angry fanboys: Mary Jane Watson has been race swapped. It's the end of the world, the coming of the Apocalypse, Jesus is outraged...

Nope. It's just a casting, and a further progressive move to proving that characters don't have to look exactly the same as they do on the page for them to be "real". Plus it's a positive strike for diversity (not to mention being a more realistic representation of a multi-cultural Queens neighbourhood).

According to The Wrap's Umberto Gonzalez, the long suspected rumour that Disney star Zendaya is actually playing MJ is indeed true. He "leaked" the "scoop" in defiance of Sony, after apparently trying to make them play ball, according to some tweets he's now deleted. Because Hollywood studios LOVE people holding them ransom for spoilers, of course.

Gonzalez says he's had the spoiler - which was supposed to be kept a surprise until the end of the film, according to a clarification from Vulture - verified by several sources. Marvel are no doubt incredibly happy with him and will be inviting him to several high profile set visits in the future...

Did this need to be spoiled? Did it even need to be a secret? It's not like it worked for Star Trek Into Darkness and Khan. But then maybe Sony and Marvel wanted to preserve the sanctity of narrative mystique. Oh well, that ship has sailed.

So, now comes the backlash. Already outraged fanboys have talked about the unfairness of whitewashing controversies when white characters being cast as different ethnicities is welcomed as a positive. It's not a conversation any of them are going to win, frankly.

More importantly at this stage is the question of whether Zendaya will actually be a good MJ. On her track record so far, the jury is probably out, but there's clearly a lot of faith in her.

What do you think?