Spider-Man: Brand New Day went through several changes before it made it to the big screen, including some tweaks from MJ star Zendaya. In a new interview, she revealed she wanted to have an "MJ pass" on the script.
"I remember reading a draft. We wanted to mature the characters, obviously, but I remember when I read it, I was like she’s too, for lack of a better term, normal," she told Entertainment Weekly. "I was like, 'Where did all her weirdness go?' We gotta do like an MJ pass of the script [to] weird it up a little bit and bring back some of those quirks."
One scene in particular was changed. When MJ is taken by Peter Parker to Frank Castle's hideout, Zendaya thought that she wasn't acting in character. "There was a version where she was, not scared of him, but a little bit more, 'Oh, this is where you live?'" she explained. "I was like, no, MJ would be like, 'This is how I would live.' She’d be into him. She'd think he was really cool. So just things like that."
The scene in question has already been the cause of some discussion as a few Marvel fans wondered why MJ didn't know who the Punisher was. He is a notorious vigilante in New York City, after all. It's caused a bit of a debate on Reddit, with some fans wondering whether MJ would be too young to know who Punisher was, as he's been out of the limelight for many years.
While this isn't explored in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, plenty of mysteries are. You can take a spoiler-filled deep dive into all of the major moments from the new movie, including who the villain is, who Sadie Sink is playing, and what the Spider-Man: Brand New Day post-credits might mean.
While you're at it, check out our Spider-Man: Brand New Day review and our breakdown of how to watch the Marvel movies in order.
