Just as Zendaya did with the trend of every pair of “Spider-Man” co-stars dating, the actor has fulfilled another franchise prophecy.
The “Challengers” actress is well aware of the supposed “channel” through which the female protagonists of “Spider-Man” later star in tennis films. She reacted to the trend earlier this week in “Good morning america”, where he appeared to promote “Challengers” with his co-stars Mike Faist and Josh O'Connor.
Host Robin Roberts showed Zendaya a memes with six photos, two each of her (who played Peter Parker and Spider-Man's love interest MJ), Kirsten Dunst (also MJ), and Emma Stone (who played love interest Gwen Stacy). Three of the shots showed the women in their respective “Spider-Man” roles.
The other three? They featured Dunst in the 2004 romantic comedy “Wimbledon,” Stone as Billie Jean King in 2017’s “Battle of the Sexes,” and Zendaya in her current role as tennis coach Tashi Donaldson in “Challengers.”
“This process from Spider-Man to tennis is something serious,” reads X's tweet that accompanies the meme.
The group laughed as they recognized the post.
“You, Emma Stone, Kirsten Dunst… you've all stepped into a role as tennis players now!” Roberts exclaimed. “What is this pipeline?”
“I've seen this,” the “Euphoria” star said. “This is great.”
Zendaya played her boyfriend Tom Holland's love interest, MJ, in the three most recent “Spider-Man” films, the first to be included in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She succeeded Dunst, who played Mary Jane opposite Tobey Maguire in the original 2000s trilogy, and Emma Stone, who appeared opposite Andrew Garfield in 2012's “The Amazing Spider-Man” and its 2014 sequel.
“We were joking,” Zendaya said. “I thought, maybe it's just some prophecy I need to fulfill.”
The superhero franchise is no stranger to jokes about the actors who play their roles: Holland, Garfield and Maguire all donned their Spidey suits again for the 2021 multiverse mash-up “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and recreated another one. meme while they were on set, posing for a photo, all pointing at each other.
“It's pretty funny, isn't it? “I don't know,” Zendaya added. “I guess it worked for everyone.”
“Challengers” opened in theaters on Thursday.
