‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ Film Updates: New Set Photos Reveal Mystery Redhead; Sony Partners with Wanda for Future Movies

‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ is set to feature Tom Holland as the titular superhero and was possibly seen on the filming set with a mysterious redhead speculated to be Peter Parker’s love interest Mary Jane Watson. Meanwhile, Sony Pictures is in talks to partner with Chinese multinational conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group for future films.

According to i09.com, new behind-the-scenes photographs from the filming set have recently emerged online showing a mysterious red-headed female speculated to be the familiar character Mary Jane Watson, nicknamed MJ.

The photos showed an actor wearing the Spider-Man costume was seen swinging from a height with a red-headed teenager by his side. It is unclear whether the man in the costume is Tom Holland, who plays Peter Parker a.k.a. Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Back-to-back filming for Jon Watts’ ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ and Taika Waiti’s ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ are currently taking place in Atlanta and Australia.

MJ is a supporting character in the original series. She first appeared the comic book ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ published in June 1965 and was created by Stan Lee and artist John Romita, Sr. MJ had a friendly rivalry with Gwen Stacy for Peter’s affections during her introduction in the series.

Zendaya Coleman is reportedly playing the iconic redhead from the original Marvel comic books although this casting is yet to be confirmed. The 20-year old actress and singer is only known as Michelle on the IMDB cast list.

Actress Kirsten Dunst first brought MJ to life on the big screen in director Sam Raimi’s live-action adaptation ‘Spider-Man’ in 2002. The film was deemed a commercial success, earning $821 million worldwide on a production budget of $139 million. Dunst went on to reprise her role in the sequels ‘Spider-Man 2’ and ‘Spider-Man 3’, respectively.

Meanwhile, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Sony Pictures is in talks with partnering with Chinese giant Dalian Wanda Group for a future “multi-picture alliance”, which is aimed to broaden Sony’s reach among Chinese moviegoers. Insiders revealed that Sony would team up with Wanda for future films, which includes ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’.

‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ is an upcoming action-adventure and fantasy film directed by Jon Watts and written by Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, and Watts. It is scheduled to premiere in theaters on July 7, 2017.