I LOVE ZENDAYA’S MJ. For so many reasons. Honestly, sitting in the theatre the other day watching Far From Home, I was just so struck by how much I related her character and how unique her character is in the mainstream movie landscape. It’s so rare that we get teenage girls represented in that way. She’s not wearing makeup; there’s nothing wrong with makeup but often big movies like this portray having loads of makeup as a default for women, so as a girl who doesn’t really like makeup it’s comforting to see, and I think super important in general. She’s awkward, properly awkward, not in a cute, palatable way, and she has obscure, specific interests like true crime, which she blurts out random facts about at awkward moments. I LOVE that. She’s a girl who isn’t in any way portrayed through a male lens, she’s herself in the way male characters have been allowed to be since forever. And with all of her awkwardness, all of her specific weirdness in her personality, her interests, this girl is the main love interest in a super hero movie and the super hero loves her for her. It’s so SO important. I don’t think I’ve seen a female character like her in a movie like this ever.
peter parker, expressing his affection as any teen would: thor i would die for you :)
thor, gripping his shoulders with the intensity of ten thousand burning suns: i would never let that happen
peter parker, later that week: i would die for you loki
loki, looking him dead in the eye: you will.
drax: [really bad joke]
peter parker: mr. drax? I would die for you
drax, with a pause spent determining that peter is probably joking and then a hearty guffaw: but my muscles and fighting power is several times your own! your death would be meaningless!
peter parker, in the middle of battle with no regard for his own safety: i would die for you
t'challa, who has lived with shuri long enough to know exactly what answer peter is looking for: then perish
