After Zendaya made a name for herself as MJ in the Spider-Man films alongside Tom Holland and most recently conquered the big screen with Dune 2, the Marvel star will soon be seen in the cinema again. In Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers – Rivals The actress not only stands between two men, but also on the tennis court.
In doing so, she follows an unexpected tradition that has arisen around the leading actresses in Marvel’s Spider-Man universe and their subsequent choice of roles. Because there is one here crazy pattern crystallizedwhich has taken social media by storm in recent days.
From Spider-Man to tennis: Zendaya follows Kirsten Dunst and Emma Stone in Challengers
Kirsten Dunst took on the role of Mary Jane Watson, the girlfriend of Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire), in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy from 2002 to 2007. After portraying MJ on the big screen, the actress appeared in the 2004 film Wimbledon, where she played the Professional tennis player Lizzy Bradbury embodied.
In the next Spider-Man generation about The Amazing Spider-Man, in which Andrew Garfield took on the title role of the superhero, Emma Stone appeared as his love interest Gwen Stacy. After the Poor Things star portrayed Parker’s fellow student in two films, Stone starred in 2017’s Battle of the Sexes. In it she mimed Tennis professional Billie Jean Kingwho faced Bobby Riggs in a legendary match in 1973.
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Zendaya has already embodied Peter Parker’s girlfriend MJ in three films of the current Spider-Man generation and will also be in front of the camera again for part 4 at Tom Holland’s side. Before that, however, she can be seen in Challengers – Rivals, where she is now the fictional one Tennis player Tashi Donaldson who acts as a trainer for her husband Art (Mike Faist) after an injury.
Kirsten Dunst, Emma Stone and Zendaya were each seen as counterparts to Peter Parker in the three Spider-Man adaptations – and then stood in front of the camera on the tennis court. A very strange coincidence – and it gets even crazier.
From Spider-Man to War Tom Holland followed suit with Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield
The Spider-Man actors themselves also share another similarity in their choice of roles. This is what Tobey Maguire was like after his appearance as the friendly neighborhood spider in the 2009 film Brothers Trooper Sam Cahill to see him struggling with the consequences of his deployment in Afghanistan.
Andrew Garfield, however, took on the role of Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge in 2016 Army medic Desmond Doss, who refused to fight in the Second World War as a pacifist. In 2021, Tom Holland finally joined this pattern and was in the drama Cherry as a former Army medic to see who served in the Iraq War.
When does Challengers – Rivals come to the cinema?
Challengers – Rivals from director Luca Guadagnino moves on April 25, 2024 in German cinemas. In addition to Zendaya and Mike Faist (West Side Story), it also stars Josh O’Connor (The Crown).