Between the return of familiar characters and the arrival of new ones, Destin Daniel Cretton’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is already adding onto the excitement in the Spidey verse. However, there’s a rumor going around that might upset some comic book fans.
According to reports, Eman Esfandi, known by Star Wars fans for playing Ezra Bridger in Ahsoka, might be joining the Spider-Man: Brand New Day cast. The rumor says he’ll play Paul Rabin, who happens to be MJ’s (Zendaya)new boyfriend. Longtime readers of The Amazing Spider-Man comics might rage about this, especially because he isn’t exactly a fan favorite.
The main reason some fans dislike him is because he gets in the way of Mary Jane Watson and Peter Parker getting back together. Since Tom Holland’s Spider-Man movies have already pulled story ideas from many different comic book runs, adding Paul as Peter’s romantic rival wouldn’t be too surprising.
If Paul Rabin does show up as MJ’s love interest in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it would be the first time we see Tom Holland’s Peter Parker competing for MJ’s love in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Earlier versions of Spider-Man definitely went through that.
In Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker had plenty of competition for MJ (played by Kirsten Dunst). In the first film, MJ dates Flash Thompson (Joe Manganiello), who also happens to bully Peter, and later she dates Harry Osborn (James Franco), Peter’s best friend. By the end of that movie, MJ confesses her love to Peter, but he turns her down, worried that being together would put her in danger from his enemies.
In Spider-Man 2, MJ moves on and gets engaged to astronaut John Jameson (Daniel Gillies). But right before the wedding, she decides to leave John at the altar and tell Peter she wants to be with him instead. Finally! They get together, even though things get rocky in Spider-Man 3 when the symbiote messes with Peter’s behavior. Despite the drama, they find their way back to each other.
