Although Spider-Man: Homecoming will feature many notable members from the eponymous hero's supporting cast, it looks like at least one familiar face may be sitting out this round. Despite a report several months ago saying that Zendaya is actually playing Mary Jane Watson rather than someone named "Michelle," the actresses recently implied that she's not playing the Marvel redhead or a love interest in the movie. While it remains to be seen if Mary Jane will pop up in Spider-Man: Homecoming at all, a new rumor is out saying that Liz Allan will actually fill the role of Peter Parker's love interest.
Following up on Zendaya's recent comments, Latino-Review is hearing that Laura Harrier's Liz Allan will instead serve as the girl Peter Parker is romantically into during Spider-Man: Homecoming. This isn't the first time we've heard such a claim, as shortly after Harrier was confirmed to be playing Liz after San Diego Comic-Con, USA Today reported casually mentioned that the teen would be Peter's crush in his first MCU solo adventure. While this information has yet to be officially confirmed, we definitely will see Peter interacting with Liz as one of his high school classmates, who also include Flash Thompson, Ned Leeds and Michelle.
Although Liz Allan doesn't rank as high as Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy on the list of Spider-Man's love interests, she did precede all of them. In Peter Parker's earlier comic book adventures, he had a thing for Liz, but she didn't give him the time of day because she was Flash Thompson's girlfriend and saw Peter as a loser because of his nerdiness. However, she eventually came around and developed feelings for him, but by that point he was already dating Betty Brant. Although Liz left the Spider-Man comic book series after she, Peter and their classmates graduated college, she returned almost a decade later, and since then she's been a recurring member in his supporting cast. Liz and Peter never officially dated in the main Marvel continuity, and eventually she married Peter's friend, Harry Osborn.
Since Spider-Man: Homecoming is following Peter Parker in high school and still early into his crimefighting career, it would make sense to take a cue from that period of his comic book history and use Liz as the main romantic interest. Rather than take the Spectacular Spider-Man animated series approach and have Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson go to high school with Peter, it looks like that for now, neither of them are a part of his life yet. Since there also isn't any indication we'll see Betty Brant, that leaves Liz Allan as the best candidate to be his crush. That said, since Tom Holland's Peter is just as much of a nerd as his comic book counterpart, don't be surprised if Liz doesn't reciprocate his feelings right away, assuming they're keeping her as one of the "popular girls."
Spider-Man: Homecoming swings into theaters on July 7, 2017.
