A former concept artist shared early sketches for the Disney+ animated series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man that included Zendaya's likeness as MJ. The designs also featured Peter's best friend Ned Leeds. The series ultimately took a different direction from these initial MCU-connected plans.
Kal Athannassov, who worked on the project before its creative pivot, posted the images on Instagram. They showed an animated version of MJ based on Zendaya's appearance from the Marvel Cinematic Universe films. The concepts aligned with the original idea of a prequel series exploring Peter Parker's freshman year before the events of Captain America: Civil War.
