Is Zendaya’s Spider-Man press tour wardrobe secretly a mourning theory? Fans think so – Firstpost
Zendaya’s press tour for Spider-Man: Brand New Day has turned into its own subplot.
Promoting the film
alongside husband Tom Holland, she’s worn a run of striking looks across the world tour: a vintage lace Christian Cowan minidress in Madrid, a custom leather Louis Vuitton two-piece in Berlin, a 1990 Giorgio Armani spider-web gown in Rome. Fans clocked the pattern underneath the styling fast: every single one of those looks was black.
Where the theory started
The spiral traces back to a Madrid photocall on June 15, where Zendaya was asked how audiences should prepare for the film. Her answer: watch the previous films to stay caught up, “and then bring some tissues. We go there.” That line alone was enough to send the fandom into what one outlet called immediate panic, with thousands of comments and trending hashtags forming within hours.
The wardrobe gave the theory its shape. Fans drew a direct line to Millie Bobby Brown, who’d previously said she wore black through the Stranger Things season 5 press tour specifically because she was mourning her character’s fate, and the comparison stuck.
One user’s post read, “She’s wearing a lot of black. MJ can’t die,” while another wrote, “I’m so convinced someone is dying and I’m scared.”
The black dahlia detail
The premiere gown itself became its own investigation. Floral embellishments woven into the fabric were flagged by fans as black dahlias, a flower widely tied to mystery, sorrow, and betrayal, and the internet ran with it fast, calling it “comics nerds into a frenzy” territory. One fan posted a screenshot with the caption “someone said there are black dahlias on her dress”, and the read spread from there: “Black dahlias symbolise betrayal and darkness… Zendaya really said ‘I’ll let the flowers do the talking.’”
Not everyone accepted the darkest read, though. One counter-theory argued the dahlias were more likely a callback to a necklace Peter Parker gave MJ in Spider-Man: Far From Home, sentimental rather than sinister. Another camp connected the mood to Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man recalling Gwen Stacy’s death in No Way Home, reading Zendaya’s styling as foreshadowing the same fate for MJ.
Then Shanghai flipped the script
At the Shanghai premiere,
Zendaya broke the streak entirely in an archival Versace gown from the label’s spring 2016 couture collection, white zig-zagging fabric layered with black crystal-embellished netting. For a moment, it looked like the mourning theory had been debunked outright.
It didn’t stay that way. A viral post pointed out that white, not black, is the traditional colour of mourning in China, meaning the switch-up could still be read as consistent with the same theory, just localised to the country she was standing in. The post crossed 2.1 million views within a day. One reply admitted to Googling the claim just to check it, and came back “doubly unsettled.”
Where it stands now
The theory hasn’t converged on one villain, one victim, or even one outcome. Some fans are convinced it’s Venom being teased rather than a death at all. Others have linked the mood to Miles Morales’ eventual entrance into the franchise, reading the styling as foreshadowing tied to his arrival rather than MJ’s ending.
Marvel hasn’t confirmed or denied any of it. The film picks up after Spider-Man: No Way Home, where Doctor Strange’s spell erased the world’s memory of Peter Parker’s identity, including MJ’s, which is likely doing as much work in fuelling the emotional stakes as any dress ever could. Spider-Man: Brand New Day releases in India on July 30, with the US and UK on July 31 and July 29.