Michelle Jones

"My friends call me MJ." "I thought you didn't have any friends." "...I didn't."

- Michelle Jones and Ned Leeds

Michelle Jones, also known as MJ, is a student at Midtown School of Science and Technology who greatly enjoyed mocking all of her fellow students there, which included Peter Parker. Despite keeping her distance socially, Jones eventually was given the opportunity to take over from the departing Liz Toomes as the head of the Decathlon Team, and began to open up more with her fellow teammates, which included Ned Leeds and Parker.

Jones was a victim of the Snap in 2018, but along with all other victims, was resurrected in the Blip five years later. Her affections were sought out by Parker and Brad Davis over Midtown Tech's trip to Europe. When she realized Parker's identity as Spider-Man, Jones had helped discover Mysterio's fraudulence by exposing that he staged the Elemental crises. Shortly after their trip to Europe, Jones and Parker began dating. On their first date, Peter as Spider-Man uses his webs to swing and hold MJ. MJ is horrostruck when a news report showed an edited video of Mysterio and Spider-Man, claiming that Peter Parker was responsible for the casualties during the Battle of London.

2016-2017 Academic Year
"We should probably stop staring before it gets creepy, though." "Too late. You guys are losers." "Then why do you sit with us?" "Because I don't have any friends."

- Peter Parker, Ned Leeds and Michelle Jones

Michelle Jones is a student at Midtown School of Science and Technology. She is a classmate of Peter Parker, and is a member of the school's Academic Decathlon team. Jones called Parker and Ned Leeds losers for staring at Liz Toomes for too long. When Leeds asked why she sat at their table, she replied that she didn't have any friends, and returned to reading her book. Jones also read the  throughout the entirety of gym class, even while she was supposed to be doing curl-ups.

Liz Toomes' Party
"I can't believe that you guys are at this lame party." "But you're here too." "Am I?"

- Michelle and Ned Leeds

A member of the Academic Decathlon team, Liz Toomes, threw a party at her house. Jones attended, but when Peter Parker and Ned Leeds arrived, she called them losers for attending. When Leeds pointed out that she was attending the party as well, she just gave them a quirky look and asked, "Am I?".

Field Trip to Washington D.C.
"Whoa, what is going on?" "Damage Control. They're still cleaning up from when Captain America took down those skycraft carriers for no reason." "I'm pretty sure Cap was just trying to save us from tyranny." "Yeah. That's what they want you think."

- Ned Leeds and Michelle

Jones joined the Academic Decathlon team for the field trip to Washington, D.C. to participate in the finals. She questioned Mr. Roger Harrington on the timetable for the trip because she wanted to get in some light protesting while in the nation's capitol. She correctly answered the last question of the Decathlon, winning the competition for the team.

On the way to Washington, Parker and Leeds noticed increased activity around the damaged Triskelion structure, with Jones explaining that the Department of Damage Control was still cleaning up the mess after Captain America caused the Helicarriers to crash for seemingly no reason. While Leeds stated that he did it to save them, Jones rebuffed him and declared that that was what they wanted the public to think. Much to team's annoyance, Parker did not attend the Decathlon and Jones had to replace him. However, she managed to answer the last question and Midtown team won the Decathlon. After the Decathlon, Harrington took them to the Washington Monument. Jones refused to go up to the top, not wanting to visit a building that had been built by slaves. While she waited at the bottom, an explosion at the top trapped her teammates in the monument's elevator. When Spider-Man arrived, Jones informed him that her friends were in the elevator. Spider-Man successfully saved the trapped Decathlon team.

Unnecessary Detention
"Why are you here? You don't even have detention." "Oh, I know. I just like to sketch people in crisis."

- Wilson and Michelle Jones

Jones sat next to Peter Parker when he was issued a detention for attempting to skip class. After Parker left, Wilson asked Jones why she was there, as she did not have detention. Jones answered that she enjoyed sketching people in crisis, and showed him a drawing she'd made of him.

Back to School
"I don't know who he is. But I have my suspicions."

- Michelle Jones

Following the revelation that Liz Toomes' father was Vulture, she was forced to move to Oregon with her mother. In the wake of her leaving, Jones was made captain of the Decathlon team. She told her teammates that her friends called her "MJ." When Peter Parker received a message and had to leave, Jones looked at him with suspicion and asked what he was up to. She then laughed and told him she was just kidding and that she did not care. Shortly after that, she was interviewed by Betty Brant, an anchor on the school's news team, as to who she thought Spider-Man might truly be. Jones replied that she was not sure but that she had her suspicions.

Death and Resurrection
In 2018, when Thanos collected all of the Infinity Stones and snapped his fingers, Jones was wiped out of existence. When Hulk snapped his fingers in 2023 to bring all the Snap victims back to life, Jones was restored.

2023-2024 Academic Year
Since the Snap occurred before the 2017-2018 school year at Midtown School of Science and Technology was complete, Jones and her fellow revived classmates had to retake their junior year from 2023-2024. In that time, the world steadily returned to normalcy, and Jones improved her overall social skills and relationships with the also-restored Ned Leeds and Peter Parker. In this time, Jones also grew more suspicious that Parker was living a double life as Spider-Man, which she'd considered since the Washington Monument rescue. Still insecure about her feelings for him, she told herself that she only paid attention to him to see if this theory was correct. Unbeknownst to her, Parker also developed a crush on her over the course of the school year. Along with Parker, Leeds, and some other classmates, Jones also planned on attending a school-sponsored trip during summer break to Venice, Italy and Paris, France to visit various museums and sites of interest.

Summer 2024 Class Trip
Before the plane ride, Jones defended Peter Parker from his rival Flash Thompson by telling the airline stewardess that since Thompson had been a Snap casualty, he was sixteen, not twenty-one. Parker himself had planned to tell Jones how he felt about her during the trip, but grew envious when his attempt to sit next to her on the flight resulted in her instead seated next to Brad Davis, a Blip survivor who, according to Leeds, was the most charming student in the school. During the flight, Jones and Davis watched some in-flight movies together, while an upset Parker watched on from his seat next to one of the chaperones, Roger Harrington.

Italy
After the plane landed in Venice, Italy, Jones and her classmates explored the city together, and she posed for some pictures with some Venetian pigeons in front of Saint Mark's Basilica for Brad Davis. She also took a liking to an Italian slang word, "Boh", that could be defined as "Nothing", "I don't know", or "Leave me alone". As she chatted with Peter Parker as they explored the city, she noticed a small package he had bought and asked him what it was. She smiled appreciatively when he answered "Boh". Roger Harrington realized too late that he had forgotten to book the museum for the students to tour, and the students were permitted to do some more exploring. At the docks of the Grand Canal, Jones noticed that the waterway's crabs seemed to be hurrying out of the water. Seconds later, a giant water monster emerged from the canal. Jones rushed away and reunited with her classmates and chaperones, but noticed that Parker was no longer with the group.

Jones and her class went to spend the night at the Hotel DeMatteis, where the teenagers watched a news broadcast about the water monster's attack and the strange new superhuman who defeated it. She doubted a story Ned Leeds found online that claimed a man named Morris Bench had recently been infused with water-related powers, and translated the broadcast's description to her classmates as "l'uomo di misterio", Italian for "the man of mystery". From this, Ned Leeds and Betty Brant took to calling the new hero "Mysterio". When Flash Thompson dismissed their rescuer as an inferior hero to Spider-Man, Jones questioned him why he idolizes Spider-Man so much. Thompson admitted that he saw Spider-Man as a personal role model, while also insulting Parker, who had caught up with the group. Parker and Jones shared a quiet moment together in which he told her that he was looking forward to their arrival in Paris, specifically to see the Eiffel Tower. Jones noted that she was also looking forward to it, as the Eiffel Tower was a personal favorite landmark due to the conspiracy theory that it was built as a mind-control device.

Czech Republic
The following morning, Roger Harrington and Julius Dell abruptly announced that they had spoken with the travel company and upgraded the group tour; Paris had been canceled and the students would instead be traveling to Prague in the Czech Republic. (Unknown to the chaperones and students, the "travel representative" Harrington and Dell had spoken to worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. and had redirected the group to Prague because they wanted Spider-Man's help in defeating an Elemental projected to appear there soon.) After a quick rest stop, Brad Davis tried to show Jones a photo he had taken, but was interrupted by a series of odd interjections by an unusually worried Parker. By the time the odd episode had calmed down, the photo had vanished from Davis' phone, and the class made their way to their new hotel, where they were told that the would soon be attending a regional festival.

However, that was also subject to an abrupt change when Dell and Harrington announced that the travel agency had given the entire class free tickets to a four-hour opera, much to the class' collective frustration. In the nearly empty opera house, Parker and Jones again made small talk. After playfully teasing Parker about a perceived gendered double standard in a compliment he paid her, Jones asked Parker if he would like to sit with her. He sent a mixed message that he would like to, but would not be able to for whatever reason. She followed him out of the opera house. As she wandered the streets of Prague looking for him, she suddenly came face-to-face with the fire Elemental. She fled as Mysterio and an apparently new hero fought the creature, but in the process, she discovered an especially odd piece of debris - a small black camera covered in Spider-Man's webs.

Horrified that their kids had been at ground zero for two different monster attacks, the students' families called for the trip to be canceled. The itinerary changed once again for a flight to the United Kingdom and some limited sight-seeing before a return to the United States. As this would be their last night in Europe, Parker asked Jones out on a walk through the city. On the "date", Parker tried to confess his feelings for her, but she interrupted him, presuming he was about to reveal his secret identity to her. Parker was flummoxed, but admitted she was correct when she revealed the webbed-up camera. While she'd speculated about this for some time, the confirmation still came as a shock, and the social quagmire of the situation led her to indicate that her interest in him was purely to see if her theory was true. This devastated Parker, but before they could continue to discuss this, they accidentally activated the projector and an air Elemental emerged. Parker and Jones deduced that it was actually an elaborate hologram, and that Parker's mentor and friend Quentin Beck, otherwise known as Mysterio, had deceived him and was the true mastermind behind the Elemental Attacks.

Parker and Jones raced back to the hotel, where Parker changed into his stealth spider suit as he and Jones explained the situation to Ned Leeds. Parker was headed to Berlin, Germany to warn Nick Fury about Beck's true nature, while Jones and Leeds told the teachers, class, and Parker's aunt May that Parker would be staying with family there. Jones was uncomfortable with the elaborate lie, but stood by her friend and handed him the tell-tale piece of evidence against Beck, the hologram projector.

London, England
While Spider-Man went to Germany, Jones and the rest of the students flew to London, England the next morning, with the intent of returning to the United States after some brief sightseeing. After their arrival, Brad Davis interjected. In a bid to make himself look like a better romantic option for Jones than Parker, he again brought up the photo he had taken in the Czech Republic, in which he claimed that he had seen Parker in the bathroom with an older European woman. However, Jones and the rest of the class found it strange that Davis would take a picture of Parker in the bathroom, and doubted his story. This effectively ended Davis' pursuit of Jones for the rest of the trip.

Unfortunately, Mysterio was already in London and staged a fifth Elemental attack in which all the previous monsters fused into one and wrecked havoc on the city. Realizing this must mean Mysterio knew that Jones and Ned Leeds knew the truth, Jones and Leeds ran to lead the villain away from their classmates, where they were joined by Flash Thompson and Betty Brant. The four teenagers met Happy Hogan, who introduced himself as an ally of Spider-Man's here to protect them while Spider-Man took on the villain. After Hogan's jet was destroyed, the five hid in the Tower of London Museum. However, they were tracked by Mysterio's E.D.I.T.H. drones. The group did what they could to fight back, with Jones even grabbing a mace from one of the museum's displays and using it to bludgeon one of the machines. However, they were overwhelmed and backed into a corner, with only a museum vault door between the drones and them. Fearing that she was about to die, Jones confessed that she regretted her brutal honesty and poor social skills, and how she had isolated herself from potential friends.

Elsewhere in the city, Spider-Man had defeated Mysterio and used the E.D.I.T.H. glasses to exterminate all of the drones. Once the drones were down, Hogan handed Jones the contents of that small package Parker had in Venice - a necklace with a small glass pendant in the shape of her favorite flower, the black dahlia. With the necklace in her pocket and the mace still in hand, Jones went back into the city, where she found Parker on the Tower Bridge. She hugged him, and while he was dismayed that his gift for her was damaged, she didn't mind and said she liked it better this way. Timidly, Jones confessed to Parker that she had misled him in Prague; she genuinely was interested in him for reasons not related to his double life. At this, Jones and Parker had their first kiss.

Return to the United States
After awkwardly returning the mace to the museum and boarding the flight with her class, Michelle Jones and Peter Parker arrived home as a couple. As an early date, Parker decided to take Jones for a swing around Manhattan with his webs. However, lacking powers or any familiarity to the physics of web-slinging, what was intended to be a fun adrenaline rush became a harrowing experience. Once she was back on the ground, she plainly told her boyfriend that she never wanted to do anything like that again. However, their date took an unexpected turn when they noticed a newscast on the Madison Square Garden MegaVision, reporting on a video published by the controversial news site TheDailyBugle.com. Speechless, Jones watched in shock and horror as the Bugle's host, J. Jonah Jameson, played edited footage of the Battle of London - a dying message from the late Mysterio that claimed Spider-Man was responsible for the attacks and had murdered Mysterio. To make matters worse, Mysterio concluded the message by revealing Spider-Man's face and real name, Peter Parker.

Personality
"You look really pretty." "And therefore I have value?" "No, no, no, that's not what I–" "I'm messing with you. You look pretty, too."

- Peter Parker and Michelle Jones

Michelle Jones considers herself to a very observant person in general, noticing things others may not, and usually keeps a close eye on Peter Parker. She was aware of his academic situation, keeping tabs on which classes he'd neglected or which clubs he quit. During the Rescue at the Washington Monument, she observed Spider-Man as the hero climbed up the Washington Monument after notifying him that her friends were up there. Although she publicly deems Parker to be a loser, she chooses to sit with him and Ned Leeds at lunch, chided them for coming to Liz Toomes' party, gave herself detention just to sketch Parker, and gave Parker the middle finger during the homecoming dance. However, despite the other students occupied by the dance, she immediately noticed Parker leaving the dance after apologizing to Toomes, and later questioned Parker where he was going and what he was hiding, before brushing her earlier statements off and declaring that she did not care. As Parker left the library, however, she gave him a glance, watching him leave. Jones was also able to deduce that Parker was Spider-Man by noticing a pattern in his behavior as well as evidence she found or observed, only confirming her suspicions when he confessed.

However it comes clear that after the class' trip through Europe, Jones may have developed a crush on Parker throughout her observations of him and perhaps tried to deny it at first by being mean towards him. Her habit of documenting his schedules and drawing him in detention could just be her showing concern for his well-being and being fascinated by him. This is later confirmed in London where she admits that she like Parker and observed him not just because she thought he was Spider-Man but because of her mutual attraction to him.

Jones is generally a serious person, though she does possess a dry sense of humor, and is nearly always seen reading a book. She is a loner and claims not to have friends, though she soon comes to consider her Academic Decathlon team as friends. She has a tendency to speak out her feelings even if it offends someone, although she is aware of this habit.

Jones is also fascinated by morbid and otherwise controversial and macabre topics, with Parker saying that she like black dahlias due to being fascinated by the Black Dahlia murder, her mentioning a lot of conspiracy theories and propaganda as well as memorizing gruesome historical events and practices from Europe.

Abilities

 * Gifted Intelligence: Jones is a smart, curious and observant individual, using her great intellect to help the Academic Decathlon Team in the Decathlon finals and win the competition. She was later even chosen to replace Liz Toomes as team captain when Toomes moved to Oregon. Jones was also smart enough to notice Peter Parker repeatedly wandering off on more than one occasion, and eventually figured out that he was Spider-Man. Jones also possesses a vast amount of knowledge in history, crime and conspiracy theories, given her fascination with morbid and controversial topics. She also understands Italian, and regularly had to correct her chaperone Roger Harrington during the class trip to Venice.

Allies

 * Midtown School of Science and Technology
 * Peter Parker/Spider-Man - Classmate and Boyfriend
 * Ned Leeds - Classmate and Friend
 * Abe Brown - Former Classmate
 * Flash Thompson - Classmate
 * Betty Brant - Classmate
 * Jason Ionello - Classmate
 * Tiny McKeever - Former Classmate
 * Morita - Principal
 * Roger Harrington - Teacher
 * Wilson - Teacher
 * Julius Dell - Teacher
 * Brad Davis - Classmate
 * Josh Spinelli - Classmate
 * Zach Cooper - Classmate
 * Yasmin Monette - Classmate
 * Tyler Corbyn - Classmate
 * Zoha - Classmate
 * Sebastian - Classmate
 * Liz Toomes - Former Classmate and Former Decathlon Leader
 * Cindy Moon - Former Classmate
 * Charles Murphy - Former Classmate
 * Sally Avril - Former Classmate
 * Seymour O'Reilly - Former Classmate
 * Bruce Banner/Hulk - Resurrector
 * Dimitri Smerdyakov
 * Happy Hogan

Enemies

 * Thanos † - Killer
 * Elementals
 * Hydro-Man
 * Molten Man
 * Elemental Fusion
 * Quentin Beck's Crew
 * Quentin Beck/Mysterio - Attempted Killer
 * Guterman

Trivia

 * In the comics, the nickname "MJ" is used by Mary Jane Watson. However, both Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal had stated that Michelle Jones is not Mary Jane Watson and the MJ initials were just a fun homage to Spider-Man's s past adventures and his past love in the comics.
 * During the Spider-Man: Far From Home press tour, Zendaya dyed her hair red as a homage to the classic look of Mary Jane Watson, and shared a picture of herself with the caption "Face it, Tiger...", a reference to MJ's most famous line.
 * In one scene, Jones reads , which follows an orphaned boy who is sent to live with his aunt and has trouble fitting in at his new school. The plot of the story is somewhat similar to Peter Parker's life.

Behind the Scenes

 * Jon Watts revealed in an interview with that the primary inspirations for Michelle were Allison Reynolds  from ' and Lindsay Weir (Linda Cardellini) from '.
 * Imogen Leaver and Aja Frary were stunt doubles for Zendaya in the role of Michelle Jones.