Before Spider-Man, Zendaya Starred In A Long-Running Franchise's Superhero Spin-Off

The "Air Bud" saga is long, complex, and surreal. The first "Air Bud" film, which was initially going to be titled "Buddy," hit theaters in 1997 and starred Kevin Zegers as Josh, a kid who moves to a small town in Washington after the death of his father. There, he meets Buddy (himself), a trained golden retriever who recently escaped the clutches of his abusive owner (Michael Jeter). The boy bonds with the dog, and they find that Buddy can bounce a basketball off his nose and into a hoop. The movie climaxes with Buddy being permitted to join Josh's school basketball team for a game. Actor Jay Brazeau plays the referee of said game, and he had the honor of delivering one of the best lines in cinema history: "Ain't no rule says a dog can't play basketball."

"Air Bud" led to sequels where Buddy plays football ("Air Bud: Golden Receiver"), soccer ("Air Bud: World Pup"), baseball ("Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch"), and volleyball ("Air Bud Spikes Back"). Buddy, while a very good boy, didn't speak in the "Air Bud" films. These were kid-friendly fantasies, but Buddy was a real dog.

It wasn't until 2006 that the franchise became more cartoonish. That year saw the release of "Air Buddies," a feature film spin-off about Buddy's litter of puppies. The puppies speak among themselves with the voices of human children and engage in increasingly fantastical shenanigans. "Air Buddies" then spawned even more follow-ups, including "Snow Buddies" (itself a disturbing movie behind the scenes), "Space Buddies," "Santa Buddies," "Spooky Buddies," "Treasure Buddies," and, at last, the 2013 superhero flick "Super Buddies." 

What does this have to do with Zendaya? In "Super Buddies," the "Spider-Man" and "Dune" franchise veteran voiced a talking pony named Lollipop. It was her first movie.

Directed by Robert Vince, "Super Buddies" follows Buddy's puppies as they're granted superpowers by the extraterrestrial Rings of Insperon. The puppy Rosebud (G. Hannelius) gains super-speed, B-Dawg (Cooper Roth) becomes stretchy, Budderball (Jeremy Shinder) grows strong, Buddha (Tenzing Norgay Trainor) can move things with his mind, and so on. Inspired after reading some comic books about a brave super-powered dog, the puppies, in turn, decide to become costumed vigilantes.

In one scene, Rosebud goes to visit two pony friends named Strawberry (Alyson Stoner) and Lollipop (Zendaya). The three animals chatter for a minute about their outfits, notably how Rosebud's pink cape and tiara "screams girl power." "We gotta neigh it out loud and proud, girlfriend," Lollipop says, "Us girls ain't horsin' around." Yep, that's Zendaya.

As many know, Zendaya got her start on the Disney Channel sitcom "Shake It Up" in 2010, appearing opposite Bella Thorne. She also turned up in shows like "PrankStars" and "Good Luck Charlie," along with the TV film "Frenemies." After her cameo in "Super Buddies," Zendaya landed the lead role in the Disney Channel's 2014 teen sci-fi flick "Zapped."

A few years later, of course, Zendaya was cast as MJ in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Spider-Man movies (including this year's critically-acclaimed "Spider-Man: Brand New Day") and portrays Chani in Denis Villeneuve's "Dune" films . She also plays Athena in the 2026 super-hit "The Odyssey" and recently appeared in provocative dramas like "Challengers" and "The Drama." Obviously, however, none of that compares to the cultural presence of "Super Buddies," in which Zendaya makes horse puns about girl power.

(This is a joke ... or is it?)