For almost every Spider-Man fan under the age of 30, Mary Jane Watson has been the primary yin to Peter Parker’s yang. So it was a bold move by Sony and Marc Webb to go back to Spider-Man’s first love, Gwen Stacy, for The Amazing Spider-Man. A move that properly introduced a character whose ultimate fate might be as important to the web-slinger as Uncle Ben’s murder was.
With the Spider-Man reboot a general success, Sony wants to move quickly on a sequel. Variety is reporting that things might be getting sticky for Parker’s new/old flame with casting rumors of a new prominent female character:
It looks like Mary Jane Watson is back in Peter Parker’s life, as “The Descendants” star Shailene Woodley is in early talks to play the redheaded love interest in Sony’s “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.”… Character breakdowns have gone out to talent agencies, and Electro is rumored to be one of the villains the filmmakers are considering for the next installment of the hit comicbook franchise.
Shailene Woodley is a fine actress, and even though she probably looks a bit young to be Garfield’s Mary Jane, she is one of the better choices for the role. If you are going to skew younger, at least you get the one ABC Family actress that has award nominations and discernible talent. It is sort of like finding another Anna Kendrick among the Twilight muck.
Also note that it looks like Electro might finally be getting his time to shine in the sequel, and it looks like Peter’s best friend Harry Osbourne is also going to make an appearance in the sequel.
Check out a more spoiler heavy prognostication for what the Mary Jane rumors mean for Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy after the jump.
So what exactly does this mean for Emma Stone, who won just about everyone over in the first film? Well for those of you who are unaware, Gwen Stacy suffers one of the most tragic deaths in comic book history. Just when Peter is coming into his own as a person and a super hero he loses the first love of his life during a confrontation with his arch nemesis Green Goblin. Making matters so much more tragic is that it is Spider-Man’s own webbing that actually killed her as he tried to rescue her from a certainly fatal fall.
It is hard to imagine that Sony would break the neck of one of the most popular characters from their reboot, but that is where this story is heading. It also behooves them to do it sooner rather than later, as you don’t want to drag your feet to long with this. Otherwise the death will have less impact and the eventual romance with Mary Jane might feel half-assed.
If Sony has the balls to end the sequel with the death of Gwen Stacy it would probably outshine the death of Agent Coulson as the most soul wrenching comic book death yet committed to screen. Which would ultimately be a fantastic thing for movie goers, because as tragic as the story is, it is a fantastic path to take Spider-Man. The emotional blender he will have gone through in two films will set up trilogy capper that might make this new Spider-Man rival the Nolan Bat-Films for comic book movie trilogy supremacy.
At the moment all we have is wild speculation, we don’t even know if Green Goblin is going to make a full-fledged appearance in the film. So stay tuned to The Flickcast for any new updates on the next Spider-Man film as it moves through pre-production.
