As seen on set here and here, The Descendants‘ Shailene Woodley was set to play Mary Jane Watson in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. But hot off the news that Sony plans to make Spider-Man films through at least 2018, the year when Andrew Garfield turns 35, comes the news that Mary Jane won’t even show up until Spider-Man 3.

…talking recently with EW, she reveals you’re gonna have to wait a little while to see her performance. You see, she’s been cut out of the second movie with part now being placed in part three — which either means it wasn’t very big to start with and will be expanded down the line, or everyone is just seeing what works on the fly.

“Of course I’m bummed,” she said. ”But I’m a firm believer in everything happening for a specific reason….based on the proposed plot, I completely understand holding off on introducing (Mary Jane) until the next film.”

The proposed plot perhaps means the long standing rumor that Emma Stone‘s Gwen Stacey is going to be killed (as she was in the comics), with MJ as Peter Parker’s shoulder to cry his webby tears on. [ThePlaylist/ComingSoon]

Yeah, I’d like to cry some webby tears on MJ myself, gnome sayin’?? OH! (*looks around for high five, smokes cigarette behind the head*)

Anyway, I’m hoping Sony takes The Hobbit approach to Mary Jane, where the characters spend the entire movie talking about going to Mary Jane’s house, and all the cool stuff Mary Jane has there, and what they’re going to do when they finally get to Mary Jane’s house, and how fun it’s going to be; and then they walk halfway there and the movie ends with a close-up on her eyeball.

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Sony recently announced that in addition to The Amazing Spider-Man 2 hitting theaters in May 2014, we can expect to see The Amazing Spider-Man 3 June 10, 2016 and The Amazing Spider-Man 4 May 4, 2018, a few months shy of star Andrew Garfield’s 35th birthday (Tobey Maguire was 32 when Spider-Man 3 was released). The plans sound a bit optimistic on Sony’s part, but then again, if that last boring retread couldn’t kill the franchise, I don’t know what will. I imagine the fourth (seventh) Spider-Man movie will involve a lot of long takes culminating in Scarfield breaking the fourth wall, asking the viewer “Dude, are we still doing this? Is this really what you want? …I just… I just wanna go home.”

CULVER CITY, Calif., June 17, 2013 – With Sony Pictures Entertainment now in production in New York on The Amazing Spider-Man™ 2, slated for release on May 2, 2014, the studio is planting its flag on two future release dates for one of the most successful franchises in studio history, it was announced today by Jeff Blake, Chairman, Worldwide Marketing and Distribution for Sony Pictures. The next two films in the story of Peter Parker will be released on June 10, 2016, and on May 4, 2018, respectively.

Commenting on the announcement, Blake said, “Spider-Man is our most important, most successful, and most beloved franchise, so we’re thrilled that we are in a position to lock in these prime release dates over the next five years.”

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay by Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci & Jeff Pinkner, with a previous draft by James Vanderbilt. [press release via SlashFilm]

Jeff Blake went on to add, “Since 2018 will inevitably be many years after I’m fired, let me just say in advance, ‘F*ck you, f*ck you, you’re cool, f*ck you, PEACE! I’m out! Thanks for the free stationary, hosers.’”

It’s hard not to read this press release with an air of melancholy. I can’t imagine anyone likes to think of themselves five years from now, trying to reimagine a franchise that felt stale five years ago. But Sony makes so much money on these movies and God knows how much more on merchandizing, they have no choice but to do everything they can to give their investors confidence in the relative permanence of that revenue stream. Chevy makes cars, Sony makes Spider-Man. It’s just like Tyler Durden said, bro, “The toys you make end up toying you.”

Here’s Paul Giamatti on the set of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, in which he plays The Rhino. I assume he’s doing some sort of motion capture work here, though he seems a little overdressed for it (MORE SPANDEX ONESIES!). We all know Paul Mr.-Academy-Award-Nominee-for-Cinderella-Man Giamatti is widely regarded as one of the best actors in town, but does he have the thespian chops to compete with Sir Andy Serkis when it comes to wordlessly evoking the inner humanity of a fantastical creature? I guess we’ll see. |TheSuperficial|

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Here’s the first official picture of Dane DeHaahn, taking over the Harry Osborn role in Spider-Man B/2 (aka The Amazing Spider-Man 2), which is out May 2nd, 2014, and stars Jamie Foxx as Electro with Marc Webb making an ill-advised return to the director’s chair.

DeHaan plays Harry Osborn, the character played by James Franco in Sam Raimi‘s Spider-Man trilogy that soon took up after his father and went all Green Goblin on the city. There is no word, only rumors, as to whether or not Osborn will don the Goblin suit in this latest installment, but my assumption is he won’t.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will be released in theaters on May 2, 2014 and finds Andrew Garfield returning as Peter Parker, whose life is busy – between taking out the bad guys as Spider-Man and spending time with the person he loves, Gwen (Emma Stone), high school graduation can’t come quickly enough. Peter hasn’t forgotten about the promise he made to Gwen’s father to protect her by staying away – but that’s a promise he just can’t keep. Things will change for Peter when a new villain, Electro (Jamie Foxx), emerges, an old friend, Harry Osborn (DeHaan), returns, and Peter uncovers new clues about his past. [RopeofSilicon]

I don’t have enough juice left in my inhaler to speculate as to what kind of Harry Osborn Dehaahn will play, but it’s interesting that ever since his memorable turn in Chronicle, he’s been Hollywood’s go-to guy whenever they need a kid to be broody and complex. They even smoothed out his hair, so unlike Chronicle or Place Beyond the Pines, we’ll finally get to see if he’s got the acting chops, or if it was just his unkempt scalp doing all the work all this time. He’s like a little porcelain hobo doll. He still has a ways to go yet in terms of disheveled charm, but he’s young. As of now, on a scale of one to Sam Rockwell, I’d rate him a half Ruffalo.

It’s really hard to keep track of the developments involving The Amazing Spider-Man 2, because it basically seems like all director Marc Webb learned from the critical failure of Spider-Man 3 was to start cramming the films with characters and villains before you finish the trilogy. So we know that Shailene Woodley has joined the film as Mary Jane Watson, Paul Giamatti is playing Rhino, Chris Cooper is Norman Osborn, Dane DeHaan is Harry Osborn and Jamie Foxx is Electro. Also, Venom may or may not be introduced.

But Giamatti and Foxx are the real eyebrow raisers, not because they’re not great actors, but mainly because the characters they’re playing have rather unusual appearances that may not translate very well on the big screen. Like Electro, who has a giant yellow starfish on his face. Well, scratch that concern off the list, because thanks to Vulture (the site, not the other awful Spider-Man villain that should not be played by Ben Kingsley in The Amazing Spider-Man 3) we now know what Electro looks like.

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