Take a hike, MJ: Spidey aims to catch new girl in his web

Looks like you'll have to get lucky somewhere else, Tiger; Mary-Jane has been given the (re)boot.

Reports have surfaced that the character of Mary-Jane Watson will not be appearing in director Marc Webb's reboot of the Spider-Man franchise. The character was previously played by Kirsten Dunst under the direction of Sam Raimi, and she did a decent enough job but was still reviled by fans for no discernible reason.

The departure of Mary-Jane leaves the door wide open for the other love of Spidey's life, Gwen Stacy (played by Bryce Dallas Howard in the Raimi flicks), to take center stage, but Webb and his characters aren't saying who the new romantic interest will be. The character is being kept under wraps, and the crew is even going so far as to remove her name from copies of the script during auditions.

At any rate, the list of actresses in contention for the role continues to grow, and includes Emma Roberts, Teresa Palmer, Lilly Collins, Ophelia Lovibond, and Imogen Poots (snicker). Mary Elizabeth Winstead, currently causing geeks everywhere to swoon in Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, was originally the front-runner for the role, but she has apparently removed herself from contention.

It remains to be seen whether or not this reboot is even necessary, or if Webb can even handle a project of this size (he's an unproven commodity when it comes to action), but at the very least it seems as though he and the studio are interested in putting talented and interesting actors in the lead roles.