The Four Color Media Monitor

E! Online is reporting that for the next Spider-Man movie, Gwen Stacy is going to take the place of Mary Jane (H/T: R.S. McCain):

Our Hero Won't Be Saving Mary Jane Watson (Nov. 5, 2010): After some initial confusion, it was revealed that Emma Stone would not be playing the beloved leading lady. Instead, she'd be playing Gwen Stacy. Of course, this resulted in speculation as to what role she'd be playing in the reboot. The answer: none. It's been revealed that Mary Jane is not and never was featured in writer James Vanderbilt's screenplay. Guess Gwen won't have to worry about any competition.

But the filmmakers - to say nothing of Marvel Studios - may have to worry about loss of interest in the film franchise. From at least a few of the reactions to the reboot news I've seen on a few other sites (Dixonverse, Spider-Man Crawl Space, for example), there's every reason to believe that the reboot plan may prove counterproductive, as people lose interest what they're planning. Not because they don't like Gwen, but rather, because this may be done at Mary Jane's expense, influenced by the disaster the comics have become these past several years, and Gwen was a big victim of that too. Indeed, it makes me wonder: just how much influence does Quesada and company have now on how the movies are thought out?

That aside, the reboot plans reek of such cynicism and obvious cash-greed, it wouldn't surprise me if it fails because they've signaled they're more interested in making a quick buck than in making real crowd-pleasers.

Labels: marvel comics, Spider-Man