When it was revealed yesterday that Canadian actress Sarah Gadon had joined the cast of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, there was immediate speculation that she was going to be taking over the role of Mary Jane Watson. And, really, it was fairly logical conclusion to make. Earlier this week we learned that there was going to be a major shakeup between The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and The Amazing Spider-Man 3 that would see all of the scenes featuring Spider-Man's redheaded love interest shift to the second sequel instead of the first. Unfortunately, this left actress Shailene Woodley with a bad scheduling problem, and she was forced to be cut from the movie completely. We've all been assuming that the studio has been searching for a new actress to play Mary Jane in the new comic book movie, but apparently that's not the case.
A reporter from The Wrap has "100% confirmed" that while Gadon has indeed joined the cast of the superhero sequel, she will not be playing Mary Jane. Instead, he says that she will only be in the movie briefly and that MJ "will NOT appear until Part THREE." This makes Gadon just the most recent addition to the cast of the film who doesn't have a known character name. Colm Feore, B.J, Novak and Felicity Jones all play mystery roles in the movie, though Feore has been rumored to be Adrian Toomes/The Vulture and there's been speculation that Jones could be playing Felicia Hardy/Black Cat.
For those unfamiliar with Gadon, she is probably best known for her roles in the David Cronenberg films A Dangerous Method and Cosmopolis. She recently signed on to co-star with Luke Evans in the upcoming Dracula and will also be lending her voice to the upcoming animated film The Nut Job.
If we assume for a moment that Jones is playing Black Cat, what does that mean for Gadon's potential role. If I had to guess my money would be on Betty Brant, the secretary to J. Jonah Jameson at the Daily Bugle. If Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) ends up getting a job there in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 it would make plenty of sense to have an actress on board for the role, even if it is just a "brief" appearance.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is being directed by Marc Webb and is based on a script by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Not much is known about the plot of the film at this point, though we do know that Jamie Foxx will be playing Spidey's chief foe, the electricity enhanced Max Dillon a.k.a. Electro. Both Emma Stone and Sally Field will return as love interest Gwen Stacy and Aunt May, respectively, and other new additions to the series include Chris Cooper (as Norman Osborne), Dane DeHaan (as Harry Osborne), and Paul Giamatti (as Aleksei Mikhailovich Sytsevich/Rhino). Look for the film in theaters on May 2, 2014.
