According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sony/Columbia’s SPIDER-MAN reboot will NOT feature Mary Jane Watson as Peter Parker’s (Andrew Garfield) love interest.
It also claims that the film will focus more on the early comic’s high school setting than the first Sam Raimi-Tobey Maguire SPIDER-MAN film.
A number of actresses are auditioning for director Marc Webb to play the thus far nameless female lead, including Teresa Palmer (THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE), Emma Roberts (flown in from the SCREAM 4 set), Imogen Poots (FRIGHT NIGHT remake), Ophelia Lovibond (NOWHERE BOY), and Lilly Collins (PRIEST). Mary Elizabeth Winstead (SCOTT PILGRIM Vs. THE WORLD) may also have been under consideration.
In the comics, Peter Parker’s love interests have included (more or less in order) Betty Brant, J.Jonah Jameson’s secretary (played by Elizabeth Banks in the previous series), Gwen Stacy (played by Bryce Dallas Howard ), Debra Whitman, and Felica Hardy (the Black Cat).
Interestingly, in the comics Aunt May tried without initial success to set Peter up with Mary Jane, the niece of one of her friends.