Uh Oh, We Now Know Why Shailene Woodley's Mary Jane Watson Was Cut From 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2'

Last week, we learned that the classic Spider-Man character Mary Jane Watson was being cut from The Amazing Spider-Man 2, with it also looking like Shailene Woodley wouldn't be playing the character when director Marc Webb reintroduces Mary Jane in The Amazing Spider-Man 3. At the time, we were told that the decision to chop Mary Jane from the upcoming sequel was based on streamlining the story, an idea that made sense based on how much it looked like Webb and team were trying to cram into The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

Well, if the scoop that Hollywood Life dropped on Thursday is true, we now know the real reason why Mary Jane isn't going to be a part of The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

SPOILERS ...

Gwen Stacy is going to die in the sequel, and producers thought it would be cold for audiences to see Peter Parker move so quickly from Gwen to MJ. There you have it. It's long been rumored that Emma Stone's Gwen would meet her end in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, especially based on the fact that she was spotted dressed exactly like the character was in the infamous Death of Gwen Stacy comics.

Emma Stone’s character dies in the next film and that really would take a bunch out of the film if Spider-Man all the sudden starts dating a new girl so close to an important characters death. They were noticing this occurring as they filmed Shailene’s scenes. They want to make the death of Gwen Stacy really mean something and then it will leave room for Shailene to shine in the third film.

Providing the Hollywood Life story is true, there's some confusion over which villain will send Gwen to her death. In the comics, it was the Green Goblin, but to the best of our knowledge, Chris Cooper is only playing Norman Osborn, not the Green Goblin in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Now, there have been some rumors stating that we will see Osborn turn into the Green Goblin in this movie. If that happens, Webb can force Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man to suffer the same loss as his comic book counterpart. If we're stuck with Jamie Foxx's Electro and Paul Giamatti's Rhino, do we really want to see the Death of Gwen Stacy storyline get changed?

Another wrinkle to this story is that it sounds like Woodley is still locked in to play Mary Jane when she does join the franchise in The Amazing Spider-Man 3.