Without Sam Raimi’s 2000s Spider-Man trilogy, there might not be an MCU. Those movies showed that superheroes could be adapted faithfully to the screen and be a smash-hit, and their balance of comedy and action makes them still extremely watchable today.
The affection for them was proved by the intensely positive reaction to the trailers for Spider-Man: No Way Home. The first revealed that Alfred Molina was back as Doc Ock, and now we have confirmation that Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin and Thomas Hayden Church’s Sandman are rejoining the action. Beyond that, it’s now looking very likely that Tobey Maguire will be swinging into action alongside Tom Holland.
But one star that sadly doesn’t seem to be along for the ride is Kirsten Dunst. The Mary Jane star was recently asked by Variety if she’d step back into the role and said:
“I would do it. Why not? That would be fun. I would never say no to something like that… I’d be old MJ at this point with little Spidey babies.”
It’s worth remembering that despite Mary Jane Watson being a hugely important comic book character, Dunst remains the only person to properly play her on-screen. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 saw Shailene Woodley in what amounted to a cameo, while Zendaya plays Michelle Jones, who’s an MJ, but not Mary Jane.
But with the live-action Spider-Verse soon to be open for business, why not a full Spider-Man 4 showing us what the Raimiverse characters have been getting up to over the last twenty years? After all, it’d be a great chance to use fan-favorite characters like Spidey’s daughter May Parker.
But who knows, maybe Dunst has a super-secret cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home? We’ll know for sure soon, as the film premieres on December 17.
