10 Amazing Spider-Man 2 Script Changes That Drastically Changed The Film

10. Mary Jane Watson: The Girl Next Door

As we all know, The Fault In Our Stars and Divergent star Shailene Woodley was originally cast as Peter's future love interest, Mary Jane Watson, but all of her scenes wound up on the cutting room floor. At the time, fans speculated that negative reactions to her casting (some felt that she wasn't "hot enough" to play MJ) had gotten her cut from the franchise; but as it turns out director Marc Webb decided to focus more on the Peter/Gwen relationship than tease the future Peter/MJ relationship, which makes sense considering how this film ends. So, what exactly did MJ's small part entail? In the original script, she's the girl next door with an abusive drunk as a father. She's a waitress who builds motorcycles in her spare time (thus solidifying her "cool" factor), and even has a Spider-Man tattoo on her wrist. She's clearly interested in Peter, who is still hung up on Gwen. Peter finds out about MJ's dad, and at one point pays him a visit as Spider-Man, telling him to lay off of her. Near the end of the film, Gwen goes to Peter's house before expecting to head off to London, but he's not there. She runs into MJ, and in a friendly exchange MJ says that she "always attracts dickheads" and asks Gwen for advice to get a guy like Peter. Her recommendation? "Date a nerd." They say goodbye and Gwen heads off, basically passing the torch to MJ and giving her the okay to go after Peter.