10 Times Actors Were Edited Out Of Movies

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is already muddled enough, featuring countless subplots like the mystery of Peter's parents, setting up the Sinister Six, Peter and Gwen's tricky romantic situation, Harry Osborn's disease, and Electro's rise to power.

But it very nearly received one more, in the form of longtime Spidey love interest Mary Jane Watson.

The role was played by Shailene Woodley, who, at the time, was quickly growing in stardom thanks to roles in The Fault In Our Stars and Divergent. The actress worked on The Amazing Spider-Man 2 for several days, shooting a bunch of scenes that were nowhere to be found in the final cut.

Director Marc Webb told the Los Angeles Times that removing Woodley from the film was an incredibly tough call to make, but that MJ's scenes just didn't work when combined with the existing romance between Peter and Gwen:

"Shailene is a brilliant actress, and she did a great couple days of work... but it was very difficult to introduce someone as a competing love interest when so much is on the table with Peter and Gwen."

And to be completely fair to Woodley, she took this news rather well, telling Vanity Fair that "it makes total sense." It's likely that the actress would have played MJ in future sequels, had Spidey not been rebooted into the Marvel Cinematic Universe instead.