5. Kirsten Dunst As Mary-Jane Watson - Spider-Man Trilogy
This could be a rather controversial choice to begin things. The Sam Raimi Spider-Man series of movies tends to polarise many audiences who see it as either the beginning of the modern superhero movie or just a wasted opportunity to do something interesting with Marvel's biggest selling superhero. One of the main threads that ran through it though was the story of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson and their 'will they/won't they' love for each other. On the face of it Kirsten Dunst did seem like a perfectly reasonable choice for the role of MJ as she certainly had the look (see above). The trouble really began when she had to show the chemistry with Peter Parker that leads up to one of the best known relationships in all of comic book history. Part of this is in the face that Mary Jane Watson in the comic book is a feisty, sassy woman that is in all ways Peter Parker's equal. Dunst interpretation of her though comes off as more cutesy and has little similarity with the humour, assertiveness or fun that the MJ of the comics has. Indeed, as the movies move on, Dunst seems more like a wet blanket or a damsel in distress than the girl of Peter Parker's dreams. What was needed therefore, was an actress that could make MJ seem a capable woman in her own right.