Bryce Dallas Howard, a woman famous for being Richie Cunningham’s daughter and pretending to be blind in The Village, is being lined up to play a love interest in Spider-Man 3.

Bryce is set to play Gwen Stacey – a central character in the Spider-Man story, as Spider-Man’s first-ever girlfriend. But what about Kirsten Dunst? Isn’t she some kind of Spider-Man girlfriend, too? Things, we can tell, are about to get complicated.

The Spider-Man (DVDs) films are some of the most successful in history. The
first Spider-Man film has the highest opening weekend box office gross
ever, with Spider-Man 2 also in the top ten. So Spider-Man 3 was
always going to be an inevitability, and it’s due to start filming later this
month.

Tobey Maguire will still be Spider-Man, Kirsten Dunst will still
be Mary Jane Watson, Sam Raimi will still direct and Bruce Campbell
will probably pop up again for a couple of seconds too. But there’ll also be a
newcomer to Spider-Man 3.

Bryce Dallas Howard is set to play Gwen Stacey in Spider-Man 3, a character who
has gone down in history in the Spider-Man comics as being Peter
Parker’s first girlfriend. And – by some oddly overenthusiastic
comicbook geeks – as being The Most Important Comic Book Character Ever.
Why?

Well, as far as we can tell, Spider-Man falls in love with and then accidentally kills Gwen during a fight with the Green Goblin in The Amazing Spider-Man 121. Just like at the end of the first Spider-Man film, but with Gwen instead of Mary Jane and a bit more accidental death. However, according to Reuters:

Columbia is keeping a tight lid on the third movie’s story line, though
it is known that Gwen is the third part of a love triangle and that the
character does survive.

Gwen survives? Then what’s the point of her even being in the film? And, anyway, wasn’t Larry David supposed to be in Spider-Man 3? We’ll all find out when the film is released next year.

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‘Spider-Man 3′ casts its web over Howard – Reuters