Gwen Stacey down to four

With Emma Stone all but confirmed as the new Mary Jane Watson, attention turns to who will be filling the shoes of Bryce Dallas Howard's Gwen Stacy.

Stacy, who only appeared in the last of Raimi's films is apparently going to play a more pivotal role in Webb's take on the material, as Peter Parker's first love interest.

Sony have apparently being eyeing Dianna Agron ( Glee 's Quinn Fabray), Georgina Haig ( Underbelly 's Georgina Freeman), Dominique McElligott (who played Sam Bell's wife in Moon ), and Alice in Wonderland 's Mia Wasikowska.

Arguably one of the weakest elements of Raimi's trilogy was the love interests - Dunst's MJ was pretty, but fairly vacuous, and Spider-man 3 was such a jumble that Stacy just blurred into the background, so we're keen to see how Webb handles the soppy stuff. In 3D.

It's all very exciting of course, and the sooner it's all sorted out, the sooner Sony can get round to casting villains.

Early unconfirmed reports suggest a return for Venom, with Philip Seymour Hoffman in talks to play the character, but that has to be a web of lies... right?

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