Shailene Woodley cut from The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Shailene Woodley's role as Mary Jane Watson has been cut from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 .

It's not all bad news for Woodley, as it looks like the decision has been motivated less by her performance, and more by long term planning for the future of everyone's favourite friendly neighbourhood superhero franchise.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly in their forthcoming Divergent issue, Woodley says: "Of course I'm bummed. But I am a firm believer in everything happening for a specific reason... Based on the proposed plot, I completely understand the need for holding off on introducing [Mary Jane] until the next film."

When news broke that Mary Jane would be appearing in the sequel, director Marc Webb tried his best to underplay the size of her role, but it's still a surprise to hear that the character has been cut entirely.

Throw in Felicity Jones' recent comments alluding to a possible role as another love interest as Black Cat , and it's clear that Peter Parker's on-screen love life is set to become even more complicated by the time the newly announced threequel and fourquel come to a close.