The recent Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer confirmed multiple franchise veterans are returning. However, most of the heroes of past Spider-Man films continue to deny their involvement in Tom Holland's No Way Home, and Kirsten Dunst is one of them.
Before Zendaya portrayed MJ in Marvel Studios' Spider-Man films, Dunst portrayed Mary Jane Watson in the original three films by director Sam Raimi. While several actors from previous Spider-Man films are believed to be in No Way Home, it appears the longtime lover of Maguire's wall-crawler will not be a part of the ensemble.
Doing an interview with Total Film, Dunst flat out said that she will not reprise her role as Mary Jane in Spider-Man: No Way Home. She said, "I'm not in that movie, no [laughs]. I know there's rumors, right?" While the outlet pointed out that Alfred Molina and Willem Dafoe were reprising their respective roles as Doc Ock and Green Goblin, Dunst continued to insist she was sitting No Way Home out. "No, I'm the only one [not in it]. Can't put an old girl in there," she said.
Dunst said she's very much out of the loop when it comes to superhero films. "I haven't seen any of them. I don't watch superhero movies, though... It's just not my kind of movie. I can't tell you the last time I saw one. I think I saw maybe Captain America with my friend in a theater, which was - what? - a long time ago when that first came out. I just don't watch them," she explained. Her comments are similar to those made by Batman star Michael Keaton, who also stated that was not up to date with the latest superhero films at the time.
It's a shame that Dunst won't be returning to the Marvel universe, as many people were huge fans of her portrayal of Mary Jane. The chemistry Dunst and Tobey Maguire had in Spider-Man as on-screen love interests perfectly captured the romance between the two characters from the comics.
Another rumored character is actually Charlie Cox's Daredevil, who many expect to be the lawyer for Peter Parker after his identity was revealed to the world. In the comic books, Matt Murdock has been Parker's lawyer in order to get him out of legal troubles, so this seems right on-brand for the two crimefighters to team together.
Spider-Man: No Way Home will be in theaters on December 17th, 2021.
Source: Total Film