For many younger Marvel fans, Zendaya will be their MJ (a.k.a. Michelle Jones-Watson). However, Kirsten Dunst was the original Mary Jane Watson in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, and she opened up on that role during a recent interview with Marie Claire.
Unfortunately, Dunst admitted there were times on set when she was made to feel uncomfortable.
"I mean..." she stared before pausing for a moment. "It was a joke, but on Spider-Man, they would call me 'girly-girl' sometimes on the walkie-talkie. 'We need girly-girl,' but I never said anything." Getting fired up, she added, "Like, don't call me that...You didn't say anything [in the pre-#MeToo era]. You just took it."
Dunst would go on to say that Spider-Man now feels like a "hidden indie" given the sort of talent who worked on the movies and says her young son, James, enjoys watching her as Mary Jane. The actress also confirmed that, while she "loves" Zendaya, she still hasn't seen the latest Spider-Man movies.
That was it for Spider-Man talk as the interview was primarily conducted for her next movie, Alex Garland's Civil War. "When I read the script, I thought, I've never done anything like this," Dunst says. "I just love that he's someone who pushes boundaries."
There were once rumblings that the actress might reprise her role as Mary Jane in Spider-Man: No Way Home. A version of the script featuring her and Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy is thought to have existed at some point, only for them to be cut due to time constraints and complications caused by the pandemic.
Would she do another superhero movie, though? "Yes," Dunst says, "because you get paid a lot of money, and I have two children, and I support my mother."
"There's still time," the actress said last year of one day returning as Mary Jane. "I mean, listen, no one asked me about anything but I do think that/ I mean, this multi-universe just keeps going on and on. I feel like that could happen."
If it ever does happen, then we'd bet on it being in Avengers: Secret Wars when Tobey Maguire (supposedly) reprises his role as Peter Parker.