Here’s superhero casting news you can hang on to. It looks like Sam Raimi has cast one more character in is already loaded up third Spider-Man movie. The Village’s Bryce Dallas Howard has signed up to play Gwen Stacy according to AICN.

What makes this interesting is that Gwen Stacy is one of Peter Parker’s girlfriends, which might make things a little awkward around the dinner table since last we saw him he was pretty heavily involved with Mary Jane. In the comics, she’s the one he can’t protect, the one he can’t save. Spider-Man loses her.

But with filming already underway on Spidey 3, it seems unlikely that any character cast so late in the game will play all that large a role in the third film. Instead, expect her to be introduced as part of a story arc that’ll come to fruition in the fourth film. That just makes sense.

Of course if you’re a comic book purist, you’re probably freaking out over Bryce Dallas Howard’s frequently reddish hair. Don’t worry about it. Marvel head Avi Arad assures, “Of course she will be blonde...”.

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