Spider-man 2 for all its greatness had one big glaring problem: Mary Jane Watson. Not just because Kirsten Dunst lallygagged her way through the entire movie (which she did), there were also those excruciatingly long 'intimate' talks she'd have with Peter, declaring she was standing in his doorway with an apparently seductive demeanour. Praise be the gods, then, that Raimi & co. have decided to complicate matters with the introduction of Gwen Stacy. For those not familiar with the comics, Gwen was Peter's high school crush who got chucked off a bridge by the Green Goblin only to have her neck broken by Spider-man himself in a botched rescue attempt. The first movie switched Gwen's character with MJ and had her survive. How they'll work Gwen into this story remains to be seen (already a little crowded with Thomas Haden Church as Sandman, Topher Grace as Venom, and James Franco more than ready to don his father's embarassingly oversized helmet) but expect a love triangle of some description.

The girl ready to take the role is hot young starlet Bryce Dallas Howard. That's right: the daughter to Ron, the neice to Clint, and the M. Night Shyamalan frequenter will have the task of tempting Peter over from the ginger side. I'm pleased with this development, but I have to admit that's a fair few characters to manage all in around two hours. Of course we're not quite reaching X3 absurdities just yet; and so far Raimi hasn't let us down. Spider-man 3 hits next year.