It’s a bit of surprise, but we now have news that the character of Mary Jane Watson will not be appearing in director Marc Webb’s (500 Days of Summer) upcoming 3D Spider-Man reboot.  We’ve been hearing that the new film would feature two love interests for Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) for awhile now, but that Mary Jane Watson would not be the lead female role, and that she would be a minimal role in the film if she were to appear at all. We’ve since learned that Emma Stone (Easy A) has been cast as Gwen Stacy and would be both the lead female role and main love interest in the film.

I’ve since assumed that Watson would be appearing in the film in a minimal role, which would be enhanced in the inevitable sequel, but The Wrap is now reporting that Watson will not be appearing in the film at all since “the character is not currently featured in James Vanderbilt's (Zodiac) screenplay, and apparently never was.” Spider-Man without Mary Jane Watson to me is like Superman without Lois Lane, so I’m curious to see how fans of the comic book character will react to this news.  You can hit the jump to leave your thoughts in the comments below and to get a recap of what we know about the upcoming Spider-Man reboot.

With the project set to begin production in December, we’ve been getting a steady stream of news regarding the Spider-Man reboot.  Yesterday, we learned that Martin Sheen has been cast as Uncle Ben and that Sally Field will be playing the role of Aunt May.  We also know that Rhys Ifans will be playing The Lizard in the film. Meanwhile, the role of J. Jonah Jameson might be played by either John Slattery or Sam Elliot.

The Spider-Man 3D reboot is set to hit theaters on July 3, 2012.