Wood is MJ Watson

While some (like myself) have hoped that the droopy-lidded, seemingly disinterested Kirsten Dunst would not be returning as love interest Mary Jane Watson in the next SPIDER-MAN movie(s), people behind the film have insisted she’ll be back. Damn.

One place she won’t be playing the role, however, is on Broadway. As has long been expected, actress Evan Rachel Wood (THE WRESTLER, THIRTEEN) has worked out possible scheduling conflicts and will definitely play Peter Parker’s squeeze/damsel in distress on stage for the musical SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK, scheduled to open in early 2010.

The webbed suit currently remains unoccupied — the producers had pursued Wood’s ACROSS THE UNIVERSE co-star Jim Sturgess for the part, but so far the show still needs a singing, swinging main man.

The “circus rock-n-roll drama” comes from director Julie Taymor (TITUS, FRIDA) with U2’s Bono and The Edge providing the tunage. Spidey will supposedly clash with Green Goblin, Carnage, Electro, Rhino, Swarm and Lizard, but the main villain is a new invention named Swiss Miss, whose costume consists of rotating knives and swirling corkscrews.