Battle of the Mary Janes: Shailene Woodley vs. Kirsten Dunst

A red-headed Shailene Woodley, left, and Kirsten Dunst's prior portrayal of Mary Jane Watson
A red-headed Shailene Woodley, left, and Kirsten Dunst's prior portrayal of Mary Jane Watson

She has taken over the role of Mary Jane Watson and now she has the hair color to prove it.

Shailene Woodley was spotted walking around the"The Amazing Spider-Man 2" set in New York on Monday with red dyed hair. And from all appearances, her locks are nearly the same color as were Kirsten Dunst's when she portrayed MJ a decade ago -- except that they're decidedly longer.

Woodley has some big Mary Jane shoes to fill as Dunst proved iconic in the prior Sam Raimi trilogy. One count against her: Woodley's MJ has some seeming competition that Dunst's character never had -- Gwen Stacy, played by Emma Stone. Both are in the film, though we don't yet know how each character's relationship to Spidey (Andrew Garfield) will play out. Is he getting caught in a love web this time around?

[Related: ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2′ gets an official (and completely generic) plot synopsis]

The fact remains, the next "Amazing Spider-Man" installment is much more crowded with a bevvy of babes -- including Felicity Jones, who has been cast in the film and is rumored to be playing the sexy villain Black Cat. This likely amounts to less screen time for Woodley than Dunst had to contend with.

The comic version of Mary Jane
The comic version of Mary Jane

Still, this role will be quite a boon to Woodley's blossoming film career -- which got a stellar kick-start with her appearance in the Oscar-winning 2011 film "The Descendents." Woodley just said goodbye to a five-year stint on the ABC Family show "The Secret Life of the American Teenager." And while she admitted the ending was "bittersweet," she told US Weekly, "It's also great to be moving on, to be moving forward onto other things."

Meanwhile, other shots taken on the New York set of the Marc Webb trilogy show major changes to Spidey's costume! We've learned that the new suit that Garfield is donning has much 0bigger eyes. Others have also observed that his "weird sneaker boots" are gone and that his gloves are looking more tame this time around. Also, Spidey's belt is making a comeback, presumably to minimize the unitard effect.

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