Ever since Sony announced that they were releasing The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man 4 in the coming years, Shailene Woodley‘s role as Mary Jane was thrown into the rumor mill. In a matter of hours Woodley’s involvement went from being cut out of two and introduce her in 3, to her being cut out from the film entirely. Part of this reason is because Woodley is on contract to appear in an adaptation of the Divergent novel series, which is more than just one book, which also conflicts with her schedule.

It has been made clear that Mary Jane would not be a vital part of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 to begin with, and that her biggest role would be in the sequel. Not too long after director Marc Webb made his announcement to streamline the Mary Jane character to focus on Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) and Gwen Stacy’s relationship, EW Canada reports that Sarah Gadon (A Dangerous Mind, Cosmopolis) has reportedly signed on to appear in the film, which could possibly mean that Woodley’s replacement has been found.

Hot off the news that Sony has announced the release dates for The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man 4 comes word that The Spectacular Now star Shailene Woodley, who was set to make a brief appearance as Mary Jane Watson in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and have an expanded role in the third film, will not be appearing in the sequel after all.

It’s been confirmed that the Mary Jane role has been cut from the second film entirely, and that her character will be introduced in the third film. Not only that, but it looks like Woodley might not be there to play the part.

Marc Webb‘s is well into production on The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and Sony must like what they are seeing because they have announced release dates for The Amazing Spider Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man 4. This also shows the amount of confidence the studio has in this highly anticipated sequel. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 opens in theaters May 2, 2014, which will be followed by The Amazing Spider-Man 3 opening on June 10, 2016, and The Amazing Spider-Man 4 opening on May 4, 2018.

Announcing these release dates only adds to the rumor that the studio wants to create a Spider-Man Cinematic Universe, and that each film will build up to the Sinister Six. We’ve already seen some photos of Jamie Foxx as Electro, and Paul Giamatti as the Rhino. Then there is the rumor that Colm Feore could be the Vulture. The sequel also has Chris Cooper playing Norman Osborne, who could end up being the Green Goblin. Finally there’s Dane Dehaan who plays Harry Osborne, who could also end up following in his father’s footsteps.

Marc Webb, the director of next year’s web-slingin’ sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2, has done a stand-out job keeping us posted on the production of the film via Twitter. Recently we’ve seen the first photos of Jamie Foxx as the villain Electro. Inevitably we would soon get a glimpse of Paul Giamatti as the second half of the movie’s super-powered baddie tag team, the Rhino.

True to form, Webb has now granted us the first photo of Giamatti in character and in action as the Rhino. You can check it out here below.

Last week, we saw the first photos of Jamie Foxx as Electro on the set of the upcoming sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

Yesterday, director Marc Webb tweeted a photo of Foxx as Max Dillon before his electrical transformation into the villainous Electro. Webb captioned the photo: “Day 52. My name is Max.” Shortly after, Webb released the first official look at Foxx as Max Dillon, Dane DeHaan tweeted the first photo of his character, Harry Osborn.

Check out the pictures below and tell us what you think!