Lovin' Elizabeth

When I was a kid I wanted Peter Parker to end up with Betty Brant. Liz, Shmiz ... Gwen, Shmen ... Mary Jane Who? Betty was the one who'd stick by Pete, you just knew.

So I was thrilled to see Betty in the Spider-Man movies, even though she was relegated to a small role - I could always hope that when he got tired of Kirsten Dunst, Spidey would notice J. Jonah Jameson's cute secretary, played by - what's that name? Elizabeth Banks.

Well, something odd started happening - first Elizabeth Banks turned out to be a blonde, not a brunette (That's funny ... Kirsten's not a redhead, either!) and then she started turning up in incredibly appealing roles in movies like Seabiscuit, Slither and (just caught it tonight) Invincible.

She's a sweet kid - or at least she seems to be at home playing sweet kids on the movie screen. I hope she gets to breathe some life into Betty Brant someday. She's already made Betty a fun character given the limits of her short time on stage - it'd be fun to see more of Miss Brant.