Spider-Man 4 Villains

*Originally published on 9/29/09


Sam Raimi and company have signed on for another Spider-Man movie that's set to come out in 2011. As is common with movie fans (especially comic book movie fans) there is a lot of discussion on which villain will be the focus of the new movie.

It seemed like the story had wrapped itself up. The whole "goblin" arc was finished and Pete and MJ got to live happily ever after. Still, with a serial medium like comics, there is always another story to tell. As there are more stories, there are more villains who fans would like to see.

One of the big suggestions is Mysterio. I don't understand the appeal of this character. He's lame; I'd argue that he's one of the all time lamest villains. He wears a fish bowl on his head and he uses holograms...that's it. Many of the rumors have suggested that Mysterio might be played by Bruce Campbell, who has had cameos in the previous three films. If this were the case, I would give it the benefit of the doubt, only because Bruce Campbell is that awesome. Someone on the internet posited the theory that all the characters Bruce Campbell played were the same person and he's stalking Peter. This is an interesting idea and it ties in with Mysterio's film acting roots.

A lot of people are clamoring for the Lizard. I, myself, would love to see the Lizard make an appearance. Dr. Curt Connors, the man who eventually becomes the Lizard, has appeared in the last two films with ever increasing roles, so it makes sense to follow that up with his debut as major villain. Dylan Baker should reprise the role, though the Lizard himself should be another actor as I'm pretty sure Lizard's a lot bigger. They could go the CGI route, but that's a hit or miss deal.

Much like the Lizard, Kraven the Hunter is a character who a lot of people want to see. Again, I have to agree. It was either Newsarama or comics2film.com that suggested Gerard Butler take the role - yes! If Butler regrows the beard he had in 300, he would be the perfect actor to take the part.

Some have even said that the movie should feature both Lizard and Kraven. While Spider-Man 3 was too crowded with three villains, two might be more feasible. I'd prefer going back to the one villain per movie format, but Lizard and Kraven would be easy enough to balance.

Kingpin is another name that's popped up on more than one occasion. I doubt this will come to fruition. Fox has the rights to Daredevil (and they're rebooting the series from what I've read) and Sony is producing the Spider-Man flicks so there are rights issues. If the studios allowed Marvel to buy back their franchises this wouldn't be an issue. We could even have a Spider-Man/Daredevil team up flick where they both battle Wilson Fisk. Both studios seem intent on holding onto the rights so that won't happen anytime soon.

Raimi has said that nothing is official. It's fun to speculate though. Some have even said that Doc Ock didn't die at the end of Spider-Man 2 and that he could return. It's clear that Raimi prefers the classic villains so, odds are it will be one of them. I was really hoping for a Venom appearance and he botched it, hard. It's better to wait for a re-boot and let someone else give us a proper Venom. In the meantime, we have to wait to see what Raimi has in store for us. I hope that Spider-Man 4 is more like the second one as opposed to the third one. With the massive financial success of Spider-Man 3, I doubt the studios learned their lesson about meddling and editorial mandates. We'll have to see how it pans out.