The New York Post, what with all their hometown jingoism, is probably thrilled when any big-deal movie production shows up on their home turf. And they must really love producer Todd Black, who brought the world both the Spider-Man films and this weekend's The Taking of Pelham 123.
Apparently the feeling is mutual, as Black gave The Post some exclusive details about the plans for Spider-Man 4. First of all: Kirsten Dunst will definitely be back. Second of all: Morbius is not the villain. Third of all: the villain might be Mike Bloomberg.
OK, not really. But Black said that "We're just coming up with who the villain's going to be now. We'll be shooting in New York again. Trust me, people will appreciate who we pick, because it'll be a big part of New York." Presumably all the Spider-Man villains have connections to the city, given that the comics all take place there, but the Post has two suggestions in particular-- Kraven the Hunter and the Kingpin, who also made an appearance in Daredevil and may not make it through rights clearances to appear for Sony's Spider-Man.
The commenters have another, equally interesting suggestion-- the Lizard, a.k.a. Dr. Curt Conners, who has been played by Dylan Baker in the previous three films. What's the New York connection? You've heard all those rumors about reptiles living in the sewers, right? Baker has suggested in the past that he'd be up for playing the villainous Lizard, and Sam Raimi himself told MTV "The Lizard is probably one of my favorite characters." To me, that's the key quote-- Drag Me to Hell proved how great Raimi can be when working with something he loves, and to get the life back in the Spider-Man franchise, Raimi is going to have to bring the same energy he brought to the first two. What better way to do it than bringing in his favorite baddie?
It seems disingenuous at the least for Black to claim that they're still coming up with the movie's villain-- Spider-Man 4 is set for a May 2011 release date, which means filming had better begin, like, now. More likely they're still in negotiations with Baker to get him to take on a big starring role, and don't want to say anything until it's official. Not that I know anything about the Spider-Man mythology at all, but I'm feeling pretty good about this Lizard possibility. But hey, comic book geeks, what do you think?
