Avi Arad, the man who until very recently was the CEO of Marvel Studios, has told iFMagazine.com that Peter Parker will be doing battle against four villains in the next Spider-Man movie. The three known (or widely believed) baddies are Sandman, Green Goblin and Venom.
As for the fourth, we'll find out soon. Arad said of the upcoming announcement, "[We'll reveal it] pretty soon I believe. Maybe around Comic-Con we’ll reveal something and the madness will begin."
We've previously seen images of Thomas Haden Church in his Flint Marko/Sandman get-up. Kirsten Dunst let it slip previously that Topher Grace was to be Venom -- plus photos on the set of Grace with a camera pretty much confirm he'll be Peter's rival shutterbug (and Venom host) Eddie Brock. Everyone assumes Harry Osborn (James Franco) will become the Green Goblin as it was greatly alluded to in the last film.
So who's the fourth? Perennial movie source IMDb has Dylan Baker down for the role of Dr. Curt Connors/The Lizard so it could be him. But then again, he was also in Spider-Man 2 minus any green skin. And fans are quick to point out that Man-Wolf's alter ego John Jameson was also introduced in the last film.
There was early indication that Chloe Sevigny would be playing the buxom Black Cat in the film but that casting seems a bit odd. Furthermore, IMDb previously had Carnage was the character name for Aunt May actress Rosemary Harris. This was an obvious error but perhaps Carnage really is in it as an extension of Venom.
As Arad indicated, we'll probably have to wait until July 20-23 at the Comic-Con event in San Diego for some kind of clue.
On a related note, our first look at footage from Spider-Man 3 will be a teaser trailer likely attached to Superman Returns on June 28. At least that's what the prevailing internet rumor says. We probably won't see any glimpse of Venom in this early preview as director Sam Raimi has decided to keep that under wraps, for now.
Man, we can't way for May 4, 2007, when the film is finally released.
