ROTTEN TOMATOES: Who'll Be the Villains in "Spider-Man 4"?

Who'll Be the Villains in "Spider-Man 4"?

by Scott Weinberg | May 07, 2007

It's a very amusing game for those who adore comic books and movies in equal measure: Not only who'll be playing which role in the next superhero flicks, but which characters will be making their big-screen debuts. One source seems to know a little something about "Spider-Man 4."

According to Freeze Dried Movies, whose source once got the Venom scoop right a while back, the villains who'll most likely pop up in "Spider-Man 4" are: Lizard, Carnage, and Black Cat. (Again we're mixing "classic era" villains with the new-fangled ones, despite the damage, in my opinion, that did to "Spider-Man 3.")

Word is that screenwriter David Koepp might be brought back to the series for the next go-round, what with the latest Spidey flick thwapping every box office record in the books, but obviously we won't know who's writing / directing / returning until Sony wants us to know. Until then we can enjoy the Speculation Game.

Frankly I've been waiting for Dylan Baker to turn into Lizard for over five years now. And this Carnage character looks really damn freaky. Dare I wonder if this character might be a bit too 'dark' for a "Spider-Man" movie?

Source: Freeze Dried Movies

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(1-20 of 126 posts) | Reply

EmmG389 writes:
on May 07 2007 01:09 AM

Too Dark? What they need is the darkness that they had with the violent end of Spidey 1 in the church and the Doc Ock scene in the surgery room. There is not one scene that matches those intense moments in Spiderman 3, except the second fight with Harry.

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sean928 writes:
on May 07 2007 01:24 AM

i agree. thats what made those movies so interesting is that the villians were actually villians and had no remorse. it would have been scarier ( in my opinion ) if venom would have started dancing around like peter the emo homo did. spidey 3 was not scary at all, but the fight scenes with harry were bad ass. but i really hope they do darken it up a bit, spidey 3 had so many expectations that were not met, hopefully spidey 4 can redeem that quality that 3 lacked.

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TheAnswerMVP2001 writes:
on May 07 2007 02:22 AM

Black Cat! This is something I have been saying for years, she's really not a villain though. Too early for Carnage, Venom needs to be brought back first and shown some descent respect!

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Saint Fu writes:
on May 07 2007 02:31 AM

Too many villians...that is what was great about One and Two, although Harry was kind of a villian in two it was more of a backseat role to Doc Oc....Too many villians spoils the stew.

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bamb0o-stick writes:
on May 07 2007 03:54 AM

Its about time they added another 'hero' into the mix. I don't know much about Black Cat, but both her and Spider-Man have a unique chemistry between each other that seems pretty interesting.

Light Spoiler:

I really hated how not one of the villains up to this point really rise above the others. I really had hoped Venom would be 'the one' to actually match up against Spider-Man and give him a good beating. For those who have seen the movie, its a disgrace for Sam Raimi to pick that one villain to live at the end of part 3.

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MMacKK writes:
on May 07 2007 04:06 AM

Sam Raimi never had much liking of Venom.

How can anyone be surprised that this showed through with his interpretation of the character?

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Ocyron writes:
on May 07 2007 04:45 AM

I'd like to see them dump the Black Cat from the plans for the fourth movie and focus on Carnage and Lizard. Three villains is too many - with these two, they have one villain that Peter has reservations about fighting (Lizard) and one completely psychotic serial killer villain that can hopefully give Spidey a good thrashing.

Carnage is one of my favorite Spider-Man characters; I really hope they do him justice if he is included.

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KraziJoe writes:
on May 07 2007 05:28 AM

Black Cat is not a villain. She should have been used in 3 as the love triangle instead of Gwen Stacey. Bryce would have made a great Felicia Hardy and would have put even more sexual tension in the relationship.

No Carnage please!!!

Get Vulture and Scorpion and Lizard. Any of those 3 would be perfect.

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mojodaddy writes:
on May 07 2007 05:35 AM

[b]BLACK CAT[/b]
This would be awesome. Some Lizard action would be good too .

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evanset6 writes:
on May 07 2007 05:36 AM

[b]Rofl...[/b]
You'd rather have Vulture than Carnage? LOL... Seriously man... Vulture is like a 90 year old man. That's something we should NEVER see.

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Matanuki writes:
on May 07 2007 05:59 AM

In reply to this comment (#864215)
You're right about that. If they weren't planning on really illustrating the Gwen Stacy story arch, which apparently is the case, then using her in this movie was simply gratuitous. Black Cat definitely would have made more sense. And they should have kept Harry on the fence for one more film. Or have Peter kill him ( or put him in the hospital) by mistake when fighting in the black suit near the end, instead of in the beginning with all that amnesia business. And yes, no Carnage. Not yet. Grace was fine as Brock, but they should have saved Venom for part 4 after switching directors. Raimi has publicly expressed that he hates Venom. All fine and good. But this is a flagship villain we're talking about. You don't let a director who has no respect for the character do a flagship villain unless you want it to turn out, well, like Spiderman 3.
[Let me go ahead and post my response to those who disagree with that last part right now. I don't hate Raimi, but he hates Venom. And that disqualifies him. Because you simply don't introduce a flagship villain in the last 20 minutes at the end of a major franchise and then... SPOILER ALERT... off him in an afterthought after a series of off the wall wise cracks.]

(Reply to this)

Matanuki writes:
on May 07 2007 06:06 AM

In reply to this comment (#864211)
I want to kill the spider. You want to kill the spider.. But let's kill the Raimi instead.

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CodeClearanceBlue writes:
on May 07 2007 06:14 AM

[b]Prediction: Carnage means no Raimi[/b]
I predict that if the fans and the studio/Marvel's Arad demand Carnage, then Raimi will bow out. It's never been confirmed, but I believe the rumours of Raimi giving Venom short shrift due to his dislike of the character. Carnage is too one dimensional to provide the kind character-driven story Raimi prefers (and that the series needs to pull it out of the crapper). Curt Conners/Lizard has the whole wife and kid angle, and we have yet to see a juvenile main character; Billy Conners could be a good supporting character. They would have to get creative with the Black Cat in order to avoid the whole Mary Jane love triangle hook. Basically, it'll be interesting to see if they can save the series or if it will go the way of the first Batman films. I'm pulling for them.

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Defmonkey writes:
on May 07 2007 06:21 AM

[b]MJ and PP still aren't solid and on the same page[/b]
I thought of the end with her hesitation of taking Peter's hand as they still aren't ready. Sure they dance, but they are both hurt and probably never will be the same. I think thats where this Black Cat arc will come from.

And of course I with along with every other Venom fanboy is hoping that somehow Venom survived (but how can he not when you saw Brocks Rib Cage light up and disappear), but does bring up argument on how Harry's face isn't half blown up and instead scarred. Thats what I'm thinking.

Carnage and The Lizard sound alright. But it can't be a "double team" like last time. Even though it sounded like a good idea, it got out of hand I thought. so I think the villain order should go Carnage first and Lizard second. Lizard actually being a close friend/professor to Peter, while Carnage is just a Psychopathic killer hell bent on destruction. Thats how I think anyway on that matter.

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arpeggio191 writes:
on May 07 2007 06:25 AM

Not sure if someone already posted this...

SLIGHT SPOILERS IN THIS POST

Remember the Maximum Carnage series like 10 years ago? (wow... i'm old), anyway, Vemon had to team up with Spiderman to destroy Carnage and a bunch of other baddies? First off, bring back vemon and do like a two-phase movie... spidey vs. vemon, then spiderman/venom vs carnage... might be the way to go, plus, everyone wants to see vemon again...

Plus, Carnage by himself isn't really an interesting villian. He's terribly evil for no good reason... Venom at least has some remorse at times and is conflicted. I'd imagine he'd be sitting in a dark room writing emo songs if he wasn't too buy kicking so much ass.

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lockdicer writes:
on May 07 2007 06:31 AM

[b]Before they make 4[/b]
Can they remake 3 so it's actually good - i'll forgive them for what i saw this weekend

No Sandman, Focus on Venom, Kill Harry about 1/3 of the way through (i don't ever recall him being spiderman's robin, but i didn't read EVERY issue)

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Matanuki writes:
on May 07 2007 06:53 AM

In reply to this comment (#864223)
He's not Spiderman's robin. He's supposed to be a villain. I remember him being on the fence in the comic, since Peter is his friend. I don't have much of a problem with that story arch. Harry was one of the better things about this film, save for the silly amnesia segment and cliche departure.

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synergyred writes:
on May 07 2007 07:05 AM

The Lizard's definatly going to be a bad guy. They keep on increasing his screen time with each movie, and I really like the guy that plays him.

Oh if they bring in the Black Cat, I'd be happy as a clam. It would be nice to see a female character who's main purpose in an action sceen is NOT falling down a building for Spidey to dramatically save. (although MJ did have a cool moment with a cinder block)

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Vitamin M writes:
on May 07 2007 07:16 AM

In reply to this comment (#864223)
yeah, they shouldn't have done what they did to Venom, he deserves a whole movie to himself if you ask me and even though Topher wasn't exactly the Eddie Brock from the comics I still totally dug him. Sandman was alright but nothing special.
but anyway Lizard and Carnage sound good next but give me something in the end that makes you think Venom could still be around biding his time to come back in the 5th film to really do some damage. and the black cat should be really freaking hot...(I didn't need to say that did I?)

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Merlin235 writes:
on May 07 2007 07:17 AM

It's ironic that Raimi is getting ripped for the same stuff that people on websites like this one have been complaining he didin't include in the first movies.
1) Venom was in this movie only because the fans wanted him to be. Hence why he was given short threatment. Listen to what Avi Arad says, the stuido forced Raimi to include Venom. Odd enough, I actually agree with Matanuki on this one, you don't force a director to include something he doesnt LOVE. We saw what Raimi could do with subject matter he loved, and the films were better.
2) This movie was actually a lot like the comics. Harry did die helping Spiderman in the comics. Harry did get amnesia in the comics. While people complain about Raimi doing those story arcs in the movie, they also yell at him for not including story arcs from the comics. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
3) The fans of the second movie seem to forget that there was a lot of cheesyness in that movie too, but they loved it. He replicates those scenes in the third, and people are upset.
People need to take a chill pill. I'd love to see them change directors at this point, but people forget that studios can also respond to criticism. They know the hardcore fans didn't like the cheese, and wanted a more serious tone. So, for another piece of irony: we might actually get a better Spiderman 4 with Raimi at the helm responding to what we liked and didn't like, than we would if we play russian roulette and roll the 'change the director' dice. We could end up with the guy who directed Transporter.

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