As I said at the top of the week, '
Spider-Man' reboot director
Marc Webb gave the villain guessing game away when he said "Rhys' incredible ability to embody both warmth and rage makes him the ideal choice for this character". From that comment, it was only ever going to be The Lizard - Peter Parker's science teacher and mentor who accidentally transforms his DNA into that of a hideous reptilian creature, a result of a failed experiment to grow back a missing arm he lost in 'Nam. It's the classic horror staple of a good man's vanity and desire to mess with nature being the catalyst for his tragic downfall. Rhys' casting as The Lizard has now been
confirmed. The character dates back to
Amazing Spider-Man #6 (November 1963)... As my childhood favourite 'Spidey' villain, I've been anticipating his eventual screen appearance for some time as the previous movies seemed to be building towards this villainous turn. Sinister character actor
Dylan Baker had played Dr. Curt Connors in Raimi's films but was never a big enough name in Sony's eyes to pull the trigger on him.
I'm saddened it's not Sam Raimi who gets to tell Connors' tragic story but I am glad that they have gone for a previously unrealised villain. Although it has to be said, we have seen Peter Parker's mentors go all nasty before with Norman Osbourne, and more sympathetically Alfred Molina's turn as Dr. Ock, the latter a carbon copy story to Connors' when you really think about it. Using The Lizard also means the movie will be high on special effects and CGI, so again just like 3D technology, Webb is being thrown right into the deep end without armbands... hopefully he will step up to the challenge. Ifans will be up against
Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man, with
Emma Stone cast as love interest 1 (Gwen Stacy), with number 2 (Mary Jane) still unknown.
Filming begins by the end of the year for a summer 2012 release. And
The Wrap says Venom won't in this one.