According to the New York Post's Reed Tucker, producer Todd Black has said the film, definitely shooting in NYC, won't feature Morbius the vampire — despite the current wave of bloodsucker chic — but that the Big Bad will "be a big part of New York."
So who could the villain be? Spider-Man's rogues gallery is deep, but not as robust as, say, Batman's. And we've already seen the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Sandman, and Venom. It's a stone's throw before you get to pseudo-cheesy guys like Mysterio (who wears a goldfish bowl on his head) and the Rhino (yeah, pretty much what you think he is). Tucker posits either Kraven the Hunter (crazy Russian marksman who's got a thing for Most Dangerous Game-style hunts) or The Kingpin (sumo-huge criminal mastermind who pulls the mob strings in NYC).
Me, I can't really see Kraven being the sole villain, as he doesn't carry the thematic heft necessary to make Spidey 4 feel like more than a TV episode. The Kingpin is a better choice, even if the character's been somewhat sullied by his appearance in 2003's Daredevil (with Michael Clarke Duncan, pictured, in the role). Big, smart, mean-spirited — there's many a character actor who could pull it off with style, from James Gandolfini to Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Here's a different way to go: J. Jonah Jameson. The Daily Bugle honcho has long had a problem with the wall-crawler; all you need to do is devise a reason to push JJJ over the edge — say, perhaps, Jameson's astronaut son dies during a shuttle launch accident (that Peter Parker was assigned to cover, natch), with Spider-Man having failed to save him — and suddenly Spider-Man has a ruthless, well-connected, thoroughly committed nemesis. Plus, it would give the stellar J.K. Simmons something to do besides chew both cigars and scenery. (And maybe the villainous JJJ hires Kraven to kill Spidey — thereby securing the big punching-and-swinging action you'd need.)
But that's just me. Anyone else from the comics you'd rather see Spider-Man duke it out with?
I would go wih the Chameleon and Kraven the Hunter.
how bout the one theyve been hinting at since the whole franchise started: The Lizard!!! they already have the actor there and he’s excellent.
My vote goes to The Lizard.
I mean, they’ve already got a very good actor in place. Dylan Baker has played Dr. Connors (who becomes The Lizard) in the last two Spider Man movies, and I think it’d be pretty cool to see Connors experiment on himself to give himself that missing limb, and I think Baker could make that drama interesting. (We know special effects are certainly up to snuff when it comes to portraying the Lizard.)
Those are my two cents. However, I think the most important thing is that there isn’t more than one primary villain. The problem with Spider Man 3 was that there was just too much going on. At different points in the movie, Spidey had to deal with THREE bad guys. Raimi and his team need to go back and watch Spider Man 2 (the best one)…there was one strong villain (Doc Ock), with a secondary guy in the background (Harry working with the Doc). For that reason, your Kraven/JJJ suggestion may work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chameleon
“The Chameleon was born a Russian citizen named Dmitri Smerdyakov. In his youth, he was a servant and half-brother to Kraven the Hunter, Sergei Kravinoff.”
Spider-Man 4 is the perfect time for Kraven to come to NYC to hunt down Spider-Man. Most importantly, if this leads into 5 and 6 then you’d have the Sinister Six (Octopus from Spider-Man 2, Sandman from Spider-Man 3, Kraven from Spider-Man 4, and Electro, Vulture, and Mysterio in Spider-Man 5 and 6)
i think that the Kingpin will be the next villian not just because he has a big deal to do with NYC, but also because the Kingpin represents the mob, and as we saw last summer in The Dark Knight, superhero movies are at their greatest when the superhero’s are saving a world that we can relate to, and what better way to relate to an audience than by creating not just a superhero movie, but also a gritty-mob thriller just like the Dark Knight..
Kraven and the Lizard is a good pairing of villains for a flick.
Chameleon? Interesting villain.
Red Skull – was a good episode with the whole Cpt. America and the rest of them.
There is plenty of other twists they could do, like throwing in SHIELD or a cross-over.
The cool thing about the Chameleon is that he’s also connected to Peter’s parents, so the fourth movie could explore that aspect of the concept.
Would they still be portrayed as spies, like in the original (as agents of SHIELD), scientists, as in the Ultimate comics, or something else?
Lizard and Scorpion, please.
lets not kid ourselves here: It doesn’t matter who the villain is as long as they create a good story a la Spider Man 2 and atone for the laughable crapfest that was Spider Man 3.
I like the Kingpin. Brings Spidey back to Earth fighting the mafia, like The Dark Knight. “Human” villains are sometimes scarier than comic book monsters.
Kingpin would be good. I think Michael Clarke Duncan could even reprise. MCD was the ONLY good thing about Daredevil…
My vote is for Kingpin. It could even be Michael Clarke Duncan. He was the only good thing about Daredevil. Plus he can (and has employed) a bunch of b-level spidey villains to spice things up…
They have been setting up the Lizard perfectly with Dr Connors and him only having one arm and being a kind of mentor for Peter. It would be great.
Kraven and the Lizard with Kraven first showing up to hunt the lizard and then becoming obsessed with spider-man.