In recent weeks, there’s been some chatter as to what characters, or more specifically, villains, we will see in the upcoming fourth installment to the Spider-Man franchise.

First, we heard arguably crazy speculation that Bruce Campbell’s larger role in Spider-Man 4 would see him playing a villain such as Mysterio. Unlikely in the eyes of many fans, but we followed that up with a report on director Sam Raimi discussing the Spider-Man 4 villains where he admitted he favored the idea of The Lizard but wasn’t keen or familiar with the idea of Carnage.

Then, we finally got one confirmation on the topic of potential villains: Dylan Baker would in fact be returning as Dr. Curt Connors in the next movie but that didn’t necessarily mean he’d be transforming in the scaly green two-armed lizard, especially not if you can take Baker’s words as complete truth (he says he’s a background character). Of course, this was followed with more rumors where it was said that The Lizard could be Spider-Man 4’s only villain.

Less than a week ago, Dylan Baker confirmed that he’d be returning as Dr. Curt Connors in Spider-Man 4. At the time, he said he’d be regulated to a small background role similar to his appearances in the last two Spidey films.

Now, comes an insider report from Jim over at Market Saw who’s saying that The Lizard may not only be in Spider-Man 4, but that he’d be the only villain of the movie. This of course would bring the franchise back to its one-villain roots as utilized in the first two movies of the series.

Sam Raimi did say that he loves The Lizard…

Speculation, here we come!

Dylan Baker, the actor who played the minor role of Dr. Curt Connors in the last two Spider-Man movies has confirmed that he’ll be in Spider-Man 4. Now, this doesn’t mean we’ll be seeing his scaly alter ego known as The Lizard, but it sure wouldn’t be surprising.

Even if The Lizard wasn’t making his appearance, we’d expect Dr. Curt Connors to play at least a small part again. It wouldn’t make sense to have him involved in the plot of Spider-Man 2 & 3 then throw him away.

Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada, a man who always makes the effort to talk to the fans, held his own Q&A at Big Apple Comic-Con over the weekend. While talking a ton about comics, characters and not being able to talk about the Disney merger, he did address some questions regarding some of the upcoming Marvel superhero movies.

Quesada fielded questions about Spider-Man 4, The First Avenger: Captain America and the new kid-focused cartoon series, Super Hero Squad Show. Read what he had to say after the jump – especially about what he says about the Cap movie!

It’s been a big week for Sony’s Columbia Pictures and fans of the Spider-Man franchise. A mere week ago we found that the studio has selected Gary Ross to direct and rewrite the upcoming Venom solo film. Ross has a long history with the studio and actor Tobey Maguire and he’s currently involved with the script of Spider-Man 4. While we later heard that Venom might be far off with Ross also being tipped to helm the Spielberg-less Matt Helm remake, there’s no slowing the Spidey franchise one way or another.

On the Peter Parker side of things, Raimi revealed a few days back that they’re planning for an early March start of production for Spider-Man 4 to meet their summer kick-off release date in 2011. That’s not all however, as more recently we reported on director Sam Raimi discussing the possible villains of Spider-Man 4.

Now, MTV is sharing the part of their interview with Raimi where he touches even more Spider-Man sequels in the pipeline, specifically the 5th and 6th installments. Read on after the jump for more!

The folks over at The Playlist have an interesting exclusive on a topic that’s been getting several headlines this week. According to their inside source, Gary Ross, the man who was just announced to write and possibly direct the Venom spinoff will not be working on that project next.

Instead, Ross will first be taking over the Matt Helm project from Steven Spielberg and it sounds like the Venom project is quite a ways off, despite earlier reports that had him starting on it after Spider-Man 4.

Spider-Man 4 has been receiving plenty of buzz in recent times with announcements and confirmations of it going into production next year for a 2011 release. On top of that, we’ve had countless reports and speculation about what storylines it may follow, the start of development for Spider-Man 5 & 6, and discussions of what villains will be the focus of the fourth installment in the super successful superhero franchise.

MTV spoke with Sam Raimi and got the director to discuss a bit about the villains of Spider-Man 4 and the results of a fan poll they ran on the site which saw The Lizard and Carnage come out on top as the most desired villains, with the highest percentages from an unknown number of votes.

MTV News had a chance to speak with Sam Raimi today and got him to reveal the planned start date for Spider-Man 4.

The official Spider-Man 4 release date was set way back in March when Marvel Studios pushed back and re-arranged the release schedule for their upcoming films. From reports and speculation, we had an idea that it would start principal photography next spring but now we have an even more precise estimate, thanks to Raimi.

“We’re hoping that it’s the first week in March”

Variety reporter Mike Fleming is reporting that Columbia Pictures is in talks with Gary Ross (Seabiscuit, Pleasantville) to direct and rewrite the upcoming Venom solo film. Ross’ name is not new to Sony and their Spider-Man-related flicks however, as back in July he was brought in to make rewrites on the Spider-Man 4 script.

Ross is an easy choice for Columbia Pictures because of his growing relationship with Sony (Sony Pictures Entertainment owns Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group) which includes his directing of a Lance Armstrong cycling film and his work on the in-development Tokyo Suckerpunch. Combined with his longstanding relationship with Tobey Maguire that includes writing and directing him twice in the films listed above. They’ll be pairing as Actor-Director for a third go with The Crusaders.

SCI FI Wire had an exclusive interview with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the writers behind next month’s Zombieland flick (which looks great!) and they spoke about that other big project they’ve been working on: the script for the Venom solo film.

The last we heard on the Venom project from the writers was from back in April when they couldn’t comment on whether or not this incarnation of Venom would be the same as/related to the wasted version we saw in the highly disappointing Spider-Man 3.

In the interview, Reese and Wernick take questions on the status of the project and when the film could be in production.

Columbia Pictures and the IMAX Corporation have today announced that the upcoming superhero sequel, Spider-Man 4, is coming to IMAX theaters on May 5th, 2011, along with being released worldwide in regular size theaters. The film will be shot regularly, and then digitally remastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience.

This comes as no surprise to anyone, as both Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3 were released in IMAX. The difference with Spider-Man 4’s release is that it will have far more IMAX theaters to play in, giving more audiences the chance to experience their favorite web-shooting superhero on the gigantic screen.

One of the only reasons I still go to YouTube is to watch videos from ItsJustSomeRandomGuy, the mastermind behind the “I’m a Marvel…and I’m a DC” web series where he uses DC, Marvel and other action figures to touch on current happenings in the comics/movie/tv universe and poke fun at the characters through well-written all-audience parodies.

With that said, of course there had to be a parody made on the Disney-Marvel merger… and of course it had to something special. So what did he do? He made a musical!

The amazing Bruce Campbell was in attendance for yesterday’s LA premiere of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, for which he voices the character of Mayor Shelbourn, and took some time to speak with Access Hollywood, touching of course on the eagerly anticipated Spider-Man 4.

Campbell, who made his mark and cult following playing Ash in the Evil Dead/Army of Darkness films, has had cameo roles in all three Spider-Man films (and even the tie-in video games) to date because of his relationship with director Sam Raimi, the same guy who directed said Evil Dead films back in the day.

So, not unexpectedly he’ll be back to play a part in Spider-Man 4… but not just a cameo this time…

The recent Disney/Marvel partnership is still sending ripples out across the blogosphere. How will it affect the current state of comics? What impact will it have on Marvel Studios’ production schedule? So much was already happening at Marvel Studios with their epic slate of upcoming films, now they’ll be capable of exploring new territories as we (hopefully) get to see an expansion of their production capacity thanks to Disney’s vastly superior resources.

In light of the major news surrounding Disney and Marvel, we have for you some pictures of new characters born out of the merger between the two media juggernauts as well as some words about the corporate happenings from Stan Lee, the genius creator behind so many of the comics and characters we know and love today.

OK, so just a few minutes ago Twitter literally exploded with news of a major financial announcement: according to The Associated Press, The Walt Disney Co. will acquire Marvel Entertainment Inc., for $4 billion in cash and stock.

Woah! If you ever wondered how much the Marvel Universe is worth, I think you just found out.

According to Variety, James Vanderbilt has been picked up by Sony Pictures Entertainment to pen the scripts to another two Spider-Man films.

What’s interesting about this is that Vanderbilt had initially written the first script for Spider-Man 4, a script that director Sam Raimi wasn’t fully in support of. Raimi brought in other writers to do several re-writes but executives at Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios actually liked Vanderbilt’s ideas.

Harry Knowles at Ain’t It Cool News has been hard at work in recent weeks tracking down and verifying a very interesting piece of information: The director for the upcoming film adaptation of the biggest MMO ever, Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft, will be Sam Raimi.

We all know Sam Raimi for his Evil Dead films, the three Spider-Man films (and the upcoming Spider-Man 4) and more recently for his well-received horror movie from earlier this summer, Drag Me to Hell.

News has surfaced that Gary Ross, writer of such films including Seabiscuit, The Tale of Despereaux, Dave and Lassie in the past and writer/director of some others (that we’ll discuss later), is being brought in to re-write the script of Spider-Man 4.

What does this mean for the movie?

There is a lot of new info about the major Marvel superhero movies floating around the Web right now, and because we at Screen Rant believe in a lifestyle of convenience, we’ve pulled together all the bits and pieces into one cohesive Marvel Movie Update.

If you’ve been wondering what’s the latest with Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America or the much-anticipated grand-slam finale, The Avengers, then be sure to keep on reading. Oh, and not to be left out of the club, we’ve got some quick recaps on what’s going on with  Spider-Man 4.

Today, thanks to NYPost and Filmstalker, we have two pretty significant pieces of news relating to the upcoming Spider-Man 4 for you. One relating to Kirsten Dunst’s involvement with the film, the other relating to the rumors of the vampire character Morbius being a villain within the fourth movie.

Scared you there for a second, didn’t I?

Don’t worry, Tobey Maguire is still signed-on to reprise his role as Spider-Man for the fourth and fifth movies in the successful franchise, along with director Sam Raimi. However, Maguire is also set to star in a new romantic comedy called Tokyo Suckerpunch, which is based on the 2000 novel by Isaac Adamson.

According to Tokyo Suckerpunch screenwriter Ed Solomon (Men in Black, Charlie’s Angels), Maguire’s role in the film is so good that it could help the actor move past his role as Spidey. Bold words.

Sam Raimi, director of the Spider-Man films, revealed back in January of this year that he has an interest in the character of Morbius and that sparked rumors that he would be (one of) the featured villains in the upcoming Spider-Man 4.

To me, this made perfect sense as it would allow the next movie to explore a darker and more realistic tone (compared to the more extreme Sandman and Venom characters). Even more than that, Morbius shares plenty of Marvel Comics history with the Lizard character (Dr. Curt Connors) who we saw introduced in Spider-Man 2 and play an important role in Spider-Man 3.

Sam Raimi last talked about Spider-Man 4 early last month, where he gave us details about such things as whether he was planning both the fourth and fifth Spider-Man films at the same time (he’s not), as well as how difficult it is to go back to a franchise after time has passed.

Today, in an interview with our friends over at Cinematical, Raimi talked some more about Spider-Man 4, and went a bit more specifically into his plans and goals for the fourth movie, including how it will differ from the disaster that was Spider-Man 3. Here’s what he had to say:

Last month we got some big news surrounding Spider-Man 4. Among the scheduling changes for the upcoming Marvel movies, we also were told that Spider-Man 4 would hit theaters May 6, 2011. The other unsurprising update that made a splash was that Raimi really wants Kirsten Dunst to return as Mary Jane Watson.

From what we’ve heard, Dunst has been hesitant about returning for another installment, perhaps because of some negative fan feedback about her being cast into the role in the first place which still hasn’t died down.

Raimi is taking it into his own hands and is reportedly set to meet with Kirsten Dunst to talk about her return for the next Spidey adventure. In a group interview last week, Raimi discussed the current situation:

With X-Men Origins: Wolverine a little under three weeks from release, we here at Screen Rant thought an overview of all Marvel properties (and possibilities) might be in order. Though the new independent studio is now producing their own films, solely distributed by Paramount Pictures, there are a number of iconic characters still residing at Hollywood’s other major studios.

Now that the film division of Marvel Entertainment exists, we’ve seen questions around the inter-webs about certain properties and copyrights concerning top-tier Marvel characters. Many readers have been calling for Wolverine to cameo in the expected 2012 film Avengers, but there’s a little problem with that potential geekgasm.

In an interview with AICN recently at SXSW, after screening his new horror flick Drag Me To Hell, fanboy favorite Sam Raimi spilled some more beans on the much anticipated fourth installments in the Spider-Man and Evil Dead franchises.

Those are two franchises that we all want to see be continued in some form or another, and the news that Raimi would indeed, be coming back for a fourth (and a fifth Spider-Man – along with Tobey Maguire), as well as 20-year long rumblings of him doing another Evil Dead flick, certainly inspires infinitely more confidence than if some random director had taken the reigns of either of them.

Here’s what he had to say about each of the movies/franchises:

One of the most fun aspects of each of the Spider-Man movies (and just about the best thing about the third one) is the small appearance of Bruce Campbell. He was the wrestling announcer in the first film (who actually, if you remember, came up with the name “Spider-Man” for Peter Parker), the snooty Usher who prevented Peter from seeing Mary-Jane’s play, and the Maitre d’ who helped him propose to her in the third one.

Well, furthering his love for the Spider-Man universe (which has seen him, along with Tobey Maguire signing on for a fourth and fifth film), he has told MTV that he would like to have Campbell back for the fourth film:

Did you like Spider-Man 3? I didn’t. Sadly, many fans of the Spider-Man franchise were let down by the third installment of the series but don’t fret! We just may get a return to form with Spider-Man 4.

In an interview with Empire for this May’s issue, Raimi openly talked about some of the problems with Spider-Man 3 and confirmed some rumors we all heard about two summers ago when the movie was released.

Sam Raimi had a busy weekend – having to dish out information on the fourth installments of two popular franchises to the hungry press. As I wrote earlier, Raimi answered some questions on the future of the Evil Dead franchise, but he also clarified some stuff for Spider-Man 4.

Yesterday, we found out Marvel had signed deals with Mickey Rourke and Scarlett Johannson for big roles in Iron Man 2 (and other pictures including The Avengers for Scarlett).

Today, Marvel gave us another big announcement – this time releasing a revised schedule for their upcoming feature films. The new schedule pushes each of their planned movies back except for Iron Man 2 which is still scheduled to open May 7, 2010.