Enough already! This entire week seems like it’s been devoted to rumors about who will and will not be playing the role of Black Cat, the recently announced villain (and temptress?) of Spider-Man 4.

When news leaked that it would be Spidey vs. Black Cat in the next film, the first actress named for role was Rachel McAdams – then that rumor was debunked. After that came word that Julia Stiles is up for the role. Now we’re hearing Anne Hathaway’s name being tossed in the mix, while many internet fanboys are insisting that Eliza Dushku or Elisha Cuthbert be given the role because “they’re hot.”

Look… at this point we could keep on “reporting” each and every one of these Black Cat casting rumors as they pop-up and get knocked down again, but why? We all know the final decision is coming soon. But before we learn who will be playing Black Cat, let’s take a moment for ourselves and have a little fun discussing who should play Black Cat. 

Ouch. The blogosphere takes another jab on the chin as our in-print counterparts over at Entertainment Weekly have confirmed that actress Rachel McAdams has NOT been cast as Black Cat in Spider-Man 4. The rumor was originally started by Mania.com, who exclusively revealed last week that Black Cat would be the villain in Spider-Man 4, and that McAdams was a “top contender” for the role.

Well, either Mania’s source on this exclusive was doing a little wishful thinking or McAdams’ name was being tossed out in some very early (read: unofficial) talks, because neither the actress nor Sony were aware of the alleged casting when questioned.

I bet your Spidey sense is tingling from that headline and your first thought may be that Mary Jane and Peter Parker spawn a love-child in Sam Raimi’s fourth installment of the Spider-Man franchise.

If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, SpoilerTV put up the casting call info for “toddler boy,” a two year old red-haired baby that will be a part of Spider-Man 4. Uh oh.

[Update: Rachel McAdams has debunked the rumor that she is playing Black Cat. Go HERE for details]

The past couple of weeks have been filled with a ton of Spider-Man talk with the majority of the chatter being focused on which villain fans can look forward to seeing our favorite web-slinger battle in Spider-man 4. Well, the speculation can subside (for the time being) as the folks over at Mania.com have heard from “reliable sources” that Sam Raimi is in the midst of casting the villains for the next installment of the Spider-Man franchise.

Some of the possibilities that we’ve heard were Bruce Campbell as Mysterio, Dr. Connors (Dylan Baker) as The Lizard and the possibility of William Defoe returning as Green Goblin.

With Sam Raimi receiving complete control over Spider-Man 4 (unlike Spider-Man 3) he has decided to go in a complete different direction than what was previously discussed and has allegedly chosen the formidable Felicia Hardy, known the fans around the world as the skilled cat burglar Black Cat as one of the villains for Spider-Man 4. (Yes, that’s right. I said “one of”).

Terminator Salvation came to theaters on May 21st.  It sparked an idea in my head about technology in our society and if it’s really possible get to the point of what the Terminator franchise projects for our future.

When I presented the idea to a co-worker, he dissed it immediately. When a scientist or engineer starts to immediately diss the possibility of an idea, it’s a good clue that it might be a good idea for us to wrap our imaginations around. Hence, the birth of this article.

This was going to be a short piece… but unfortunately, like the technology in Terminator, the more I looked into the subject matter, the more the article grew on me. It got bigger than the original idea. It took me over and I found myself inexorably abducted into having to write it.

This week:

Tom Hanks is the box office champion; Terry Gilliam kills Don Quixote…again; Spider-Man has a new Green Goblin (on stage); the Basterds are online; Toy Story 3 is moving Up; Ewan McGregor won’t be Trainspotting and who are the Six Suspects?

Sam Raimi, Director of all movies in the Spiderman franchise, spoke in the latest issue of Empire magazine and told them who he’d like to be the featured nemesis of Peter Parker’s alter ego in Spider-Man 4.

“I like it in the Marvel comics when Spider-Man fights Morbius,” said Raimi. “He’s really cool. A vampire! I like that combination of superhero plus supernatural.”

After Spider-Man 3, it was assumed by many that The Lizard would play a major role if there was to be another sequel as he was featured as an important secondary character in the movie playing a mentor-type role to Peter Parker in that film.

Yes, it’s that time of the week again.

This week:

Rob Reiner reads the Book of Shadows; 13 isn’t unlucky for Mickey Rourke and Jason Statham; we take a peek at Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino; will you see Saw V and Spider-Man makes sure that Sam Raimi doesn’t know Jack.

[Update: E! Online's Ted Casablanca reports that all talk on Spider-Man 4, as well as 5, is "jumping the gun" according to his sources. He adds that Tobey Maguire has not signed on to return calling the earlier claims "premature." Although it appears Maguire will probably return. - Jamie.]

Despite the fact that it made $900 million, I’ve yet to meet a single person who actually liked Spider-Man 3. Hell, the audience I saw it with went full-on MST3K resulting in huge laughter during the midnight screening.

But since its release, there have been countless rumors regarding the future of the Spider-Man franchise. “Is Tobey Maguire going to stop playing Webhead?” and “What will Sam Raimi’s involvement be… if any?” were among the many questions asked by fanboys across the internet.

Now it looks like plans are under-way to get Webhead’s fourth cinematic outing to the silver screen ASAP.

Marvel Comics has done a bang-up job expanding their brand over the course of the last decade. After many stalled attempts to break into the realm of television, with bland animated show (Spider-Man), after bland animated show (Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk), all throughout the 90’s, Marvel decided to leave the cartoon stuff to rival DC and start the Millennium off right by conquering the multiplex.

So late last week, word leaked that Spider-Man 4 (along with Spider-Man 5 no less) was picking up steam.

[UPDATE: Sony has informed Coming Soon that Tobey Maguire is not being replaced for Spider-Man 4. - Jamie]

Now according to our buddies at Latino Review, a number of young, lesser-known actors are being considered to replace the departing Tobey Maguire to play Spiderman and his dorky alter-ego Peter Parker.

Ironically, I had just made a remark just this morning on the SuperHero Hype Forum about how we’d yet to hear anything from Sony, Marvel Films & Co. regarding Spider-Man 4.

In fact last we heard, James Vanderbilt (i.e. Zodiac screenwriter) was hired to write Webhead’s 4th cinematic adventure. And that was just a week or so before the WGA Strike started last year.

Since then, it’s been dead silence… until now.

OK, so most of us hated and/or were insanely let-down by Spider-Man 3. We know it’s a huge question mark as to whether or not Tobey Maguire and Sam Raimi show up for Spider-Man 4 while James Vanderbilt (Zodiac) is currently typing away at the script.

I’m not even going to bring up Kirsten Dunst because honestly, no one cares.

So here’s an idea, true-believer (sorry I couldn’t help but unleash my inner Stan “The Man” Lee!) If you called the shots on Spider-Man 4, what would you do? Would you bring back Maguire, Raimi & Co. or flat-out replace them?

By the way, this is for everyone who wants to add their $.02: Readers and my fellow Screen Rant writers. So please, let’s hear your ideas. And there will be a test on this later, boys and girls.

A writer has been hired to pen the screenplay for Spider-Man 4: James Vanderbilt.

Who’s that? He’s the guy who wrote the screenplay for Zodiac, the movie that dramatized the Zodiac killer mystery from the 60’s and 70’s. It received excellent reviews, but not too many people turned out to see it (admittedly, myself included… guess I’ll have to rent it).

In addition the studio is targeting 2009 (no doubt, summer) as the release date for the movie.

No word on whether any of the principal actors (Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, etc.) will be in the fourth film, but I’d be very happy to see Mary Jane relegated to a very minor part of the story.

Source: Cinematical

A poster is out for the new Spectacular Spider-Man animated series coming to the WB network.

It looks like Marvel may finally be taking a hint from DC in the animation department, at least based on the drawing style depicted in the poster (click on the image for a larger view).

Update: You can now see the preview right here!

For the next 24 hours only you can go to NBC.com and catch a seven minute preview of Spiderman 3. Personally I fast forwarded through the first half because what I wanted to see was some ACTION.

I hate to admit it, but although I found James Franco’s portrayal of Harry Osborne kind of weepy in the first couple of films, his scenes in the preview as (correct me if I’m wrong) Hobgoblin are really excellent. He seems absolutely ferocious and it works great. And gone is that silly Power Rangers version of the costume, replaced with a more Ninja-like outfit.

Here are a few more images from the preview: