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.

Raimi responded to the two top choices but couldn't reveal who they've selected as the villainous characters are for the next Spider-Man adventure.

"I love the Lizard... There's a great story there in the Marvel comic books about Dr. Connors. I'm less familiar with Carnage."

After this, you could tell Raimi wanted to be more open on the topic, but he must remain tight-lipped for obvious reasons with shooting not even expected to begin until next March. After a long pause, Raimi followed up by saying "I'm not allowed to say at this point."

Normally, I'd think that The Lizard would be an obvious choice and that the other would be a character not introduced into the franchise yet. I can pretty much guarantee Carnage will not be in Spider-Man 4. After what happened with Venom in Spider-Man 3, they'll be leaving the symbiotic villains behind until the franchise restarts and/or the Venom solo film gets underway.

However, Raimi later explains that the next movie doesn't have so much to do with a character introduced in the films so far or about intertwining with/setting up the Venom spinoff. This partially puts a damper on The Lizard's full introduction.

Of course, he could just be intentionally misleading. It seems like too much of a missed opportunity to not have The Lizard finally make an appearance after seeing Dr. Curt Connors introduced and slightly developed over the last few films.

Raimi continued by elaborating on the goal of Spider-Man 4's story and how the villain will fit into that plan.

"What we're trying to do right now is really understand the journey Peter is going to go on this time and have the villain maybe be a counter to that growth, something that he has to overcome... Or maybe he has to grow in a way to overcome the villain, because there always seem to be stories of coming of age, of a young man growing up and learning things about life, so once we are identifying the exact movement that Peter has to grow to, I think the villain—and we're trying this right now; we're trying to choose a villain based on who would be the proper counter to that growth, so we really have dramatic conflict."

Click to continue reading about Spider-Man 4 villains...

Morbius a villain in Spider-Man 4

Speculation on who Peter Parker's alter ego would be duking it out with began getting a lot of attention at the top of the year when Raimi revealed his interest in the character of Morbius back in January. With the popularity of vampires in all forms of media these days and expectations of a darker and grittier Spidey adventure the next time around, this rumor was believable.

On top of that, a story for Morbius would fit perfect into the established franchise as Dr. Michael Morbius has many connections and similarities with Dr. Curt Connors (The Lizard) who has already been introduced in the franchise and who played a key role in the last film. The Lizard is an obvious choice of one of the next villains and that made the idea of Morbius being the featured villain of Spider-Man 4 even more plausable.

Eventually, the Morbius rumors were shot down in June when Raimi confirmed that the villain was still being worked on at the point, revealing only that fans will appreciate their selection as the character "will be a big part of New York."

We heard director Sam Raimi wanted Bruce Campbell back as they're great friends with a long history. Campbell of course had cameo roles in all three Spider-Man flicks and it made sense to have him guest star again. But what if he played more than a cameo role this time around? What if he played a villain?

The Spider-Man 4 rumors got very interesting for Bruce Campbell fans last month as he said he'll be back for the next movie and that he'll have a "major part" in the film, but he did not know who that was or what it meant at the time. Online discussion from the fans pointed towards Mysterio as a potential character for Campbell to play but many also think that it could be a little extreme for the fishbowl-wearing character to be a main villain for the live-action Spider-Man.

So, where does that leave us?

The Lizard is a high possibility for the obvious reasons of his introduction and development in the movies so far. Campbell could play a villain but we have no idea who and we know Morbius doesn't seem to likely a choice. from the interview, Carnage seems out of the question and since they messed up Venom last time around, I wouldn't expect him to return until Spider-Man 5 which could be a restart of the franchise.

Then again, the series so far does do a good job of tying each movie to the previous so perhaps the symbiote is still lurking around looking for a new host.

What villain(s) do you think will and/or should be featured in Spider-Man 4?

Spider-Man 4 hits theaters May 6, 2011.

Source: MTV