Thomas Haden Church cast as villain for Spider-Man

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Well you have to remember, at the end of Spider-Man 2, they were already hinting at FOUR villains:

 

The Green Goblin II

 

The Lizard

 

Man-Wolf

 

and Venom (because of Man Wolf)

 

 

 

I was hoping to see the Lizard myself, he's my favorite Spider-Man villain.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I'm not sure exactly, but when did they hint at Lizard in Spiderman 2? I'm not that knowledgable on the Spiderman lore...

[Der Kommissar 0]

I'm not sure exactly, but when did they hint at Lizard in Spiderman 2?

 

Well, they did introduce Dr. Curt Connors, who, if memory serves, becomes the Lizard in the Spiderman comics.

[Secret Agent 0]

Yes, Dr. Conner's is Lizard. He did some experiment where he was trying to stimulate growth cells or something that had to do with Lizard's being able to grow back their tail in an effort to grow back his arm, and becomes The Lizard! That'd be some cool CGI if done right.

[pochorenella 0]

Interesting to say the least. I trust Raimi with the franchise so hopefully this turns out to be good for the film.

[Boon 0]

Are they splitting MJ and Pete in the third one?

[SuperJerk 0]

Well you have to remember, at the end of Spider-Man 2, they were already hinting at FOUR villains:

 

The Green Goblin II

 

The Lizard

 

Man-Wolf

 

and Venom (because of Man Wolf)

 

 

 

I was hoping to see the Lizard myself, he's my favorite Spider-Man villain.

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I don't understand why you put Venom on that list.

[Boon 0]

Well you have to remember, at the end of Spider-Man 2, they were already hinting at FOUR villains:

 

The Green Goblin II

 

The Lizard

 

Man-Wolf

 

and Venom (because of Man Wolf)

 

 

 

I was hoping to see the Lizard myself, he's my favorite Spider-Man villain.

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I don't understand why you put Venom on that list.

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The only thing he might be thinking is that since Eddie Brock and Kid Jameson were astronauts together...

[The Metal Maniac 0]

The only thing he might be thinking is that since Eddie Brock and Kid Jameson were astronauts together

 

Uh, Brock was a photographer. He was mentioned offhand in the first movie though; Jameson said something like "These shots are much better then that crap Brock sends in" or something like that.

[Black Lushus 0]

wasn't the "Eddie Brock was an astronaut" angle from the late 90s cartoon series? I don't believe true Spidey fans take any of that shit as canon...

[pochorenella 0]

I don't recall any instance were Eddie Brock was portrayed as an astronaut either in the comics or cartoon shows. The deal was that in the 90's cartoon they used an angle were John Jameson crash landed back on earth from space and he inadvertedly brought the Venom symbiote. Then pretty much like the comics, it met Peter Parker, Peter rejected it and then met Eddie who was either a reporter or a photographer. IMO that was a clever way to introduce the Venom character without the Secret Wars stuff. It could be perfectly used for a big-screen adaptation.

[ChrisMWaters 0]

I'm bumping this because I had a thought with the whole Venom stuff.

 

Who is to say they'll use the stuff from the REGULAR Spider-Man series for him?

 

I mean, Parker's parents were never actually ever mentioned in the first two movies, so there is a possibility that they could do what the ULTIMATE Spider-Man series did with Venom: The cancer removal suit gone horribly wrong.

 

What do you people think about that?

[Sass 0]

Regular Marvel Universe origin of Venom (plus Animated one) > Ultimate MU origin of Venom.

 

Sadly, I could see the movie folks going with the Ultimate version of Venom's origin though. It's just easier to spoon feed to fans at this juncture since Eddie Brock was never established as a character in the movie series like he was in the cartoon (which I always enjoyed more than the actual version of Venom's origin in the comics).

[ChrisMWaters 0]

Regular Marvel Universe origin of Venom (plus Animated one) > Ultimate MU origin of Venom.

 

Sadly, I could see the movie folks going with the Ultimate version of Venom's origin though.  It's just easier to spoon feed to fans at this juncture since Eddie Brock was never established as a character in the movie series like he was in the cartoon (which I always enjoyed more than the actual version of Venom's origin in the comics).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Plus the fact that, to an extent, the Spider-Man movies have mostly stayed grounded on Earth.

 

Alien symbiotes would change things a bit, for sure.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

I don't understand why you put Venom on that list.

The deal was that in the 90's cartoon they used an angle were John Jameson crash landed back on earth from space and he inadvertedly brought the Venom symbiote.

 

Pochorenella pretty much answered you for me. I'd figure and HOPING, they'll reuse it for the movie, its a more convinient way to introduce Venom into the movie if they're going to do a slow build, which they should considering Sony wants at least 6 Spider-Man movies made.

 

 

 

 

Well, its official guys, after all the rumors, Sony has released this:

 

Enter The Sandman

 

[AboveAverage484 0]

^ That's pretty cool. I'm banking on there being more than one villain for the third one. Hopefully it won't get like Batman where it's overloaded, but I can see them throwing the Shocker or Electro in as a second baddie in one of the films.

 

...And there are two things this franchise doesn't need to touch: Spidey's parents being alive, and the clone Spideys.

[Guest JMA]

I'm still skeptical about Topher Grace being Venom. I like the guy and all, but he's as thin as a rail. He'd have to gain at least fifty pounds (of muscle) to pull off Venom. As for Venom himself, he should stay out of the Spider-Man movies entirely. As others have said it would take the series off course to introduce an alien costume.

[ChrisMWaters 0]

I'm still skeptical about Topher Grace being Venom. I like the guy and all, but he's as thin as a rail. He'd have to gain at least fifty pounds (of muscle) to pull off Venom. As for Venom himself, he should stay out of the Spider-Man movies entirely. As others have said it would take the series off course to introduce an alien costume.

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But that's why I brought up the possibilty of the Ultimate Spider-Man origin of Venom.

 

No alien stuff involved there, which wouldn't through the movies off course as you would say.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Going the cartoon route for Venom's introduction, as stated, wouldn't throw the movies off-course at all, really. John Jameson is established as an astronaut, so he brings the symbiote back in #3 (and most of the movie helps build Eddie Brock as hating Spider-Man), it bonds with Peter and then gets rejected at the end...

 

...end the movie with Eddie Brock working out as he curses Spider-Man for ruining his life/career/etc., and then a silhouette, a slithering sound, and the camera turns around to see the Venom spider, and then? Credits.

[Special K 0]

The fact is, Venom was never meant to be a successful Spider-Man villain. That's a pretty direct quote from Todd McFarlane. After ASM 300, he was supposed to be forgotten.

 

Brock's original motivation was severely weak any retconning (IE the cartoon USM, really benefits the charcter, because Brock's original motivation was WEAK. I really loved Venom, until pretty much the end of the first Carnage arc (Venom was so popular, they spun him off in his fifth fucking Spider-Man appearance.) He was one of the best looking villains, and Spider-Man could not compete, had to outhink him. But Venom (and Brock) were fucking clever and played mind games. Just such a great villain originally.

I think it's essential that the villain thinks he's right, and Venom had that in spades.

 

That said, my ideal scenario would be set up Brock up this movie, have Sandman (Church actually looks pretty pimp in that shirt, and GGII or the Lizard. Then you have Venom the next movie. Though Venom and GGII would be too much.

 

So, Sandman and GGII would be awesome this movie, setting up Venom.

 

Lastly, wouldn't it be cool to have an opening villain qith a quick scene, now that Peter's ostensibly Spider-man? A 5 minute opener with Shocker or Elektro or RHINO would be awesome.

[Scroby 0]

I don't know much about man-wolf. Can someone explain to me how he was sorta teased in the 2nd movie?

[pochorenella 0]

It was teased because Man-Wolf is really John Jameson. He went to a mission to the moon IIRC and found some magic stone that transformed him into this wolf god or something.

[Guest JMA]

I like Venom and all but I don't want to see him in the Spider-Man movies. I much prefer Raimi putting the early Spider-Man villains into the movies and telling interesting stories with them. I also enjoy how Spider-Man's film villains all have a scientific background--it makes for a good theme, i.e. "science gone wrong."

 

Regarding Topher Grace and Venom, he'd still need to significantly bulk up to pull off Venom even if they did use a variation of the Ultimate Spider-Man origin. Unless they plan to have a completely CGI Venom (which would suck).

[pochorenella 0]

Unless they plan to have a completely CGI Venom (which would suck).

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Why do you think that? IMO, CGI is the only way to go if you want to capture a true representation of Venom. A Chris Masters-type guy in a costume (with maybe just the face CGI) just doesn't cut it for the character. If they can pull it off like they did the Hulk then I say go for CGI entirely. The only drawback I can think of is that the budget would go to the roof for this movie. Spider-Man 2 alone cost $200 million to make.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

I like Venom and all but I don't want to see him in the Spider-Man movies. I much prefer Raimi putting the early Spider-Man villains into the movies and telling interesting stories with them.

 

I don't mind classic villains either, but it has to be the right ones like The Vulture, Electro, or Kraven. But not some joker like Mysterio who I never took seriously.

 

But that's why I brought up the possibilty of the Ultimate Spider-Man origin of Venom.

 

No alien stuff involved there, which wouldn't through the movies off course as you would say.

 

What happened there?

 

*hasn't read comics in years

[Guest SpiderFan]

Regarding Topher Grace and Venom, he'd still need to significantly bulk up to pull off Venom even if they did use a variation of the Ultimate Spider-Man origin. Unless they plan to have a completely CGI Venom (which would suck).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I don't recall Brock being huge in the Ultimate version of the character. The bulk was all suit. They could just go that route, and can cast a good actor, instead of someone big enough who can't act.

 

But not some joker like Mysterio who I never took seriously.

 

Mysterio would be tremendous in the films. Want to have Spidey fighting a villian who can't quite carry a movie on his own? He's a robot/illusion for one fight. Want to have Spidey doing something crazy, like fight a dinosaur? Illusion. There's so many possibilites, they'd be foolish not to use him at some point.

 

What happened there?

 

Peter and Brock's Dad's were research partners, who were trying to find a cure for cancer. They made the Venom suit instead. Peter took the suit, put it on, realized it was trying to bond with him, got rid of it. Brock found out, got pissed, put the suit on to go after Peter.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

The reason they cast a skinnier guy like Topher for Venom (if indeed Venom is the villian) is because they want to make him sort of a mirror of Spider-Man, a mirror of Toby McGuire/Peter Parker.

[Ravenbomb 0]

In that case they should go with Jake Gyllenhaal

[Guest JMA]

In that case they should go with Jake Gyllenhaal

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They're probably saving him for when McGuire stops playing the role. In fact, I'd be surprised if they weren't.

[Guest JMA]

The reason they cast a skinnier guy like Topher for Venom (if indeed Venom is the villian) is because they want to make him sort of a mirror of Spider-Man, a mirror of Toby McGuire/Peter Parker.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That probably is the case.