Nitpick: Poison Ivy was in B4, along with Mr. Freeze and (sigh) Bane. Actually, Arnold Schwarnezeggar was pretty good, IMHO; he played Freeze with a kind of casual campiness that would have fit much better has the whole movie been set around the humor.
The problem was crap writting.
It isn’t really a problem, since any villain can be made to be more sinister and realistic. For example, take The White Rabbit.
Really, I need you to get her away from me. She’s crazy.
Turn her from a comic relief nutcase debutant who was taken down bythe Fabulous Frog-Man and who dressed in a stupid costume into a psychopathic debutant who is on the verge of falling out of her clumsily made costume. Have her actually kill someone, albeit it off screen, to show just how little she cares for human life. If you feel like it, you can have a scene shot from her point of view, and don’t skimp on the special effect. To throw in more of the original comic book, you could show Spiderman vs. the gun touting bunny, make it really dramatic, then have the mass murdering maniac brought down by a vase to the back of her head, courtesy of some overweight young boy.
Oh yes, Uma Thurman. I thought it was Nicole Kidman who played some sort of minor villain in B3. They’re all starting to blend together now.
With Batman Forever, I don’t think the problem was that they had sub-par villains to work with (I think both Riddler and Two-Face - and Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy for that matter - are more interesting that the Penguin, not that Burton’s Penguin - or Catwoman - really had anything to do with the comic book character). I think the problem was that they wanted both villains to just be the Joker.
Both villains acted pretty much alike and were devoid of any the qualities that actually make them intesting. They both just laughed a lot and made stupid jokes. Riddler had that stupid mind-sucking machine thing going on, and it’s hard to write a good Riddler story even when you’re not starting off on a really stupid note.
If both of the villains had been portrayed as they were in Batman: The Animated Series, the movie would have been way better. Of course, in general, every Batman movie past and present could stand to learn a lot from Batman: TAS.
The news is in.
Thomas Haden Church is Sandman
While
Topher Grace is Venom
Cite? I don’t need no stinking cite!
Very strange. I figured from the quote it would be Haden-Church as Venom and Grace as Sandman. 
I’m having a hard time imagining nice guy Topher Grace as a drooling maniac. I trust Raimi and all, but this has me a little bit worried.
Topher as Venom? No way does he have the build for that. Though he’s got the perfect measurements for Carnage…
I guess they’re thinking Venom has to look or be built a lot like Spidey?
How much do you wanna’ bet it (the costume) will all be done via CG, and thus not matter how he looks?
According to this Marvel site, Eddie Brock is 6’3" and 260lbs while Peter Parker is listed as 5’10" and 165lbs.
Brock could easily kicks Parker’s ass without superpowers or suits.
I assume you mean if both were lacking suits or powers. As a non-powered Brock would last maybe 10 seconds against Spider-Man, 8 of which would be taken up by a Spidey quipping.
Exactly. If it was just mano-a-mano (but not mano-a-spidermano), Parker would end up in the ICU after a couple of punches.
I think his real power is being Aunt May’s sometimes lover.
Sandman was one of the hardest villains for Spidey to face, just as Clayface is to Batman. Spidey almost always have to find a handy pile of wet cement to stop him.
Actually, I would have gone with Hydro-man instead of Sandy. He could be very creepy and cool if done correctly.
I can see Church as Sandman…but Topher Grace as Venom is just a little too far-fetched. Besides, they showed Eddie Brock in the first movie: R.C. Everbeck and more or less established him as big dude. I know consistency isn’t exactly Hollywood’s strong suit, but Brock is big and Grace ain’t.
I’d say he’s better suited for Carnage, a Goblin of some sort, possibly Carrion…I dunno. I found an article in People that showed him with blond hair, so that narrows down some possibilities. I guess Iron Fist is out of the question. Or maybe Cardiac or Stiltman. I don’t think Electro is totally out of the question.
I also read some speculation that both guys are going to be playing the same villain, namely Chameleon. I fail to see how the movie moguls would go for Chameleon when Spidey’s Rogues Gallery is full of heavy hitters like Venom, Carnage, Rhino, etc.
I also reiterate: Vince McMahon would be a frigging awesome Mysterio. He’s got the body, he’s got the menacing presence, but I seriously doubt he could be directable. It won’t happen, but he would be fantastic in the role.
Grace is an awesome choice for Venom, if you look at Venom as “Bizarro Spider-Man”. I think the idea is to make a match for Spidey that’s basically Spidey as a total bastard. Which means casting someone credible as a mirror for Peter, that is, for Maguire. Topher Grace would be my first choice if Maguire dropped out and I wanted to continue having Peter develop along the same lines. He’ll do well as a dark reflection, I think.
It’s also possible they will base him on Ultimate Venom, which is really a completely different character. So many aspects of the first movie were drawn from Ultimate Spider-Man, which retold Lee and Ditko’s origin story with some obvious updating and minor changes. I don’t know if Ultimate Venom is physically closer to Spider-Man in size or not, but that wouldn’t surprise me at all.
It’d send fanboys gunning for them, but I wonder if they’ll keep the Venom symbiote at all. Make Venom another guy that managed to get himself bit by that spider. Spider-Man, but bitter and evil. It’d work and it’d simplify telling the origin.