In the comics, when Ned Leeds a/k/a Hobgoblin is assassinated, one of the assassins makes the comment that if Spider-Man had been willing to kill, the Hobgoblin would have been dead a long time ago. The Goblin/ Hobgoblin’s potency as a villain came from the fact that he was the only one for a while who knew that Spider-Man was Peter Parker, and that he was Peter’s best friend’s father, and later Peter’s best friend.
The cartoons are available on DVD, but not in complete series sets. Rather, they’re packaged with certain themes (e.g. Spidey v. Dock Ock).
Now, my few cents on villains - they’ve established two men who have reasons for wanting Spidey dead - John Jameson and Harry Osborn. If Venom is to make an appearance, I suspect that it will be John who becomes Venom, not Eddie Brock, who I think was only mentioned in passing. And once again, the fanboys will bleat.
Well, I think SMG would be fantastic, as would Silverstone (though she may be too old now). Since they didn’t cast Elisha Cuthbert for Sue Storm, she’d make a good Black Cat as well.
You thought *Spiderman * sucked but don’t think Silverstone did as Batgirl? Eesh. And I thought I was the weird one for not being overly impressed with *Spiderman *'s sequel.
SMG as the Black Cat would be cool but I think it would be too cliched with Batman/Catwoman and Daredevil/Elektra both already covering similar ground.
I’d like to see a Sinister Six movie. Not neccesarily Doc Oc, Vulture, Mysterio, Sandman, Kraven, and uh… whoever the sixth was (Rhino? the Lizard?) but maybe just a loose collection of his lesser known enemies. Scorpion, Shocker, etc.
And, god please don’t let this series turn into the Venom and Carnage show. That would really suck.
I don’t know beans about the Spider-Man comic books, but it seemed to me that S-M2 was quite clearly setting up the fiancee as a future adversary. How would that play out, if it were true?
Y’know, since they’ve said that SM3 will likely be the last installment, I’m surprised the studio and Sam Raimi haven’t decided to go with the Sinister Six as the villains.
I mean, just make a BUNCH of villains at once. That’d be fun.
IMHO - yuck. It may work in a comic book format, but for a movie, it feels like a slippery slope to Batman and Robin-ville, where it is all silly flash and no substance.
The heart of the success of Spiderman 2 is 2 things:
a real story - the script and its inherent drama - “how will Peter find a way to be himself and honor his obligations as Spiderman?” - come first in the creation of the movie.
a great villain - in this case, Doc Ock not only was a wonderfully (and minimally, compared to scene-chewers like Nicholson and Willem Dafoe) acted character, but visually, the fight scenes with he and Spidey tumbling down the sides of buildings - were spectacular.
Throwing a bunch of villains at Spidey would just be all action all the time - no one baddie gets developed as a character and the entire story arc would be silly.
I have read that they were very careful in casting Dylan Baker as Dr. Conners in S2 - so one would assume that, like other posters have stated, the Lizard is a lock. GG, given the end of S2, must also be a lock. I hope they leave it at that.
If they do intro someone like the Black Cat - and I would love to see Dushku in that role for both her acting (BC seems a lot like Faith, her character from Buffy) and her obvious beauty. But they would have to scheme to put the Lizard and/or the GG on the back burner to make that happen - please keep the bad guy stuff simple and stay true to a story! Please!!!
----====Curles up in a corner====----
“Can’t sleep. Clone will eat me.”
Oh, I know. How about they bring back Peter’s parents, but they’re not really Peter’s parents. Then, at the climax, they turn into giant bird… robot… things.
The Lizard works for me, though my true preference would be Sandman (for all the great wise-cracking opportunities).
I don’t think we’ll see Venom or the Black Cat any time soon. Raimi seems to be sticking pretty closely to the early (Ditko and Romita eras) story lines.
Plus Venom and Black Cat are unknown to older generations of Spidey fans, so their appeal to moviegoers would not be as broad as that of the early villains.
(The appearance of John Jameson in Spidey II worries me. PLEASE don’t inflict Man-Wolf on us.)
I’d kinda like to see more than one villain. It could be done without devolving into a Batman and Robin like mess. Do it James Bond style; start the movie with one of the B villains, say Rhino, Vulture, or Scorpion robbing a bank or doing something to give Spidey and excuse for a battle. You get a nice little one or two minute battle scene, some web-slinging, banter, and mass destruction, then bring on the titles and the main story.
Probably true. I guess I’m just trying to get the most bang for my buck, seeing as SM3 will be the last one of the series.
Besides, you could always have the Sinister Six as a mercenary group hired by Harry Osborne to take out Spider-Man. That way there’s at least pretense for six supervillains to show up at the same time.
Green/Hobgoblin attacks Spidey throughout most of the movie until the end of Act 2 when Spidey unmasks GG as…Flash Thompson! Harry, knowing how Pete humiliated Flash during their fight back at Midtown High, tells Flash Spidey’s secret ID and hires him to kill S-M. In Act 3, Pete confronts GG and…um…I dunno, throws him off a bridge. Seems to happen a lot.
Whatever Sam Raimi does with John Jameson (if he does anything at all - I believe he and his brother just finished the first draft of the story he wants to tell), I can easily see him being one of the antagonists in Spider-Man 3. I think Raimi could do a decent job with Man-Wolf. He doesn’t even have to be a full-on villain like Green Goblin II/Hobgoblin, and M.J. could even be the one who takes him down in the end.
I’d like to see Peter and Mary-Jane’s relationship be relatively stable in the next film. Any angst in the third film should just be between Peter and Harry, and possibly Mary-Jane and John. No love-triangles. Peter may be uneasy with John’s feelings for Mary-Jane, but there should be no real threat to their relationship from John. She should just have to deal with protecting Spider-Man from John/Man-Wolf (who wouldn’t necessarily know Peter is Spider-Man - depends on his interaction with Harry).
If the Black Cat appears in a future film, it would cause angst in Peter and Mary-Jane’s relationship. Something I don’t want to see for a while. And I don’t think Black Cat would really be a full-on villain, so we’d have to see another true villain in a film with her. Venom would do nicely, since Spider-Man would likely need an extra hand (paw? ) to take him on. (Which would bother Mary-Jane in more ways that one.) Whether Venom is Eddie Brock, John Jameson or someone/something else, we’ll have to wait and see.
As for The Lizard, I don’t think Dr. Connors has been established enough to see him as a villain in the third film. I wonder if Dr. Stromm will show up again in the future? It would be really fun if Raimi threw in a small appearance by one of the D-list villains in Spider-Man 3. I’d like to see more of the wise-cracking Spidey, and laying the smack down onto some lame villain both physically and verbally early in the film would be cool.
I remember enough from my comic book days to understand the Dr Connor and John Jameson setups in S-M2. Maybe someone can answer this for me. The little kid who helped Aunt May pack was named. Is this a reference to something? Does the kid grow up to be someone important? I remember thinking during the movie that the kid had to be in there for a reason. I don’t remember his name now.
) to take him on. (Which would bother Mary-Jane in more ways that one.) Whether Venom is Eddie Brock, John Jameson or someone/something else, we’ll have to wait and see.