Peter Parker will be squaring of against the villain Electro in Sony’s Amazing Spider-Man 2 and filling out the bad guy’s costume will be Jamie Foxx.

Variety is reporting that the actor is in negotiations for the role. This was confirmed by the actor who tweeted earlier today -

Dressed up as Electro for Halloween last night. Costume fits well.

— Jamie Foxx (@iamjamiefoxx) November 1, 2012

Electro is an old school Spidey villain who first appeared back in The Amazing Spider-Man #9 in February 1964. After being struck by lightening, Max Dillon discovered that he could shoot electricity from his hands and embarked upon a crime spree that was ultimately stopped by Spider-Man. The villain has been a regular member of the wallcrawler’s stable of villains virtually ever since.

It shouldn’t come as much of a shock, forgive the pun, that Electro is the villain. In the first film’s mid-credits tag scene a mysterious, cloaked-in-shadows man approached that film’s villain Dr. Curt Connors, aka the Lizard, in his prison cell for some discussion about Peter Parker’s past. Based on the fact that the mysterious person appeared at one point to have some lightening surrounding him, many concluded that he could possibly be Electro.

This will mark the character’s first appearance in a Spider-Man film although he almost made it to the big screen twice before. The first time was back in the late `90s when James Cameron was developing the property. The second time was when Sam Raimi, director of the last Spider-Man trilogy of films which starred Toby Maguire, was developing a fourth film.

Amazing Spider-Man director Marc Webb is set to return to the franchise as are stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Gwen Stacey. Shailene Woodley is in talks to join the cast as Peter’s future love interest Mary Jane Parker.

The film is set for a May 2, 2014 release.

FBOL Editor-in-Chief Rich Drees posted his review of this film yesterday, and he’s already been taken to task in the comments over it. Well, as much as I hate to take him to task again, I will, albeit, hopefully, in a more professional manner. Because I liked the movie far more than he did.

I agree with Rich that it’s nigh impossible to look at this film without comparing it to 2000′s Spider-Man, because like Sam Raimi’s film, it is an origin story that takes several beats from the comic book origin. Yes, you’ll have the scene where Peter Parker get bitten by a spider. You’ll get the killing of Uncle Ben, you’ll get the costume creating montage. And after each of these moments, you’ll be taken back to the original Raimi film. Some moments may compare favorably, some may not, your mileage may vary.

But once you get past the origin part of the story, where the similarities seem the strongest, this film begins to go its own way. This version of Spider-Man is more grounded in reality, or as close to reality any movie featuring a mutated seven-foot lizard man can get. And it is also a modernized version of Spider-Man as well. Raimi’s Spider-Man had an ageless quality to him, that with a small change of set dressing Tobey Maguire’s version of the character could have been from the 1950s or 1960s as much as he was from the 2000s. Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man is set in the now, a world of cell phones and You Tube and skateboards. Neither version of better than the other, in my opinion, but both are valid takes on the iconic character.

I think that Rich missed a lot of the subtlety of the characterization of Peter Parker, because if he didn’t, I’m sure that a lot of his complaints about the film would have been answered. Peter Parker, as brilliantly played by Andrew Garfield, is a young man who never knows the right thing to do. This causes him to hem and haw while asking out a girl who is throwing herself at him. It also causes him to believe that humiliating the bully who humiliated him is the best course of action. With this as a prologue, his desire to hunt down the man who killed his uncle seems completely believable. It’s what Peter, blinded by grief and anger, thinks would be the best way to make amends for, and to relieve his guilt over, inadvertently causing his uncle’s death.

While it is true that the death of Uncle Ben was used as the instigator of Spider-Man’s using his powers for unselfish means in both the comics and the Raimi films, it wouldn’t work here with the characterization up to that point and, trying to avoid spoilers, the way this movie changes the death of Uncle Ben. The scene where Peter finally realizes the effect of his uncle’s words about taking responsibility for his actions comes later during what I will call the “bridge scene,” the point of which Rich obviously either missed or  didn’t give proper emphasis to.

Once again, to avoid spoilers, I’ll simply say it’s where the Lizard makes his first appearance and Spidey saves a bunch of lives (facts which the trailer spoiled). It’s here where Peter learns that with great power comes with great responsibility. It’s here where he learns that he is the only person qualified to take on this menace (and barely qualified at that) and that if he doesn’t take action, many, many people will die. Uncle Ben’s words finally sink in. It’s is here where Peter’s story arc curves and he, as a character, changes and grows. And this new sense of responsibility carries through to the end of the film.

The film is full of deep emotional resonance, inspired directing by Marc Webb, finely crafted scenes (the dinner scene where Peter meets Gwen Stacy’s family is especially sharp and proves that Denis Leary is one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood), and subtle moments that make for an enjoyable film. The way they treat Gwen Stacy is especially refreshing. With a stunning acting performance from Emma Stone, who is quickly becoming the greatest actress of her generation, Gwen is not the superhero film stereotype of “The Girlfriend In Peril.” She is an equal, if not a superior, to Peter in many ways. And while the film places her in jeopardy at times, it’s not for a stupid reasons, but for heroic acts and always with her knowing the dangers of her actions.

Comic fans should appreciate the film’s interpretations of George Stacy and Flash Thompson, which, while not carbon copies of their comic book inspirations, captured the spirit of them well enough to please a long time Spidey fan like me. And the film’s obligatory Stan Lee cameo is one of his funniest yet.

This is not to say the film is a perfect film. It’s not. There are a number of bad plot contrivances such as mind-numbing coincidences (Who is the guide for the tour of Connor’s lab? Why Gwen Stacy of course! And naturally the secret formula Peter’s dad left behind in an old briefcase would be the formula Connors needed to finish his work!) and glaring gaps of logic (in addition to the Internet search thing Rich mentioned, Peter has his secret identity spoiled by leaving behind his camera, complete with a “Property of Peter Parker” placard at a battle scene. Why didn’t he also leave a class schedule and a list of his fears along with it?).  But these are but blips on the radar for an otherwise enjoyable film.

If you liked the part in Spider-Man 3 when Toby Maguire’s Peter Parker got all moody and emo, then you’re going to love James Garfield’s interpretation of the character in the franchise reboot The Amazing Spider-Man.

Here we have a high school Peter Parker who has abandonment issues over the deaths of his parents and oft times takes them out on his loving Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and Aunt May (Sally Field). And while his time spent underneath a mask as Manhattan’s swinging superhero is often seen as a chance for Peter to let his hair down so to speak and have some fun, this version of Spider-Man has more of a single-minded mission. And best (or worst) of all, we can count on this portrayal continuing into at least the next installment of the franchise as none of these character issues are really resolved. It is as if director Marx Webb doesn’t realize that we already have a grim and gritty comic book film this month in the form of Christopher Nolan’s upcoming The Dark Knight Rises.

Peter Parker is not your typical teen. While extraordinarily smart, he is having trouble fitting in at school, which is surprising considering that he goes to Midtown Science High School which sounds like it would be an environment rich with like-minded teens. But Peter keeps himself isolated, still hurting from the death of his parents a decade earlier. When his Uncle Ben finds an old briefcase of his father’s, Peter starts to investigate the events surrounding his parents’ deaths. The trail leads him to OsCorp and Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), a former colleague of Peter’s father. Connors is researching how animal genetics could help improve humans. While snooping around Connor’s lab, Peter is bitten by a spider and soon finds himself with enhanced strength and the ability to crawl up walls. But when Connors turns his research on himself, he finds himself transformed into a seven-foot-tall half-human, half-lizard monster. Following the death of his uncle at the hands and gun of a petty thief, Peter starts using his powers to try and catch the killer only to become a target of the New York City police.

That description makes the film seem much more densely plotted than it actually is. Some storylines are introduced only to be abandoned. The mystery of Peter’s parents is only there to lead him to Connors after which it is conveniently forgotten until the mid-credits button scene in which the filmmakers suddenly remember that this particular thread is still unresolved and make a quick promise to possibly return to the issue in a sequel. Likewise, a plotline involving an OsCorp executive demanding that Connors escalate his work to human trials exists only to force the character to test the serum on himself so he would turn into the villain of the piece.

While I will get to some of the film’s flaws, I did want to address a few of the things that it got right. First off, the teenage awkwardness between Peter and his high school crush Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) feels spot on. The portrayal of Connors/The Lizard as an ersatz Jekyll and Hyde works well enough to make you wish that the movie spent more time on it. A sequence at the beginning of the film’s climax where New Yorkers rally to help Spider-Man delivers perhaps the film’s most emotional moment.

I will admit that it is hard not to compare this new iteration of the Spider-Man story to the director Sam Raimi’s trilogy that has come before. Not just because Raimi’s films are still in the relatively recent past but because their popularity have cemented a certain version of the character in the public’s imagination. Webb’s new reinvention of the Spider-Man mythos almost seems to court such comparisons though and when examining them we can find some to be problematic.

Among comic book fans, one of the most controversial aspects of Raimi’s films was the change of Spider-Man’s webshooters being an invention of Peter’s to yet another change in his body brought about by that radioactive spider bite. Amazing Spider-Man wants to emphasize Peter’s boy genius side by returning to the idea that he built his webshooters, but then proceeds to undercut it by having the actual web fluid be something he stole from OsCorp.

I also found it hard to believe that while Peter has often wondered about his parents, it was not until the discovery of his father’s attaché case that he decided to start actively trying to find out about them. Credulity is further strained when we see how much information was obtained by a relatively simple internet search. If Peter’s so smart how is it he never thought to do a simple search engine query?

But the biggest wrong note that the film hits is how it treats Peter’s reaction to his Uncle Ben’s death. This is the moment where Peter embraces the Spider-Man story’s well-known theme of great power bringing great responsibility. Instead, this film uses that moment to turn Peter into a vigilante, only stopping crimes being committed by men who match the description of his uncle’s killer.

And even by the end of this new film, Peter has not embraced the responsibility of his powers. This is a point that is firmly driven home in the film’s very last line of dialogue before the credits begin rolling. Peter may have changed physically over the course of the film, thanks to him receiving his powers, but he still seems to be the same self-absorbed kid he was at the start of the film with no emotional growth or maturity. This leaves us with the true meat of Peter’s origin to be stretched out over a succession of sequel films and that feels like a decision made more in a boardroom than anywhere else in the creative process.

Sony unveiled a new four minute preview of their upcoming Amazing Spider-Man. Although the second half plays out like a trailer, the first half offers what appears to be an edited down sequence of Spider-Man saving a boy whose life is threatened by the Lizard’s rampage.

The second half features some more Spidey action as well as bit more of a look at poor Dr. Connors’s transformation into the Lizard. I’m not sure that I am thrilled that this continues to hint that there is a connection between Peter Parker and Dr. Connors and how each gained their powers. Connecting a hero’s and villain’s origins has become more than just a bit of a cliche. Hopefully director Marc Webb is bringing something new and fresh to that particular trope.

Last night Columbia Pictures hosted a preview event in a handful of cities around the country spotlighting the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man film, after which they released a brand new trailer for the film which you can see below.

I have to admit that I’ve been a little leery of this new iteration of the Spider-Man story ever since Columbia/Sony forced director Sam Raimi off the franchise hehad successfully launched for the studio. New director Marc Webb has brought us back to the beginning of the hero’s origins and from the tone of the trailer, this take looks to be a bit darker than Raimi’s was, which I’m not sure is a good fit with the material. We’ll have to wait until the film opens in July to see how that bears out.

The trailer does offer us our first glimpses of the film’s villain, The Lizard. The tragic tale of biochemist Curt Connors being transformed into a six-foot tall humanoid-reptile hybrid was something that was being built up to under Raimi’s tenure, so it is nice to see the character actually get his screen time here. Other things to look for in the trailer are clues as to how Peter Parker’s dead parents may fit into the storyline and the return of mechanical webshooters, after the previous three films’ organic ones.

The Amazing Spider-Man stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Martin Sheen and Sally Field and will be swinging into theaters in 3D on July 3.

Sony must have a lot of faith in their upcoming Spider-Man franchise reboot, The Amazing Spider-Man. The film is still more than a year away from hitting theaters and they’ve already hired writer James Vanderbilt to start working a script for a sequel.

Vanderbilt has been a part of the Spider-Man franchise for a while. He was originally brought on board when the studio was working with director Sam Raimi to develop a fourth installment in his popular iteration of the character, and was even tapped to start work on a fifth and sixth installment. After Raimi was forced off the film by Sony, Vanderbilt suck around and did the first drafts of the reboot that is currently in production with director Marc Webb.

In addition to his work on the Spider-franchise, Vanderbilt has also written the serial killer thriller Zodiac, last year’s comic book adaptation The Losers and the upcoming Total Recall remake.

Via Hollywood Reporter.

The Amazing Spider-Man.

Sony Pictures announced today that going forward, The Amazing Spider-Man will be the title to director Marc Webb’s reboot of the superhero franchise for the studio.

Sony also released a new photo of the Spider-Man costume (at left, click for a much bigger version) which reveals two things – 1) Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) will definitely be using mechanical webshooters as opposed to the organic ones he had in Sam Raimi’s previous Spider-Man trilogy of films, and 2) The redesigned costume perhaps deviates a little too much from the basic comic design, at least for my liking.

The Amazing Spider-Man is, of course, the title of one of the several Spider-Man comic book series that have been published over the years. I suppose that it is possible that future installments will take their names from some of the other Spider-Man comic series like The Sensational Spider-Man, The Spectacular Spider-Man and Web Of Spider-Man, though they’ll probably give Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends a pass.

The 3D film will be swinging its way into theaters on July 3.

You wouldn’t think a publicity still would cause all that much ruckus. But then again, not all all publicity photos give us a glimpse of the new Spider-Man.

Columbia has released first pic of Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man in the forthcoming reboot of the franchise. And the fandom has been commenting their hearts out.

My take? Well, Garfield has got the look down. Spidey never was the most bulky of superheroes. He was spindly and skinny. That’s Garfield to a T. The new costume looks grittier than the one Tobey Maguire wore in the original trilogy. It’s not the best picture–it’s dark and most of the suit is covered in shadow, but what new stylistic elements that do make their way through are just the king of little changes that might make hardcore fans apoplectic (Is that how his chest spider is really going to look? What’s the deal with gloves? Is the belt gone?). Again, we’ll have to hold out true judgement until we get a better look at the suit.

The currently untitled Spider-Man film will open on July 3, 2012.

And the Spider-man reboot casting news keeps on coming. This time it appears as if the film’s director Marc Webb is turning out to his 500 Days Of Summer star Zoey Deschanel to fill in the supporting role of Betty Brant.

For those only familiar with the Spider-Man mythos through Sam Raimi’s previous film trilogy, Betty is more than just Daily Bugle publisher J Jonah Jameson’s harried secretary. In the early years of the comic book series, Betty was also a sometimes girlfriend of Peter Parker, before their relationship evolved into one of close friends.

Given the star status of Deschanel, it looks as if the part will not be as small as it was in the previous films and that Webb is looking to use the character more in the way of the comics. Could poor Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) find himself in a love triangle between Betty and Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone)? We should all be so unlucky.

We should note that this story originates back at Showbiz Spy, whose track record has not always been the greatest, so let’s take this with the pre-requisite grain of salt.

Well, it was only a matter of time before we found out, though I didn’t expect it to happen quite so fast. When it was announced at the beginning of the week that Rhys Ifans had been offered the role of the villain of Sony’s upcoming Spider-Man reboot, no one knew which villain he would be playing. Now, thanks to the folks over at The Wrap, we know that Spider-Man will be facing off against the Lizard!

For the uninitiated, the Lizard is actually biologist Dr. Curt Connor, whose attempt to make a serum replicating a lizard’s ability to regrow its tail in order to regrow a severed arm results in him changing into a six-foot tall half-man, half-lizard with a penchant for picking fights with a certain wall-crawler.

There’s no word yet as to how close the screenplay will follow the comics origin or if they’ll try and tie it in with Peter Parker’s own transformation into Spider-Man by having both a lizard and a spider get doses of radiation but Peter’s mutation doesn’t turn out as bad as Connor’s. Sure it sounds like a crappy idea, but this is Sony we’re talking about. Remember, they’re the ones who forced Raimi to include Venom in his third Spider-Man film, a move which unbalanced the film to a harmful degree.

In the midst of this news, though, I have to feel a bit sorry for Dylan Baker, who had played Dr. Curt Connors in two of Sam Raimi’s three Spider-Man films. Although his character never underwent the transformation into the Lizard, it was obvious that Raimi was establishing the character to be used in a later sequel in a larger capacity.