As Spider-Man 4 prepares to spin into production, we should expect a lot more casting rumors before we start hearing casting news.  In the past week, we’ve already heard Rachel McAdams and Julia Stiles possibly being in the film.  Fans are assuming that these women (or any attractive actress with a recognizable name and certain body type) will play the part of Spider-Man love-interest and anti-hero Black Cat.  Now Anne Hathaway’s name has popped up in connection with the film.  Hit the jump for more details and why so many popular actresses want to dye their hair white and put on black leather spandex.

In an action movie sequel, kids are deadweight.  Unless we’re talking Short Round or some non-blood related child, all they do is showcase the taming of the wild, charming hero and a comic relief that isn’t comic or a relief.  Even on television, when two characters have a baby, they try to shoo that kid off-screen as fast possible because he or she changed everything, as babies tend to do.

So when I read that Spider-Man 4 is casting “Toddler Boy”, my spidey-sense starts going a little crazy.  Hit the jump for more details and speculation.

Word has come in on good authority that Sam Raimi is starting to cast the villains and supporting cast of Spider-Man 4, and it looks like Rachel McAdams has met with producers to take a hefty role, most likely Felicia “The Black Cat” Hardy. Sources also indicate, but don’t yet confirm, that Black Cat will be the second of two villains, the other likely being Lizard with Dylan Baker reprising the role of Dr. Conners. More on the update after the jump.

Ugh.  This is such a waste of time.  I don’t even want to dignify this unsubstantiated bullshit about The Lizard being the only villain in “Spider-Man 4″ with a response.  No one even knows if The Lizard will even be in Spidey 4 let alone its sole villain.  You know how I know this?  I know because the script is still being written.  I know because the filmmakers are still working out the story. I know because this worthless article also says that “We all pretty much knew it would be The Lizard and/or Carnage…” It wasn’t down to The Lizard and Carnage!  Carnage was always a highly unlikely choice seeing as Raimi has no love for Venom/alien symbiote and he wants to go with an old-school villain.  At best, you could report that The Lizard being the sole villain in “Spider-Man 4″ is an educated guess.   Hit the jump for why I’m sick of this shit.

It may have been a foregone conclusion, but Dylan Baker himself confirmed the good news that he would indeed be reprising his role as Peter Parker’s one-armed Professor/mentor, during a Q&A for Mike Dougherty’s “Trick-r-Treat” (which, by the way, everyone should see, because it’s awesome). While Dr. Connors has appeared in minor roles in the first two Spidey flicks, usually with fewer lines than Bruce Campbell, there has been constant chatter on the interwebs that this may be the film where we finally see Connors transform into the vicious Lizard. For a few more details on what was said at the Q&A, change out your web cartridge and hit the jump.

Last week we reported that writer-director Gary Ross (”Pleasantville”, “Seabiscuit”) was in talks with Columbia to direct their “Spider-Man” spinoff movie, “Venom” about the Spider-Man villain who has Spider-Man’s powers but he’s got claws and is muscular and slobbers a lot.  I didn’t see much of a need for a Venom movie so I’m delighted to learn that Ross is pushing “Venom” aside to take on Donald Hamilton’s “Matt Helm” series about a swinging, pulpy super-spy.  Hit the jump for more details.

While MTV posts some of the dumbest hitwhoring stories on the internet like what you favorite “Twilight” star had for breakfast, they still manage to land interviews with some of the biggest directors in Hollywood. So when they sat down with Sam Raimi earlier today, they managed to get an update on the long in development “Spider-Man 4″. Even though MTV decided to break up the interview over the next week, they did manage to find out filming is set to begin the first week of March. More after the jump:

We don’t need a Venom movie.  Underneath his proto-”Spawn” design, he’s a simple and boring character.  Eddie Brock/Venom is the polar opposite Peter Parker/Spider-Man and the main goal of both is to kill Spider-Man, a goal which should be no problem to accomplish in a movie that doesn’t have Spider-Man.  But fanboys love the drooling doofus so Columbia has been hard at work on a spinoff. Last we heard, “Zombieland” writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese were on the project but that no longer seems to be the case as its now looks like “Seabiscuit” director and “Spider-Man 4″ screenwriter Gary Ross may write and direct the project.  Hit the jump for more details as well as bafflement as to how you make a “Venom” movie that isn’t just a two-minute tech demo.

Spider-Man will be back in IMAX theaters on May 5^th, 2011.  After staking out that critical “First Weekend of Summer” release date for “Spider-Man 4″ back in June, Columbia Pictures today announced that the movie also has its IMAX contracts for the very same date in order.

At this point it would be more surprising if IMAX and Columbia had decided to skip the whole IMAX thing for “Spider-Man 4″.  The franchise has been a huge property in the digitally-enhanced format and we’ve all seen how those IMAX sales can tip a movie over the top financially.  You can read some of what Sony Pictures had to say in today’s press release after the jump.

While “Spider-Man 4″ is still being put together, Sony is not wasting any more time scheduling Peter Parker’s future adventures on movie screens as they’ve hired James Vanderbilt (”The Losers”, “Zodiac”) to pen both “Spider-Man 5″ and “Spider-Man 6″! So what does that mean for the future of the franchise and director Sam Raimi’s involvement? It’s after the jump:

While I remain in disbelief that they’re even making a “Spider-Man 4″ (I know it’s actually happening; I just thought it would remain in development hell for longer, especially after the disappointment of the third film), it’s not slowing down with Variety reporting that writer/director Gary Ross is coming on board to re-write the script.  The script was first handled by James Vanderbilt (”Zodiac”) and then David Lindsay-Abaire (”Inkheart”).  The addition of Ross, who wrote “Dave”, “Pleasantville”, and “Seabiscuit”, signals that the new installment may be headed in a slightly saccharine direction.  That’s not the worst thing.  Spidey is a character that can go dark and brooding but he can also be light-hearted and fancy-free.  Personally, I’ve had a little too much dark and brooding and bringing Ross on board says “We know ‘The Dark Knight’ was successful but we’re going to do our own thing.”  Good for them.

“Spider-Man 4″ is currently slated to hit theatres on May 6, 2011.  Sam Raimi will return to direct and Tobey Maguire is returning as Peter Parker/Spider-Man.

While I wouldn’t go to the New York Post for the world’s most truthful reporting unless there was real news about a Democratic Congressman being found with a headless prostitute in the sewer system while eating a baby, I will at least consider their story when they talk with producer Todd Black about what’s in store for “Spider-Man 4″.  Black had a few of interesting notes on the upcoming sequel.  First, Kirsten Dunst is now officially back on board as Mary Jane Watson which must have been an easy decision when Dunst discovered her last hit movie was “Spider-Man 3″.  However, contrary to some online rumors, there won’t be a wedding between MJ and Peter this time around.

As for the film’s villain, while word has been swirling around vampire baddy Morbius, Black completely quashed that rumor and says that Morbius is NOT the film’s villain.  Rather, says Black, “We’re just coming up with who the villain’s going to be now. We’ll be shooting in New York again. Trust me, people will appreciate who we pick, because it’ll be a big part of New York.”  So the villain is Donald Trump.  Michael Bloomberg.  Rudy Guiliani.  Surly cab drivers.  Tourists.  The Macy’s Day Parade.  My question is how can Black completely rule out Morbius if they’re still coming up with the villain?

Click here to take a chance and trust the Post.

Harry over at AICN has just posted some more pictures from the licensing show in Las Vegas. Thanks to ‘Pitdoc’, we’ve now got our first look at possible movie posters for “Iron Man 2″ and “Spider-Man 4″.

While “Iron Man 2″ has been filming for awhile now, Spidey still doesn’t have a completed script or a start date. While I know it’s always good to stake a claim on a release date as soon as you can, this is pretty far out to release a teaser poster.

Whatever. I’m sure Marvel fans just lost their minds seeing these images. What do you think of them?