Tobey Maguire To Return For "Spider-Man 4"

Tobey Maguire will be back again to play Peter Parker and the web-slinging super hero "Spider-Man", in the fourth sequel of the hit movie franchise, and previous Spider-Man director Sam Raimi will return to direct both the fourth and fifth sequels.

According to Sony Pictures, no definitive deal has been struck for Kirsten Dunst, who plays Peter Parker's on-again, off-again romantic love interest, Mary-Jane Watson, but speculation is a deal will be in place by production time.

There is also no news on a potential actor to play the villain, although Sony does say, "once you find out who the villain is, you'll know who's playing it."

Willem Dafoe played the Green Goblin in the first movie; Alfred Molina played Dr. Otto Octavius in the second outing, and Topher Grace played Venom in the third installment.

This could point to actor Dylan Baker as a possible villain, as his character, Dr. Curt Connors, is the only probable villain set up in "Spider-Man 3."

The character of Curt Connors, Peter Parker's professor at Columbia University, becomes the super villain Lizard in the comic book version, when he suffers an adverse reaction to a serum designed to re-grow a missing limb.

Sony Pictures is considering filming the next two installments, "Spider-Man 4" and "Spider-Man 5," concurrently, and writer James Vanderbilt is developing both scripts. Filming on "Spider-Man 4" will begin next fall. The movie is tentatively scheduled for release in May 2011.

In the meantime, you can catch Toby Maguire this December in the war drama "Brothers", alongside Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman, a film about a young man who comforts his older brother's wife and children after he goes missing in Afghanistan. Based on Susanne Bier's film "Brothers".
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