Rhys Ifans is going to be playing the Lizard in the new SPIDER-MAN reboot. It was recently announced that he’ll be the movie’s villain, but the Wrap’s got confirmation that he is, indeed, agreeing to play the Lizard (thanks to Sora for the head’s up!) I can’t help but feel for Dylan Baker, who’s going through a situation quite similar to what Billy Dee Williams went through in the first run of BATMAN movies. That is, he played Dr. Curt Conners in two Spidey movies, likely on the expectation that he'd eventually get all green and scaley and, now, the series have gone in a different direction and the role’s going to a different actor.

Ifans is supposed to be in the next HARRY POTTER movie and I imagine he’ll be doing a lot of wizarding therein. I’ll confess to being mostly familiar with him from his role as a chain-smoking limey kicker in THE REPLACEMENTS. I’m sure the guy’s got range but, when G-Man asked me what villain I thought he should play if not the Lizard, the first name that popped into my mind was the Spot. == TEASER ==

Yes, the Spot, a wonderful, Ditko-esque villain who’s surely too absurd to be in any live-action version of Spidey. I don’t know why, but he seems like a fit for Ifans.

With Tom Hardy recently announced as a character in BATMAN 3, I guess it goes to show that the real casting decisions for these movies usually come out of nowhere (rather than culminating from months of rumor and speculation.) The only time I think any villains or actors were pegged to the movie were the rumors about Clive Owen playing Kraven.

Also, we figured you might want to check out these fan posters that CBM has collected… 

Gallery

Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS!  & UNIMAGINABLE . Order them on Amazon here &  here.   

FINALLY!!!

this will set up Kraven for the sequel perfectly!

I personally think The Spot would be a spectacular visual treat. Maybe if this isn't an origin story we can get some rogues gallery treats here and there in the new franchise. One of the most memorable elements of The Dark Knight was the brief Scarecrow appearance.
 
Also, teleportation usually translates well to film. Nightcrawler in X2 was the highlight of that film, and say what you wish about Jumper; the visual treatment of the powers were badass.
 
Imagine Spidey taking his first punch at a guy who looks like a wannabe full body Rorschach, only to have his fist reappear from behind and knock himself out.
 
I feel like the origins for Lizard, Goblin, Venom, and Doc Ock have all been done to death. We need fresh villains if we need origin stories. Otherwise, I think it'd be best that the heavy hitting villains are already active at the time we're brought into the new films.

-_-  Couldn't they have waited for Baker to get his chance... It just doesn't feel right.
 

" Isn't that Godzilla in those pics? "

Does it really matter who plays the Lizard?

he seems like he would be better suited for electro than the lizard. now if they do the lizard then i could get behind adrian brody or kevin spacey taking the role or go get the guy who was playing dr. connors in the raimi spiderman movies.

" Spot a villian? Spot wasn't a villian in the Spiderman animated series. "

At this point, I'd rather watch Captain America than the Spiderman reboot, and that's saying a lot.

will this have Tobby .M as spidy

lol like the fake posters.

Lizard finally gets his chance.

Hrrrrm, not a fan of the Lizard.  I just don't see him being a film-carrying baddie. 
I have like Ifans in all that I've seen him in, but still can't help but be disappointed by the choice of villain in the first place.

woot

Why does it say May 2011? The movie is coming out in 2012... 
 
If we mixed Spider-Man with Inception, I bet we could have the Spot as the villain. 
 
I say we go with just 2 villains. One main one and one sub-villain. Lizard and Spot? Lizard and Chameleon? Lizard and Kingpin?