Spider-Man's Parents and New Villain Added to Cast of Marc Webb's Franchise Reboot
Posted 12.05.10 by BrentJS
Director Marc Webb's as-yet-untitled new Spider-Man movie is expected to go into production this week, but new cast members are still being added to the roster. According to THR, Campbell Scott recently joined the cast, and Annie Parisse, Julianne Nicholson and Irrfan Khan are all in various stages of discussions to join the rebooted franchise. What's really interesting about this news is the set of characters that the actors are supposedly going to be playing, including Peter Paker's (to be played by Andrew Garfield) never-before-seen-on-screen parents and a new villain.
As even casual fans of Spider-Man know, Peter Parker was raised by his kindly Uncle Ben and Aunt May, characters that have been featured prominently in the various comic book, cartoon and movie incarnations of Spider-Man and who will also appear in Webb's movie as played by Martin Sheen and possibly Sally Field, whose rumored negotiations for the role of May have yet to be confirmed. What most people don't know is that the reason Peter became an orphan is because his parents, Richard and Mary, were secret agents who died in a plane crash in the line of duty, an explanation that took Marvel Comics more than 30 years to publish in the pages of the Spider-Man comic books. According to THR, Scott and Nicholson will play Richard and Mary, though it is unknown whether they will be part of the story proper or only appear in flashback sequences.
If he ends up signing on, Khan will be playing a villain named "Van Atter," which is not a character from the comic books on which the movie is based. That means that Spider-Man will have to contend with two villains in his reboot debut because Rhys Ifans is already signed on to play Dr. Curt Connors, aka the Lizard. Parisse would play Van Atter's wife.
The details of the plot of Webb's reboot are still a mystery, though it is known that the movie will take Peter Paker back to high school and that his love interest will be Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), the girl that Parker had a crush on in high school in the comic books, rather than Mary Jane Watson, who was featured in Sam Raimi's trilogy of Spider-Man movies, as played by Kirsten Dunst. Denis Leary is said to be in talks to portray police captain George Stacy, Gwen's father. The script was written by
James Vanderbilt and Alvin Sargent.
Next Showing: Spider-Man 4 is slated to open July 3, 2012