Okay, I’ve been waiting since Rhys Ifans was announced as being the big bad in the new Spiderman flick to comment on it until his character was confirmed or at least leaked. Well, it looks like that time is here and Rhys Ifans will be portraying Dr. Curt Connors, aka the Lizard!
When they originally announced Spiderman 4 with Raimi and Maguire, I thought that the Lizard was going to face Spidy next. Then when things got all messy and Raimi left the project followed by Sony changing into a prequel/reboot with Marc Webb taking the helm I wasn’t sure. I was afraid they’d go the Green Goblin route again, or as rumors indicated, we’d see Venom again. Ugh. But now it seems that Webb is still moving forward with fresh stories by ignoring used villains and bringing the Lizard into the fold.
So, we have Andrew Garfield who just impressed me with his performance in The Social Network as Peter Parker. He is a good choice, but I’m still not sure if the 6 foot tall and mature looking actor can portray “puny” Parker in high school. Also leaving me unsure is why Emma Stone, who would make a picture perfect Mary Jane is actually portraying Gwen Stacy. I hate that Sony just feels like the characters are interchangeable when they are actually very different. I’m waiting on pins and needles as to who will take on the MJ, Harry, and Flash roles.
Lets take a look at Curt Connors/Lizard. One of my favorite things about him is that he is actually a good guy. Connors is a surgeon who goes off to war to save the lives of wounded GIs. While there, he gets injured in a blast and loses his arm. Upon returning to the states he becomes obsessed with reptiles and how they can regrow their limbs. Studying them he is able to develop an experimental serum from reptilian DNA that he uses to try and regrow his arm. It works, but there is a side effect, Connors becomes a reptilian humanoid monster, The Lizard, and it puts his family’s lives in danger and everyone around him. The Lizard is usually portrayed as a mindless savage, but in different mediums he has had different levels of intellect. In Spiderman: The Animated Series the Lizard was just as smart as Connors and attempted to make a race of Lizard people, while in The Spectacular Spider-Man animated series he was portrayed as being purely animalistic.
Having the Lizard being mindless animal poses a problem for the film. It would mean no master plan or witty banter between Spiderman and the main villain. Having a monster that acts on instincts could lead to some amazing fights, but that could also create a story that really goes nowhere. What the Lizard needs is a cool counter part, someone like…
Kraven the Hunter
If we care about Curt Connors, we should want Spiderman to save and cure him rather than kill him. What we need is someone like Kraven the Hunter whose sole purpose is hunting down the lizard and making him part of his trophy room. Think of the three way fight over Manhattan and in the sewer systems. Could be epic. What do you think? Do you want to see someone like Kraven the Hunter added into the mix? Or how about someone else? Could the Kingpin try to harness the Lizard as a hitman? Or would JJJ try to use the Lizard to take out the Spider-menace? There are a lot of possibilities and I can’t wait to see what Webb comes up with.
