Spider-Man 4's villain will be familiar

After months of speculation, it’s official – Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire will return for Spider-Man 4.

As for the plot, don’t expect Zodiac scribe Jamie Vanderbilt's script to follow in the foot-steps of the Dark Knight after the black costume debacle of Spider-Man 3.

“Spider-Man is its own thing,” a source told Deadline Hollywood Daily . “Sam Raimi made the first serious superhero movie, and others followed. The difference between Spider-Man and Batman is that Batman is duelling with a dark side of himself, and that's not what Peter Parker's struggle is.

“Peter Parker has no dark side himself. In Spider-Man 3 it was the black costume. Peter Parker's struggle is about sacrifice.”

But don’t worry, we geeks still have something to argue about in talkbacks – a mysterious villain revelation buried deep in the story. “Once you find out who the villain is, you'll know who's playing it.”

Which means Spidey 4’s villain will be someone we’ve seen before – unless, you know, the inside source agrees with us that only Patrick Stewart should be allowed to play The Vulture – so, place your bets below, but our money’s on The Lizard…

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Sam Ashurst is a London-based film maker, journalist, and podcast host. He's the director of Frankenstein's Creature, A Little More Flesh + A Little More Flesh 2, and co-hosts the Arrow Podcast. His words have appeared on HuffPost, MSN, The Independent, Yahoo, Cosmopolitan, and many more, as well as of course for us here at GamesRadar+.