Are Your Spidey Senses Tingling? Amazing Spider-Man 2 Adds BJ Novak as Another Villain

Originally published on For Your Excitement.  4 February  2014.

B.J. Novak’s role in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has finally been revealed thanks to an offhand tweet from director Marc Webb. Novak is Alistair Smythe, owner of the deadly Spider-Slayers.

For those of you who do not have an encyclopedic knowledge of Spider-Man canon or, more importantly (and sadly), Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Alistair inherited his robots and hatred for the Webslinger from his father, Spencer. The Spider-Slayers are made specifically to hunt, capture and kill Spider-Man, solidifying Smythe’s villain role.

But with three baddies (Electro, Rhino and Green Goblin) already in the film, how much with Smythe figure in? A viral Daily Bugle article that mentions Smythe’s invention seems to hint that Alistair will be more central to The Amazing Spider-Man 2 than we thought.

The number of villains in the sequel is reaching extravagant terms but this may all be set up for the rumored Sinister Six film that is coming. Adding fuel to this fire are the appearances of Doc Octopus’ arms and Vulture’s wings in the film’s first trailer.

Coming back to Smythe though, Novak looks like a great choice to play the young corporate evildoer. If the film series decides to follow Smythe’s transformation into the Ultimate Spider-Slayer (where he encases himself in armor), that could pit the supervillain directly against our hero in future installments. The third and fourth films already have release dates in 2016 and 2018, respectively.

First up though is The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which hits theaters May 2, 2014.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Full Length Trailer Released

Originally published on PopWrapped.  5 December 2013.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2’s full length trailer is here and it is packed with action, intrigue and villains.

In the follow-up to the hit 2012 film, Andrew Garfield’s Spidey is showing his more melancholy side as he struggles with protecting those he loves and the city when evil is all around. “It’s just a matter of time before I face those with more power than I can overcome,” he says in the trailer. Well, he’ll certainly have no shortage of bad guys to contend with.

The trailer reveals not only Electro (Jaime Foxx, looking incredible in CGI) and Rhino (Paul Giamatti), who we already knew about, but also Green Goblin. Yes, this is not much of a surprise since we knew Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) would be appearing in the sequel. But announcing such a major Spider-Man villain so casually has Forbes and fans questioning how Osborn, his father, and their shared signature alter ego will feature in to the film series’ arc.

Still, the trailer delivers plenty in the anticipation department. The full-on battle between Electro and Spider-Man looks as thrilling (or even moreso) than anything we saw in the first installment. Also, did you catch the glimpse of Doctor Octopus’ arms and Vulture’s wings? Amazing Spider-Man 3 anyone?

Just in case you haven’t seen the trailer or you just want to watch it again, check it out here:

Hugh Jackman Reveals That Wolverine and Spiderman Almost Met

Originally published on PopWrapped.tumblr.com.  11 September 2013.

Back in 2002, we were very close to seeing a Wolverine cameo in the Spider-Man film. Hugh Jackman was on board, as was director Sam Raimi. The only problem? According to an interview in The Huffington Post Hugh Jackman said, “We couldn’t find the suit. The suit was stuck in something. And so when they were in New York when I was there, we couldn’t get it together.”

While this may seem inconsequential nowadays, what with Marvel heroes all popping up in each other’s films, however back in 2002 superhero films were just starting to gain some traction. Seeing Wolverine appear in Spider-Man would have been epically cool and could have potentially kicked off a team-up film for the two franchises.

X-Men and Spider-Man have always been linked, at least in the comic books. However, a multitude of reasons, especially Fox owning the mutants and Sony owning Spidey, have prevented a film mash up of the two. Those issues may soon be resolved in the planned fourth Amazing Spider-Man movie. Director Marc Webb said in an interview with Crave Online that he sees the potential for more characters to join the web slinger. Current Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield, echoes those sentiments, specifically calling for an Avengers/Spidey team-up.

Unfortunately, Sony told Ain’t it Cool News they are “never ever ever” going to sell the rights to Spider-Man even to that magical place known as Disney (who owns Marvel). However, if that news does not deter Jackman, it should not deter fans.

“I understand at Marvel they’ve got The Avengers, they’ve got a lot of big things going on, but at some point I just find it almost impossible that there’s not a way to bring Iron Man, all the Avengers characters, Wolverine, the X-Men characters, Spider-Man, and somehow get them in together,” he said. “I’m in for it, I’m totally up for it because I think that would be really exciting for fans across the board.”

Jackman will return as Wolverine in X-Men: Days of Future Past on May 23, 2014.