asAvi Arad dropped a pretty big bombshell in an interview with IFMagazine – there will be not two villains in Spider-Man 3, not three villains in Spider-Man 3 but four villains.

F: There are four villains this time, Venom, Sandman, and Green Goblin and when is the fourth going to be revealed?

ARAD: Right we have four villains. Pretty soon [we’ll reveal the fourth villain] I believe. Maybe around Comic Con we’ll reveal something and the madness will begin.

Four villains – it’s like Sam Raimi wants to compete with X-Men: The Last Stand. Who could this baddie be? We heard rumors of the Vulture way back when, but they were dismissed – what if the Vulture is an opening act villain, someone who Spidey gets out of the way quickly? And what if that’s used to set up the photojournalist rivalry between Eddie Brock and Peter Parker? I’m just spitballing here, by the way, but it seems to me that unless they have a major actor under wraps over at the Spidey set, the fourth mystery villain will have to be essentially a glorified cameo.

Edit! Thanks to my good friend Andre Dellamorte for reminding me that Dylan Baker has played Dr. Curt Conners for the last two films – a character who becomes the Lizard in Marvel Comics. I would say that it’s quite likely to be him after all.

Meanwhile, Spidey 3 continues to shoot in Manhattan and I continue to not have gone to see it! What’s wrong with me? The picture with this piece is a shot someone snapped and sent to AICN of Spidey rescuing Gwen Stacy, played by Bryce Dallas Howard.