Update November 1st, 2008

It has been announced that David Lindsay-Abaire has been hired to write Spider-man 4. Lindsa-Abaire is a Pulitzer prize winner and well known for his work on the show Rabbit Hole.

Perhaps a more important announcement Sam Raimi is also back for S4 along with Tobey Maguire and it looks like Spider-man 4 will be released around May 2011.

Update 3/28/08:

I have come across an unoffical but a very real looking trailer that to me looks like its definitely going to be a part of the real thing. Check it out at the bottom of this article. Its definitely not the real trailer but it's interesting none the less.

After researching and reading for about a week I pretty much know everything that COULD happen in Spiderman 4. Unfortunately, With questions whether Director Sam Raimi is going to return. Virtually nothing is set in stone. Word is Raimi is tired from the first 3 films and would like to do a film on "The Hobbit" putting his status for Spiderman 4 in some jeopardy. I also do have to warn you, if you want to be totally surprised when you see Spiderman 4 you should probably not read too much more of this. I am not going to reveal anything crazy, however it could run some surprises for you.

The only thing that is set in stone is that they are doing Spiderman 4 with or without Sam Raimi. Currently Stan Lee and Avi Arad are looking for writers for Spiderman 4. Without Raimi on board yet it is also unknown if Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst will return but I highly doubt they won't. Its hard to say no to 20+ million dollars I would hope. There is much conjecture about the future villains but it sounds like Carnage and Lizard are the front runners for S4. Venom may have been killed in S3 however there is still some of the black symbiote left in Dr. Curt Connor's lab (Pete's professor). People surmise that either this sample finds Eddie Brock Sr. and becomes the real Venom (as Brock Jr. never spoke as himself as Venom), or this sample comes into contact with serial killer Cletus Kasady to become the super-villain Carnage.

Also virtually set in stone to become a villain due to the first 3 movies, the Lizard will most likely emerge in Spiderman 4. The Lizard is actually going to spawn from Peter's professor in the prior 3 movies Dr. Curt Connors (Dylan Baker). The storyline is that Connor's is messing around with reptile DNA in an attempt to regrow his missing arm and he is transformed into the Lizard. It is also surmised during this transformation perhaps his lab is broken up which could let loose the last sample left of the black symbiote material to become either Carnage or Venom.

Other villains whose names have been tossed into the ring are Vulture, The Scorpion, Electro, Eddie Brock Sr. becoming the true Venom, Mysterio, Kraven the Hunter, and even the possibility of a return of Dr. Octupus. Most of these names are purely fans speculating and hoping (I even saw fans who want Goblin Sr & Jr. back from the dead), but there is much talk of Spiderman 4 being filmed in a similar style as the Lord of the Rings was, where they would shoot Spiderman 4,5 & 6 in a row one after another and releasing in the same style that the Lord of the Rings trilogy did. This means there is plenty of time for more villains to be added later,I do however doubt the makers of the movies will bring back characters who have died, even Dr. Octupus I believe is a huge stretch because the human part of him definitely drowned at the end of Spiderman 2. If someone were to be brought back, I believe there would be huge backlash from hardcore Spiderman fans. The producers of the Spiderman movies are trying to attract new fans, as well as keep the older fans happy. And so far, besides Venom's minor role in Spiderman 3, they have done a pretty good job of that.

Of course the villains won't matter as much if they can't bring back Raimi, Maguire, & Dunst. Some fans believe Sony will just go in the same direction that Batman went. After the Batman franchise had been disgraced by Batman Forever and the train wrecks that followed (I honestly don't even remember their names), the Batman franchise brought in Great Writer/Director Christopher Nolan to basically start the story over. And surprisingly it worked very well. Nolan has also worked on The Prestige, and Memento (a great but hard to follow movie) and did an excellent job. Christian Bale (the new Batman) and Michael Caine (the new Alfred) also are superb in it. I highly doubt Sony will go that direction however since the Spiderman franchise is in full gear and has nothing to be ashamed of from their prior movies.

But as of right now much of Spiderman 4 is still up in the air. I will update regularly as this interests me greatly as well, but besides what I learned all we have left to do is wait for the release of the release date sometime in 2009.