I've done some back reading on this thread, and I must say to Doc Ock, you did some great work on the research. You provided great evidence for the Sandman theory. But a few posts later you said Topher Grace wasn't a confirmed villain for the movie. Well, I've been doing some research of my own and I found some pretty compelling stuff myself.
First off, for Topher, I went to the Spider-Man official website, where I found this:
"Spider-Man will face double the trouble in our next film and I couldn't be more excited about the direction we are taking Peter Parker and the franchise," said Raimi. "Topher Grace is an extraordinarily talented actor and will be perfect for the complexities of the role we are developing."
While speculation continues about which characters will be called into action, the studio will not comment on the new roles beyond confirming the casting of Grace and Church.
I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm saying that Raimi seems to be implying otherwise. But, hell, we could all be wrong, Topher could have a bit part like ole Stan Lee. hah Next, for the villain theory. I know you are all going to laugh at me when I put this, but I believe there's a good chance that it's Venom. Here's why:
First, Doc Ock, you put some links to websites in which they speculated that Sandman was to be the main villain. On the first one you gave, I found this:
June 30, 2005: 'Luis' sends this in: "Thomas Haden Church was interviewed in the June 4th - July 1st Entertianment Weekly and gives a clue about the new role he plays in Spiderman 3. EW Asks him about his role in Spiderman 3 and hes says "He's a Horse of many colors.." He then goes on to say "Lets just say he's an amorphous collection of protons, electrons and neutrons, of different colors" .... Sandman maybe? Who knows but ths is the first info for one of the actors so take it for what it is." The official start date for Spidey 3 is January 2, 2006."
Now, one has to take into consideration Church is a smart ass (a likeable one mind you) and he could have said that to keep people off his back. Anyway, I find this relevant to my theory in the fact that Thomas said 'amophous' which means: without any clear shape, form, or structure. Okay, stick with me, a few months after the first movie came out, I read an article with concept art and Raimi's thoughts about villains for future installments of the movies. Me, being the big Venom fan I am, looked immediately for Venom. The sketch showed a big black vaguely human blob thing (kinda like the Venom on Ultimate Spider-Man, but without the eyes, teeth, and toungue) with a humanoid shape inside the blob. Raimi went on to say that he saw Venom as a blob kinda thing and not a big, bulky, muscle-bound guy. Not his exact words mind you, but that's pretty much what he was getting at.
My uncle has a theory about Topher's role in the third movie as well. He said if Thomas WAS to play Eddie Brock, Topher would probably be Kletus Cassidy. Improbable, I know, but anything's possible with Sam Raimi. Anyway, I just wanted to put my two cents in on this subject. Once again Doc Ock, nice work on the research. That's all I got for right now.
That was quick. I never said Topher would play Brock. I said Cassidy. You are right on the way too old thing though. But I have noticed a little trend in Hollywood where the actors look nothing like their comic book counter parts. They'd rather the person fit the part than look the part. Like Kelsey Grammar playing Beast in X-Men 3, nowhere near physically made for the part. Anyway, back to my point. I'm not saying that Venom is a deifinite for the movie, I just think it would be nice. I'd like to see Sandman too. But, I guess we'll haev to wait until September of 2006 to get any news. haha Oh another thing, I meant to put this in my last post, but I figured I had gone on too long. I'm with you on the Chameleon thing. I never cared too much for him anyway.
I thought after seeing Spiderman 2 that it was going to be Venom-main villain. Harry as one of the goblins-2nd villain.
Harry would be the emotional thing for Peter
Venom would just be beating the crap out of him.They already mentioned dude went to the moon.So he had to have brought back the symbiote.It would easily be the best if those two were the villains.But no one knows who it is except Raimi and the crew so I guess we will see.