John Malkovich as the Vulture in SPIDER-MAN 4? Anne Hathaway Not as Black Cat But as New Character “The Vulturess”?

Movieline is reporting that John Malkovich will play the Vulture in Spider-Man 4 and that Anne Hathway-who had previously been connected to the role Black Cat-would play an entirely new character called “The Vulturess”.  No one should have to deal with this kind of batshit insanity when they first turn on their computer.

For those not up on their Spidey lore, the Vulture is an old man who flies with razor sharp wings and employs a harness that gives him super-strength.  /Film says that “all information is pointing to the Vulture (aka Adrien Toomes) taking over the Bugle,” but I haven’t seen that information and /Film provides no source for that speculation at this time. As for Black Cat (aka Felicia Hardy), she is an anti-hero who is a cat-burglar but also frequent Spidey ally and love interest who doesn’t know his true identity.  But Movieline says that in the place of the Cat, Hardy would become the Vulturess whose affiliation and powers remain unknown.  Finally, the story notes that there’s no room for Spidey villain the Lizard (aka Dr. Curt Conners) which has again been nothing but wishful thinking with only rumors to suggest that Dylan Baker, who played Conners in Spider-Man 2 and 3, would finally transform into the giant reptile.

This is all very exciting, albeit completely out of left-field, and it should be interesting to see how this story develops.  However, let me stress there is no official report that Malkovich or Hathaway are involved with the film or that any of these characters will be featured.  Well, except for Spider-Man.  He’ll probably be in the movie.