Baker Returning for Spider-Man 4… as Lizard?

Published by Jeff Leins on October 22, 2009

Last night, Dylan Baker was at a special presentation of Halloween horror flick Trick ‘r Treat in New York City.  (By the way, if you haven’t seen that yet, it’s on DVD and it’s a great rental for the season).  After the screening, Baker answered questions from the audience and UGO.com was there to hear the good news.

Dylan Baker will return for Spider-Man 4 as Dr. Curtis Connors, a small role in Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3 at Empire State University.  He’s the one who explains the symbiote in the third film that attaches itself to Peter Parker and later Venom.

Michael Dougherty (the TrT director) joked about Baker’s role thus far, remarking that his character was “just appearing in the background.”  It’s unclear whether they were saying he’d continue as a small supporting role or if he’d finally step into the spotlight this time.

In the comics, Connors is testing the effects of reptilian DNA for regeneration purposes and uses the serum on himself.  Of course, he’s transformed into a reptilian humanoid that goes by the name the Lizard.

There have been rumors of Lizard being one of two villains in the fourth Spidey installment, but those were just as the first screenwriter was being hired.  The production is now on it’s third scribe and has since lured Sam Raimi back as a director, who likely comes with his own ideas.  Naturally, Raimi hasn’t given any hints at this point as to who the supervillains might be.

The Lizard would make a formidable new foe for Spider-Man.  He’s physically challenging to the webslinger and creates a struggling Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde character arc for Baker.  Plus it would given the special effects team plenty to work with.

Then again, Lizard could be saved for the planned fifth and sixth movies already in the early scripting phase.  Let’s hope they don’t tease us again.