We might know who the villains are in "Spider-Man 4" or whether Sam Raimi will be back for "Spider-Man 5" and "Spider-Man 6," but when it comes to the connection between the "Spider-Man" franchise and a potential "Venom" movie, well...

Okay, Raimi couldn't give us much on that question, either.

But we did ask the celebrated director about how the two universes will connect, if at all, when Spider-Man's black-clad nemesis swings off into his own solo movie. Read more...

When I read the news that Jack Kirby’s kids were seeking copyrights to all their father’s Marvel creations, I found it curious that Sony is one of the studios sent termination notices.

Why? Because Sony’s only Marvel-based movies that might have anything to do with Kirby’s legacy are those in the “Spider-Man” franchise—and he’s never had official credit for co-creating Spider-Man or the other major characters in the superhero’s mythology.

Apparently, bloggers at The Hollywood Reporter were also intrigued by the claims of the Sony/Spider-Man part of the case, especially after getting their hands on two of the notices, which respectively seek to recapture rights to most of the original characters from the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man comics. Read more...

Much of the comic book industry is taking a "wait and see" approach to Disney's acquisition of Marvel Entertainment, but we could already be seeing our first casualty of the recent merger.

When IGN spoke with "The Spectacular Spider-Man" supervising producer Greg Weisman about the show's future, the veteran producer dropped the bombshell that Sony will not continue producing the series, which currently airs on Disney XD and is waiting for the go-ahead on a third season.

According to Weisman, Sony relinquished all television rights to the Spider-Man character in exchange for "some concession vis-a-vis the live action 'Spider-Man' features" from Disney/Marvel. Read more...

It might be a few more years before fans see "Spider-Man 4," but a generation of viewers can now relive their earliest "Spider-Man" experiences online. Beginning this week, the 1994 "Spider-Man" animated series joins its 1967 predecessor as a weekly online series at Marvel.com.

Originally broadcast Saturday mornings on the Fox Kids Network, the series began in-progress with a 19-year-old Peter Parker already versed in fighting crime as Spider-Man and attending classes at Empire State University. Through the duration of the series, Spider-Man relives many of his comic book adventures battling the likes of the Green Goblin, Venom and others between working a freelance photojournalist gig at The Daily Bugle and courting Felicia Hardy and Mary Jane Watson. The web-slinger also crossed-over with allies such as Daredevil, the X-Men and Captain America during the series' run, which helped to flesh out a wider animated Marvel universe. Read more...

James Cameron may have spearheaded "Aquaman" on the HBO series "Entourage," but the "Avatar" filmmaker isn't likely to dive into any other superhero properties. According to Cameron, there's only one spandex-clad hero that's ever tickled his fancy: your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

"Spider-Man was the only one I ever wanted to do," Cameron told MTV News. "I wasn't really personally that driven to do a superhero movie per se, but I wanted to do Spider-Man because he was my guy when I was 14." Read more...

Last month, Michael Jackson's death prompted a recollection of how close he and Stan Lee came to buying Marvel Comics. The piece received quite a bit of attention, so when I had the chance to talk with Lee during this year's Comic-Con in San Diego, I had to ask the legendary co-creator of the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Hulk and countless other comic book superheroes about his professional and personal relationship with the King of Pop.

While Lee had kind words for the recently deceased pop culture icon, his mention of Jackson's interest in another of Lee's famous co-creations perked up my ears. In the grand tradition of Marvel Comics' famous series, Lee's response offered up a "What If?" tale involving Jackson and Spider-Man tailor-made for an alternate Marvel universe.

"I had been to his place in Neverland ... and he wanted to do Spider-Man," Lee told MTV News. "I'm not sure whether he just wanted to produce it or wanted to play the role, you know? Our conversation never got that far along." Read more...

Given all the buzz surrounding mouthy mercenary Deadpool these days, it was only a matter of time before the character crossed paths with one of the most famous members of Marvel's masked chatterboxes, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man -- and that's exactly what's going to happen this November in the pages of "Amazing Spider-Man" #611.

Not only will the issue pair two of the publisher's most banter-friendly characters, but -- you might want to make sure you're sitting down for this one, Deadpool faithful -- the match-up will be scripted by fan-favorite "Deadpool" writer Joe Kelly. Responsible for Deadpool's celebrated, surreal run in the late-1990s, Kelly will script the one-shot issue that pits the mouthy, movie-friendly heroes against one another in what he described as "a big, baroque comic book story that devolves into a 'yo mama' fight."

Kelly is joined by cover artist Skottie Young and interior artist Eric Canete on the tale, and offered Splash Page readers the first peek at the issue's hilarious cover, as well as some thoughts on how the brawl -- and the battle of wits -- will pan out. Read more...

As much as Adam Savage, Jamie Hyneman and their "Build Team" of Kari Byron, Tory Belleci and Grant Imahara seem to appreciate superheroes, toppling fans' suspended disbelief doesn't seem to bother them one bit. Following their foray into super-powered phenomena, such as Spider-Man's arachnid origins, the Hulk's gamma-powered transformations and Namor's undersea breathing capacity, the "MythBusters" team continues to tackle the paneled powers of comic book characters this week on Discovery Channel.

Tonight's episode, "Curving Bullets," looks at the physics behind 2008's "Wanted," which may or may not debunk the powers of weavers. Read more...

At this point, Kirsten Dunst's involvement in the Sam Raimi-directed "Spider-Man 4" is tenuous at best. But if you haven't been reading the comic books lately, you might not be aware that Mary Jane Watson is on the outs there, too.

After a shady deal with Mephisto to save the life of Aunt May, Peter Parker and Mary Jane's marriage was no more, rendering the arachnoid hero a bachelor after years of upholding his vows -- and needless to say, fandom wasn't wild about the sudden change in status quo. Now, it looks like Marvel might be paying attention to the bullpucky calls from their readership with a recently disseminated wedding invitation for the Spider-Man universe! Read more...

We've already seen new logos for "Scott Pilgrim," "Iron Man 2," "Thor," "The First Avenger: Captain America" and "The Avengers" courtesy of the ongoing annual Licensing Expo in Las Vegas, and there are even more superhero images coming in from the show today.

Once again, Ain't It Cool News has a bunch of new promo art from the show, including an all-new poster for "Iron Man 2," as well as our very first glimpse at the Sam Raimi-directed "Spider-Man 4" poster. Read more...