Corona | Coming Attractions

Columbia Pictures continues to forge ahead with its rebooted vision of the Spider-Man film franchise. First we had Andrew Garfield cast as a younger Peter Parker, one that might be more in tone to his Ultimate Spider-Man persona than the more mature (and older) one that appears in regular Marvel Comics continuity.

Next came the rumors about who would play the villain, and which of Spidey's rogues gallery would be in the picture. After much gossip it was finally revealed that Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill) has been cast in the part of 2012's Spider-Man bad guy -- but we still don't have confirmation as to which supervillain he will be playing. Speculation abounds that Ifans will be taking over the part of Dr. Curt Conners from Dylan Baker, the actor who played the part in Sam Raimi's trilogy of films. In the Spider-Man comics Conners metamorphosizes into The Lizard.

We also found out that Easy A's Emma Stone won the part of one of Peter's longtime loves -- but it wasn't the redhaired Mary Jane Watson. Instead, Stone will be returning her her back to its natural blonde color to play Gwen Stacy. Again, in regular comics continuity Gwen was Peter Parker's first true love. Tragically, she was killed when being rescued by Spider-Man after the Green Goblin threw her off the Brooklyn Bridge.

And now we have learned the identity of the fourth cast member for director Marc Webb's Spider-Man: comedian Denis Leary, best known for providing the voice of Diego the sabre-tooth cat in the Ice Age movies, and for playing troubled New York firefighter Tommy Gavin in Showtime's Rescue Me.

Leary will play Captain George Stacy in the movie, the father of Gwen. The character was introduced in 2007's Spider-Man 3 and played by James Cromwell. Although Leary is 53, the age difference between Leary and Cromwell is 13 years and Leary has a more youthful look to him, further suggesting that Webb's Spider-Man reimagining is being designed for a younger incarnation of the character.

Captain George Stacy also died tragically in the Marvel Comics universe in a battle between Doctor Octopus and Spider-Man. This led to Gwen blaming the superhero for her father's death and hating Spider-Man, while all the time unaware that Peter, her boyfriend, was the hero.