#2 SPENCER SMYTHE
The original creator of “The Spider Slayers.” A man that was obsessed with both robotics and arachnids (pretty convenient if you ask me) and was convinced by J. Jonah Jameson’s rantings that Spider-Man was indeed a menace. His work was funded by JJ in an attempt to finally get rid of Spider-Man. However, as heroes are apt to do, Spider-Man always found a design flaw in the Spider Slayers and was able to defeat them.
How could he work in the movie?
A similar premise could work for the movie, I believe. The character doesn’t need a lot to hate Spider-Man, he could just get caught up in the tidal wave of “Menace” headlines that The Daily Bugle publishes. Perhaps he got laid off from Oscorp and holds a grudge? There are a lot of ways to spin this and it would also make the movie stand out from the other pictures as it wouldn’t simply be “Spider-Man fighting another Animal/Element themed villain who is a lot bigger than he is.”
Who should play him?
Michael Stuhlbarg. If you’ve seen his incredible performances in “A Serious Man” and “Boardwalk Empire,” you can see how melding those two together would be a good way to approach Smythe. As Larry Gopnik he was a very vulnerable, down on his luck but intelligent professor and as Arnold Rothstein in “Boardwalk Empire” he is a clever, manipulative, and sometimes scary mob boss.
(Photo Credit: Joseph Marzullo/WENN.com)
