When it comes to superhero franchises, the news just never ends, and the next one on everyone's radar is bound to be Spider-Man 4. It has its release date set (May 6, 2011) and Sam Raimi says they're only working on part four at this point, and still in the middle of hashing out a story. They are, however, close to choosing the big baddie: "All the characters or villains, whatever we decide to do will be from Stan Lee's creations or those that came after him." He's also planning to write in Mary Jane, and hopes Kirsten Dunst agrees to come back ... so I guess that's an indication she's still not signed the way Tobey Maguire is. [MTV]

X-Men Origins: Wolverine seems to have test screened, somewhere, and spoiler filled reviews are hitting the Internet. (Scott Adkin Fanz has one, but its origin is uncertain. Read at your own risk.) I haven't read them (surprises in this job are so far and few between that I'd like to go into Wolverine fairly fresh) but Devin Faraci is wondering how the heck they can go to Japan from here ... or anywhere, really.

One of the biggest questions (other than: Will it suck?) surrounding Wolverine is what they've done with Deadpool. The LA Times' Dish Rag caught up with Ryan Reynolds and he painted a tiny picture of how the film approaches the character: "I don't even look at it like I play Deadpool. I really think I'm more or less playing Wade Wilson, obviously, and then I'm playing the creature that will eventually become Deadpool. But in this movie, it's sort of his newly formed version, so to speak." He also shrugs off rumors that he's being groomed for his own spinoff. "I've had a couple of people approach me about meetings for a 'Deadpool' movie, but I just think it's absurd to even think that way until this movie comes out."


X2 and Watchmen scripwriter David Hayter has formed a production company, Dark Hero, with Benedict Carver. First up: Slaughter's Road, starring Thomas Dekker and (possibly) Ray Stevenson. Demonology is also on the slate. So if big studios don't tackle tricky comic properties, Hayter may just do it himself. [Variety]

Monster Attack Network now has a director: the man who beat Watchmen at the box office, Escape From Witch Mountain's Andy Fickman. [Variety]

If you liked your first look at The Goon, here's a second. Blur Studio artist Sean McNally has posted some concept art on his blog, as well as a high res version of the teaser poster from ComicCon 2008. It's art that defines "eye candy."