Topher Grace to be 'Spidey 3' villain
LOS ANGELES, California (Hollywood Reporter)
"That '70s Show" star Topher Grace has joined the lineup of "Spider-Man 3," in which he will play one of two villains.

The film's distributor, Columbia Pictures, declined to give further details about his role.

Grace joins Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and James Franco, all of whom starred in the first two films. Thomas Haden Church ("Sideways") also has been cast.

"Spider-Man 3" directed by Sam Raimi, is scheduled for release May 4, 2007. The "Spider-Man" film franchise has grossed more than $1.5 billion worldwide for Columbia.

This week, Grace made his onscreen exit from Fox's "That '70s Show," on which he starred for the past seven years. His feature work includes "In Good Company" and "Traffic," and memorable cameos in "Ocean's Eleven" and "Ocean's Twelve."
Source

Does anyone have any idea which villian he could be playing? The only possible ones I can think of are Ben Riley and Cletus Kasady/Carnage.

well that certainly is a different kinda role for him. its cool that hes doing it, but i just cant really see him as a villain.

I don't know its to early for carnage venom is a bonifide arch enemy befor he appears in the comics, and I think they would want to finish the Green Goblin story and even bring in Goblin 2 to end it, and I think it was quoted in wizard magazine or some other comic magazine that the director did not want to work with the symbiote, he did not like him so there is a definite possibility Venom or Carnage will not make an apperance, if they don't go Green Goblin 2 and or the Green Goblin. I say "and or" because Rami said Spiderman will face two villians this time.

So if they don't go with the goblins, then I see Manwolf, The lizard (he had a cameo in spiderman 2). Even though rami said he did not like the symbiote, I wont rule it out because, in spiderman 2 they did talk of some space flight. Maybe sandman could be in it, that would rock. Maybe Electro, Mysterio and Chameleon

But I have a feeling that they wont bring the Goblins in because everybody will be like "Goblin again," so I could see Man-wolf, Lizard Man dou, or Sandman, Lizard Man dou, and if there smart either Venom, Sandman dou, or Venom and somebody else

edit: I forgot aintitcool.com confirmed Sandman is one of the villians and speculates that maybe Hob Goblin is the other. I hope not I hope its Venom and Sandman.

MORBIUS! DR. MICHEAL MORBIUS! We need a doctor turned psycho vampire more often

Church could play that, since Morbius is one of spidey's villains that the true identidy is much older than him. With age concealment, he could also be Mysterio. I think he might be too old for the physical endurance Venom would require, though.

Is it Mobius or Morbius? It's been so long, I forgot which one it is- and I think I misspelled it, anyways...

likewise, Grace might be too young to play Venom, since Venom's almost a decade spdey's elder. I hope one of them play it anyways, though.

If I don't get any of these three, ditto me for Lizard, Electro and Sandman. And Scorpion if I missed it.

Lol! I do find it difficult to envision him as a villian, but I have liked him in everything hes been in so far, so heres hoping he does a good job!

yeah i like him in his stuff too. it was sad to see him leave on That 70's Show. i just hope he makes a good villain.

Thomas Haden Church is rumoured to be playing Sandman which will be awesome to see on screen.

And I can't really see Topher Grace playing any villain... Not only does he not look like any of the characters, I don't know if he could play some of the more complex characters such as Venom or Scorpion.



Carnage will never appear in a Spider-Man film. Venom might but it is true that Raimi is not a fan of the symbiotes so the chances of them appearing while Raimi is directing are slim. But Venom would be enough, there is enough back story as it is with Venom without introducing Carnage and if they do do Venom then Carnage might be symbiote overload. It's also true that they will probably want to finish off the Green Goblin saga before starting with Venom, but we could still get Eddie Brock. If Carnage does appear on film, it will most likely be in a Venom spin-off movie.



Man-Wolf won't be a villain 1) because he is too minor and 2) because they won't want to start introducing horror style villains into a Spidey movie. In the comics it might fit but in the movies, it would feel more like a villain for Blade. There is a strong chance that The Lizard will appear as a villain in a movie but they already introduced Curt Connors (The Lizard) in SM2 with a different actor so we can rule out Lizard as a villain in this movie. Mysterio probably won't make it into the movies because he could be seen as camp, so unless they updated him I doubt it. Electro and Chameleon have high chances of been in the movies and they are two characters that I can see Topher being...

Also the space flight was the origin of Venom in the cartoon not the comics. However his origin in the comics deals with Spidey going off to another planet which is obviously not something that could/should be done in the films so you bring up a valid point about the space flight. If Venom is done in the movies, they may change his origin to something similar of the cartoon or they may update it to something like the Ultimate Venom origin where the symbiote was designed as a cure for cancer but went wrong, which would be more fitting in movies which are more grounded in science and reality than comic fantasy.




They'll do Green Goblin 2 eventually but instead of making Harry the second GG like in the comics they may turn him into the Hobgoblin instead because of like you said people thinking "Oh another Goblin again" so atleast if it's as Hobgoblin it will feel a little different. Topher may be playing the Hobgoblin though... Harry found his dads secret lab with all the Goblin stuff in so Harry may trick someone into taking the formula and becoming the Hobgoblin...



You actually want Topher to play Venom?! Topher is in no way shape or form Eddie Brock or Venom. Eddie is older than Pete, he is physically well built, he is a complex character that goes into a downward spiral which draws the symbiote to him and how he becomes the psychotic Venom who is basically a stronger, bigger version of Spidey and that is definately not Topher Grace! Topher is a little weakling for god sake, definately not intimidating at all.

They may introduce him as Eddie though... but there is way too much backstory of Eddie and too much origin detail of Venom to have him come in one movie... His character will need to be set up over 2 or 3 movies. So Eddie Brock can't really be counted as a villain (it's only when he becomes Venom that he can be) so if Topher is definately playing a villain then that could rule Eddie Brock/Venom out.

If they try to condense it all down and change too many things to have Eddie be introduced and turn into Venom in one movie it could seriously mess the character up and p*ss off a lot of fan which is anothe reason why I hope the rumours of Topher been Venom in SM3 aren't true...

Raimi has said this of Topher:

"Topher Grace is an extraordinarily talented actor and will be perfect for the complexities of the role we are developing."

Which makes me think that he is either gonna be Hobgoblin or Eddie Brock because they are both complex characters... But I don't want Topher to be Venom. He could probably do the character of Eddie quite well but I doubt he could play Venom... While I don't want him to be Venom I guess I wouldn't complain if he was and I can see why they would choose him for that part and go for the whole mirror image of Peter thing. My choices for Venom are Henry Rollins or Liev Schrieber.

Topher Grace is so cute. I love spider man but I don't want to see him as a villian. This makes me sad. Because don't they usually kill off the villians in the endf

Topher Grace in a villian suit.

*must think of pure thoughts while watching spiderman 3*

lol. Well topher would make a good spiderman villan, maybe he could be evil looking stalking man, or something..

oh that is sad...hey what would he be wearing?

I can only picture him as Electro and Carnage.

He would be wearing a suit, but it would be torn and he would also have a fishermans beard. Like ewan mcgregor in star wars...

He would also always carry an umbrella...

There's obviously a reason he has been chosen and I think whoever he plays he will surprise us and be quite good, it's just based on preconceptions and stuff but I can't see him as very many characters and especially not as Venom.

I am thinking Electro...

Very descripitive this is great. I love it.

you a big topher grace fan 101?

Oh yeah especially in that 70's show he is hilarious. But he is cuter in the movie Win A Date With Tad Hamilton.

Ah I haven't seen that, thankfully.

The 70's show is pretty damn funny though.

Yep and uh before I was saved I use to get high and watch it....that is too funny.

TheCrow maybe he will play Hob Globlin, that was the rumore of the second villian, and it fits more to him then Venom, but another Goblin, I don't think people will like it and if you never read the comics they might be confused, maybe thats why there bringing in the Sandman which should be awesome.

But I have to stress the fact that the role was not confirmed and there is the the fact Tobey wants to quit playing spiderman so there is a chance that Tobey already left and Topher will be the replacement.

Thanks for clearing up the venom story, your tight Topher does not look like Venom, but maybe, you never know! anyway i hope they introduce Eddie brock though it would make the comic fans go insane to see the inevitable future.

And I loved Topher in "In Good Company" a great movie.

Remember what a spastic little wise-ass Topher was in Traffic? For that reason I think he'd make a great Cletus Kasady. Too bad Carnage won't be in it..
He could play Hobgoblin I suppose but Ned Leeds was an older more distinguished type..And Sandman is a muscular laborer type, so he definitely won't be doing that..
I think other posters were right when they said he could play a good Electro, though..
As long as he doesn't have to wear that silly ligthning bolt mask..
He might do just as well as Mysterio or that crazy guy with the Spider Slayer robots too, I think..