“Spider-Man 4” Tangled in a Web of Script Differences

Sam Raimi and the folks at Sony remain at odds over who will square off against your friendly neighborhood webslinger in the next installment of the "Spider-Man" franchise.

Raimi is stumping for Spidey to battle the Vulture, while the studio is pushing for a villainness named Black Cat, which would open up the possibility of a Good vs. Evil romance, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Oh, what an epic mess this whole villain thing has become. One of the major knocks against No. 3 was that it was lousy with bad guys, even Raimi conceded as much.

"I think having so many villains detracted from the experience. I would agree with the criticism," he said this past fall.

When word broke that Raimi and Tobey Maguire were locked up for No. 4 -- and possibly No. 5 -- Sony was being super secretive about who would be the baddy, reported Nikki Finke.

Since then, other villains mentioned have been the Lizard (aka Dr. Curt Connors, played by Dylan Baker in "3"), Mobius, who would help tap into the still vibrant vampire market, and Mysterio.

Work was supposed to begin on "4" this spring, which now seems impossible.

Yes, each Spider-Man movie has made less money than its predecessor, but the last one made more than $330 million -- here's guessing this gets worked out.

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