The Amazing Spider-Man has starred in four feature films and gone toe-to-toe with two Green Goblins, Doctor Octopus, the sandman, Venom and most recently the Lizard. Next year his feature film menagerie of enemies will be extended to include Electro and the Rhino (just announced last week).
Designed by John Romita, Jr. in 1966, the Rhino is a heavy hitter villain, a brutish Soviet secret weapon named Aleksei Sytsevich who was sent to the United States to steal secrets from astronaut John Jameson (son of the erstwhile Daily Bugle publisher J Jonah Jameson). An experimental process bonded Aleksei to a suit of armor and transformed him into a bullet proof and super strong monstrosity capable of challenging not only Spider-Man, but the jade-jawed Hulk as well!
So it is somewhat bizarre that celebrated actor Paul Giammatti will be playing the brutish character. But I am a fan of his and there is a tradition of renowned actors playing comic book supervillains including Willem DaFoe as the Green Goblin, Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus and even John Malkovitch as the Vulture in the aborted Spider-Man 4 if you want to get sneaky.
Via Superherohype
Production has officially begun on Marc Webb’s sequel to last year’s The Amazing Spider-Man! Webb himself tweeted the below image with the message “Day 1. #anamorphic #film #philthecameraoperator”Although the first film was shot digitally on the RED Epic, Webb seems to be going the celluloid route this time. There’s no word yet on whether that will continue throughout the production or if there’s something unique about today’s production.
Actor Paul Giamatti
The film will see Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, and Martin Sheen reprising with Jamie Foxx joining as Electro, Shailene Woodley as Mary Jane Watson, Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn, Paul Giammatti as the Rhino and Felicity Jones in an unnamed role.
The Amazing Spider-Man sequel is scheduled to hit theaters on May 2, 2014.
The Daily P.O.P. 
Hm. Giamatti as the Rhino? I assume they’ll be a lot of CGI then?! The Rhino could work on-screen with a really big powerful guy but Giamatti seems perverse casting, tho’ he’s quite a good actor. Still, I liked The Amazing Spider-Man, and the villain as played by Ifans was the weak link there. From what I know of her Woodley seems a bit spindley and bland to be Mary Jane but Emma Stone is adorable, so there’s that. I really hope that Foxx appears in Electro’s comic book duds for a joke scene as he’d look hilarious.
Did you read Spider-Men? I read a couple of issues but it got on my nerves, does anyone know if it improved?
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I’m guessing Rhino will be mostly CGI, like Hulk was in Avengers… in which case they could just be doing the performance-capture thing with Giamatti. He probably has the personality and acting style for Rhino, if not the physical stature.
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