Rumor Killer: Spider-Man 4 Synopsis Leaked Online? Don't Bet On It

Here's one of those ridiculous online rumours that are only worth reporting as an exercise in stemming their flow, or perhaps as a platform for some other, smaller bits of genuine info.

The tale goes that a synopsis for Spider-Man 4 appeared on the website of Hoyts, an Australian cinema chain. This was spotted, and then reported to Mania. Now, I believe the synopsis did appear, but I also believe it was just the silly fidgetting of some idle hands and nothing to do with any actual plans for the next Spidey movie. And I'm not even sure it was on the Hoyts page because, frankly, even Google Caches of the Hoyts url don't reveal any trace.

So, there's no trace of the synopsis on the Hoyts site, but I have popped it below the break.

Peter Parker now faces a more greater threat. After a man is accidentally killed in an electrical power outage; a mass murderer has bonded with a symbiote. Thus wreaking havoc as Peter faces this red rampage, as well as an electrifying madman.

Now, I won't need to point out the grammatical shortcomings and syntactical eccentricities of that... that... that poetry to you. Okay, maybe I will. Or, maybe, you'll need to point them out to me.

What you'll definitely need to confirm are the inferences. Carnage and Electro? Or can you read this in another way? Why does it even matter...? Well, just for sport. Consider this my education in Marvel comics.

Nikki Finke recently seemed to think Mickey Rourke was in the running for a role as the fourth Spidey villain. This suggests, if nothing else, that some agreement has been reached on an antagonist for the plot. This should mean scripting is afoot, so it won't be too long until there's some real news.

MTV spoke to Sam Raimi about Venom lately and his responses gave them a hit-farming suspicion that either Carnage would be in Spider-Man 4, or even a standalone film. From their report:

"I guess I don't know about that," Raimi told MTV News when asked about the "Venom" film. "Do you mean Carnage? Maybe you're referring to a separate movie?"

Frankly, I hope he stays as far away from symbiotic goo as possible – and so does he, I expect. Time to pay off all that Curt Connors set-up, isn't it, Sam?