No-one is calling Marc Webb's Spidey reboot 'The Amazing Lizard', but it's worth remembering that there's not one, but two origin stories at play in the blockbuster. Say hello, then, to The Amazing Spider-Man's resident evil, Dr. Curt Connors. So far we've only glimped him in passing in the trailer, but he has this new picture from the movie all to himself and takes the chance to engage in some kind of watery mayhem.Rhys Ifans plays the doomed scientist, Spider-Man's mentor-turned-nemesis, whose efforts to regenerate his missing arm lead him deep into the realm of body horror. It has all the hallmarks of being an object lesson in *not *drinking the Kool Aid.
"The Lizard is the embodiment of the movie's theme - that we all have a missing piece," explains director Webb. "Curt is not as strong as Spider-Man on the inside, but he wants to get this arm and fill that void, and essentially he becomes a big bully."
](http://www.empireonline.com/magazine/magazine?auto=format&w=1440&q=80)
July 4 is the date to mark for The Amazing Spider-Man's theatrical release on this side of the pond. As you may know by now, the movie leads off Empire's super-massive 2012 preview, available in magazine form from all good newsagents.
brightcove.createExperiences();