Well, there's good news and there's bad news.

First, the good news - John Malkovich may have been cast as the villain in the next "Spider-Man" film! Rockin, hey!? Won't he be great!? If I recall correctly, Malkovich had a bit of a chinwag with Sam Raimi about playing The Green Goblin (in the first film) originally, but lost out to Willem Dafoe, so the legendary actor's appearance in a Spidey flick has been a long time coming.

In addition, the oft-rumoured Anne Hathaway (she's been rumoured for the part for weeks now) is said to be in talks to play Malkovich's daughter, Felicia Hardy. Again, great casting - and I can already imagine the chemistry her Felicia's going to share with Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker.

The bad news? Felicia won't be getting about as her alter-ego, Black Cat, in the film.

Sucks, right!?

And no, director Sam Raimi isn't saving up the feline for a future installment (as has been his excuse for not having Dylan Baker's Curt Connors transform into his alter-ego, The Lizard, for quite some time now).  Get this!  According to Movieline, Felicia Hardy won't be the Cat EVER because she'll already be.... the Vulturess.

Yes, you heard right - the Vulturess.

And no, that isn't a real character from the world of "Spider-Man".

You see, Malovich is in talks to play Vulture (the character Ben Kingsley was set to play in "Spider-Man 3" before Raimi wisely decided that film had enough villains), according to the site, and the studio thinks it'd make much more sense for his on-screen daughter to be playing the - completely made-up - analogous ‘Vulturess', rather than a completely different type of villain.... regardless of whether comic-fans know too bloody well who Felicia Hardy is.

I don't get the logic here - can't Felicia still be the Cat with her father (said to be the new owner of The Daily Bugle) donning the Vulture garb!? Is it really going to make a difference? Yes, technically, the costume designers could possibly save a few bucks if Malkovich and Hathaway's attire is of a similar fashion, but seriously, they're raping the "Spider-Man" legend by doing this! It's like having Selina Kyle's alter-ego be Batwoman, or Wally West's alter-ego be The Green Lantern. Ok, maybe it's not quite as bad as that, but still, it's weak - very weak, and for that reason, I'm hoping someone's got their info mixed up.