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Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood Daily has reported that director Sam Raimi and "Spider-Man" leading man Tobey Maguire will be returning to their roles in "Spider-Man 4". In her latest report on the fourth installment of the web-slinging superhero, she noted that Sony Pictures have signed them both in.

If the story were indeed true, it is most likely that the director-and-actor duo are going to be involved in the back-to-back shooting of "Spider-Man 4" and "Spider-Man 5" since Sony are looking on the possibility to shoot them simultaneously seeing its cost effective factor and the difficulty to bring the team back together again.

Though Raimi and Maguire are apparently coming back, the same report cannot be found with the casting of Mary Jane Watson's Kirsten Dunst. So far, the actress has been speculated to be reprising her role as the spidey's lover, but words are she has yet to sign any deal with the studio.

On whether the story will fall into a darker tone due to "The Dark Knight" success, Finke quoted an insider explaining, "Spider-Man is its own thing. Sam Raimi made the first serious superhero movie, and others followed. The difference between Spider-Man and Batman is that Batman is duelling with a dark side of himself, and that's not what Peter Parker's struggle is. Peter Parker has no dark side himself. In Spider-Man 3 it was the black costume. Peter Parker's struggle is about sacrifice."

Meanwhile, addressing the villain issues, it is suggested that the two most possible Spider-Man's foes to be picked up are The Lizard and Man-Wolf. Putting her ground on her insider's remark that when the villain is exposed, the actor playing it will be directly known, Finke speculated that the baddie could be coming from Dylan Baker's character of Dr. Curt Connors or Daniel Gillies' John Jameson who is Mary Jane's fiance in "Spider-Man 2".

Scripted by James Vanderbilt, "Spider-Man 4" is going to be produced by Avi Arad, Grant Curtis and Laura Ziskin. The principal photography is said to be kicked off sometime in Fall 2009 since the movie has been pushed back to May 2011 release.