Did you think the Spider-Man 4 rumours had come to an end? Well, while we're still no closer to officially learning who the web-slinger will face in the movie, we've most recently heard that he'll battle a female villain.
She's previously been described as being "30s-50s, any ethnicity" and a "powerful and imposing figure." To fill the role, Marvel Studios is reportedly "seeking an actress with [a] strong and commanding screen presence and depth."
That doesn't exactly narrow things down, does it?
Today, The InSneider has shared another wild Spider-Man 4 rumour and this one points to the Chameleon being the movie's big bad. However, it's said, "They won’t necessarily be called 'Chameleon' because that character recently appeared in Kraven the Hunter, even though that movie barely scratched the surface of the character’s potential."
The report suggests taking this latest claim with a pinch of salt, but that is how the character has been described to them by at least one source.
For what it's worth, there's precedent for this in the comics because Lady Chameleon was introduced in 2010's Ultimate Spider-Man #13, where she was portrayed as the sister of the Chameleon.
Fred Hechinger played the villain in Kraven the Hunter. The younger, much weaker brother of Sergei Kravinoff, Dmitri decided to take over his father's empire after he died and underwent a procedure courtesy of Dr. Miles Warren to become a literal shapeshifter rather than just someone who changes their face with masks or technology.
Needless to say, if Spidey does battle a new Chameleon in Spider-Man 4, then that Variant surely won't have any connections whatsoever with Sony Pictures' disastrous Kraven the Hunter movie.
We'll see what happens, but it's hard to imagine a gender-swapped Chameleon being Spider-Man 4's big bad...unless those reports about Shocker and Scorpion returning were correct, of course.
"That's a very good question. I'm wondering the same," actor Bokeem Woodbine recently said when he was asked about Shocker's absence since 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming. "But I get a feeling it might not be the last time you see the Shocker."
"We discussed [the costume]. It wasn't right or appropriate for that first one. But who knows, down the line, [we can get] a little bit closer to the original suit," he continued. "We never wanted to cover his face because I asked that specifically. And they were like, 'No, you act with your face. So we want to be able to see you.'"
Spider-Man 4 has been officially dated for July 31, 2026, with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton helming a script penned by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers.