Anne Hathaway and John Malkovich are Spider-Man 4's Vulture family

The casting rumours surrounding Spider-Man 4 seem to have been settled once and for all. Out is Black Cat, in is The Vulture... and his daughter? Man, there's going to be some pissed off nerds online tonight.

First, we heard the villain in Spider-Man 4 was definitely going to be Kraven The Hunter. Then we were told it was likely to be some vampire chap called Morbius. Then Venom was coming back. Then he wasn't. Next it was all about The Lizard. Then Black Cat was drafted in. At one point, I was rumoured to be Spidey's new nemesis. Couldn't do it. Scheduling conflict.

Put all that tittle-tattle to rest. Movieline are exclusively reporting that John Malkovich will play winged villain The Vulture while Anne Hathaway looks set to play his daughter, er, The Vulturess, a brand new character created specifically for Spidey 4.

It's not the introduction of a hitherto unseen character that will anger the spider-nerds, but the fact that Hathaway's role will apparently still be that of Felicia Hardy, and anyone with superhero pyjamas knows that she's otherwise known as Black Cat. Given the fact that most comic-book fans treat their sacred heroes' scriptures like The Bible, this move is likely to stoke plenty of rants written in CAPITAL LETTERS.

But hey, let's not got precious: this is a movie about a kid who shoots jizz from his wrists. Hathaway is a great actress (see: Rachel Getting Married, Brokeback Mountain etc), she's got comic-book curves and she's not Kirsten Dunst. You're in.

As for Malcatraz? Save for maybe Larry David, we couldn't think of a more perfect angry bald asshole for The Vulture. When Malkovich plays a villain, he really turns it on. Cyrus The Virus lives!

But what of The Lizard? After all, he's been present in the last two Spider-Man movies in the form of Dr. Curt Connors, played by Dylan Baker. Movieline's source claims that the Sony suits "simply can't bring themselves to sign off on such an odd-looking enemy". What the hell are they talking about?