Sam Raimi has said that the potential villains for the forthcoming Spider-Man 4 will depend on Peter Parker’s story arc.

Seabiscuit scribe Gary Ross was recently hired to rewrite the script for the fourth installment of the Marvel superhero franchise, which will begin filming in February 2010 for a May 5, 2011 release.

Raimi said that he is “not allowed to say at this point” who the bad guy will be in the follow-up. However, he added that whichever villain is chosen will play a key part in Peter Parker’s (Tobey Maguire) “growth” in the film.

He told MTV:

“What we’re trying to do right now is really understand the journey Peter is going to go on this time and have the villain maybe be a counter to that growth, something that he has to overcome.

“Or maybe he has to grow in a way to overcome the villain, because there always seem to be stories of coming of age, of a young man growing up and learning things about life, so once we are identifying the exact movement that Peter has to grow to, I think the villain – and we’re trying this right now.

“We’re trying to choose a villain based on who would be the proper counter to that growth, so we really have dramatic conflict.”

Fans have suggested that actor Bruce Campbell will play evil master of illusion Mysterio after he announced that he will have a major role in the next chapter of the saga.