Actor, C. Thomas Howell, who you may remember from quite a few hit films from the 80s, including E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, The Outsiders, Red Dawn and Soul Man, and most recently in his portrayal of Officer Billy Dewey on the television series, Southland has unleashed the news on his Facebook page that he had scored a role in director Marc Webb‘s as yet Untitled Spider-Man Reboot.

The message on his page stated:

“I have just signed the deal for the new Spider-Man movie! I will start the work on January 25th.”

While he did not state what his role in the film is, Howell’s reps told EW that his character’s name is “Ray” and they go on to say that “The name does not immediately ring any bells in Spider-Man lore, other than possibly Ray Cooper, the supposedly deceased father of Spidey’s current comic book girlfriend Carlie.”

In other webslinger news…

Stan “The Man” Lee, who co-created Spider-Man, recently turned 88 years young, and received his (long overdue) star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Hollywood Blvd. In addition, the city of Hollywood declared January 4th Stan Lee Day, to which Stan joked “Some Stan Lee Day, the schools are still open.”

Stan also took to Twitter and announced that he would be appearing in Marc Webb‘s Untitled Spider-Man Reboot, continuing the tradition of “The Man” having a cameo appearance in virtually every Marvel Comics based film in recent memory.

Stan said,

“My pal Avi Arad, producer of the new Spider-Man, called to tell me how excited he is about the film. Then came the surprise–

Avi told me my cameo is all set for Spidey 4, and when he described it, I realized it’s the best, most unusual one yet!”

“I wish I could tell you what my cameo is, but that would kill the surprise. But I’ll tell you this much-I’m finally in an action scene!”

“Since it’s common knowledge that people go to the movies just to see my cameos, I don’t know why EVERY movie doesn’t have one for me.”

“After we save the world, our next mission will be to convince Hollywood to have an Oscar for Best Cameo. Till then—Excelsior!”

The Untitled Spider-Man Reboot starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Irrfan Khan, Martin Sheen, Sally Field, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Julianne Nicholson, Chris Zylka and Annie Parisse is slated to hit theaters on July 3rd, 2012