As if there was really any doubt, C. Thomas Howell confirmed what has been roundly speculated for months: The Lizard, played by Rhys Ifans, will be the main villain in your new, Andrew Garfield-starring superhero movie, The Amazing Spider-Man. But while the confirmation itself resolves one outstanding question, it raises another for the more casual Spider-Man fan: Who the hell is The Lizard?
Good question! Let's take a look at five things that you probably didn't know about Spider-Man's scaly new adversary:
The Lizard is One of Spider-Man's Oldest Enemies
The Lizard made his 1963 debut in the sixth issue of The Amazing Spider-Man -- eight issues before even The Green Goblin -- becoming only the ninth enemy that Spider-Man would square off against. Spider-Man himself made his debut a year earlier in Amazing Fantasy #15, in an issue where he battled the infamous burglar who killed his Uncle Ben. Afterward, Spider-Man was rewarded with his own series, fighting the likes of The Chameleon, Vulture, Terrible Tinkerer, Mysterio, Dr. Octopus, Sandman and the already established Doctor Doom before meeting The Lizard. (Of note: When Sam Raimi was still in line to direct Spider-Man 4, Vulture was one of the rumored villains.)
The Lizard is a War Hero
Originally, The Lizard was a Vietnam War veteran -- or at least his alter ego, Curt Connors, was a veteran. Connors was sent to Vietnam as a surgeon and lost his right arm during his tour of duty. You know how certain reptiles can regenerate their limbs? Well, Dr. Connors became interested in learning the secrets of regenerating missing limbs and... Well, reptilian DNA can be a tricky thing. Connors did grow his missing arm back, but unfortunately later turned into a very angry human-sized lizard.
The Lizard is Spider-Man's Friend
Or, again -- at least Curt Connors is Spider-Man's friend. Peter Parker developed an antidote to revert The Lizard back into Curt Connors after their first encounter. Grateful, Connors would often help Spider-Man defeat his enemies with chemical potions of some sort. Unfortunately, in the act of doing so, Connors would often wind up accidentally turning himself back into the Lizard, and Parker would have to come up with a new way to switch him back. So basically, Curt Connors is like one of those friends who really means well, but always winds up making the situation worse by getting too drunk -- or, in this case, turning into an angry humanoid lizard.
The Lizard's First Television Appearance was in 1967
"I'm a lizard-man, and the swamps belong to me!" -- or so declares this animated version of The Lizard that appeared on a 1967 episode of the animated Spider-Man television series titled "Where Crawls the Lizard." In the animated series, The Lizard wrecks havoc by... overturning the boats of local fisherman then watching them swim away? OK, I can think of worse crimes but, yeah, that's... annoying and sort of dickish? Peter Parker flies to Florida (and packs his Spider-Man costume, along with a nice collared shirt, in his luggage right on top; I guess there weren't random bag checks in 1967) to investigate reports of The Lizard and to get advice from Curt Connors -- not knowing the two are one in the same.
The Amazing Spider-Man Will Not Be The Lizard's first Big Screen Appearance
The Lizard actually appears in the Sam Raimi directed films Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3 (and is mentioned in the first Spider-Man). Dylan Baker portrayed Dr. Curt Connors -- Peter Parker's professor at Columbia -- in the two sequels but never morphed into his evil alter-ego, which most likely led to more than one awkward conversation on set when Baker would ask, "Hey, Sam, is this the film when I get to play a villain... Oh, I see, the next movie. OK." Unfortunately for Baker, now that that "next movie" has finally arrived as a reboot, he is replaced by Rhys Ifans. Tough luck.
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