The Amazing Spider-Man alum Rhys Ifans is keeping fans guessing regarding whether or not it's actually him portraying the Lizard in the fast-approaching Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: No Way Home.
While speaking with Murphy's Multiverse, Ifans was asked if he is, in fact, the man behind the Lizard in the MCU Spider-Man threequel. Ifans, who is said to have had a "big grin on his face" at the time, replied, "Well you know, like most Christmas presents, the good thing is not knowing what's in them until it's time to open them."
The Tom Holland-led No Way Home is confirmed to feature five major villains from pre-MCU Spider-Man movies: Green Goblin from Spider-Man, Doctor Octopus from Spider-Man 2, Sandman from Spider-Man 3, Lizard from The Amazing Spider-Man and Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2. We know for a fact that Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina and Jamie Foxx will be reprising their roles as Green Goblin, Doc Ock and Electro, respectively.
That being said, it's still unclear if Spider-Man 3's Thomas Haden Church will actually reprise his role as the Sandman, or if the aforementioned Ifans will actually return as the Lizard, as both actors have yet to actually appear in any official promotional material for No Way Home. Rather, only the villains' monstrous CGI forms have been shown thus far.
In The Amazing Spider-Man, the 2012 reboot film starring Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Ifans played Dr. Curtis Connors, a brilliant geneticist who is missing his right arm. Like his comic book counterpart -- who was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, first appearing in 1963's Amazing Spider-Man #6 -- Ifans' Dr. Connors tries to get his arm back by tapping into certain reptiles' ability to regrow their limbs. While the experiment initially seems successful, things go awry when Connors accidentally turns himself into a giant, villainous lizard monster.
Ifans was actually the second person to portray Curt Connors in live-action. In 2004's Spider-Man 2 and 2007's Spider-Man 3, the character was played by Dylan Baker. However, Baker's version of Dr. Connors never actually transformed into the Lizard in director Sam Raimi's Tobey Maguire-led Spider-Man film series. The Lizard did, however, make a brief appearance in the 2018 animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse -- more specifically, the version of the Lizard from Spider-Gwen's reality, who is none other than Peter Parker himself.
Spider-Man: No Way Home arrives exclusively in theaters on Dec. 17.
Source: Murphy's Multiverse