Dane DeHaan is the next Harry Osborn

"Chronicle" star Dane DeHaan has been cast as Harry Osborn, Peter Parker's best friend turned archenemy, in the sequel to Sony's "Amazing Spider-Man," director Marc Webb announced this morning on Twitter. "To say I'm excited is an understatement," DeHaan replied.

The 26-year-old actor, who also appeared this year in "Lawless" and "Lincoln," was among the contenders for the role mentioned in mid-November alongside Brady Corbet ("Melancholia") and Alden Ehrenreich ("Beautiful Creatures"). The studio is said to have initially sought a bigger, athletic actor to play Harry but then shifted gears, instead targeting someone "dark and edgy."

The breakout star of "Chronicle," DeHaan is no stranger to "dark and edgy" roles, having played a bullied and unpopular high-school student who becomes unhinged after he, his cousin and a classmate are imbued with telekinetic powers. He joins returns stars Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, and new additions Shailene Woodley as Mary Jane Watson and Jamie Foxx as Electro in a film that's believed to be based on - or at least build toward - Marvel's watershed 1973 storyline "The Night Gwen Stacy Died."

Expected to being production in February, the sequel to "The Amazing Spider-Man" opens in 3D on May 2, 2014.