The Amazing Spider-Man 2 star Chris Cooper on Norman Osborn

If you've been keeping track of Sony's upcoming superhero sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2, then you'll know that Andrew Garfield's wall-crawler is going to have his hands full when he returns for the second instalment of the rebooted series as the studio looks to expand its Spider-Man universe by introducing a host of villains. Jamie Foxx (White House Down) and Paul Giamatti (Saving Mr. Banks) are confirmed to play Electro and The Rhino respectively, while there's also talk of the likes of The Vulture, Black Cat and even Carnage making an appearance. And that's before we get to Peter Parker's arch-nemesis, with American Beauty star Chris Cooper set to portray Norman Osborn, whose comic book alter-ego is of course the Green Goblin. Cooper has been talking to MTV about his role in the sequel, reiterating that he'll be taking more of a back seat before rising to prominence in The Amazing Spider-Man 3.

"The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was an introduction to Norman, and — you’ll see — an extremely odd introduction, which apparently will lead to something more," said Cooper, before stating that he was “vaguely” aware of Sony's plans to build towards the introduction of the Sinister Six. "They sent me some material. But they said also that this Spider-Man is its own Spider-Man. We’re just kind of starting from the beginning. I believe there’s a lot of stage-setting for the next film. There are several villains in this movie, and some of them are more foreground and important. Jamie Foxx is and stuff. A couple of us are more hanging around the background because I think there will be a bigger deal. I don’t actually know, but that seems to be what they’re doing. I’m not an idiot either, but I can’t claim hard and fast knowledge of this. I won’t. I can’t because I don’t actually know, but you and I can speculate."

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is set for release on April 18th 2014 in the UK and on May 1st 2014 in North America with a cast that also includes the returning Emma Stone (Gwen Stacy) and Sally Field (Aunt May) alongside Dane DeHaan (Chronicle) as Harry Osborn, and Colm Feore (Thor), Felicity Jones (Like Crazy), Sarah Gadon (Cosmopolis) and B.J. Novak (The Office) in as-yet-unrevealed roles.