We learned last month that Peter Parker’s parents would appear in the Spider-man reboot that Marc Webb will start shooting shortly. At the time we didn’t know who would play the roles, but now THR has confirmed that Campbell Scott has signed on to play Peter Parker’s father, while Julianne Nicholson is in talks to play his mother.
Quite how they’ll fit in isn’t officially known, as in the comic they were agents of SHIELD who got killed when their son was really young (hence why Peter lives with his Aunt and Uncle), but as Marvel is doing it’s own SHIELD storyline in the likes of Iron Man and The Avengers, it’s likely Sony will have to find a similar but different backstory for the new movie. It’s likely anyway that mom and pop will only appear briefly in flashback to set up their demise.
Also in talks to join the film is Smuldog Millionaire’s Irrfan Khan, who will play a villain called Van Atter, with Annie Parisse negotiating to play his wife. Van Atter is presumed to be the same as Nels Van Adder in the comics, a research assistant who becomes a test subject for a chemical developed by Norman Osborn, which slowly drives him insane and turns him into a demon-like creature known as proto-Goblin.
One thing it’s made us wonder is whether, with Van Atter and his wife are being cast at the same time as Peter Parker’s parents, does this mean it’s proto-Goblin who kills Spider-man’s mom and dad? In some ways it would make sense, adding an extra bit of angst for when the web-sliger goes up against Rhys Ifan’s Lizard, another bad guy turned into a monster by an experimental serum gone wrong.