Potentially building to the previously-teased New Year’s Eve Times Square event, The Amazing Spider-Man 2‘s viral Daily Bugle website has posted another update that, this time, references the alter egos of comic book villains Shocker (Herman Schultz) and Sin-Eater (Stan Carter). The article, penned by Ned Leeds (himself a double for The Hobgoblin), reads as follows:
A shocking Midtown bank robbery was foiled yesterday by Spider-Man. New York’s superhuman vigilante caught the mechanically augmented robber, suspected in two previous bank heists, as he fled the scene with the stolen loot.
Police arrived on the scene as Spider-Man finished webbing up the suspect, who was arrested and later identified as disgruntled engineer, Herman Schultz. Schultz created wrist-gauntlets that are capable of emitting a vibratory wave of pressure that proved capable of tearing apart a four-foot thick steel vault.
NYPD Special Crimes Unit Detective Stan Carter stated that Schultz had officially been remanded into custody and is being held at the Ravencroft Institute pending his preliminary hearing. When asked how a “disgruntled engineer” could create such dangerous weapons, Carter said, “Shocking, right? All that genius but no escape plan.”
So far the viral site has teased the likes of Bugle editor in chief J. Jonah Jameson, photographer Eddie Brock (aka Venom), the organized crime team The Enforcers and several others. There’s no word yet whether or not any of these characters might make surprise appearances in next summer’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but it’s clear from the recent announcement of both Venom and Sinister Six spinoffs that Columbia Pictures is eager to expand the scope of the Spider-Man universe on the big screen.
Hitting theaters May 2, 2014, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is directed by Marc Webb and stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field, Chris Cooper, B.J. Novak and Sarah Gadon.
UPDATE: This article was updated to include a mention of the Sin-Eater reference.