Whoever said comic-book movies were for kids clearly doesn't know Jack - or, for that matter, Peter. Because a new writer is in final negotiations to work on Spider-Man 4, and he's Pulitzer winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire. Which, we're pretty sure, automatically makes anything he works on literature.
That isn't to say that Lindsay-Abaire hasn't worked on movies before or that he doesn't have a sense of fun - he wrote the movie adaptation of the upcoming kids' fantasy Inkheart, and is currently working on the book and lyrics for the Broadway incarnation of Shrek. He's also adapting his Pulitzer winner Rabbit Hole for the screen, with Nicole Kidman lined up to star.
But this is an encouraging sign that Spider-Man 4 might focus more on character again than on squeezing in as many bad guys as possible and then shortchanging them, because Lindsay-Abaire's plays tend to focus on "outsiders in search of clarity", which is a description of Spidey alter-ego Peter Parker if ever we heard one.
It's not the first time that a Pulitzer winner has worked on the franchise - Michael Chabon of "The Adventures of Kavalier and Klay" fame dabbled in Spider-Man 2 (where we're hoping he wasn't responsible for that dreadful line about "always been standing in your doorway").
James Vanderbilt (Zodiac and, er, Welcome to the Jungle) already wrote a draft of the script, for which both director Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire are already lined up to return, with Kirsten Dunst expected to join them once more. The plot's still under more locks and keys than the Bank of England, but we'll bring you more as we get it.