Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the results of the Sideshow Spider-Man 3 contest.

Here’s the recap:

One winner takes home the pair of busts from Sideshow Collectibles. The contest was an art-driven one. I wanted you guys to create a design for the villain of SPIDER-MAN 4 and I wanted you to tell me your ideas on who should play the character.

I ended up with around 50 entries. You’ll see the top eight here, counting down to the winner.

All eight of these interested me and the top three or four were all in contention for first place at one time or another. Thanks to all who entered.

The first one was never going to win, but it made me laugh. From “Rick Stevens (aka Tim Story).” Here’s what he wrote:

“"Cloud" as Galactus, Ravager of Planets - I can't really take full credit for this idea (as much as I'd like too). Nimbus, Stratus ... it doesn't really matter as long as it's not Cumulous (because cumulous clouds are boring and don't focus group well). Cirrus would be good.”

Awesome…

The next entry comes from Dax Hamon. He suggested a twofer of Lizard and Black Cat, with Dylan Baker returning as Doctor Curt Connors and Jessica Biel as Felicia Hardy. I didn’t really take to his design of Lizard, but Biel’s about as perfect a Black Cat as you can get. Here’s the photoshop job he did for Hardy and the sketch he did.

Kraven The Hunter was only suggested by a couple of people and of the two this was my favorite art and suggestion. It’s a photoshop job of Russell Crowe as Kraven from Juan Diaz. Not bad.

Vulture was also a popular entry, with at least 4 or 5 suggesting Ben Kingsley for the role. I never took to the art on those. There was one Patrick Stewart as well, but the art was always really sloppy. This is my favorite Vulture design, a radical redesign that makes the Vulture a more FLY-ish tragic monster. I like the artistry of it, but I can’t say I’m crazy for the idea of casting James Marsters, but then again I never was a Buffy kind of guy. Here’s that entry, from Jorge Lacera!

We’re in the final four now.

I’d say the most popular villains suggested were Lizard, Vulture and Rhino. None of the Rhino entries really got my juices flowing (suggesting everybody from The Rock to Batista), so you won’t see those here, but I got a surprising amount of good Lizard entries. The art on this one, by David McAdoo is probably the best art of all the entries, but it doesn’t really fit in with the contest. It’s more of a comic book page. It’s a fantastic piece, something I’d love to have on the wall, and I couldn’t help but at least showcase McAdoo’s talents, but it didn’t quite fit in enough to be the winner. Again, Dylan Baker returning… here’s McAdoo’s piece!

This entry is a design from Neil Cook. He suggested Electro as played by Peter Stormare. The casting of Stormare as Electro is the main reason this is here. Full disclosure, Neil’s a friend of mine, so he was never really in contention to win this contest… it’d be a little too unfair even if he sent in the best entry. But I like his art here, I like the thought put into the generator. I got a couple more Electro entries and at least one other had the idea of a generator, too, but Neil’s costume and casting (the other guy suggested Jason Statham) gave him the edge. Here’s his piece.

Next up is one more Lizard design. I loved the look of this piece from James Groman. Pretty sweet looking, if I do say so myself. The idea was to go back to Bruce Campbell for the role of Doc Connors, a role he reportedly turned down back during SPIDER-MAN 1. That’s interesting, but I don’t like the idea of ditching Baker for the role. I do like this piece, though…

And finally, the winner… A man by the name of Keith V. Whalen sent in a piece of art that I believe topped all the others. Out of all the entries, this one really did feel like something you’d see from a design team on a movie, a color and design test for a character. Looks like it was done with watercolors… I like Carnage as a character and I do think he should be introduced into the films at some point… I wouldn’t pick him for SPIDER-MAN 4… I’d probably go for Lizard before hitting Carnage… and reintroducing Venom as a character, of course… what’s Carnage without Venom? The whole idea is that Spidey and Venom have to put aside their brawl for the common good.

But this piece was my favorite that fit the parameters of the contest. He suggested Jude Law (in all his ROAD TO PERDITION creepiness) to play Cletus Cassidy. Good job, Keith! Keep an eye on the mailbox for those busts!

Here’s the piece he sent in!

I love the skeletal look of the mouth and nose. Good work all around.

Thanks to all who entered!

-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com