The new incarnation of Norman Osborn aka the Green Goblin will be played by Chris Cooper. The character's appearance in the sequel is just a prelude, according to the actor.

Chris Cooper is a 62 year old actor who is mostly known for supporting roles. The highlight of his career was in 2002 when he won the Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actor In  A Supporting Role for "Adaptation." That lead actors for that movie were Nicholas Cage and Meryl Streep.

In an interview with MTV, Cooper talks about what he knows, which is filled with allusions but bereft of spoilers(as it should be).

"'[Amazing] Spider-Man 2' was an introduction to Norman, and - you'll see - an extremely odd introduction, which apparently will lead to something more."

The statement is very intriguing, to say the least. Now, the internet sleuths just got more aggressive on the trail. Cooper shares a little more:

"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."

There has been a full five years between "Spider Man 3" and "The Amazing Spider Man." Yet, it is still a task to establish that the new series is completely unrelated to the one before. It is not a prequel. Thus, the Norman Osborn played by Willem Dafoe will not be the same as this one.

"And 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."

As if reporters needed authorization to speculate! Previous interviews with Paul Giamatti (The Rhino)  and their own viral site gave enough clues to add one and one - and the sum would be the Sinister Six.