Yes, Dr. Octopus was one of the better villians of the movies. The point behind my reasoning of not wanting Connors as the Lizard in SM4 is because there has been no indication of him being interested in lizard DNA to create a regeneration serum for human limbs.
I know Doc Ocks origin was explained and altered in SM2, but there was only one villian in that movie. To me, the character of Dr. Connors closely resembles that of Harry Osborn in the movies. Harry had little screen time in SM1, became more of a distinguished character in SM2, and became a full villian/anti-hero in SM3. My point is that Connors has not been explained enough to the ordinary movie-going audience. For all they know, he is just Peter's one-armed physics professor from SM2 and SM3. Don't get me wrong, the Lizard is one of my favorite villians, but I still feel it is too early to make him become a primary antagonist in the next Spider-Man film.
Nah, Conners' time is now. You see, just like how Ock told us of his plans for nuclear fusion, Conners can easily do
the same regarding his arm and his experiments using lizard DNA. Hell, its something that doesn't require deep exploration
but can be done in a matter of minutes.
Did we need a hint of his experiments? No but would it have been nice? Hell yeah! Fortunately, Conners' story to people outside
of comics is at least familiar.
Even if Conners as the lizard turns out to be he only villain in sm4 or shares it with another (Kraven, fingers crossed) his story of
origin still carries the same weight amd won't come off as rushed and contrived.
Conners doesn't need any more additional explaining prior for the light to now shine on him. He is exactly what you said the gp percieve him as
and thats a 1 armed physics professor. He got a name drom in sm1, was physically introduced in sm2, was explored a little for sm3 so for sm4 he can now take the spot light and have his life thrown in our faces.
To be honest, I'd applaud Sony (even though I know it'll never happen) if they had sm4 follow the route of the 90s animated series by having Conners already as the lizard and we see his origin as a flashback memory. Or, if sm4 started out with Conners thinking back to how he had his arm, how he then lost it and we see him clearly deep in study and research and on the brink of discovering a serum, whislt looking worse for wear.
Conners' story is so easy to tell in a coherent manner that not using him now for sm4 would just end up being a waste. Conners' time is now and it can be done just as easy if not easier than Ock's, sandman's and Norman's.
