Academy Award-winning actor Chris Cooper (American Beauty, Adaptation) has signed on to play the nefarious Norman Osborn in Marc Webb‘s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, according to THR.

A pivotal character in the Spider-Man universe, Norman Osborn is president of Oscorp Industries and the alter-ego of Green Goblin. In Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man, Norman Osborn is briefly mentioned by Oscorp executive Ratha (Irrfan Khan) as “terminally ill” – which is why Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) has been experimenting with combining human and animal DNA – to create a cure.

Of course the serum Connors creates is ultimately his undoing, and the cross-species genetic experiments directly result in Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) becoming Spider-Man and Connors becoming the Lizard. It’s safe to assume that Rhino (Paul Giamatti) and Electro (Jamie Foxx) will obtain their super-powers in a similar manner in Webb’s upcoming sequel.