Spider-Man 4 is nowhere near its May 2011 release, but Sony isn’t sitting around — the studio has hired James Vanderbilt to write the scripts for both Spider-Man 5 and Spider-Man 6 movies.

Vanderbilt wrote a draft for Spider-Man 4, but director Sam Raimi went out to David Lindsay-Abaire (Robots, Inkheart) for a rewrite on that, and then moved on to grab Gary Ross (Big, Pleasantville) for yet another rewrite.

While Raimi, Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst are all coming back for the fourth installment of the franchise, there have been occasions where it seemed like none would be coming back, so Sony is setting up for the long-haul with Vanderbilt as their screenwriter and fully-prepared to move on to a “franchise reboot” with a new director and stars if the others don’t come back for future chapters.

It’s being reported that Sony Pictures have hired Gary Ross to rewrite Spider-Man 4. Ross wrote, directed, and produced both Pleasantville and Seabiscuit — both which starred Tobey Maguire — and also wrote and produced Big and the upcoming new take on Creature From the Black Lagoon.

The writer is now the third man to be writing a draft of Spider-Man 4. Before him, David Lindsay-Abaire (Robots, Inkheart) wrote a draft, and then James Vanderbilt (Zodiac, The Rundown) wrote one as well. No word on if Ross will simply be working off what the previous two have put together or if he will be completely starting over with his script.

On one hand, it is a good thing that Gary Ross has written for Tobey Maguire twice before this. At the same time, those two films weren’t very similar to Spider-Man at all, which may cause one to worry. Naturally, director Sam Raimi will be closely watching the development of the script, so hopefully this all leads to good things.

The NY Post was able to sit down with Spider-Man 4 producer Todd Black and get some answers to some of the big rumors that have been floating around the Internet for the past couple of months. Namely: the inclusion or departure of Kirsten Dunst; the use of the vampire Morbius as a villain; and something about a wedding for Peter Parker and Mary Jane. Black was able to handle all of these rumors with ease.

He announced that Kirsten Dunst was indeed on board, which isn’t too much of a shock as she seemed fairly confident in here return while out promoting How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (Read: Kirsten Dunst Unofficially In For ‘Spider-Man 4’). Many fans seemed intent on her not returning to the franchise, but I personally am all for it. The role hasn’t had to be anything that supports the movie and that we rely on, so whether you like her or not, she is Mary Jane — changing to a completely different actress would just be too annoying to be worth it. Black also cleared the air and admitted that he has heard nothing about any kind of wedding being involved.

While out promoting his newest horror offering, Drag Me to Hell, Sam Raimi spoke to Cinematical and the inevitable topic of Spider-Man 4 came to the table.

While no real details about the movie emerged, Raimi made some interesting remarks in regard to his own work on the Spider-Man franchise, and what he hopes to accomplish with a fourth film. In his comments, Raimi seems to be eternally apologizing for his mistakes, where he went wrong, and how passionately he is about making up for it. This of course all stems from Spider-Man 3, which was and still remains to be one of the most negatively criticized superhero movies ever to be made.

I honestly feel badly for Raimi while reading this quote; it’s almost like he requires the fans’ forgiveness and the re-acquiring of their faith and loyalty.

Here’s Raimi on the mistakes he’s made and the lessons he’s learned:

Marvel Studios has adjusted its schedule a tad and set up their slate through 2012. This hints that Marvel has most of its game pieces right where they want them, allowing them to solidify certain dates for the next three summers in a row.

The biggest hit will come to fans desperate for Thor or The Avengers. Thor was originally set for July 16, 2010 and was pushed back almost a year to June 17, 2011. The Avengers was originally set for July 15, 2011 and is now set for a May 4, 2012 date. The other change came to The First Avenger: Captain America, which was set for a May 6, 2011 release, and was pushed back only a couple of months to July 22, 2011.

Confused yet?