According to The Hollywood Reporter, Martin Sheen is in final negotiations to play Uncle Ben in the new Marc Webb Spider-Man picture.

Sheen will join a cast that includes Andrew Garfield as Parker, Emma Stone as love interest Gwen Stacy and Rhys Ifans as the movie’s unnamed villain.

The movie, under the direction of Marc Webb, is heading for a December start.

Half of this is terribly exciting for me, the other half is incredibly boring.

On the one hand: Martin Sheen is a tremendous actor and will add a gravitas to this film that would rival the weight Cliff Robertson brought in the Sam Raimi films.  His work has been consistently good and roles like Captain Queenan in The Departed make me completely sure he can pull this off.  Remember that scene in The Departed where he brings Leonardo DiCaprio into his kitchen and was all like, “Let’s get you supper.”?  There was a paternal warmth in that scene that was fantastic and will be great for Uncle Ben.

On the other hand: apparently we’re effing idiots and need another Spider-Man origin story, as though anyone in the galaxy doesn’t know how Peter got his powers and came to learn that with great power comes great responsibility.

Really?  Another one?

The Spider-Man movies were some of the highest grossing films of all time.  Why the hell do we need to see his origin again?  There’s nothing Marc Webb can add to it that would make me care anymore about the character.

On the third hand: Perhaps Webb will use Uncle Ben much the same way Raimi used him in Spider-Man 2.

We won’t know until we see it.

What do you guys think.  You think we need another origin story?  If you do, what do you think of Sheen in the role?