Although it doesn’t come out until July 3rd, that hasn’t stopped Sony from trying to take away a little bit of the Avengers hype to apply to the upcoming Spider-Man reboot, starring James Garfield. From the looks of it, the title for summer movie king is going to come down to The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Amazing Spider-Man. All things considered, because of the lack of a 3D TDKR, Christopher Nolan’s creation might just lose to characters from the Marvel Comics universe.

It’s just too bad Marvel doesn’t have control over perhaps their most well-known title.

As for Sony’s viral marketing efforts for The Amazing Spider-Man, there are a couple of items worth mentioning. First, is an image of Peter Parker and his parents, because it’s clear Sony is committed to bringing the Ultimate Spider-Man storyline to the big screen, all so they can keep control of the Spider-Man rights. The image has shown up on a number of movie blogs, although, it apparently was first found on the Seven WebHeads Facebook page:

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If you didn’t notice, take another look at younger Peter Parker’s right hand in the image. It’s as if he knew what his destiny was. The other piece of viral marketing news concerns the official launch of the OsCorp Industries website. For those who aren’t aware, the Marvel Wiki describes OsCorp as:

OsCorp Industries, often called simply OsCorp, is a weapons manufacturer based in New York near New York City. Oscorp was founded by the Osborn family and was eventually run by Norman Osborn who wanted to pass it onto his son Harry.

If the Osborn name sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the last name of the Green Goblin, aka, Norman Osborn. Naturally, this is the same family that started OsCorp. Here’s a screenshot of the website’s index page:

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Click for larger image
If you click the larger image link, you’ll notice there’s an image of chemical bonds as its background, giving fans even more insight into the company’s purpose and the role it will play in the movie. Apparently, Dr. Curt Connors, aka, the Lizard, is an employee of OsCorp when an experiment caused him to lose his arm. This, in turn, pushed Dr. Connors to create the regeneration syrum, which is based on the same biology that allows lizards to regrow their limbs. The result of these experiments is the movie’s antagonist, the Lizard.

Does this new viral content increase your hype level for Spider-Man, or is it already high enough you don’t need anymore content?