Who’s That Guy At The End Of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN?

The secret sequel reveal has become standard operating procedure for superhero movies. The reveal comes either right before the credits, during them or after them. Sometimes it works: the Joker card in Batman Begins, Nick Fury in Iron Man, Thanos in The Avengers. Sometimes it's a disaster, like Sinestro in Green Lantern. And sometimes it's a totally incoherent, baffling mess. Like The Amazing Spider-Man.

What follows is spoiler stuff, so if you haven't seen the movie don't read on any further.

The film ends with Dr. Curt Connors in prison, repentant and defeated. As his cell door clangs behind him a shadowy figure emerges from the shadows, shadowliy. "Did you tell him about his father?" the figure says, playing with his hat and talking with a slight Southern drawl. Connors tells him to fuck off, and lightning flashes and the guy is gone. I think the guy may have had a beard - it was hard to tell.

And that's it. I've been a die-hard fan of Spider-Man for over thirty years and I was left utterly perplexed by this. Using context clues from the film - everybody talks about Norman Osborn, who is sick and dying and needs the serum Connors has been working on - I would guess that was who visited the ex-Lizard in prison. But there's nothing else backing that up; nothing about the shadowy figure says Norman Osborn to me, and the fact that he seems to teleport out of the room doesn't make it any more clear.

I briefly toyed with the idea that it was Morlun, one of THE worst characters in modern Spider-Man history. See, it turns out that the spider that bit Peter did so WILLINGLY, to transfer its spiritual essence to him. Peter Parker is a totem, someone who is part man and part beast. Morlun is an immortal guy who feeds on totems. Eventually Morlun almost defeated Spider-Man, but at the last minute Peter Parker grows fangs and tears Morlun's throat out. It's the WORST! And that's before Peter dies and ends up in a coccoon and... oh, fuck it. Trust me, it's bad. And the idea of Morlun being in the movies is pretty hilarious. Morlun's crowning moment is when he eats one of Peter Parker's eyeballs.

Alternately the drawl (am I wrong about this?) makes me think it could be Montana, the lasso-wielding member of the vaguely Western-themed crime group The Enforcers.

But it's probably Norman Osborn. And it'll probably be smoothed over and forgotten about in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

What do you think? Do you have a theory? Or do you just assume it's Norman Osborn because... well, because who else is it going to be?