The Welsh actor has been cast as the villain in the Spider-man reboot that Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios are mounting for release in 2012.
The studio confirmed Ifans' casting on Monday, but it's still playing coy as to which villain from the Spider-man canon he will play.
Ifans' breakthrough role came in 1999's "Notting Hill," in which he played Hugh Grant's scruffy lodger. Since then he has appeared in such films as "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," "Pirate Radio," "Greenberg" and "Nanny McPhee Returns."
Ifans will appear in the upcoming films "Mr. Nice," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," "Passion Play" and "Anonymous."
Marc Webb is directing the new Spider-man feature, from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt. The film, which also will star Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, is slated for a nationwide 3D release on July 3, 2012.
