Just how many villains can Spider-Man swing against, anyway?

It looks like we'll find out the answer to that question in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," seeing as there are already three announced bad guys in the super-sequel -- Jamie Foxx's Electro, Dane DeHaan's Green Goblin, and Paul Giamatti's Rhino -- and there might be even more on the way.

The Daily Bugle, a viral website based on the popular news publication in the "Spider-Man" universe, has released a news article teasing a Russian crime syndicate. It reads as follows:

With reports of Russian mob activity at an all-time high in the city, many have wondered who these (mostly) men are and what they are trying to accomplish. New Yorkers are no strangers to organized crime, but this time it seems different.

Gregarious, boastful men fill the Brighton beach night scene - every single one of them with a spectacular guttural baritone voice that makes one wonder if there are any gangster tenors.

Mob activity is the suspected cause of a spike in crime across all five boroughs. Not content with hijacking retails goods, sports betting, or drugs, more crime families have become involved in high-tech crimes such as the theft of microchips, processors, experimental metal alloys, and advanced weaponry.

Fancy Dan Brito said during his arraignment for the recent Brighton Beach shootout, "Everything has a price. Including the head of so-called superheroes."

So, who are these Russian mobsters and what's their connection to the "Amazing Spider-Man" sequel? The latter part of the question is easy enough to tackle, at least at first glance. It's not much of a leap to connect them with Giamatti's Rhino, also known as Aleksei Systevich. The Russian super-villain is said to have a key part at the start of "Amazing Spider-Man 2," as a means of setting up the rest of the film's action. If these gangsters are tied to Rhino, perhaps their storyline will wrap up early on in the film as well.

But the theorizing doesn't end there. Some fans are calling these mobsters the Enforcers, a group of recurring Spider-Man antagonists that made their comic book debut as early as 1964. The Enforcers are guns for hire, willing to commit crime on behalf of the highest bidders. Fancy Dan Brito, mentioned in the Bugle report, is a well-established member of The Enforcers, lending even more credibility to the theory.

In early "Spider-Man" comics, the Enforcers were known to help Norman Osborn from time to time for acts of corporate crime. Given the prominence of OsCorp in the "Spider-Man" films, and the impending arrivals of Chris Cooper's Norman and DeHaan's Harry, it's entirely possible that these Russian gangsters are tied to the Goblin family -- if they are indeed The Enforcers.

No matter who these criminals are, we'll see what kind of bad guy baggage they can bring to bear upon our friendly neighborhood web-head when "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" swings into theaters next year, on May 2.

Who do you think these new "Spider-Man" villains are? Give us your suggestions in the comments below!