It’s official – Spider-Man has been re-cast. AGAIN. That’s 3 different Peter Parkers in 10 years. They really need to stop this – who will even care about Spider-Man by the time this new actor is in the role? They should at least stop recreating the story of Peter Parker – I’ve been voting for Donald Glover as Miles Morales since since Tobey Maguire was being replaced. But Andrew Garfield came and went after two uncomfortable Awkward Spider-Man movies…

(Source Esparsa.com)

THE ACTOR – Tom Holland as Spider-Man

NOW Spider-Man will be played by 19 year old British actor Tom Holland whose credits include The Impossible, Wolf Hall (TV series), and and animated film The Secret World Of Arrietty. The actor will have a small cameo in Captain America: Civil War, and then the plan is for Marvel and Sony to work together to make … you guessed it … another Spider-Man trilogy!

The new trilogy will send Spidey back to high school as the casting was for actors between 14 and 19 years old so they could portray a more accurate young Peter Parker – both Tobey Macguire was 27 when he began, and Andrew Garfield was 29… Tom Holland will probably begin filming Spider-Man when he is 20.

According to TheHollywoodReporter, both Charlie Rowe (fellow Spider-Man auditioner) and Tom Holland had a screen-testing with Robert Downy Jr. to see how the young Spidey’s chemistry was with the aged Avenger was, because the two characters would have a scene or two together in the upcoming Cap: Civil War. At this point, Holland was beating out Rowe and landed a screen-testing with Captain America himself: Chris Evans. Producer Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige attended both those screenings, so did Sony Producer (Spider-Man Producer – all of them) Amy Pascal.

The two producers (Feige & Pascal) must have serious confidence in the actor to throw him into a movie that’s halfway through filming, then give him an entire trilogy on his own to recreate the Spider-Man story again. The only question is – what will be the story, exactly? The origin story of Spider-Man has been told the two most prominent ways – original (Peter falls in love with Mary Jane) and Amazing (Peter loves Gwen Stacy), could we be seeing Spectacular Spider-Man (a who tries to survive superhero responsibilities and a social-life – while attending high school), or any other version of Spider-Man that exists? (There are so many).

After seeing more than 1,500 actors, Marvel and Sony, using lead casting director Sarah Finn (who has worked on several Marvel movies) narrowed the list to six for a fateful screen test on May 30 in Atlanta, where Civil War is currently shooting. Those actors — Holland, Asa Butterfield, Judah Lewis, Matthew Lintz, Charlie Plummer and Charlie Rowe — are all between the ages of 14 and 19, in keeping with producers’ goal of casting a Peter Parker who actually looks like he is in high school. (Previous Spider-Men Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, were both in their mid-to-late 20s when they landed the role.)  (TheHollywoodReporter)

 THE DIRECTOR – Jon Watts

Now, it’s usual for the director to be involved in the casting of the movie, but that was not the case for the new and younger Spider-Man as filming for Cap: Civil War is already underway, and the deal between Sony & Marvel (to share Spider-Man) only came through a couple months back, but pre-production on the new Spider-Man trilogy is also simultaneously happening. So, a lead actor and a director were chosen while the producers were pulling the behind the scenes strings to get everything done with both Cap: Civil War & Spider-Man because negotiations between the studios probably aren’t easy.

Kevin Feige apparently hand-picked Jon Watts because (of his experience on Onion SportsDome) he would bring a sense of comedy while also teenage action to the Spider-Man franchise. But let’s look at the director’s previous works; most recently Watts’s thriller Cop Car (starring Kevin Bacon): “a dirty sheriff that sets out to find the kids who took his car on a joy ride.” Before that, the director made the horror movie Clown with Eli Roth, about “a loving father who finds a clown suit for his son’s birthday only to realize the suit is part of an evil curse that turns its wearer into a killer.”

What makes this director a good choice for Spider-Man? Seeing as the younger Spider-Man will be dealing with teenage problems, high school bullies and the excitement of being a young superhero.

THE MOVIES – A Cameo in Captain America: Civil War, Entirely New Spider-Man Trilogy

Tom Holland’s first appearance as Spider-Man will be in Captain America: Civil War, and hopefully it’s the pivotal scenes comic-fans are hoping for, because Spider-Man plays a huge role in the Civil War. After that, Spider-Man is getting his own trilogy.

(Source DeviantArt.com)

THE CIVIL WAR

A brief summary of Spidey’s involvement – Captain America and Iron Man lead two sides of the superhero world in this story – those who believe the world would be safer if superhero’s identities were collected so their power isn’t abused (Iron Man), and those who believe their identities should remain private unless decided by the hero themselves (Captain America). Spider-Man had recently joined the Avengers (in the comics), after years of feeling that it was too “over his head” to be part of a group (after finding out the Fantastic Four wouldn’t pay), and soon becomes the right hand man of Iron Man/Tony Stark. When rumours of a Super-Human Registration Act begin to surface, Iron Man goes to congress to try to convince them otherwise and brings (Spider-Man, in the disguise of an Iron Man-esque suit) Iron Spider with him. Spider-Man is married to Mary Jane, and still has Aunt May, and has 100’s of enemies in prison and out that would destroy his life if his identity became public. So Peter Parker/Iron Spider talks in front of congress about why their identities must remain their decision to expose. But an assassination attempt is committed by Titanium Man against Iron Man, but it’s foiled. Congress refused to acknowledge Iron Spider’s testimony unless he revealed his actual identity. It is later revealed to the reader that Iron Man set up the assassination attempt to prove that the Super-Human Registration Act was necessary… The two left thinking that they had more time to collect a group to fight it (except Iron Man, he had another plan), but a newly founded superhero group (the New Warriors) thought they were clever sneaking up on a villain group, but it backfired as one ha the power to ignite and exploded killing 600-1200 people near a school, which sped the pushing of the Bill to just under a week. With the Bill being passed, Super-Humans were required to register their idnetity with S.H.I.E.L.D., would receive a safe haven, salary and vacation days. Most view this as a goverment contract and decline, but Tony Stark/Iron Man insists that this is just the next step in Superhero evolution.

(Source Collider.com)

SPIDER-MAN’S ROLE in the Civil War (Comics)

Spider-Man shocked the world by revealing his identity (Peter Parker) to show his support for both Tony Stark and the Super-Human Registration Act. This was a turning point in the Civil War of superheroes in the Marvel Universe because it inspired many to register and others to rebel. Peter Parker’s life changed entirely – J Jonah Jameson fires him because he considers Spider-Man his mortal enemy, and his life is threatened at his job as high school teacher, so Peter moves into Stark tower along with Mary Jane and Aunt May for 24 hour surveillance. While Iron Man is using S.H.I.E.L.D. to recruit super-humans into registration, Captain America is quietly creating a rebellion called the Secret Avengers. A small battle breaks out between between the two sides, Thor comes down from the sky and it’s revealed that the Thor (that’s been on the Registration side) is actually a robot version created by Tony Stark and Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic Four. At the same time, Richards and Stark are working on a portal prison of sorts called the Negative Zone for those that oppose the Registration, because they could be a danger to the U.S. government. While transporting captured heroes (rebels) to the facility, Iron Man tells Spider-Man to head the of the pack because he could sense danger coming – but Peter never revealed this information to Tony, leading him to believe that when Tony made his Iron Spider suit, he was actually collecting information on his powers… An anti-regristration group tries to free the captured heroes, and Captain America and Spider-Man fight tirelessly to the point where Spider-Man forfeits and leaves because he cannot capture Cap.

Then, perhaps it was because he trusted Parker more than others or he wanted to see him turn sides, Tony Stark took Parker on a tour of the Negative Zone so Peter can be on the inside of the act. But Peter sees the inhumane conditions in which his former fellow heroes are being treated and his allegiance to Iron Man is finally broken. Iron Spider (Parker) escapes the facility and tries to warn Mary Jane & Aunt May that they need to leave. But Iron Man crashes through the wall, throws Parker out on the streets and starts a massive 1 on 1 fight in New York. Tony had secretly designed Iron Spider’s suit to have a fail safe button, which Parker anticipated and half disabled, but it results in Parker fleeing into the sewers – which Iron Man unleashes some enemies of Spidey’s (from the Thunderbolts) to track him down. Captured and nearly beaten to death, he is saved by the Punisher who kills all the attackers. The Punisher brings Iron Spider into Captain America’s secret hideout to give Peter medical attention. The Punisher had never had much patience for costumed heroes before the Civil War, and wouldn’t have been involved unless Tony Stark hadn’t registered former villains with superpowers as government issue bounty hunters. Captain America at doesn’t trust Punisher because of his violent tendencies, but allows him temporarily into the Secret Avengers because he saved Iron Spider from death. Next comes the massive battle that is the Civil War, an all-out brawl between both sides – Captain America executed an attack on the Negative Zone, infiltrating the walls by disguising one of his own (Hulking) as Hank Pym who would have clearance on every level to release all those imprisoned.

Iron Man grabbed everyone he could to fight off Captain America and his Secret Avengers but once all those imprisoned are freed, the fight is evenly matched, but Tony Stark attempts to keep the battle in the Negative Zone and close the portal, but Cloak (on the anti-regristration side) uses everything to teleport everyone (hero and villain) above New York. An epic battle in the sky with heroes & villains fighting side-by-side and against each other, all while falling happens…

Once the heroes and villains have fallen to the ground, the fighting begins again and it ends in a 1 on 1 between Captain America and Iron Man where Cap stops himself before smashing Iron Man in the face with his shield.

(Source DeviantArt.com)

SPIDER-MAN DOESN’T Belong In Captain America: Civil War

Spider-Man (Tom Holland) will be represented as a high-schooler, as a fresh-start character, with no history or connection to other Marvel characters, so it will be hard to integrate his important storyline into the movies, and with just a cameo, it might not go into play.

THE SECOND TAKE – The Unnecessary Spider-Man

Here’s what I think about Tom Holland as Spider-Man and his involvement in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; Spider-Man doesn’t need to be rebooted again, in fact – I think they should stop putting Spider-Man in movies for a while. They need to leave him alone, focus on other characters. The connection between Spider-Man and the Civil War is such a large part that they can’t just waste it with this small cameo and irrelevant recasted role. My feeling is that since Spider-Man’s first appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is Cap: Civil War, that the story will replace his character’s role – much like the story was altered between the comics to movies to have Tony Stark & Bruce Banner create Ultron & Vision opposed to the original story where Hank Pym/Ant-Man does.

Captain America: Civil War has a May 6th, 2016 release date & the Spider-Man reboot is set for July 28th, 2017.

What do you think?

Is Jon Watts the right choice for director of the (unnecessary) upcoming Spider-Man franchise? Is Tom Holland the right choice for Spider-Man? What are your thoughts on the connection between Spider-Man and Captain America: Civil War?

Comment below and let us know!

6/26/2015 – 10:21 pm

by James