User blog:LoveWaffle/Tom Holland Is Spider-Man!

Marvel and Sony have officially announced that Tom Holland has been cast as Spider-Man / Peter Parker for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This comes after months of waiting and speculation after Marvel Studios announced they would be working with Sony Entertainment to bring Spider-Man into the MCU with a movie scheduled for July 2017. Holland was one of many young actors who were up for the role, a few of which were Asa Butterfield, Charlie Plummer, Charlie Rowe, Matthew Lintz and Judah Lewis. Butterfield was the presumed frontrunner until a few weeks ago when news broke that Sony wanted Holland in the role while Marvel favored Plummer. Keep in mind: Sony still owns the license to Spider-Man, but Marvel are acting as the creative leads. That's why they were brought in in the first place. Marvel has the general audience's trust that Sony more or less lost after the Amazing Spider-Man movies. But this is still Sony's money Marvel is playing with, so it's understandable why they would still want to have their opinions matter in the film's production. Sony won out in this case.

Take note that Marvel specifies Holland will portray Spider-Man in the upcoming reboot, not in Captain America: Civil War. It has been widely assumed that Spider-Man would be in that movie ever since Marvel announced Spider-Man would be joining the MCU. Fueling speculation was the news that Marvel had their shortlist of potential Peter Parkers screen test in Atlanta, where Civil War is currently shooting. Whether or not this means Spider-Man won't appear in that movie, or if Spider-Man just won't be portrayed by Tom Holland in it is yet to be seen. Regardless, let's just wait until May of next year when Civil War enters theaters so we can lose our minds when Spider-Man shows up in the post-credits scene, or something.

Furthermore, Jon Watts has been hired to direct the upcoming reboot. Watts is a relative unknown, mostly known for a movie that did well at Sundance but hasn't yet been given a wide release. While it may seem a strange choice to give such a big character to a small director, producer Kevin Feige comments that Marvel Studios (which Feige is president of) has a knack for "finding new and exciting voices to bring these characters to life." While it's still too soon to tell, I think Feige's decision at least deserves the benefit of the doubt.

As an editorial aside: I would not be surprised in Marvel and Sony cast some of those other actors who were up for Spider-Man as Harry Osborn, Flash Thompson, perhaps Eddie Brock, etc. Studios usually don't try out a large number of actors for a single role only to turn all but one of them away.

What do you think of Holland's casting as Spider-Man? of the movie being directed by an unknown? What would you like to see in the third, MCU-infused Spider-Man franchise? What Spider-Man characters would you like to see in the MCU outside of Spider-Man movies? Feel free to leave your thoughts below.