As production officially began yesterday on Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Civil War, interest continues to swirl regarding who will be the new Spider-Man. The character is poised to make his first appearance in Civil War before getting his own standalone film via Sony Pictures in 2017, followed by a more significant MCU appearance in Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1 and Part 2. Spidey’s role in Civil War is not expected to be big or even more than a cameo, but this will be the new version of the character’s first introduction to audiences, so the pressure is on Marvel and Sony to both get the casting right, and get it done fairly quickly.
Spider-Man’s scenes don’t shoot until June, but the contract negotiations between the studios and the lucky actor will no doubt take some time to hammer out. Not only is this kid signing on for appearances in the MCU, but also a series of standalone films for Sony. This is going to be a major commitment.
Last week, a shortlist of names surfaced for actors that are reportedly under consideration for the part. Among those names was Asa Butterfield, the young star of Hugo and Ender’s Game who is now 18 years old and filming a new Tim Burton movie. He’s not the most obvious of choices to play Peter Parker, but the folks over at Latino Review are reporting that Butterfield is the frontrunner of the pack at the moment. Sources tell the outlet that Marvel has been keen on him “since day one.”
However, seeing as how Sony and Marvel are only just now sending out offers to actors to test for the role, I’d take this with a grain of salt for the time-being. Is it possible that Butterfield becomes our next Spider-Man? Totally. But it’s also possible the role could go to one of the other actors previously mentioned (Nat Wolff is apparently an early favorite), or someone else entirely. It’s still early days on this casting front, and while Marvel and Sony will be moving fairly quickly, this seems a bit soon to be calling the game already.
Stay tuned in the ensuing weeks for more on the Spider-Man casting front. And while anticipation is fun and all, there’s actually a fully finished, new Marvel movie hitting theaters this weekend that’s pretty great, so let’s all take a moment to enjoy that for a bit.
