By now you’ve heard that in the upcoming Captain America: Civil War, a new Spider-Man will be making an appearance alongside a host of other Marvel characters in the third chapter of the First Avenger film franchise. Now, more details are emerging about how the reboot of that failed series is getting a fresh take.
It’s been almost a year since Sony and Marvel struck a deal to put the popular web-slinger into the growing Marvel Universe, this following the disappointing box office sales and critical reviews of the The Amazing Spider-Man 2 closed the book on the company’s second run with the superhero. Then, in June of 2015, we learned that a new actor was taking on the role after Andrew Garfield, who wore the tights in both Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2, was let go.
That name is Tom Holland, a young talented actor who many feel is a perfect fit for Peter Parker and his alter-ego. Last seen in Ron Howard’s In The Heart of the Sea (review here), he made real waves back in 2012 in J.A. Bayona’s The Impossible. As mentioned, he’s about to make his debut in Captain America: Civil War (Sneak Peek here) before getting his own stand-alone film. Directors Anthony Russo and Joe Russo have hinted at what we can expect from this latest iteration and how it will be different from those that came before. In an interview with ComicBook.com, Joe Russo had this to say:
“He [Spider-Man] was my favorite character growing up, so the opportunity to bring Spider-Man to the screen is a dream come true. It’s something that I spent a lot of time thinking about as a kid. We had thought back to the things that excited us about him as a character when we were younger, and one of the most important components of that was that he’s a high schooler burdened with incredible powers and responsibility. That really differentiates him from every other character in the Marvel universe as opposed to other superheroes. For us, it was extremely important that we cast somebody very close to the age of a high school student. The previous films had adults playing a high schooler. We wanted more of an authenticity to the casting. We were very specific about that. We wanted an energy and charisma from the character, an energy, but also an insecurity that would make him fun to watch in contrast to the confident superheroes.”
The better news is that the Russo Brothers will not be telling the origin story again, and we can all breath a collective sigh of relief in that decision. This new reboot will see Spider-Man as an established character and the story will be more along the lines of modern superhero films and movies, with a more grounded and darker approach. This sounds like the right thing to do, as somehow, most Spider-Man films simply don’t translate well from the comics where the humor works far better panel-to-panel instead of on film. Sam Raimi, who helmed the first trilogy, succeed best when he kept it realistic, giving Peter Parker humanity. That worked best in Spider-Man 2. Joe Russo agrees:
“We’re not trying to denigrate other interpretations of Spider-Man. Raimi’s movies are fantastic. Spider-Man one and two are amazing. Two, is one of if not my favorite comic book movie of all time. But he made a very strong choice with those movies from a color palate standpoint to a costume standpoint, execution standpoint, camerawork standpoint to honor the feeling of the comic book. We’re trying to honor the feeling of naturalism and to honor the feeling of reality. The harder we can pull these characters into reality, the better for us, especially because we’re all so connected now through social media, the Internet. We’re all so dialed in to what’s happening in current events. That it’s important for us that these characters live in the world that we live in because it makes them more real and it makes our experience of watching them more passionate and more well-rounded.”
That said, there has to be concern for Superhero fatigue soon as the gluttony of these films have dominated the box offie marquees for closing in on a decade and both Marvel and DC have huge stakes in seeing them continue to grow. The bubble is bound to break unless the now staid formula of teams fighting each other and then coming together to fight something worse is broken. The Russo Brothers are making big promises in delivering something new, both for Captain America and Spider-Man. Fingers crossed they do just that.
What do you think of a new Spider-Man series? Let us know in the comments below.