It was confirmed all the way back in February that the brand new live-action version of Spider-Man would be making his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Joe and Anthony Russo's Captain America: Civil War, but what has remained a question in the months since is the exact extent of the webslinger's role in the 2016 movie. Now it seems as though that information has been revealed, and sadly it's probably not what fans were hoping for or expecting. It turns out that Spidey's role in Civil War is actually pretty small.
This interesting information was dropped in Variety's piece about the casting of Tom Holland as the Marvel Studios' incarnation of Peter Parker a.k.a. Spider-Man. The report goes over the the long path Marvel and Sony took to find the right actor to play the new version of the wall-crawler, and added in information about the size of the part he will actually have in Captain America: Civil War. According to the trade's sources, the reason why the casting process was allowed to take so long is because Spider-Man is "only expected to have a cameo" in the star-studded blockbuster, and will only be needed for about a week on set.
Surely there will be a lot of comic book fans who are disappointed by this turn of events, if not only because Spider-Man plays such an important role in the Civil War comics that the movie is being based on. That being said, this new info does make sense from a logical perspective. For starters, the third Captain America movie has been filming for weeks now, and if Spidey had a large role to play, he probably would have had to be there from the start of production. Secondly, the character was only announced as being a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe a few months ago, and the film has been in the works for more than a year. Lastly, we can't forget that the Joe and Anthony Russo-directed feature has an absolutely gigantic cast as it is, and it was always going to be a challenge for the friendly neighborhood superhero to compete for screentime with Chris Evans' Captain America, Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man, Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther, and many others.
Fans also shouldn't be disheartened by this news if not only because it really won't be that long until Tom Holland's Spider-Man gets the spotlight all to himself. Marvel Studios has scheduled a brand new Spider-Man solo movie for 2017, with Jon Watts attached to direct, and if all goes according to plan, that project will start rolling cameras next year. So if you're still feeling a Spidey deficiency in your cinematic diet after Captain America: Civil War, you'll just have to wait a little bit longer to be satisfied.
Captain America: Civil War is currently filming down in Atlanta, Georgia, and will be heading to a theater near you on May 6, 2016.
