Tom Holland will make his first appearance in the MCU as Spider-Man with the coming of Captain America: Civil War before branching out on his own in a standalone Spider-Man movie. Jon Watts of the upcoming Cop Car and last year’s horror film Clown is the man helming the solo outing for the web-slinger, and he says Holland will be bringing a new spin on the hero that we’ve never seen before.
Watts spoke with Entertainment Weekly mainly to promote Cop Car with Kevin Bacon, but he had the opportunity to speak briefly about Spider-Man. With regards to what new qualities we can expect from Holland’s character, he said,
[Tom] can be a real high school student. That’s why people love Spider-Man. He’s the most grounded, relatable of superheroes. And Tom can really do that. He captures that. And he can do a standing back-flip. He’s perfect.
It was important for Marvel and Sony to cast a younger actor in the role, and Holland, 19, was of many up for the part. Asa Butterfield, 18, of Ender’s Game; Charlie Rowe, 19, of Red Band Society; and Matthew Linz, 14, of Pixels were some of the other hopefuls in contention. But, aside from his age, Watts says it’s Holland’s ability to bring the "grounded" and "relatable" aspects of the character to life that earned him the honor. And if you haven’t seen him do a backflip, check out this video from his Instagram.
Marvel’s Kevin Feige said that Holland was scheduled to report to the set of Civil War almost immediately after his casting was made official. The actor reportedly underwent screen tests with Robert Downey Jr., and Spider-Man is said to share the most scenes with Iron Man in the film. It’s unclear exactly what role the wall-crawler will play in the events to come, but he does pop up in the comic book story arc to reveal his secret identity to the world. Though, it’s important to note that the film will be taking many liberties with the source material.
Captain America: Civil War will see the Avengers involved in yet another international incident that prompts the world’s leaders to band together to pass harsher restrictions on superhuman activity. While Tony Stark supports the action, Steve Rogers is firmly against it, and it’s this divide that forces the other heroes to choose a side, pitting friend against friend. Will Spider-Man, too, before forced to pick between Iron Man and Captain America?
The Civil War will commence on May 6, 2016, while the solo Spider-Man movie will bow on July 28, 2017.
