With all of the commotion surrounding Marvel, Sony and the Spider-man film series, there's a lot of hoopla about who should play the role with some touting for Donald Glover, some for Tobey Maguire, some for Andrew Garfield and some for an unknown 4th candidate. In the end, every fan has their "ideal choice". Me personally? I would have just liked to keep Andrew Garfield! He was fun, charismatic, engaging and proved to be both a likeable Peter Parker and a perfect Spider-man.
No all that shit has changed! Spider-man has joined to the MCU and millions of Marvel movie-goers webbed their pants with excitement (among other things, hiyooooo). Talks are that firstly, before we're treated to yet another reboot, the red & blue web-slinger will dish out his first appearance in another Marvel movie. Odds are for it to be Captain America 3: Civil War. Why Civil War of all movies? Well Spider-man happens to play a part in the overall story, unmasking himself for all to see amongst the Steve Rogers/Tony Stark war...
Now fans have been fan-casting, preying and hoping for certain actors to portray the web-head in what will surely be one of the biggest Marvel movies to date! Below you will find out along with my own opinion on why I feel he should or should not be given this high-profile role!
Donald Glover
This is the first one I want to talk about. There's been rumours circulating that they may go with the Miles Morales Spider-man. For anyone who doesn't know, Miles Morales is a 13/14 year old black Spider-man who takes up the mantle after the death of Peter Parker. Now everyone's going ape-tit's over having Donald Glover play as Miles simply because he voiced the character in the Ultimate Spider-man cartoon. But there's one problem. He's way too old to portray an early teen in a movie and I don't feel that Miles Morales would be a good choice to have as the first Spider-man of the MCU. In fact, I feel that would just confuse and maybe not sit well with children who are so used to Peter Parker. In the end, I wouldn't mind seeing Miles on screen, just not played by Donald Glover (or Jaden Smith) and eventually instead of instantly.
Dylan O'Brien
Possibly my favourite of the potential candidates. I mean just look at him! That youthful teenage look. I mean he doesn't look realistically dorky with those specks (I mean which Hollywood actor does?). But I feel he nails the Peter Parker look and has the chops to play the character well for years to come. He's mostly known for the Teen Wolf TV Show, so he's got the whole "Highschool outcast with exceptional gift" thing down! And Marvel seems to want to have a High school Peter.
Josh Huthcerson
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
When you look like the love-child of Joe Pesci and Rocky Dennis and have the emotional range of a match stick, your not an ideal candidate. Donno why people seem to pick him.
(Don't even think about it Drake Bell!)
Andrew Garfield
I admit, he's not an actual candidate for the role, but fans (including myself) are clamouring for his return in the role. With the shared deal between Sony and Marvel, includes a new start, eliminating the progress of the rocky Amazing Spider-man movies. Rumour has it that Garfield left Sony and the role before the deal could hit. Saddening to hear, you can't blame someone for being human. But he would be a great choice in my opinion. He already has experience in the role, being a fan-favourite between him and Maguire for bringing the hero from the comics to life in a manner Tobey simply couldn't. His age and looks worked well with each other where he convincingly played a high schooler. With a little bit of un-shaved stubble, he could easily play an older Peter Parker as well.
Now before I go on to the last candidate. It's obviously no surprise who this last person is, but I'm going to spend the rest of the blog post talking about why he would be the most logical candidate to go with. I present to you....
Tobey Maguire
Tobey Maguire everyone!!! Now lets get one thing clear, from someone who grew up on the Sam Raimi Spider-man trilogy, Tobey Maguire will ALWAYS be Spider-man in my eyes. He may not have portrayed him the best, but he is synonymous with the role to me! His Peter Parker is both realistic and believable. He brings out the perfect rendition of isolated and nerdy that a real-life Peter Parker is bound to display. His Spider-man? A little awkward at times but enjoyable, watchable and entertaining.
I know, your probably thinking "YOU ARE WRONG!" or something like " You don't know what your talking about"
Well keep reading for why I think Tobey Maguire is the "logical" choice to play as Spider-man in the MCU.
He's already been in the role
One advantage he has over every other candidate is that he's played the role, in not one, not two, but three movies! While the first two were praised highly, the last wasn't. Albeit, it did well financially which is still technically a success, right? Heck, both of the Amazing Spider-man movies didn't even gross more than Spider-man 3. But in comparison to any other actor here, he's dived in to the role for the longest and I feel it's a role Tobey Maguire would feel more than comfortable being back in.
His world is more rich
Raimi's Spider-man movies welcomed more of the characters and tropes that made the comics iconic from the beginning till today. Raimi's movies introduced Peter, Aunt May, Uncle Ben, Harry & Norman Osbourne, J. Jonah Jameson, Mary Jane Watson, Gwen Stacy, Flash Thompson, Eddie Brock and more in a modern New York City (Queens to be exact). The original Spider-man trilogy started before Marvel's first "Iron Man" movie which kickstarted the MCU, this would give Raimi's trilogy the edge of setting up Spider-man in the MCU.
Being that Spider-man 3 ended up with Peter saying his goodbyes to a dying Harry and getting Mary Jane. he could have simply retired for the time being. It's a lame excuse but it works, with a world of more superior heroes, why would he need to come from retirement? But the Civil War would be the reason to change that! But Marvel could think of something better, I'm not one of their paid writers! Regardless, Raimi's trilogy offers up more leeway and opportunities to inject Spider-man into the MCU in comparison to Webb's Amazing Spider-man movies.
His Spider-man has been through more
While Garfield was in the role, he had been through some tragic events, such as losing Uncle Ben, creating The Lizard, losing Captain Stacy, seeing visions of Captain Stacy, upsetting an Electric stalker, pissing off Harry and losing Gwen Stacy.
Now, while that's only two movies in comparison to three, it barely touches on what Tobey Maguires Spider-man has been through...
He didn't stop the burglar, lost Uncle Ben, watched Norman Osbourne die, unknowingly pissed off Harry, watched Octavius become a villain, had a drunk Harry slap him, lost his powers, gained them back, watched Doc Ock sacrifice himself, fought Harry, caused Harry to get amnesia, technically cheated on Mary Jane (she was a bitch anyway), lost Mary Jane, got a sexy killer-black suit, almost killed Sandman, stole Eddie's girl from him, stole Eddie's job from him, played Gwen, performed a well-practised dance number, almost killed Harry, almost got killed by Venom and Sandman, accidentally killed Eddie Brock (or did he?), watched Harry die, got Mary Jane back (booooo).
So yeah, you could kinda say he's a more experience Spider-man. That and his character and his world is more developed!
He would make a bigger impact to the Civil War
As it's been stated by other fans, while Marvel want their Spider-man to be of High school age, it's important to note that Peter in the Civil War storyline is well past his teenage years and a much developed hero within the Marvel universe, so the idea of him revealing his identity was huge. If they brought in Spider-man and kept him mute until revealing himself, only to reveal Tobey Maguire underneath, I feel like it could positively impact long-time fans and fans of the comic as well.
For now that's all I'm gonna say on the subject. I know not everyone will agree with me or see my poor bad awful logic, but hopefully you enjoyed the wee read anyhow.
Below you'll just find some side-notes:
Keep Mary Jane away!
Lemme be more clear about that. Keep Kirsten Dunst away, she is a plague to the role of Mary Jane and I would not like to see her return. She always gave off this impression in Spider-man 3 like she couldn't be fucked. And with that kind of performance, I wouldn't like to see her get the career-boost she all-so-desperately needs!
While on the topic though, keep Shailene Woodley away as well. While we never really got to see her in the role in TASM 2, I also feel her acting ability is too low for a movie of this calibre, she's bland, faceless and just in it for the career opportunities, as she made clear when she "demanded" for a role in a Marvel film.
Miles Morales
Below, you'll find a short sample of Donald Glover as Miles Morales from the Ultimate Spider-man cartoon, for your entertainment:
Let me be Spider-man!!!
I'm no beggar, but if anyone from Marvel or Sony is reading this, hook me up? ;)
I'll do it for FREE!!! You know you want to see this in the Marvel Cinematic Universe:
(FYI, it's not really me)
Goodnight everybody!
