I thought it had been determined the new Spider-Man, which will allegedly be making his debut in Joe and Anthony Russo‘s Captain America: Civil War, was going to be of the Miles Morales variety, a version of the comic book character of African American and Puerto Rican descent. However, a new rumor from Badass Digest reports Mateus Ward, a 16-year-old white actor currently starring on TNT’s “Murder in the First“, auditioned for the role would suggest otherwise.
Of course, they may just have a blanket request out for any actors of a certain age without any kind of race requirements, but the other aspect of this report people are concerned with is the actor’s age as this would give fans a genuine teenager in the role rather than the 25-year-old Tobey Maguire when the first Spider-Man was released or the 29-year-old Andrew Garfield when the first The Amazing Spider-Man was released.
Personally it seems like a smart move as it would also add one more layer to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as they continue to add more diversity to the line-up as Chadwick Boseman will also be making his debut as Black Panther in Civil War, which is beginning to look more and more like just another Avengers movie with the main plot pitting Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Captain America (Chris Evans) opposite one another. With production getting underway soon, it’s likely we’ll hear about some Spider-Man casting soon enough, though no telling just how much of a role he’ll have in the upcoming movie.
It’s also important to note the mention of Ward is merely one of several hundred that have likely auditioned for the role. The news here is more about the age of the actor auditioning and, for some, I’m sure the race is important as well. Will this be a Peter Parker Spider-Man or Miles Morales? The Morales route seems smarter and fresher, but hey, Marvel seem to have this whole world-building thing figured out so I’ll step aside…
