The first Marvel movie on the list for 2016 is the third Captain America movie, Captain America: Civil War. The film will bring together most of the original Avengers roster (Thor is taking care of business in Asgard, while Hulk is still M.I.A.), the new team, and newcomers Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Spider-Man (Tom Holland).
Holland is the third actor to give life to Peter Parker on the big screen, following in the footsteps of Tobey Maguire (in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy) and Andrew Garfield (Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel). However, Holland’s version of Peter Parker will be the first one meant exclusively for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The new Spider-Man will make his debut in Civil War before getting his own movie next year, and directors Anthony and Joe Russo have offered some more details about what we can expect from the new Peter Parker and his alter ego.
In an interview with ComicBook.com, prior to their appearance in Wizard World New Orleans this weekend, the Russos explained what will make the MCU’s Spider-Man different from the previous incarnations. Very few details are known about Holland’s character, like him being a high-schooler, but it’s exactly this seemingly small detail which will make the biggest difference.
Joe Russo explained:
“We took a very personal approach to the character. 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 characters 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.”
Joe added that the authenticity of the new Peter Parker extends to how and where he lives, pointing out that in Raimi’s take on the character, he lived in a home that looked quite expensive – this when he lived with his uncle and aunt. The apartment where Peter lived in when he moved out was, as you might remember, quite underprivileged. What they did with this new version was think of where could a single income family, comprised by Peter and his aunt, live in New York and what it would look like, stating they tried to “take a very logical and realistic and naturalistic approach to the character,” but also bring their own touches as well.
The Russo brothers didn’t share further details on Spider-Man’s participation in the movie, or how he will be introduced amidst the conflict between Team Captain America and Team Iron Man, but Anthony Russo said his introduction had to fit in with the tone of a Captain America movie:
Joe went on to explain that, although they consider Raimi’s movies to be “fantastic,” his portrayal of the character – in terms of color palette, costumes, and camerawork – leaned more on the comic-book feel, than in bringing the character to the real world. What the Russos are aiming for with their version is to “honor the feeling of naturalism and to honor the feeling of reality.”
“We’re bringing Spider-Man into the movie in that universe, now, in that specific tonal stylistic world. I think underscoring everything Joe was saying about your question in terms of how were we thinking about the character in relation to past interpretations of the character, part of our choices were also colored by the specifics of the world that we were playing in with these two Captain America movies, meaning Winter Soldier and Civil War. It’s a very specific tonal world. It’s a little more grounded and a little more hard-core contemporary. That was also coloring our choices a lot about the character on Spider-Man.”
Lastly, the directors didn’t comment on whether the audience will get to see Peter Parker in a second trailer or if they will keep the surprise until the movie comes out. Marvel is full of surprises; the Russo brothers could either be misleading us to believing Spider-Man won’t show up until the movie is released, or they could be telling the truth.
Captain America: Civil War will release on May 6, 2016, followed by Doctor Strange– November 4, 2016; Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – May 5, 2017; Spider-Man – July 28, 2017; Thor: Ragnarok – November 3, 2017; Black Panther – February 16, 2018; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 – May 4, 2018; Ant-Man and the Wasp – July 6, 2018; Captain Marvel – March 8, 2019; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 – May 3, 2019; Inhumans – July 12, 2019; and as-yet untitled Marvel movies on May 1, July 10 and November 6, 2020.
Sources: ComicBook (via Collider)
