When Sony made a deal with Marvel Cinematic Universe to share the popular superhero Spider-Man, people first confirmed that actor Andrew Garfield will not be reprising his role as Peter Parker. But lately, there have been talks not only of a different actor playing Spider-Man, but also of a different character being Spider-Man.
During the Meet the Movie Press podcast, The Wrap's Jeff Sneider weighed in on his Spider-Man knowledge and said that he doesn't think the lovable and nerdy student-turned-photographer Peter Parker will be donning the Spider-Man costume.
"Listen, this is not set in stone guys, but I'm telling you right now, Spider-Man's not gonna be white. I am 95 percent sure. Spider-Man's going to be, most likely, black. But there's a chance he could also be Latino. 95 percent sure, not white."
Sneider added that Sony has a real opportunity to open doors and send a positive message with diversity casting, but a non-white Spider-Man will really impact the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe projects and storylines.
This leaves the door quite open for the character Miles Morales, the black Hispanic teen who took on the role of Spider-Man in the Ultimate Comics storyline after Peter Parker was killed by the Green Goblin back in 2011.
Miles is born and raised in Brooklyn, and the new possible lead character has an African-American father and a Puerto Rican mother.
He was reportedly created in order to welcome a more diverse audience into the comic book world, and has a lot to do with the time that US Presdent Barack Obama was running and winning the presidential election.
Just like Parker, Morales got his powers from a spider bite. But the similarities do not end there. He is also a nerdy kid who often questions his purpose and strength. And while Parker had amazing and loving relatives (namely Uncle Ben and Aunt May), Morales did not. His unreformed criminal uncle Aaron makes him question whether or not being a criminal is already in his DNA.
Previous actors who played Peter Parker were Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield.
The new Spider-Man will make his debut in Captain America: Civil War, where he will be fighting alongside the Avengers including Iron Man and Captain America. The movie is scheduled to hit the big screen on May 6, 2016.
This will be followed by a solo movie for Spider-Man set on July 28, 2017.
