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Why Marvel is Using A Younger Version of Spider-Man


Critics have praised Tom Holland's performance as Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War. He gets 30 minutes of screentime in the film, and a lot of his scenes are action-packed. It will make fans get more excited to see him as the Web-Slinger for Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Holland's version of Spider-Man is much younger than the previous versions we've seen in the big screen, and he's said to be inspired by Brian Michael Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige talked to /Film to discuss the importance of making Spider-Man young:

"We wanted to show a much younger Spidey, in contrast to our other heroes, a Spidey who — as was he was in the early '60s, when he was first created in the Marvel bullpen — was totally different from the Marvel heroes. The other heroes don't have to worry about homework. They don't have to worry about being home at a certain time. That's what makes Spider-Man Spider-Man. We also wanted to let audiences know he's already Spider-Man; he's been Spider-Man for a little while when we meet him. There wasn't the expectation we'd tell an origin. I think everybody in the world already knows."

At a press conference earlier this week, Feige explained the process of bringing Spider-Man into the MCU and recounted Robert Downey Jr.'s reaction when he told him about it:

"I called Robert relatively early saying, ‘I think there might be a chance we're going to get Spider-Man in this movie.' His reaction was just like a fanboy. He was unbelievably excited for what that could mean to this movie. Two weeks after that, we pulled it down to about five finalists. I asked him, ‘If we bring them to Atlanta, do you mind reading with all five?' And he did. We pulled it down a little bit more. That's how Tom came to the top. Then Tom and one other person came back and did more of a stunt test. Chris was very gracious to read opposite of him. It was fun to see Robert was invested, and to see Tom react to Robert, which was not dissimilar to how Peter was reacting to Tony."

Feige also talked about Disney and Sony's collaboration to bring the character to life, saying:

"You're dealing with two very powerful studios that have their own interest. It's a testament to Amy Pascal, who's producing the film with us, and Tom Rothman, who runs Sony, and to all the people that run Disney. They realized the best thing for the character was to do this. It was great. The standalone Spider-Man is Sony Pictures' film, but they've engaged us in producing it. So far, so good."

Hopefully, they'll continue to collaborate. Now, can we get 20th Century Fox to get on board as well? That way, the X-Men could crossover the world of the Avengers.

Captain America: Civil War will be released in theaters on May 6, 2016; Spider-Man: Homecoming will be released on July 7, 2017.

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