 |
| Coming soon...?! |
Tom Holland made his debut as Marvel's beloved web-slinging superhero, the Amazing Spider-Man. Or just Spider-Man. However this version of the character will be titled, moviegoers and fans saw Spidey come home to Marvel studios and join the Avengers. Well, one half of the Avengers... #TeamIronMan! And in typical superhero movie fashion, one cameo/appearance can unfold into spin-offs, a television series, or if you're lucky and loved enough, your own movie.
Coming in 2017, we'll see the third adaptation of Peter Parker as Spider-Man. While the previous two renditions of the character have their high moments, they certainly have their downsides as well. Marvel and Disney's success with their Avengers franchise brings hopes and promises to die-hard fans of Spider-Man, eager to see their hero become apart of the success.
Recently, a reddit user supposedly found a leaked casting sheet for the upcoming Spider-Man film, Homecoming. As seen below. Take away what you want from a leak that came out of Reddit. Let's break down some of the highlights plus one possible MAJOR leak.
So without getting too much into it (and again it's all speculation):
-Peter Parker is played by T.H. (Tom Holland), if this is news to you... welcome back to 2016.
-Disney channel star Zendaya (Z) was announced as playing a character name Michelle though there's plenty of speculation that Michelle is really meant to discourage any Mary Jane rumors. Let's hope for an ethnicity change in Mary Jane! Plus, Zendaya matches the look for the age range they're aiming for with Tom Holland as high school Peter Parker. Another tidbit, for a studio ran by Disney, it's interesting this is the first we're hearing of them casting one of their own into a major role for this franchise. But then again perhaps now is just a moment of opportunity since this is the first movie in the Avengers franchise where the main character is the age of a high school student.
-Shocker is the villain we should be expecting for this movie? Deanpool has been excited to see Shocker get on the big screen since the original Spider-Man trilogy, but never as a standalone villain. Apart of the Sinister Six? Yes. An enforcer for an even larger villain? Yes. Doesn't exactly have the appeal of a Green Goblin, Doc Ock, or the Lizard, who all knew Peter Parker on a personal level making the match-up more intriguing. Here's hoping he's not as forgettable as Electro. Assuming this Spider-Man movie picks up where Civil War left off, Peter should already have an idea of his powers and abilities. But still, yay Shocker!
-Flash Thompson, Peter's high school bully. Likely a recurring character if the movie sees a couple sequels. Flash's comic book bio presents possibilities Marvel may explore in the movies if it chooses to. Would also mean another symbiote story though. Let's just leave him as high school bully for now.
-Liz Allan, high school classmate to Peter. Who knows how they'll portray her. Friend to Peter? Friend to Flash Thompson? Friend to Michelle (Mary Jane!)?
-Betty Brandt, another possible love interest of Peter. Gut feeling being her character plays a more pivotal role to the story. She's a secretary for the newspaper company Peter works for. Or will eventually work for, depending on the context.
-Ned Leeds- only reaction from Deanpool, "HOBGOBLIN STORY?!!"
The rest are characters that don't really standout EXCEPT
Tiffany Espensen as "Cindy".
Stop everything.
The picture on the left, Tiffany Espensen.
The picture on the right, a recent addition to the heroes in the Spidey universe with human-spider abilities, Silk a.k.a. Cindy Moon!!!
A fan favorite almost instantly, Silk earned her own spin-off comic series and may now possibly be seeing her way to the big screen. I mean, we get that she gained a lot of popularity quickly but Deanpool imagined an Ultimate Spider-Man/Miles Morales joining the MCU before Silk did. Even a Gwen Stacy as Spider-Woman, or more popularly titled Spider-Gwen. Spider-Gwen gained plenty of early praises and fan popularity in an alternate universe as another female wall-crawling hero that after joining the Spider-Man family. Just go to a comic convention and count the cosplayers dressed as Silk's and Spider-Gwen's. But hey we're not complaining.
Anyways, we're not expecting a full-on Silk cameo right away. It would be extremely difficult to keep those kind of set photos leaked. You know, with Silk having such a distinct costume and all. But let it be known that adding another Spider-hero character to the mix would automatically distinguish this cinematic version of Spider-Man from the others. However, it all comes down to how well Marvel can execute a move like this. We're all eager to see Wally West don the Kid Flash title in CW's The Flash, but they're making us wait until S3 (Note: this was drafted pre-S3 debut). And we've yet to even see a Robin in any of the recent depictions of Batman. That's right we meant Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, we're not counting Batman Forever or Batman and Robin. Sorry Chris O'Donnell.
Don't be surprised if Cindy is some new transfer student that becomes a classmate of Peter's. She'll likely be shy, awkward, out of place and strangely yet naturally attracted to Peter without any sort of initial interaction with him. And as Silk fans are fully of giddiness and geeky hard-ons, that will likely be the end of Cindy/Peter ineractions for the rest of the movie. Maybe a few plugs to add more mystery to her backstory a la scenes of her stalking/creeping on Peter in a secret admirer fashion. Or also some kind of ambiguous mid- or post-credit scene that Marvel loves so much. And pull off oh so well to leave us nerds drooling for more and running home to blog about it... :)
For readers who aren't familiar with Silk, look out for another post where we'll break down her relatively short comic bio. Pretty much she got bit by that exact same radioactive spider that gave Peter his powers and was locked away in a panic room for most of her life. What are the chances, right? The hormones from being bitten by the same spider forces them to be sexually attracted to each other when around one another. Her presence will likely be very subtle in the scope of the whole movie, but could lead to an awesome foreshadowing if they bring her character to life in future movies. Here's hoping that our speculation comes to fruition!Marvel adding some diversity?
It's no secret that the MCU lacks diversity. And diversity is of course a hot topic in pop culture and media. The Avengers could use more heroines. We'll be seeing Brie Larson as Captain Marvel in a couple years. The galactic superstar Zoe Saldana as Lieutenant Uhura, oops meant Gamora will be back again in GotG Vol. 2. Adrianne Palicki's Mockingbird will be getting her own "Agents" spin-off TV series. Jessica Jones made her debut via Netflix. Can we get a Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman in MCU already?! Keep in mind, we purposely left out both Invisible Women, both Storms, both Jean Greys, and the rest of the X-women/women from Fox movies. Except Psylocke. We loved Psylocke. And Olivia Munn. But back to the diversity talk. We've seen comics explore dynamic changes in well-known characters in this movement towards creating more diverse characters. Changes in race, gender, and sexual orientation have been applied to a variety of existing characters and have also been explored in introducing new characters. Zendaya rumored to actually be Mary Jane would represent a similar type of (exciting) change to a well-established character in multiple medias. Silk was also likely born out of this movement. But sorry Cindy Moon, you won't be the first Asian female hero to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Shoutout to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Chloe Bennet as Daisy Johnson/Skye and Ming-Na Wen as Agent Melinda May. Speaking of that show, they'll be introducing a latino version of Ghost Rider next season (Note: Again, drafted before the season debut). Another example. They also had a gay Inhuman hero join Daisy's Secret Warriors team. Look at S.H.I.E.L.D. winning. Now they just have to produce a consistently good season. But that's another story for another time.
Closer
Well now that this blog has turned into diversity talk, let's u-turn and close. If this casting sheet bears any truth, the upcoming Spider-Man film shows a lot of promise. Hobgoblin and Shocker are two villains we haven't seen adapted in movies yet and will be formidable opponents to a young Spider-Man. RDJ is rumored to play a role in the film, but what are the chances of an Iron Man appearance? A 2v2 showdown makes it a must see. But please don't spoil it in previews or trailers (like how much cooler would it have been if Gal Gadot's appearance as Wonder Woman in costume in BvS was a surprise in theaters!). Lots of female characters that will likely be classmates of Peter's, but which ones are going to play major roles in the movie is the key question. After 5 movies of Peter Parker royally screwing up his love life, as an audience we can live with a movie of high school crushes and awkwardness. Jim and Pam from The Office weren't together by the end of the first season. Build the relationship, build the love. Make us want them to be together! Come to think of it, don't think the Avengers franchise have pulled off a successful love story for their characters yet. Those arguing for Hulk & Black Widow, we need to see Hulk back before we can judge that one. Civil War showed Pepper is gone. Reports of Thor: Ragnorok tell us Jane Foster won't be returning. Moving on. Giving another Spider-Man female character a chance is path worth exploring. Speaking of which, are we ever going to see a Black Cat? Where's Felicia Hardy at in that casting sheet?! Lastly, if Cindy Moon really does make her movie debut, Deanpool will lose his mind. Even if it's only speculation now, go and read up on Silk. The Spiderverse story is a good start. She also has her own solo series that relaunched at least once (Marvel's been doing some funky stuff with their relaunches of series). The character has only been around for a little over a year. Read, collect, and enjoy. Whenever we post our "Silk" post, we'll be sure to include what books may be hot to pick up now. We doubt we're the only ones to have this kind of speculation after a rumored leak like this so one can expect some price jumps from sellers capitalizing on the speculation and rumors, but trust us... If Silk does make a cinematic appearances, no matter how small, those books will skyrocket in price. Deanpool and I aren't fans of resellers, but we'd be lying if we said we weren't interested in seeing a couple of books that we own go up in value.
Thanks for reading. Enjoy this Skottie Young variant of Silk to close!
