Since Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures announced their unprecedented deal to share the marquee superhero Spider-Man as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, speculation has been rampant as to exactly which version of the character would put a fresh face on the franchise in 2016 and beyond.
Today, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige gave the perhaps to be expected news that the next big screen Spidey will in fact be another take on Peter Parker — this one firmly rooted in the hero’s high school years. Collider picked up the scoop as Feige made the rounds promoting “Avengers: Age of Ultron” where he said:
In terms of the age of an actor we’ll eventually to cast, I don’t know. In terms of the age of what we believe Peter Parker is, I’d say 15-16 is right…We want to play with Spider-Man in the high school years because frankly there’ve been five Spider-Man films and the amazing thing about it is, even though there’ve been five Spider-Man films, there are so many things from the comics that haven’t been done yet. Not just characters or villains or supporting characters, but sides to his character. The most obvious being the ‘young, doesn’t quite fit in’ kid before his powers, and then the fella that puts on a mask and swings around and fights bad guys and doesn’t shut up, which is something we want to play with and we’re excited about.
While the role remains uncast, the news does shed some light on the kind of story fans will be seeing in the future. That version of the character draws the hero very much in line with the way Marvel has presented Spider-Man in other media endeavors such as the “Ultimate Spider-Man” cartoon series.
The new Spider-Man is expected to make his debut in Marvel Studios’ upcoming “Captain America: Civil War” which just began shooting under the guidance of upcoming “Avengers: Infinity War” directors Joe and Anthony Russo.
Stay tuned to Comics Talk for more as it becomes available.