Zendaya Joins "Spider-Man" Reboot in Leading Role

[Flash Gordon]

I have no idea who this is.

Guess I am getting old.

[Jennifer Lawrence Fan]

Ew, as if this weren't already probably going to be the worst Spider-Man film ever.

[Flash Gordon]

Ew, as if this weren't already probably going to be the worst Spider-Man film ever.

Eh we've already had some pretty bad ones.

ASM and ASM 2 were pretty rough.

[Jennifer Lawrence Fan]

Eh we've already had some pretty bad ones.

ASM and ASM 2 were pretty rough.

I am one of the few who actually prefer the Webb films to the Raimi trilogy.

[Project Initiative Cascada]

Ew, as if this weren't already probably going to be the worst Spider-Man film ever.

It's going to be hard to top Spider-Man 3, but so far nothing from this project sounds appealing so far. The unknown director alone is enough to worry about.

I have no idea who this is.

Guess I am getting old.

She's in Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood" video.

[Huntsman Spider]

I think at some point we have to come to grips with the fact that they're casting a newer, younger generation of Spider-Man and his ever-so-amazing friends and supporting cast and not presume it's going to fail just because old fogies like us don't know who many of these people are. As annoyed as I am that they're going back to the high school well and plan to stay there for a long time, at least the actors they're casting actually would've just graduated high school a year or two ago, as opposed to nearly ten years ago. Early twenties you can get away with still casting as high school kids, but mid-to-late twenties, unless they're just particularly youthful-looking, is a bigger strain on the willing suspension of disbelief. On second thought, Kirsten Dunst and Emma Stone were closer to high school age when the first installments in their respective Spider-Man film series came out than Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield were, and Tom Holland's going to be 21, or going on 21, by the time the first Marvel-Sony collaboration film comes out. Considering that this latest series is supposed to keep Peter as a high school student for the foreseeable future, I'm thinking that Marvel and Sony wanted to cast actors that would more or less grow up with the audience they're hoping to attract, and that audience would in turn grow up with the characters, similar to the Harry Potter films.

Or, in a nutshell, plenty of us here grew up on the 80s or 90s animated series, or the 2000s Spider-Man films, or even the 2008-09 Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon. Why not give this up-and-coming generation their own unique Spider-Man incarnation to grow up on?

[jimishim12]

I think at some point we have to come to grips with the fact that they're casting a newer, younger generation of Spider-Man and his ever-so-amazing friends and supporting cast and not presume it's going to fail just because old fogies like us don't know who many of these people are. As annoyed as I am that they're going back to the high school well and plan to stay there for a long time, at least the actors they're casting actually would've just graduated high school a year or two ago, as opposed to nearly ten years ago. Early twenties you can get away with still casting as high school kids, but mid-to-late twenties, unless they're just particularly youthful-looking, is a bigger strain on the willing suspension of disbelief. On second thought, Kirsten Dunst and Emma Stone were closer to high school age when the first installments in their respective Spider-Man film series came out than Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield were, and Tom Holland's going to be 21, or going on 21, by the time the first Marvel-Sony collaboration film comes out. Considering that this latest series is supposed to keep Peter as a high school student for the foreseeable future, I'm thinking that Marvel and Sony wanted to cast actors that would more or less grow up with the audience they're hoping to attract, and that audience would in turn grow up with the characters, similar to the Harry Potter films.

Or, in a nutshell, plenty of us here grew up on the 80s or 90s animated series, or the 2000s Spider-Man films, or even the 2008-09 Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon. Why not give this up-and-coming generation their own unique Spider-Man incarnation to grow up on?

It kinda gives the impression Spider-man can't age as gracefully as DC's flagship heroes and with stand the test of time as a legacy hero that has to reinvent itself to cater to new ages and styles. Peter has never stuck to a single place and definitive depiction in his 60 year legacy to build a proper mythos thats truly timeless but can be reusable, the only things that remain a staple of his legacy is his orgin but everything else about him and his world is interchangable, from villians to cast members to even story arcs.

[Black Arachknight]

I'm I the only one who thinks this movie will be a trainwreck? All the casting seems horrible.

Aloha,
My friend if you think for one minute that Marvel negotiated getting Spidey back so that they could ruin it, think again.
Spidey rules
www.donaldspidermanthomas.com/html

[Jennifer Lawrence Fan]

I'm I the only one who thinks this movie will be a trainwreck? All the casting seems horrible.

I still can't get over the absolute mess Spider-Man finds himself in post Spider-Man 3. I love the ASMs and looked forward to the universe Amazing Spider-Man 2 was supposed to launch. Disney seems to misunderstand the character badly and I just think the character's future looks bleak right now.

[TheIronDuck]

Disney seems to misunderstand the character badly and I just think the character's future looks bleak right now.

well we'll find out in 9 1/2 weeks.

[hobo]

Seems like sloppy writing by Deadline. The title of the article says "lead", but the article itself says "key role". Those are different things, no? I'm going to assume Michele is the actual character name, not some code to keep white America from freaking out (I don't think Marvel would give up the free publicity from doing that).

Three things come to mind. First, ASM has one of the best cast of characters to draw from. It's not yet time to be making up new characters or "reimagining" ones that have almost zero presence in the comic. If it is Michelle Gonzalez, the only thing that might be interesting is if this involves Vin Gonzales as part of some Goblin King story. But that would mean another Norman Osborn arc, so I doubt it.

Second, her bio does not indicate that she is latina. Non-latinos playing latinos doesn't really go over well, so again I doubt it.

Third, she is biracial -- half Disney Channel star, half Disney record label artist. I don't think much else factored into the casting. How about that corporate synergy! (maybe I'm a little cynical)

[Kevinroc]

I still can't get over the absolute mess Spider-Man finds himself in post Spider-Man 3. I love the ASMs and looked forward to the universe Amazing Spider-Man 2 was supposed to launch. Disney seems to misunderstand the character badly and I just think the character's future looks bleak right now.

I don't know how you can say the character's future looks bleak after the mess that was the Amazing Spider-Man film franchise and its fetishizing Richard Parker as the keystone of the Spider-Universe.

[kalorama]

well we'll find out in 9 1/2 weeks.

I haven't seen 91/2 Weeks in a long time, but I don't remember Spider-Man being in it.

[TheIronDuck]

I haven't seen 91/2 Weeks in a long time, but I don't remember Spider-Man being in it.

Funny, but I was referring to it being 91/2 weeks until Captain America 3: Civil War where we will find out if Tom Holland is good at being Spider-man.

[redrunner97]

It's going to be hard to top Spider-Man 3, but so far nothing from this project sounds appealing so far. The unknown director alone is enough to worry about.

Funny. I think EVERYTHING about this project sounds appealing.

Jon Watts' Cop Car and Clown are fantastic (although the latter still hasn't been released in the US yet), and he's extremely talented for someone so new to the industry.

John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein are hit-and-miss (but better writers than directors, so that's a plus here); we know they can write a good movie (Horrible Bosses, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2) and we have no real reason to doubt they will in this particular case.

And it's Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic (Extended) Universe!! Isn't that what we all begged for?

I'm I the only one who thinks this movie will be a trainwreck? All the casting seems horrible.

We know Tom Holland is a good actor, and we'll find out if he's a good Spider-Man in a couple months.

Marisa Tomei might not look as old as she actually is, but she's an Academy Award winning actress and with a young Peter must comes a younger Aunt May.

Zendaya hasn't had her acting abilities tested too much yet, but she's got comedic chops and this movie is reported to be light-hearted.

She's called Michelle, she's not Mary Jane. And seriously if she is and another red head gets axed after Wally and Jimmy (and now possibly even bloody Archie) in live action, fans will be seriously pissed.

Ginger retaliation aside, I do think Zendaya will be playing either Mary-Jane or Gwen Stacy. Casting calls specifically avoid giving the characters name away, but "Michele"'s (note the one "L", unlike Michelle Gonzales) relative similarity to Mary-Jane (both starting with M) indicates to me that she may very well have signed on for the role of MJ.

*ALSO*
This was my 616th post. Couldn't pass up the opportunity to point that out!