Peter Parker Out As Spider-Man? Did Racist Sony Emails Provoke Change? [Rumor]

The latest speculation surrounding the upcoming reboot of Spider-Man has teased that the iconic superhero’s alter-ego won’t be Peter Parker.

Instead, it has been alleged that Sony’s creative team are considering either an African-American or Latino character to replace Peter Parker.

This revelation was made by Jeff Sneider of the Wrap during his appearance on the Meet The Movie Press podcast.

Sneider insisted that “Spider-Man is not going to be white,” before he then added that while decision isn’t “set in stone,” he is confident he will be proved right. His co-host then probed whether this was just pure speculation, to which Sneider proclaimed, “I am 95 [percent] sure.”

When he was asked what the ethnicity of Spider-Man will be then in Marvel and Sony’s reboot, Sneider explained, “Spider-Man is going to be most likely black. But there is a chance he could also be Latino. 95 [percent] sure not white.”

If Spider-Man is black, then it is more than likely that Peter Parker will be replaced by the character of Miles Morales. Morales first appeared in the Spider-Man universe in August, 2011, after the death of Peter Parker, and he is of both black and hispanic descent.

And during their discussion on the Meet The Movie Press podcast, Mark Reilly insisted that Marvel/Sony should proceed with Miles Morales.

“I don’t think it’s going to be Peter Parker. I really feel strongly — Sony has an opportunity to beat Marvel and DC to the punch with sort of a major black comic book movie character.”

And Reilly believes that the recent furor that was created following the hacking of Sony’s emails could result in the studio going with Miles Morales as the protagonist in Marvel and Sony reboot.

Reilly added, “the e-mails that leaked were perceived to be racists in some quarters. I really think that is going to play into things.”

Earlier this month, Amy Pascal quit her role as the head of Sony Pictures because of the anger that was created following several emails she exchanged with producer Scott Rudin regarding President Obama. In these messages, she suggested that Obama would enjoy Django Unchained and The Butler because they dealt with slavery in the U.S.

The early casting rumors regarding the new Spider-Man film have previously suggested that they would continue with Peter Parker as the lead character. Logan Lerman and Dylan O’Brien have been linked with the lead role, and it’s been teased that the character will be much younger than Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s previous incarnations.

[Image via Marvel]