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‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ Cast Is Growing, Tony Revolori, Laura Harrier To Join

By Stephen Jordan
Published on: 07:26 PST, Apr 17, 2016

Sony and Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man: Homecoming has announced a few new cast members this year. In addition to Tom Holland himself, who was announced last year, as well as Marisa Tomei as Aunt May — it looks like three likely candidates have either officially signed on to the Spider-Man reboot or are in talks to join.

Spider-Man: Homecoming lands Laura Harrier, star of One Live to Life, in an important role, according to the Wrap. This will be the first major motion picture role for the actress, although her role has not explicitly been revealed.

Grand Budapest Hotel and Dope actor Tony Revolori has joined the Spider-Man reboot as well, though his exact role in the film hasn’t been clarified officially. While the Wrap reports that there are insiders claiming Revolori is playing Manuel, Peter Parker’s friend, Deadline paints a different picture, suggesting Tony will be an enemy to Peter at his high school.

There is a possibility that both Laura Harrier and Tony Revolori are playing original characters just for the film. Is Tony playing Flash Thompson? If so, then that might give us a clue as to who Laura could be playing. If Revolori is Flash, Harriet could be playing Liz Allan, a minor love interest of both Peter Parker and Flash Thompson. With Marvel Studios having an involvement with the production, it’s possible they want to acknowledge Peter’s earliest crushes — which would be Allaz as well as Betty Brant, who both debuted in the same issue (The Amazing Spider-Man #4, September 1963) together.

Regardless, the studio certainly seems to be interested in going after non-white actors for members of the cast — considering Revolori, Harriet and Zendaya, who is said to be one of the female leads.

“It’s very exciting,” Zendaya said of the casting process. “When it comes to the acting space, I’m basically unknown. I’ve never been in a real movie before or anything like that, so I had to start from the bottom like anyone else. I auditioned and auditioned and auditioned and [broke] down those walls because a lot of people do have that preconceived notion of who I am based off previous things I’ve done, so you got to really break that down and go hard, put in the work, take all the meetings, take all the auditions.”

And according to the Hollywood Reporter, Sony/Marvel Studios would like to hire another non-white actress for one of the lead female roles. This sounds as if Peter’s love interest will be either Laura Harriet, Zendaya, or a yet-to-be-cast actress of color. Peter Parker has had many women in his love: Betty Brant, Liz Allen, Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane Watson, and Felicia Hardy. The Spider-Man film might see even more diversity if those rumors of the studio looking at Ice Cube to play J. Jonah Jameson are true.

Spider-Man: Homecoming may also be adding Batman actor Michael Keaton its cast as a villain. It’s reported that the actor is currently in talks, and that he will be portraying one of Spider-Man’s first villains, the Vulture, though it has not been officially confirmed by the studio. Keaton’s addition to the cast would see yet another Oscar-caliber actor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, along with Josh Brolin, Robert Redford, Mickey Rourke, Jeff Bridges, and Ben Kingsley.

At a Captain America: Civil War junket, Kevin Feige talked about Tom Holland’s Spider-Man being a teenager and not retelling the origin story again.

“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.”

Spider-Man: Homecoming opens in theaters July 7, 2017. Captain America: Civil War opens in theaters May 6, 2017.

[Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for BET/Susan Shacter/IMDb.com]

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