Marvel/Sony's new Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, is teenage actor Tom Holland. He'll be working under the direction of Jon Watts for his first big solo flick, though he'll make his debut with a small appearance in Captain America: Civil War.
So how old is the new Spider-Man? For context, let's take a quick look back.
Tobey Maguire played a Peter Parker who was a senior in high school, though the first movie had him graduate quickly and move on to college. So we'll put the character at around 18 years old. Maguire was 27 when he made his Spider-Man debut, and 32 when his last turn, Spider-Man 3, arrived in theaters.
Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker remained in high school for his debut, making Peter Parker about 16 or 17 in the movie, even though Garfield was older than Maguire when he took over the part. Garfield was 29 years old when The Amazing Spider-Man hit theaters, and 31 when its sequel arrived.
Now we have Tom Holland, who is currently 19 years old. And in grand Hollywood tradition, once again the actor under Spider-Man's tights will be older than the character he's playing. Director Jon Watts says that the new Spider-Man/Peter Parker will start his crime-fighting career at just 15 years old.
Marvel was reportedly very keen on having a much younger Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Holland fit the bill. Holland recently told Empire Magazine that the idea is to go deeper into the high school side of the equation, a notion that matches up with Spidey's comic book origins. Watts said that he wants his movie to have a "coming-of-age high school movie" vibe.
As for Tom Holland, you needn't worry that his youth may impede his believability as a superhero. He's already an accomplished dancer, having starred in Billy Elliot in the title role on stage. And his Instagram account is full of examples of his parkour-ish athleticism. Like this.
Messing around at lunch. Learnt a new trick. Great day today. @stanley_weber @jonnybernthal
A video posted by ✌️ (@tomholland2013) on Apr 24, 2015 at 4:57am PDT
And this.
Boom!!! A video posted by ✌️ (@tomholland2013) on Feb 4, 2015 at 2:26am PST
After he shows up in Captain America: Civil War in summer 2016, Holland's (er, Spidey's) new solo movie will hit theaters one year later on July 28, 2017.
h/t ComicBook.com
Be sure to follow T-Lounge on Twitter and visit our Facebook page.
