This morning the awesome dudes at /Film ran an article that seems to be stirring the pot of the Miles Morales for the MCU movement, and frankly I couldn’t be more pleased about it. The article goes into detail that TheWrap’s Jeff Sneider dropped the news during an appearance on the Meet the Movie Press podcast:
Listen, this is not set in stone guys, but I’m telling you right now, Spider-Man’s not going to be white. Spider-Man’s not going to be white. I’m 95% sure. Spider-Man’s going to be most likely black. But there’s a chance he could also be Latino. 95% sure, not white.
Sneider stops short of saying the new Spider-Man will be Miles Morales but adds, “I don’t think it’s going to be Peter Parker.”
As with any rumor, we’d caution you to take this info with a grain of salt. Marvel and Sony haven’t said anything, and there’s still time for them to make up their minds. That said, Sneider tends to be reliable and responsible. It’s unlikely he’d make such a major claim without some good inside info.
Interestingly, Sneider thinks the Sony hack may have played a role in the decision to cast a non-white Spider-Man.
I really feel strongly. Sony has an opportunity to beat Marvel and DC to the punch with a major black comic book character. Like I mentioned last week, the emails that leaked were perceived as racist in some quarters. I really think that’s going to play into things.
If the Sony hack did have something to do with this decision I can see it as being a smart move by the company to try to at least appear to save grace, but it could also allow for the tried and true, Peter Parker origin story to finally be left behind. I can’t imagine any audiences are keen on seeing a rehash of Peter’s origin, and frankly, the world of cinema is ready for Miles Morales. It’s something dynamically different that would allow the “Marvel” version of the character to stand out, and something that the MCU could take responsibility for, and even land the first major black superhero on screen before Black Panther. PLUS we could have an alternate universe where Peter Parker simply never existed leading to an eventual on screen team up with Miles and Peter, and allowing the old plans to come back into the fold. I KNOW that’s wild, but so are comic books.
This new Spider-Man gets his first solo film on July 28, 2017. However, he’s expected to debut in Captain America: Civil War, due out May 5, 2016.
Donald Glover for Miles!