Sadly, no Donald Glover will not be cast as Peter Parker in the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming– that role has been filled by actor Tom Holland who looks borderline too young to play the part of high school Peter Parker, but maybe the origin story will be set in 9th grade.
Yesterday Twitter exploded when Glover fans discovered their idol would be joining the Spiderman: Homecoming cast, although suspense still remains as to whom the Community alum will be playing.
Glover’s road to entering the Marvel community was definitely windy and dates back to 2011 when he began the #Donald4Spiderman campaign on twitter. The comedian discussed what happened after he posted the hashtag and spurred the movement in his Netflix comedy special “Weirdo.”
“…That’s when the world went crazy, and half the world was like, ‘Donald for Spiderman! We’re only going to watch the next Spiderman if Donald is playing Peter Parker!’ And the other half was like, ‘HE’S BLACK, KILL HIM!’…”
Although the 2011 Spiderman reboot casted Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker (can we talk about how uncomfortable that movie was to watch? Emma Stone and Garfield were a real life couple…so where the fuck was the steamy chemistry between the love interests!?), Glover did get to realize his dream (sorta) when Marvel writer Brian Michael Bendis created the first black and Hispanic Spider-Man cartoon, Miles Morales. The #Donald4Spiderman campaign landed the actor the voice of Morales on the Disney XD series Ultimate Spider-Man.
But a cartoon black Spider-Man is as far as Marvel is willing to go – proven by casting yet another white male as Peter Parker. Gawker’s Sam Biddle published a legal agreement between Sony and Marvel that outlined the strict character traits Sony requires of Spiderman and Peter Parker.
Jesus, Sony! You’re setting this poor hero up for failure! He can’t party, or even rank anything higher than a 1 on the Kinsey Scale? What a loser.
It’s just really improbable that Peter Parker will grow up in Queens as innocently as his Spider-Man guidelines allow. I get that it’s a superhero movie and the whole thing is fiction, but at least make it a little believable!
Biddle argued that these traits restricting Peter Parker and Spider-Man’s race and sexuality to Caucasian and heterosexual are archaic and stunting Marvel from becoming more diverse.
“It’s important to remember that Spider-Man, no matter how much we wish it weren’t the case, is a fictional character. There is no "real" Spider-Man, so it’s bogus to say that Spider-Man necessarily has to be anything, other than some kind of spider man, I guess.”
In an effort to appease to the community outraged by Sony’s unprogressive ideal character, the new movie set to film later this month has incorporated a slightly more diverse cast than before with Zendaya cast as the female lead and love interest.
You can catch Donald Glover in his new FX comedy show “Atlanta” this September. The show follows two cousins on their rise to fame in Atlanta’s rap scene.
