Marvel has made several announcements this summer concerning a fan favorite: Spider-Man. I do not claim to be a Marvel expert, but someone who has been invested in the realm of superhero movies. With that being said, I looked forward to the news about Spider-Man ever since the announcement that Marvel made concerning him joining the Marvel’s Cinematic Universe (MCU). The MCU is literally all the movies you’ve been watching each summer and will continue to see for the next several years. Their announcement said that he would once again be on the big screen, and would also be a part of the upcoming Avengers movies. This means that Sony would no longer continue the franchise of The Amazing Spider-Man with Andrew Garfield. So what comes now? A new Spider-Man, of course.

The same hype over a new Spider-Man began back before the casting of Andrew Garfield, and it was a huge deal. Talking and rumors flew from the beginning over who would be the new Spider-Man, and one choice stuck out to me. Donald Glover is an actor, a comedian, a rapper and an artist. You might know him from his time on Community, or by his stage name Childish Gambino. When the internet began picking up this idea for Glover to be the new Spider-Man in 2010, it was not just a few people. Hundreds of people tweeted about it, blogged about it, and it came to the point when Glover even responded to this idea. He loved it. He even talked about his feelings about the hype, the role, and the idea of Spider-Man in this video posted online (NSFW for his language use, especially when he talks about the backlash of the campaign). However, he did not get the role, Garfield did.

Flash forward to about a month ago, and another announcement came. The character of Miles Morales, a half Hispanic, half African American Spider-Man would now replace Peter Parker as the main Spider-Man in comics starting this fall. This is huge news because this opens up so many doors for diversity, new storylines, and specifically a character that can revive the idea of Spider-Man without destroying any of the canon introduced in previous movies. If you want to know more about Miles Morales, you can find info here. Now backtracking to Glover and his interest in being Spider-Man is important again because he is the voice of Miles Morales in the television cartoon, Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors.

All of these signs over the past six months seemed to point in the direction of new Spider-Man movies about Miles Morales and including him into the MCU, and possibly a stronger backbone to the support for Glover leading the role. I was ecstatic. So a few weeks ago I see that the new Spider-Man has been cast… and it was another British Caucasian man, Tom Holland. I will not go into the rest of the new casting problems of age arising, but there have been upsets over the ages of the actors cast for Parker and his Aunt May. Not to disrespect Holland, but the idea of another reboot of the Peter Parker story line does not thrill me anymore. How many times are we going to go through the origin story of the same hero? More importantly, how many times do I have to watch Uncle Ben die? I know they will probably have a whole new take on the story and the superhero, but this does not make me want to go see the new movie when I feel I have seen it twice already since 2002. As much as I would love for Glover to have the position, it ultimately is just dissatisfying not having anyone racially diverse in the Spider-Man role. I would be happier if there was any sort of change in the racial identity of such a well-loved character.

This seems more problematic to people besides myself as well. When the deals to get Spider-Man into the MCU were beginning to be discussed, it was decided that Andrew Garfield would no longer play the role. Andrew Garfield was quoted at a San Diego ComicCon saying, “He represents the everyman, but he represents the underdog and those marginalized who come up against great prejudice which I, as a middle-class straight, white man, don't really understand so much. And when Stan Lee first wrote and created this character, the outcast was the computer nerd, was the science nerd, was the guy that couldn't get the girl. Those guys now run the world. So how much of an outcast is that version of Peter Parker anymore? That's my question,” in 2013 before his second movie came out. If he did not feel right as the character anymore, then why would another stereotypical casting prove any different?

For now though, this same character and idea will continue to roam unchecked and unchanged. Yes, I will still be seeing Spider-Man in the new MCU movies such as the next Avengers movies like Captain America: Civil War, but at this point I will be thinking very carefully if I want to support the third reboot of Spider-Man in the last two decades. My only hope is that in the next decade, once the Avengers have run their course, the team of Avengers with different characters including Miles Morales will take the front stage. Even if Donald Glover cannot be the Spider-Man on the big screen, at least the steps are taken towards an all new Spider-Man in the rest of the Marvel Universe.