6 Actors Who Should Play Spider-Man in the Reboot
Yesterday, Screen Rant posted six actors they think should play Spider-Man in the upcoming reboot (of the reboot). The thing that ties all six choices together is that they’re all white men. Screen Rant overlooked the much more inspired, and I’d argue lucrative, path of replacing Peter Parker with Miles Morales and giving us a Spider-Man for the next generation. I guess thinking out of the box isn’t that site’s style.
We’re very pro-Miles Morales here, and as soon as Marvel and Sony announced their joint venture for the next step in Spider-Man on the big screen, we immediately felt Miles was the way to go.
So, presenting six choices for the next Spider-Man.
Damarr Calhoun
Calhoun comes to us from the Nickelodeon family of shows where he’s played the role of Aaron Phillips on the television series Instant Mom. The show is in its third year, and is about a 25-year old part girl who becomes a mom when she marries an older man with three children. Before that, he appeared in an episode of Scandal.
Though he might look young, Calhoun is actually about the right age for Miles Morales. Morales in the comics is about 14 years old and Calhoun will turn 11 this year. That makes him a bit young for the part, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing and might help get some continuity in the actor for the type of commitment Marvel looks for. Three films, one every two years, would put him around 16 years old by the third film hits.
Roshon Fegan
If I were casting Fegan would near the top of my list. If Miles is supposed to be in high school, Fegan could pull it off with his youngish looks. It also helps that Fegan comes from an ethnically mixed background, like Miles. Even better, he’s already part of the Disney family having appeared in numerous shows and movies of theirs like Camp Rock 2, and Shake It Up!. Even better, Fegan has appeared in Spider-Man 2 as the “Amazed Kid.” Get a fancy writer, and you can say that was a young Miles and he was inspired by Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man in the first trilogy.
Fegan is an actor, music producer, recording artist, and songwriter, and if done right, he could bring in a younger, tween, late teen audience, something the movies really need to do. In fact in the direction we’d go, the movie would be specifically focused with a younger audience in mind, and Fegan is already a familiar entity to them.
Born in 1991, he’ll turn 24 this year, so Miles would need to be in high school, but also means we could follow the character through college and beyond, jumping in time between movies.
Marcus Scribner
If you watch the hit ABC television series Black-ish, you know Scribner who plays the slightly dorky oldest son. He has that nerdy thing down, and has shown he has some comedic timing in the show’s first season. Even better, Black-ish is in ABC which is owned by Disney, Marvel’s parent company. He’s already in “the family.”
At age 15 he’s the perfect age to play Miles, and between the television show being a hit, and the movie likely be a sure-fire hit, he’s an actor that a studio could back and build some long-term plans around.
He’s active when it comes to sports, so he’ll likely do well in the type of physical role this would turn in to.
Honestly, we can’t think any reason he wouldn’t be at the top of anyone’s casting list.
Tyler James Williams
Tyler will be turning 23 this year, forcing his portrayal of Miles to be in high school like Fegan above. But Willams is a very known entity, and talented to boot. He was a regular on the series Little Bill back in 2000, but really broke out in the title role of Chris in the series Everybody Hates Chris, and on that he showed off his comedic chops. He held that role for four seasons.
In 2010 he dipped his foot in the “geek” world voicing Firestorm/Jason Rusch on the animated series Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
Most recently, he’s been playing Noah on the hit series The Walking Dead. There he’s shown off his physical side of things and really shown off his depth of emotions.
In his time on television, he’s shown his acting range from the comedic to the dramatic, something anyone who plays Miles would need to do, if they stick to the stories from the comics.
Jaden Smith
The 16 year old (turning 17 this year) son of actor/rapper Will Smith, his acting career is actually much shorter than you’d think. But, since he began in 2006, Smith has been in four pretty high-profile movies, and will be getting a sequel to his remake of The Karate Kid.
He’s already been a part of a reboot in The Karate Kid, and clearly has no issues with being a part of a franchise, since he’s getting a sequel to that film. He’s also shown off his physical abilities not just in that film, but also the film After Earth.
There are some downsides, in that he’s rather outspoken and gotten folks to scratch their heads with some of his statements. That will cause anyone to pause when casting him, though doesn’t necessarily reflect his work ethic.
He is a youth ambassador for Project Zambia which helps children orphaned by AIDS in Africa. That is in conjunction with Hasbro, which will likely handle any toys that come out of the film.
Oren Williams
Lets start with the fact that Williams looks like Miles. That alone gets him on this list. Age wise he’s around the same age as Williams and Fegan. Williams has appeared in both television and the big screen with his most high profile roles being a recurring role on Chicago Hope, a voice in Clifford’s Really Big Movie, and Calvin in Calvin and Freddie’s Cosmic Encounters.
Having done voice over work could be vital for anyone playing the character as Miles will have his face covered up while fighting crime, and we’d expect some CGI, so there’ll be some studio voice work.
He’s shown off a bit of an athletic side in his role of Keith Ellis in the movie Rebound. Looking at his career, he might be the least known of the bunch, but that just means he’s poised for a huge break.
And there you have six solid choices to fill the costume of Miles Morales if Marvel and Sony were to try something rather bold and give us a Spider-Man for the next generation. But, why stop there? How about Spider-Gwen (we suggest Miley Cyrus) or Spider-Man India? Marvel and Sony have a clean slate, why give us something we’ve seen twice before?
