Sabrina Petrafesa ’18 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
With the announcement that Spider-Man is returning to Marvel, many fans are simultaneously cheering and mourning. Cheering for the beloved character showing up in future Avengers films and mourning because Andrew Garfield was the perfect Spider-Man, cast for the right role at the wrong time. However, seeing this is the third time Spider-Man will be on the big screen in less than fifteen years, many are thinking we should have a non-white Spider-Man.
So far it has been rumored that Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner) and Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson) will be fulfilling the role, but—again—we’ve already had two different versions of Spider-Man and both have been white. When you look at Marvel’s main cast right now it’s not very diverse (on film at least, because Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is doing much better in this category). This is one of Hollywood’s most successful franchises and not making an effort to diversify its lead is questionable at best.
If we want more diversity in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe before Black Panther we’re going to have to bring in some talented multicultural actors.
Alfred Enoch in the How to Get Away with Murder episode “Pilot.” Photo Credit: Nicole Rivelli/ABC.
The Harry Potter and How to Get Away With Murder actor would be a great choice for the role. He’s proven he can do an American accent on the ABC show, he’s got the physique for it, and throw on a pair of glasses and he will look exactly like the nerdy Peter Parker persona we’ve all grown to love.
Donald Glover in the Community episode “Remedial Chaos Theory.” Photo Credit: Lewis Jacobs/NBC.
Let’s go back a few years when half of the internet decided that Donald Glover was the perfect Spider-Man and the hashtag ‘#DoanldForSpiderMan’ was all over the place. Glover would be a pretty awesome choice for a few reasons, one of them being that he can pull off the nerdy look rather well. He already has a significant cult following, so ot almost seems ridiculous not to.
Tyler Posey in Teen Wolf. Photo Credit: Bob Mahoney/MTV.
This Teen Wolf actor should not be overlooked. He’s Latino and the Latino community deserves better representation in the media. Now, a lot of people will associate his work on Teen Wolf as subpar, but this guy can act. Teen Wolf may just a silly show about werewolves, but it gets really emotional and if you’ve seen any of the more serious episodes you can see the power Posey has. He’s also got that adorable charm down that is necessary to be Peter Parker.
Tyler James Williams in The Walking Dead episode “Consumed.” Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC.
Nobody’s really seen much of him since Everybody Hates Chris, but recently he was amazing in Dear White People. There he has those aspects of Peter Parker’s personality that makes him nerdy and adorable. However, if you feel the need to see him in a stress filled action sequence, he had a brief turn on The Walking Dead where you’ll see he can be brave just like you need Spider-Man to be.
Osric Chau in the Supernatural episode “Heaven Can’t Wait.” Photo Credit: Diyah Pera/The CW.
Osric Chau’s character on Supernatural was pretty close to actually being Spider-Man. Chau goes from super nerdy AP student to a guy who puts himself through hell to try and save the world. His arc on Supernatural is incredibly similar to Peter Parker’s arc. Chau was able to play it really well on Supernatural—he even went insane for a little bit and it was awesome. Chau is also a total fanboy and would treat the character with all the respect it deserves.
Every single one of these actors would be amazing as Spider-Man and there are probably so many more unknown actors who could play Spider-Man just as well. Let’s just hope for a little more diversity in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and have the movies be more reflective of the world in which we live.
Spiderman will always be white because race shouldn’t matter.
Do you hear yourself?
You’re confusing the story of Miles Morales, who is the new spiderman and is also black with black actors playing Peter Parker, who is white.