Credit – MTV International YouTube
‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ is blowing away box office records, and is well on its way to being the number one movie release for 2021. It has accumulated $637.6 million worldwide in just four days and looks unstoppable. From all accounts it seems to be well done and extremely entertaining. So why does Tom Holland feel the need to say something politically idealogical, that could potentially turn fans off from seeing the movie? Because it’s politically expedient and Hollywood elites feel like they need to make sure they are voicing the call for the woke cause and stay in the social media’s good graces. One day before ‘No Way Home’ came out, Tom Holland said we need a more diverse Spider-Man.
Diversity is Not the Answer for Established Superhero Characters
Tom Holland, in an interview with People magazine last week, stated that he thought it was time to pass the torch to someone who was more diverse to play the part of Peter Parker and Spider-Man.
“I would love to see a future of Spider-Man that’s more diverse — maybe you have a Spider-Gwen or a Spider-Woman. “We’ve had three Spider-Mans in a row; we’ve all been the same. It’d be nice to see something different.”
This isn’t the first time Holland has hinted at a different more diverse Spider-Man for the MCU and Sony. Back in November, in an interview with GQ magazine, Holland implicated that it might be time for him to move on so they could make room for a Miles Morales Spider-Man.
“Maybe it is time for me to move on. Maybe what’s best for Spider-Man is that they do a Miles Morales film. I have to take Peter Parker into account as well, because he is an important part of my life, but also: If I’m playing Spider-Man after I’m 30, I’ve done something wrong.”
Just Recast a New Peter Parker and Look to Steve Ditko and Stan Lee for a Great Story
All of those are all horrible ideas. Don’t get me wrong, Tom Holland plays a fine Spider-Man, and his version is entertaining, but the fans don’t want a Spider-Gwen or a Spider-Woman. Maybe a Spider-Woman, only if it was the original Jessica Drew which premiered in 1977. Spider-Gwen was an abject failure, ran for 34 issues, and couldn’t break the top 100 comics month to month by the end of its run, barely selling 17,000 issues a month. Miles Morales replacing Peter Parker as Spider-Man is boring. Miles Morales was created specifically for diversity, is basically Peter Parker 2.0, and checks all the appropriate social justice checkmarks. How about Marvel just recast a new actor to play Peter Parker? They have done it three times now. How about delving into the past and doing a Spider-Man movie based on some of the great stories that have been written? You could do an actual Sinister Six movie based on Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s runs, you could do a faithful Maximum Carnage movie, or a faithful Venom movie(although it does look like that might happen). You don’t need Tom Holland and other supporting heroes from the Marvel universe to hold him up either. Just cast an actor that would portray Spider-Man in his prime. If Marvel and Sony did that, that’s a Spider-Man movie I could get behind. Stan Lee said it best, back in 2015, when he said that Spider-Man was created as a white guy, and that if he was originally cast as black, latino, or Indian, that would have been great, but he wasn’t.
“I wouldn’t mind if, Peter Parker had originally been black, a Latino, an Indian or anything else, that he stay that way. But we originally made him white. I don’t see any reason to change that. What I like about the costume is that anybody reading Spider-Man in any part of the world can imagine that they themselves are under the costume, and that’s a good thing.”
Marvel and Sony Could Lose the Rights to Spider-Man
Tom Holland is a good actor, but he should stay out of the diversity and inclusion fray. It just looks like pandering, and that’s becoming a big turn off for fans. Spider-Man, to many, will always be Peter Parker. These new versions of Spider-Man were made intentionally and not because Marvel had a revelation of creativity. Marvel will probably lose the rights to the original Spider-Man and any characters that were created in issue 15 of Amazing Fantasy. That is why you’ve seen so many different iterations of Spider-Man…so Marvel can hold onto those versions for the next 90 years. As a result, Marvel Comics hasn’t done anything creative with their characters in almost 20 years. They have managed, however, to rid the MCU of all of its white male superheroes, and race or gender swap them. Or, in Captain America’s case, turn him into an America hating socialist, that fights alongside Antifa. Marvel Comics and the MCU have been reshaping their characters into something the fans no longer recognize. They have inserted their political ideology into our comic books and movies, that used to be one of the purest forms of entertainment and escapism. Marvel might very well make a Miles Morales Spider-Man movie, or a Spider-Gwen movie. I would not be at all surprised, given Kevin Feige’s penchant for political activism over creativity. Tom Holland is certainly entitled to his opinion, but I might think twice before putting that out into the ether days before a movie release.
Related: Kevin Feige’s Brave New World
