'Billy Elliot' stage star Tom Holland is the new Spider-Man
This article, 'Billy Elliot' stage star Tom Holland is the new Spider-Man, originally appeared on CNET.com.
The new Spider-Man, Tom Holland, after winning Best Male Newcomer award at the Jameson Empire Awards in 2013. Dave M. Benett/Getty Images
Meet your new friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man: 19-year-old British actor Tom Holland has been officially named as Peter Parker in the reboot of Marvel's web-slinging wonder.
Holland will follow in the footsteps of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield in the new Spider-Man movie, scheduled to be released in July 2017. The new film will once again return to the roots of the comic book character blessed with spider-themed superpowers, and thanks to a deal between Sony and Marvel will see the character in subsequent films join the Avengers in the Marvel cinematic universe.
Marvel has also announced that the new Spider-movie will be directed by Jon Watts. Watts is a relative newcomer, with experience directing satirical videos for The Onion and a couple of TV movies, but he drew attention at this year's Sundance Festival for the simmering thriller "Cop Car," starring Kevin Bacon.
The son of comedian Dominic Holland, Tom Holland has previously been seen in the stage musical version of "Billy Elliot," on the big screen in tsunami drama "The Impossible" alongside Ewan MacGregor, and in BBC historical piece "Wolf Hall."
Born in London, he is the latest Brit to play a comic book hero, joining Garfield (the previous Peter Parker), Christian Bale (Batman), Ray Stevenson (the Punisher), Charlie Cox (Daredevil), Henry Cavill (Superman), Benedict Cumberbatch (Dr Strange) and the original Billy Elliot, Jamie Bell (The Thing in this summer's "Fantastic Four" film).
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Spider-Man was created in 1962 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. The wisecracking wall-crawler is the alter ego of nerdy student Peter Parker, protecting New York from supervillains while swinging between skyscrapers and worrying about girls.
The character has appeared in five major films produced by Sony Pictures, the first three directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire. Andrew Garfield swung in for two movies directed by Marc Webb in 2012 and 2014. Sony decided on another fresh start as part of a deal with Marvel to share the rights to the character, which will see Spider-Man finally join his fellow Marvel superheroes onscreen once his solo outing is out of the way.
