Spider-Man: Homecoming Quietly Putting Together Incredible, Diverse Cast
Director Jon Watts has been on a casting tear for Spider-Man: Homecoming, which began filming a few days ago. A wonderful mix of rising stars have been recently added to join Tom Holland (Spidey himself), Marisa Tomei (Aunty May), Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Zendaya Coleman (as Peter's love interest, we think), and Michael Keaton (probably playing the villain the Vulture). The two latest to sign on are Michael Mando, whose made the most of his recurring roles in Orphan Black and Better Call Saul, and Abraham Attah, the young actor who nearly stole Beasts of No Nation from Idris Elba, an impossible feat. Their roles haven't been announced. These two casting choices are adding to Homecoming's increasingly diverse cast, which is not only good for the film industry as a whole, but good news for any film about Spider-Man; the web-slinger calls New York City home, and NYC is the most diverse city in the country by a mile. A Spider-Man movie has to be diverse if it wants to continue being set in the Big Apple.
While it's unclear who Mando and Attah will be playing, considering the latter's age, it seems a likely guess that he could be one of Peter Parker's high school friends (or enemies). Yet the mystery surrounding both Attah and Mando's casting is of a piece with the secrecy shrouding the film in general. The one thing we do know is the casting has been diverse and fantastic. In the last few weeks we've learned that Homecoming has added Donald Glover (Community, The Martian), Kenneth Choi, Hannibal Buress (The Secret Life of Pets, Broad City), Martin Starr (Silicon Valley), Logan Marshall-Green and The Grand Budapest Hotel star Tony Revolori—but we have no idea who these fine actors are playing.
What we do know is Spider-Man: Homecoming is putting together an incredible cast, one that looks exactly as it should—like the great, multicultural city that Spidey will ultimately defend.
Spider-Man: Homecoming is set to open on July 7, 2017.
