Diversity hasn’t always been the strong point of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but even before Ryan Coogler’s hotly anticipated “Black Panther,” things are starting to change. The makers of “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” the Sony/Marvel-allied reboot of the web-slinger, didn’t go as far as making the hero’s secret identity Miles Morales rather than Peter Parker — as you know if you’ve seen “Captain America: Civil War,” Tom Holland has the role.
But the cast so far does seem to reflect that this is a take on the character that reflects a high school in modern-day Queens, with Tony Revolori, Zendaya, Kenneth Choi and Donald Glover among the actors cast so far. And now two more unexpected faces have joined the cast: Ghanaian actor Abraham Attah, who was so impressive last year in Cary Fukunaga’s “Beasts Of No Nation” alongside Idris Elba; and “Broad City” and “Neighbors” actor, and Bill Cosby downfall-causer, Hannibal Buress.
As is true of most of the characters so far, details are thin on who these guys are playing, but we assume Attah will be a classmate of Peter Parker’s, while Buress will probably be comic relief. We still need to be convinced of the creatives involved in this, but the cast that are shaping up here is superb at least. We’ll find out how the film turns out on July 7th, 2017. [Variety]
Speaking of Miles Morales, the character’s rumored to be at the center of Sony’s upcoming animated Spider-pic, which just had a director appointed — Bob Persichetti, an ex-Disney and Dreamworks artist and co-writer of Netflix’s “The Little Prince.” He’s working from a script by “The Lego Movie” mastermind Phil Lord (without, for the first time, partner Chris Miller). The film will open on December 21st, 2018. [THR]
READ MORE: Miles Morales Will Reportedly Hit The Big Screen In Sony’s Animated Spider-Man Movie
And to round-up some other comic-book stuff, some maybe-official synopses arrived for “Doctor Strange” and “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2” [Comic Book Movie]; while Laura Haddock, who was in both the original “Guardians Of The Galaxy” and “Captain America,” has joined the cast of “Transformers: The Last Knight” [Heroic Hollywood]. And more enjoyably, “Game Of Thrones” and “Force Majeure” actor Kristofer Hivju (the ginger-bearded wildling) has joined the cast of “Justice League” as an Atlantean king. [IGN]
