'Captain America: Civil War' Directors Say Their Spider-Man Will Be Different

For one, he'll be an actual high-school student

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Captain America: Civil War is slated to put more superheroes in the same place than any Marvel movie we've seen so far. We know that the trusty Avengers will be pitted against each other and that Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), and Falcon (Anthony Mackie) will enter the fray, not to mention Bucky Barnes, a.k.a. the winter soldier himself. But one hero has been conspicuously absent from the promos so far: Spider-Man.

He's the great unknown of Civil War, and directors Joe and Anthony Russo plan to keep it that way—at least until the film premieres. "Part of making these movies is maintaining surprise so that everybody's excited, and that's one [where] we're going to make fans surprised," Joe Russo told ComicBook.com in an exclusive interview. The Russo's say their Spider-Man will be different than any that's appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far.

For one thing he's played by Tom Holland, someone close to Peter Parker's age in the comic books. "One of the most important components was that he's a high schooler burdened with incredible powers and responsibility," Joe Russo said. "That really differentiates him from every other character in the Marvel universe. For us, it was extremely important that we cast somebody very close to the age of a high school student. We wanted an energy and charisma from the character, but also an insecurity that would make him fun to watch in contrast to the confident superheroes." 

The Russo brothers also wanted to make their Spider-Man contemporary: A modern kid living with his aunt in New York City.

Where would they live? What would that look like? Where could they afford to live? We asked ourselves all those questions. We try to take a very logical and realistic and naturalistic approach to the character. It's important for us that these characters live in the world that we live in because it makes them more real, and it makes our experience of watching them more passionate and more well-rounded.

Joe and Anthony Russo are also slated to direct the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War. Although they don't seem to be directly involved with the Spider-Man reboot slated for 2017, their version of Spidey will undoubtedly influence his future incarnations for years to come.

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