A Butterfield Spidey?

Different news outlets including Forbes and IGN are running a Latino Review rumor that says Asa Butterfield is the current front runner to play Peter Parker in the upcoming Marvel & Sony films.

From Latino Review:

So who is the front-runner? Asa Butterfield Leads the Bunch. We have reached out to Asa’s reps who have given us a “no comment.”  We have also reached out other industry sources who have confirmed that he is indeed the front runner including one who believed that he already had bagged the role, by stating: “Marvel had liked him since day one.”

Benjamin Moore at Forbes had more to add:

While The Wrap previously reported that Marvel was looking at five names for the role – Nat Wolff (The Fault in Our Stars), Liam James (The Killing), Asa Butterfield (Ender’s Game), Tom Holland (In the Heart of the Sea), and Timothee Chalamet (Interstellar) – Latino Review is now claiming that it’s Butterfield’s role to lose. According to one of LR‘s sources, Butterfield may have even already “bagged the role.”

I don’t have particularly strong feelings about this, though he’s probably my first choice of the five on the shortlist. Obviously, the most important thing here is that Marvel casts a good actor, and Butterfield has proven several times over that he’s more than capable in that regard.

Having said that, I do wonder how funny he can be. Butterfield could absolutely handle the emotional core required of Peter Parker – the constant guilt, the fear of collateral damage, the awkward nerd stuff – but how impressive is his quip game? Can he pull off Spider-Man’s patented rapid-fire jokes? I haven’t seen every movie he’s ever been in, but as far as I’m aware, he’s pretty much only played it serious.

Of course, that doesn’t mean he couldn’t play funny, it’s just not the first thing that pops into my head when I think of the guy. Otherwise, he fits the age range that Marvel wants for the character (he’s 18, but he could easily play 15-16) and more or less looks the part.

What do you think, Crawlspacers? I have no familiarity with Butterfield’s work. I only know that he was in Ender’s Game, which I didn’t see. And, as always, take all of this with a big ol’ grain of salt.

–George Berryman!