What started out as a Tweet has grown into an on-line debate.
A few weeks ago, “Community” actor Donald Glover tweeted that he’d like to be considered for the lead role in the upcoming Spider-Man reboot. What caught the interest of various on-line forums is that Glover is an African-American actor. This brought up the question of whether audiences might accept Peter Parker as an African-American.
The debate has reached the desk of Stan Lee, the man who co-created Spidey and Peter Parker.
Lee says that he’s in favor of Glover being able to pursue the role and audition for it. Lee went on to say that while there were other roles in the Marvel universe that were originally seen in the comics as white characters only to be played by African-American actors on the big-screen, he doesn’t think that would work for Spider-Man.
“Everybody seems to be familiar with Spider-Man, so I say that it isn’t that it’s a racial issue – it’s just that it might be confusing to people. But that’s a matter for the people at Marvel to take into consideration. I certainly don’t want to weigh in on it in any way, except to say I think Glover is a fine actor,” Lee tells SciFi Wire.
Glover for SpiderMan!