'Spider-Man: Homecoming' actor Tom Holland would like to play 'crazy, scary' Carnage
Former Batman Michael Keaton may have taken up the villain’s role in the latest Spider-Man movie, but the film’s lead actor himself also has a few bad guy roles in mind.
These and a few other nuggets of information were revealed to Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore during an interview with “Spider-Man: Homecoming” stars Tom Holland and Jacob Batalon in June.
“I would like to play Carnage because he’s a crazy, scary, horrible person,” said the 21-year-old Holland.
The second reboot of the Spider-Man movie franchise, “Spider-Man: Homecoming” sees Spider-Man, in his civilian identity as Peter Parker, learning to cope with being a normal high school teenager after his experience with the Avengers in last year’s “Captain America: Civil War”.
In the Spider-Man comics, Carnage is a mass murderer who gains powers that are similar to classic Spidey villain Venom’s (who in turn resembles an evil Spider-Man). However, Carnage is more powerful than Venom and Spider-Man combined.
“I’ve never got to play a nasty person, or someone that’s scary”, explained Holland, “And I really, really, really would like to play a villain.”
As testimony to his desire to play Carnage, he even referenced the civilian identity of the villain, Kletus Cassidy
“The thing with Kletus Cassidy is that he’s not a bad person because he got bitten by a radioactive spider or he got attacked by an alien symbiote. He’s just a terrible person who happens to be a monster. It’s like Joker [a villain from Batman] meets Venom.”
His co-star, Jacob Batalon, picked Venom instead.
“Venom’s cool. He wasn’t a bad guy. Eddie Brock [Venom’s civilian identity] just got consumed by some alien thing,” said Batalon, who plays Peter Parker’s best friend Ned in “Spider-Man: Homecoming”.
The 20-year-old thought that Tom Hardy, who was recently announced to be playing Venom in an upcoming Spider-Man movie spinoff, “was pretty crazy”.
Iron Man vs Spider-Man
Holland’s Spider-Man was also supposed to face off against a more familiar character.
In an earlier draft of “Spider-Man: Homecoming“, Spider-Man had to battle Iron Man to determine whether he was worthy to join the Avengers, Holland revealed.
“The original plot line for [Spider-Man: Homecoming] had a whole training sequence between Iron Man and Spider-Man. There was going to be sort of like a fight between the two of them, sort of an audition for the Avengers,” he said, adding that “the storyline now is far more powerful”.
Holland is also very aware of his character’s importance and symbolism to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“I love being Spider-Man”, he said. “It’s something that I’m very proud of, and an achievement that I didn’t think was possible.”
However, the British actor was also on the lookout for other characters to play.
“I’m also trying to find new jobs and new roles. This August I’m shooting a movie called ‘Chaos Walking’ in Montreal, directed by Doug Aiman, with Daisy Ridley [starring]. It’s a very different type of movie, a post-apocalyptic futuristic sci-fi movie.”
Given his rise, it’s not hard to think that at some point in the future, he’ll get his chance at being the villain.
“Spider-Man: Homecoming” is currently screening in cinemas.
Marcus Goh is a Singapore television scriptwriter, having written for “Police & Thief”, “Incredible Tales”, “Crimewatch”, and “Point of Entry”. He’s also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. You can find him on social media as Optimarcus and on his site. The views expressed are his own.
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