Although the Spider-Man franchise is set to start over again, Marvel has confirmed that Peter Parker will remain the titular character.
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige told Collider that the studio is looking to cast someone for the traditional role of Peter Parker instead of an alternate version of Spider-Man like Miles Morales from the comics. Feige added that the studio wants someone who can portray the character as a high schooler.
“In terms of the age of an actor we’ll eventually cast, I don’t know,” Feige said. “In terms of the age of what we believe Peter Parker is, I’d say 15-16 is right.”
Rumors had been going around that Marvel may go in a different direction with Spider-Man's alter ego but Feige's comments put those talks to rest. According to Variety, Feige said that the choice to bring the character back to his high school roots was made because of Spider-Man's history and to differentiate him from other Marvel film characters.
“Some of my favorite Spider-Man arcs and Spider-Man stories, he’s in high school for a lot of it,” he said. “We want to explore that. That also makes him very, very different from any of our other characters in the [Marvel Cinematic Universe], which is something else we want to explore: how unique he is when now put against all these other characters.”
The new Spider-Man is expected to make his debut in Captain America: Civil War on May 6, 2016. The next installment of the Spider-Man franchise will then make its way to theatres on July 28, 2017.