‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ Adds A Howling Commando (But Not As A Howling Commando)
Tom Holland’s Spider-Man will be crossing paths with one of Captain America’s old war buddies… only he won’t be one of Captain America’s old war buddies anymore.Kenneth Choi, who played Howling Commando Jim Morita inCaptain America: The First Avenger, has joinedSpider-Man: Homecomingin a separate and apparently unrelated role. He won’t be the first actor to play two different characters within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though it’s still somewhat uncommon.
Deadline reports Choi will play the school principal inSpider-Man: Homecoming. He joins a growing cast that includesMarisa Tomeias Aunt May,Robert Downey Jr.as Iron Man, andMichael Keatonas the as-yet-unidentified villain, plusZendaya(K.C. Undercover),Tony Revolori(The Grand Budapest Hotel),Laura Harrier(One Life to Live), andMichael Barbieri(Little Men).
Choi joins a small but growing list of actors who’ve been cast in multiple roles within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Enver Gjokaj had a small part as a policeman inThe Avengersbefore he resurfaced as a 1940s SSR agent in ABC’sAgent Carter. More recently, Alfre Woodard appeared inCaptain America: Civil Warahead of her key role in Netflix’sLuke Cage. In all cases, there’s not much chance of audiences confusing the characters. Marvel’s TV and movie divisions rarely cross over (though Choi did play Jim Morita again in an episode ofAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), and in Gjokaj and Choi’s cases their dual roles exist in completely different time periods.
Besides his work with Marvel, Choi’s credits include FX’sAmerican Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. SimpsonandSons of Anarchy, NBC’s short-livedIronsideremake, andThe Wolf of Wall Street.
Holland made his debut as Peter Parker a.k.a. Spider-Man in last month’sCaptain America: Civil War. Reception to the character was overwhelmingly positive, which must have come as a huge relief to Marvel and Sony. Although the webslinger is one of Marvel Comics' most beloved creations, his first live-action film series petered out with the sloppySpider-Man 3, and theAmazing Spider-Manreboot never really caught on with fans.
The new Spider-Man is expected to be more youthful than previous onscreen iterations. Holland is much younger than his predecessors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were when they were cast, and Marvel Studios presidentKevin Feigehas likenedSpider-Man: Homecomingto a John Hughes film.Jon Watts(Cop Car) is directing from a script byJohn Francis DaleyandJonathan Goldstein(Horrible Bosses).Spider-Man: Homecomingswings into theatersJuly 7, 2017.
