6 Most Likely Characters Donald Glover Could Be Playing In SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING
He may not be the wall-crawler in Spider-Man: Homecoming as some fans were hoping, but Donald Glover has indeed landed a role in the reboot, and these are the six most likely candidates for who he's playing...
So, if not Spider-Man (and certainly not Miles Morales), who could Glover be playing in the reboot? There are a lot of very interesting possibilities, hence why speculation has been running rampant today.
What you'll find here is a look at six of the most exciting (and likeliest) possibilities for who the Community alum could be playing in the highly anticipated 2017 release. One or two may be names you've suggested yourselves, but I'm willing to bet that there's a fair few characters here you probably won't be expecting to see. Either way, Glover playing one of this lot would be pretty spectacular...
6. Robbie Robertson
Many fans have suggested that Donald Glover might be up for the role of Randy Robertson, but that doesn't really make sense. After all, he won't be anywhere near the same age as Peter Parker, so them being roommates is off the table, and as a result, it's tough to imagine him bringing anything of significance to the table here.
The actor playing a younger version of Randy's father and Daily Bugle editor Robbie Robertson certainly makes sense, especially as his age really isn't all that important to the role he plays in Spider-Man's world. Glover's Robbie butting heads with whoever ends up playing J. Jonah Jameson is something which has the potential to be tremendous fun, especially when you take his comedic background into consideration. Robbie blended into the background in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, but Glover taking over could help change that.
5. The Jackal
The Clone Saga was a complete mess in the comic books, but recent revisits to that tale in both the pages of Amazing and Ultimate Spider-Man have shown that a coherent and engaging story can be extracted from the insane 90s crossover. We obviously already know that The Vulture will be the main villain of this reboot, but Glover taking on the role of Peter's favourite science teacher Dr. Miles Warren could work spectacularly, especially if we get some hints about his descent into madness and villainy.
While Jackal isn't a top tier Spidey villain in the eyes of some, Marvel Studios getting their hands on him could change that, and Sony would no doubt jump at the chance to expand the wall-crawler's world with spinoffs focusing on his clones. It's clear that we're going to be spending a lot of time in high school, so there's a very good chance Glover ends up being a teacher anyway.
4. The Prowler
There are two different versions of The Prowler that Glover could end up playing, but a mixture of both could be what ends up working best in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Hobie Brown was a tech genius who briefly used the Prowler gear he created to commit crimes before Spidey got him back on the right track. Taking this version into account, he could be depicted as a student of The Tinkerer's who ends up going off to do his own thing and may even help Peter out.
The other version is of course a career criminal named Aaron Davis who is the uncle of Miles Morales. Introducing this take on the character obviously opens the door to Miles showing up somewhere down the line, especially as it was this Prowler's fault that his nephew was bitten by one of the same spiders that gave Peter his abilities. In fact, that would make the great basis for a sequel after some set up here.
3. The Tinkerer
Marvel has re-imagined many of their characters (with The Mandarin being the most controversial), and there's no reason to think The Tinkerer will be any different. Rumour has it that this relatively obscure Spider-Man villain is going to provide Adrian Toomes with the tech he needs to become The Vulture in the reboot, but there's really nothing to say he has to be an old, white man.
Glover has already done the whole genius thing really well in The Martian, and seeing him do the same in Spider-Man: Homecoming as this eccentric bad guy has a ton of potential. In fact, Glover could become a recurring presence in these movies as The Tinkerer, providing future Spidey villains with various pieces of tech and giving Peter a very different sort of intellectual bad guy to square off with. Tie him to Tony Stark in some way and his presence here could also be seamlessly addressed.
2. The Scorpion
Ok, so we've done the mostly sensible possibilities, but let's just take a wild stab in the dark with this one. To me, the story of private eye Mac Gargan being hired by J. Jonah Jameson to try and figure out Spider-Man's secret identity only to agree to being transformed into the Scorpion to take the hero down a very different way is one which is perfectly suited to the big screen.
With that in mind, making Glover some sort of investigator who appears sporadically throughout Spider-Man: Homecoming working for Jonah would help set the stage for us to meet The Scorpion somewhere down the line and gives Peter a very different sort of problem to deal with. While some of you may struggle to see the actor in a suit like the one pictured above, I actually think he could do something really interesting with this role, injecting fresh life into The Scorpion in the process.
1. Someone New
I bet you expected to see Miles Morales here, right? Simply put, Glover is now way too old for that role, and meeting a 30+ year old version of that fan-favourite character in Spider-Man: Homecoming would be nothing short of a colossal disappointment. Instead, it's entirely possible that the actor is going to end up playing a new character who doesn't hail from the source material.
After all, it doesn't seem as if any of the youngsters who have so far been cast are going to bear familiar names in the movie, while the addition of a principal and no doubt other high school staff members points to Marvel deciding to come up with a lot of new creations in order to further flesh out that period in Peter Parker's life. In that case, Glover having a brief (but fairly memorable) role as someone we've never met in the comics in the young hero's life is arguably the most likely option, but also somewhat disappointing!
Who do you think Donald Glover is playing in Spider-Man: Homecoming? One of these characters or someone else entirely? As always, be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.