'Captain America: Civil War' Directors Reveal What's Different About The New 'Spider-Man' In The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Now that Marvel has officially confirmed that actor Tom Holland’s Spider-Man will appear in a limited role in the upcoming film “Captain America: Civil War,” the minds behind the superhero conflict are finally able to share some details about the iconic character. With the latest version of Peter Parker poised to redefine the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) for the next generation, directors Joe and Anthony Russo are opening up about what makes their Spidey different from previous film incarnations.

With the Russo brothers, who will direct both “Civil War” and the culminating two-part movie event “Avengers: Infinity War,” finally able to share some details about their version of Spider-Man, the questions were unavoidable while speaking at a press event in Beijing to launch their new film studio. It seems that the decision to make the new Peter Parker a high school student was only half the battle. They also had to ensure that he was a high schooler in the modern day.

“We also wanted to think about ‘Who is Spider-Man today?’ A lot of times when you get interpretations of Spider-Man, they’re very nostalgic to the origins of the character. Sometimes there’s an old-fashioned patina to the tone of who Spider-Man is,” Anthony Russo said in the often inaudible video below (via ComicBookMovie). “We wanted to think about who is Spider-Man today if he’s living in Queens, what’s the texture of his life like, what’s the texture of his relationship with his aunt who lives with him. How can we make the relationship and character very contemporary? That’s our goal with the character."

According to the studio, when Marvel and Sony struck a deal to bring the wall crawler into the MCU, it was announced that he would appear in an unknown Phase 3 film before breaking off for his own standalone “Spider-Man” film in 2017. However, thanks to the character’s massive importance in the “Civil War” comic book, fans deemed it all but a certainty that Tom Holland would first don the hero’s mask in the fight between Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Captain America (Chris Evans). Earlier this month, Downey Jr. let it slip in an interview that Spider-Man is indeed included in “Civil War,” bringing months of speculation to an end.

[POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT: The remainder of this article will discuss the events of the “Civil War” comic book]

In the comic books, Spider-Man played both sides of the “Civil War” conflict, beginning as a member of Iron Man’s pro-registration brigade before switching sides and helping Cap’s forces bring his former mentor down. However, according to rumors regarding the standalone “Spider-Man” movie, many believe that the character’s relationship with Tony Stark will play a prominent role. According to reports, the movie may be called “Spider-Man: The New Avenger” and focus on an aging Stark training Spider-Man to be a part of the next generation of “Avengers.” Fans will just have to wait until “Captain America: Civil War” hits theaters on May 16, 2016 to see how it all shakes out with Tom Holland’s “Spider-Man.”