This Spider-Man Co-Star Missed Out On Two Other Marvel Roles First

Those pursuing acting careers in Hollywood seek out as many auditions as they can. The roles and projects they find themselves reading for vary in scale, whether it be a bit part on a network sitcom or a character in a major film franchise, along with everything in between. As far as massive franchises go, getting cast in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is already a major milestone, but to also be in the standalone films featuring the most famous Marvel superhero of them all, Spider-Man, is somehow on another level.

By the time "Spider-Man: Homecoming" swung into theaters, Tom Holland had already made his big-screen debut as the MCU's Peter Parker in "Captain America: Civil War." Holland's first standalone outing as the webhead was a coming-of-age film that evoked the vibes of John Hughes' seminal classics, such as "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (which was directly referenced and featured in one of the film's sequences) while also involving the broader world of the MCU, mixing Spidey's desire to be an Avenger with his everyday struggles as a teenager. Given the high school setting, we meet Peter's classmates at the Midtown School of Science and Technology, including his best friend Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon), his crush Liz Allan (Laura Harrier), his eccentric acquaintance and eventual girlfriend Michelle "MJ" Jones-Watson (Zendaya), and his rival Flash Thompson (Tony Revolori). In the case of Revolori, the breakthrough star of Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel" had auditioned for two other roles in the MCU.

Tony Revolori's first MCU audition was for "Iron Man." When he was 10, Revolori tried out for the part of a Refugee Kid in Afghanistan. A massive fan of Marvel Comics since childhood, as well as an admirer of Robert Downey Jr.'s performance in "Chaplin" and Jon Favreau's performance in "Swingers," Revolori was ecstatic about the opportunity, although it did not work out in his favor. He reflected on the opportunity in an article he wrote for Fandom:

"My brother and I waited in Sarah Finn's office; she's the casting director for all the MCU movies. I was auditioning for the huge part of... "Refugee Kid." Remember that scene where Iron Man is in Afghanistan, and he lands just in time to see families getting separated, with the men walking to a firing squad while the women and children are being forced on a truck? (Wow, Iron Man was kind of dark!) They're all about to be killed until Iron Man swoops in and saves the day, and there's a kid in that scene that runs out of his mother's arms to his dad. That's right, that kid could've been me."

Over a decade ago, Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios announced their intention to bring Spider-Man into the MCU, following the underperformance of "The Amazing Spider-Man 2." Around the same time of the announcement, Tony Revolori emailed his agents regarding the opportunity to audition for the role as the MCU's Peter Parker, to which he would receive an email a month later revealing that he had the opportunity to audition for said role. Reflecting on the audition process, Revolori, who is of Guatemalan descent, recalls seeing "every young white Hollywood actor" in the waiting area, which put a damper on his confidence because he doubted Marvel Studios would take a chance casting a non-white actor as their new Spidey.

Two days after his audition, Tony Revolori received the news that it did not work out. However, by the time he received a new email regarding an "Untitled Marvel Movie," he knew it was another opportunity to audition for what would become "Spider-Man: Homecoming." Revolori was considered for both Ned Leeds and Flash Thompson, ultimately getting cast in the latter role, which was a considerable departure from the previous versions played by Joe Manganiello in Sam Raimi's trilogy and Chris Zylka in "The Amazing Spider-Man." Revolori reflected on receiving the news from his agents:

"About three weeks later, I got a call from my agents and managers telling me, "You got it. You're going to be Flash." I was ecstatic. I looked around my room and I could imagine my younger self playing with a Spider-Man action figure. Little did that young boy know what was to come, and truthfully neither did I. Thus my MCU journey began."

As mentioned above, the previous iterations of Flash Thompson in both Sam Raimi and Marc Webb's films reflected the character we see in the comics: a typical jock who often bullies Peter Parker. In the comics, while being Peter's rival, he is ironically a massive admirer of Spider-Man. Although that aspect of the character is unexplored in Raimi's films, it is briefly touched upon in the ending of "The Amazing Spider-Man," where Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) takes notice of Flash's shirt, a red shirt evoking Spidey's emblem.

Although the casting of Tony Revolori as Flash Thompson unfortunately led to the predictable backlash amongst a select group of racist fans, as evident across numerous fandoms whenever non-white actors are given such opportunities, this updated version of the character better reflects the social hierarchy seen in modern American high schools. Sure, bullies that happen to be jocks still exist, but the rivalry between Revolori's Flash and Tom Holland's Peter feels more realistic and serves as a refreshing change of pace from the typical high school bullies we see in many coming-of-age films through the years. It is unknown whether or not we will see Revolori reprise his role as Flash in "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," but if we do see him again, it could serve as an enticing opportunity for Peter and Flash to start off on a foundation, given that the entire world had their memory of Peter erased at the end of "Spider-Man: No Way Home." It would certainly be cool to see more between Holland and Revolori, given that they have both grown up quite a bit, and part of me would be curious to see how Flash would react to The Punisher, now that Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) is confirmed to be part of the film.