Sony and Marvel have announced that Drew Goddard will be directing the upcoming reboot of "Spider-Man."

The news comes a few weeks after the studios announced that "Spider-Man" would be rebooted and would be part of the Marvel universe.

The choice of Goddard is an interesting one as the director is unknown and he only has one directing credit to his name. So what made Sony and Marvel choose him?

The first thing that comes to mind is his cult classic and successful directorial debut "The Cabin in the Woods." The movie was hugely successful at the box office and critics were ecstatic. The film went on to win multiple awards and was even nominated for a Critics Choice award. It even got a couple of Best Picture nominations among critics circles.

Goddard was also originally tapped to do the "Sinister Six" spin-off. While the film is technically still in post-production and he is still credited to direct according to IMDB, it is likely the director will shift his attention to "Spider-Man," which is at this point Sony and Marvel's priority.

Aside from his directing jobs, Goddard has full experience working in TV and writing a number of film scripts. He wrote the scripts to Matt Reeves' "Cloverfield" as well as "World War Z," which was directed by Marc Forster. He recently wrote Ridley Scott's "The Martian," which is scheduled for the end of the year. He also wrote the scripts to the successful series lost as well as the latest superhero series "Daredevil." He served as a writer to Joss Whedon's hit series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and also wrote a number of episodes for its spin-off, "Angel."

Goddard definitely has the credentials for "Spider-Man," but how will it affect casting of the film?

Marvel and Sony have always kept casting tightly under wraps and they have always worked with their directors to ensure the best casting. Goddard's first film "The Cabin in the Woods" notably included "Thor" lead actor Chris Hemsworth and Richard Jenkins, but other than that the rest of the cast was made up of unknown actors.

Throughout the past few weeks, there has been a lot of speculation as to who will play the upcoming Spider-Man and if Marvel and Sony will go with a different ethnicity. Goddard's choice is unlikely to have a big effect on the casting as most of his films have included Caucasian actors.

To this point, Marvel has cast black actors in secondary roles including Anthony Mackie and Don Cheadle. Only Samuel L. Jackson has obtained a prominent role, but even his work has been in pure supporting roles.

Latinos have had a more prominent spot in Marvel's films, as Zoe Saldana was the lead female role in "Guardians of the Galaxy," but Benicio Del Toro was relegated to a supporting role in the same film.

On the other hand, Sony has only cast one black actor in a lead role and that was Jaime Foxx in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2." Alfred Molina, who has Spanish roots, was cast as a villain in "Spider-Man 2." However, minorities have never surfaced as the leads in these films.

Fox recently cast Michael B. Jordan in "Fantastic Four" and that set off controversy among fans. The casting was one of the most surprising as he plays the brother of Kate Mara in the film. Many fans wonder how it is going to work, especially since story details have been kept under wraps.

For "Spider-Man," many speculate that Marvel and Sony will go with the new Ultimate Comics' version of Spider-Man, which features a black and Latino web-slinger. This could be suitable for Marvel and Sony because the Peter Parker origin story has already been done twice, and by the second time around, critics and audiences were tired of seeing the same story.


Casting is likely to be announced in the next few weeks, especially since Goddard recently signed on to do the film.

Related