No comedian guide character as distinguished as Spider-Man has had as many main actors stroll by way of the function within the twenty first century. Nicely, okay, technically Batman has had … 5? However principally in cameos, and, you understand what? That is irrelevant. Three stars, every with a number of films beneath their belts in only a couple many years, is a fairly uncommon factor to see. After all, with so many re-castings, there have been additionally loads of actors who almost performed the wall-crawler however did not.
Heath Ledger, for instance, was thought-about early on for Sam Raimi’s tackle the character. Then, years later, actors like Timothée Chalamet and Asa Butterfield had been up for the half within the Marvel Cinematic Universe earlier than Tom Holland in the end snagged it. And when “The Superb Spider-Man” was in early improvement, each Josh Hutcherson and Alden Ehrenreich had been within the working earlier than Andrew Garfield landed the function of Peter Parker.
Ehrenreich, specifically, apparently received pretty near securing the function, with Deadline reporting again in 2010 that he had screen-tested for Spider-Man, alongside opponents like Logan Lerman and the late Anton Yelchin. Had he landed the half, his profession trajectory could have appeared fairly completely different, because it appears questionable that Disney and Lucasfilm would have forged a former Spider-Man as younger Han Solo. Since then, as of 2025, Ehrenreich has lastly entered the Marvel live-action realm, taking part in the enigmatic Joe McGillicuddy (no spoilers right here) within the Disney+ MCU collection “Ironheart.”
Alden Ehrenreich received a nasty rap after Solo: A Star Wars Story
The “Superb Spider-Man” films by no means achieved the identical essential success as Raimi’s “Spider-Man” trilogy or the later MCU Spidey movies, however they led to good issues for Andrew Garfield, and it is easy to think about Alden Ehrenreich getting the identical profit had he landed the half. As an alternative, almost a decade later, he wound up being forged because the younger Han Solo in “Solo: A Star Wars Story.”
That movie has turn into considerably notorious for a vocal minority of backlash in opposition to it and a lackluster field workplace efficiency, a lot of which was unfairly pinned on Ehrenreich being a poor selection for the lead. In actuality (and I am talking as a “Star Wars” super-fan, right here), Ehrenreich is arguably the most effective a part of “Solo,” handing over a nuanced efficiency that brings in parts of Harrison Ford’s iconic flip whereas including bits of his personal.
Ehrenreich has fortunately rebuilt a powerful profession within the wake of “Solo,” with latest elements in movies like “Oppenheimer” and “Cocaine Bear,” along with his MCU debut. He is additionally confirmed himself to turn into fairly versatile, and it is enjoyable to think about what his personal tackle Spider-Man may need appeared like. Although we’ll by no means know, it is not too late to offer “Solo” a second likelihood when you had been a type of of us who wrote it off again in 2018.
