Tom Holland: Here's the latest on 'Captain America: Civil War'

Actor Holland was recently cast as the superhero Spider-Man. Will he be appearing in the film 'Captain America: Civil War,' which is scheduled to be released in 2016?

We now know what actor will be the next to play the superhero Spider-Man, and we may also know where we’ll see him pop up first on the big screen.

News recently broke that actor Tom Holland of the film “The Impossible” and the TV miniseries “Wolf Hall” has been cast as Peter Parker, also known as Spider-Man, the superhero who was previously portrayed on the big screen by actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield.

The deal between Sony, the movie studio that released the previous Spidey films, and Marvel, the company in whose comic books Spider-Man originally appeared, was that Spider-Man would appear in a Marvel movie and then a separate Sony movie released in 2017. The movie to come out in 2017 will be directed by Jon Watts of “Cop Car.”

So what’s the Marvel film he’s appearing in? According to the Hollywood Reporter, Spider-Man is appearing in the film “Captain America: Civil War,” which is scheduled to come out in 2016. “Holland will report immediately to the set of the currently shooting 'Captain America: Civil War,'” HR reporter Gregg Kilday wrote of the actor's casting. Variety writer Justin Kroll corroborated this, writing, "The actor is first expected to make an appearance in 'Captain America: Civil War' in order to properly introduce him into the Marvel film universe."

Here’s why that’s important. As Marvel fans know, the Civil War plotline has Spider-Man as a central figure. In the comic book storyline, the federal government puts forth the Superhero Registration Act, in which all superheroes would need to reveal their identities, among other requirements. Iron Man (portrayed in films by Robert Downey Jr.) supports this; Cap (Chris Evans) does not.

(Spoilers ahead…)

In support of the registration, Spider-Man reveals his identity to the world. However, he soon changes allegiances when he finds out that those who won’t register will go to jail for an undetermined period of time.

If Spider-Man is able to appear in “Civil War,” the film will be able to stick as closely as possible to the original comic book storyline, something that’s bound to please fans, though those behind the movie may of course make plotline changes for other reasons.