Entertainment

'Spider-Man' Has A New Classmate

Peter Parker just got himself a "significant" new classmate — but good luck finding out who, because as usual, Marvel is playing coy. The Wrap revealed soap star Laura Harrier has joined Spider-Man: Homecoming in an important, but as yet unnamed role. Now that Spider-Man is in Marvel's hands once more, Harrier could be playing anyone from a love interest to Spider-Man's best friend to a villain. The new movie is taking Peter back to high school, giving Marvel the ability to tell a teen superhero story on their own terms.

Unfortunately, knowing Peter is in high school won't exactly narrow down the identity of Harrier's character. She is the third significant female lead to be cast in the movie after Marisa Tomei as Aunt May and Zendaya as "Michelle." Longtime fans of Spider-Man will note some of the most important women in his life have not been cast including Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy, but given both characters prominence in the two previous Sony Spider-Man franchises, the two big loves of Spider-Man's life may be benched for now — or they are being reinvented. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the latter because despite her character being called Michelle, Zendaya would make an amazing Gwen.

But where does that leave Harrier? From Mary Jane to Peter's long lost sister, here are six roles Harrier could fill in Spider-Man: Homecoming .

Mary Jane

Gwen's best friend and the future love of Peter's life, Mary Jane is always yearning for stardom. Kirsten Dunst played Mary Jane in the Tobey Maguire Spiderman films, but it would be nice to see a new spin on the character. A properly high school aged Mary Jane could be a blast to watch, especially if Zendaya is playing Gwen. Add Peter in the mix and you have the makings for some quality high school friendships, romances, and angst to play out over multiple films.

Black Cat/Felicia Hardy

Sometimes a villain, sometimes a hero, Black Cat is the first super-powered person Spider-Man ever dates. The daughter of a cat burglar, Black Cat has an interesting upbringing and ends up following her dad's lead and taking up a life of crime of her own. Seeing this character transplanted to a high school setting, and allowing her to find an ally in Spider-Man would be a boost to a franchise that has always emphasized Spider-Man's connections in the "normal" world over his hero connections.

Teresa Parker

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Teresa Parker is Peter's long lost sister who appears in the comic book "Spider-Man: Family Business." While she is a fairly new character, I would love to see Peter's family expand beyond Aunt May. A sibling dynamic is not something any Spider-Man movie has explored so far, and adding Harrier as Teresa could give this version of Spider-Man much stronger family ties than any of his previous incarnations.

Spider-Woman/Jessica Drew

If Marvel introduced Spider-Woman in the new movie, my life would be complete. Jessica has had numerous backstories, but given her canonical social awkwardness, she would be an amazing character to adapt as a teen. She could be Peter's best friend, and he could help her deal with her powers. Jessica ultimately joins The Avengers, so if the character was done right she could easily have her own franchise as a bounty hunter/hero down the line.

Liz Allan

Liz isn't the most interesting option, but the character was Peter's high school crush. She was always finding herself torn between Peter and jock Flash Thompson. If Flash ends up in the movie, it would make sense for Liz to be there too — especially if Marvel is looking to move away from Gwen and Mary Jane for awhile.

Glory Grant

As Peter's next door neighbor and friend, Glory would make a great addition to the movie. While she is an adult in the comics, the animated series The Spectacular Spider-Man made Glory part of Peter's high school crew, and since the movie is going to be firmly set in high school the writers are going to want to round out Peter's group of friends as much as possible.

These are just a few of the characters Harrier could be playing in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Whatever her role is, here is hoping her casting points to a Spider-Man movie that explores the rich bench of Spider-Man characters that never get the cinematic love they deserve.

Images: Walt Disney Pictures; Marvel (2); Marvel/YouTube (3)