It's been a while since Spider-Man was a teenager. Despite the relatable, gawky high school Peter Parker being the one people always come back to as the truest version of the character, he's long since grown up in the comic books. On screen, meanwhile, he's been played by a succession of unconvincing adults-pretending-to-be-teens. Thank Uatu it never got quite as bad as Steve Buscemi in 30 Rock, but Tobey Maguire wasn't particularly convincing as a high schooler (he was 26 when the first Spider-Man film came out), but at least they had the good sense to get him to college ASAP. Andrew Garfield was the same age in Amazing Spider-Man, he just looked younger. Tom Holland, meanwhile, is actually 19 years old, meaning he's the first actual teenager to be cast as Peter Parker. Which is mightily refreshing, because even Garfield graduated very quickly in his movie series which barely gave enough time to explore the painful angst of being a social wallflower juxtaposed with life as a high-flying superhero.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
