If you've heard of Tom Holland at all, in fact, it might be because he was the eponymous star of Billy Elliot: The Musical. Jamie Bell, star of the original Northern kid wants to pirouette movie is currently starring in the rebooted Fantastic Four as the hulking Ben Grimm, which is a physical transformation that has people somewhat sceptical. Getting a young actor who's nailed ballet moves night after night for years makes total sense for Spider-Man, though. The web head's own musical might have been a costly failure, but translating the sort of skills needed for stage productions like that to this particular Marvel hero is a no-brainer. Spider-Man does a lot of leaping, climbing walls, swinging through the air. It takes a certain kind of grace, dexterity, agility that's hard to fake. If you can't nail it, Spidey looks like a kid playing at Tarzan rather than a cool superhero. After all that training and time spent playing Billy Elliot, Tom Holland is basically pre-loaded with Peter Parker's superhero movements.
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/
