Regardless of the reasons, 2013's long-awaited adaptation of Orson Scott Card's classic sci-fi novel Ender's Game failed to set the world on fire. It could have been the boycott, with audiences protesting Card's particularly toxic views on homosexuality and gay marriage; it could just as easily have been that everyone's all a little burned out on big, sweeping science fiction epics. Whatever the reason, it definitely wasn't the cast, which was headed up by the likes of Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley. Who really stole the show, however, was the young Asa Butterfield as Ender. His starring role wasn't a surprise to those who'd been keeping an eye on the young Butterfield's early career. He had already proven himself as a capable dramatic actor, working with particularly complex material, when he appeared as the lead in The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas in the 2008 adaptation of the book of the same name. Besides that particularly traumatic performance (he's on your tail, Smit-McPhee!), he also impressed Martin Scorsese enough to score the lead part in his Hugo, and will star in Tim Burton's adaptation of Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children. That's a particularly packed schedule, but he's shown himself to be adept at basically everything needed to play Peter Parker. And he's a young-looking 18, so about the right look for a high school wall crawler.
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/
