Donald Glover to Play the Lead In Next "Spiderman?"

The fresh-faced star of NBC’s Community might just get his first big break as the leading man in the reboot of the Spider-Man franchise. It comes as quite a shock to some, who contest to the pending decision by stating that A) Spiderman was white in the comic book series and B) Donald Glover is…who again?

As much as die-hard fans of the very funny Community know and love Donald Glover, not too many others do. He made somewhat of a name for himself by starring in his self-written series of viral videos for Derrick Comedy. But with all of the recent activity online, Mr. Glover could very well become the next household name, all thanks to social media.

What all started as a comment on an i09 article, turned into a much larger campaign on Twitter. Someone commented that Glover would make a great Spiderman, and pretty soon discussion started rolling. The topic progressed to an active Facebook Fan Page, and continues daily with an ongoing debate between fans of the franchise and Donald Glover groupies alike. It’s a hodgepodge of people, all with their own opinions about why this  would either be disastrous or brilliant casting.

But perhaps the most interesting development is the amount of established movie critics that have jumped on the Twitter bandwagon, tweeting to #donald4spiderman in their support. Even Stan Lee, the comic book hero’s creator, expressed his belief that anyone who is qualified should be given the chance to audition.

If Sony is smart, they’ll watch this campaign very closely. From a studio’s perspective, the whole point of making a film is to cater to what the public wants with the hopes that it’ll make a profit and bring in a hefty ROI. Well the public is finally able to let the studio know what they’re gunning for, and now it really comes down to numbers. If the retweets in support of Donald Glover were in the millions, instead of the thousands, it’s very likely this campaign would be over, because his audition would have already happened. But while the campaign is still growing, so is its opposition, meaning that Glover may be boxing up his pre-ordered Spidey suit if the numbers don’t correlate to blockbuster status soon.

Regardless of whether Glover ends up auditioning, or even getting the part, the prospect of Glover playing Spiderman is something Sony should definitely not ignore.