Joe Manganiello Reveals His Thoughts On Tom Holland’s Spider-Man
Joe Manganiello is quite the known name among the fans of the superhero genre. Almost two decades ago, he played the role of Flash Thompson in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. In 2017, he debuted as Slade Wilson/Deathstroke in Justice League.
He was set to reprise the role in The Batman movie starring Ben Affleck, which never happened, but he still returned for a cameo in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, director cut which was released earlier this year after a huge fan campaign on social media. Today, it is unknown if he’ll ever get the chance to fulfill his Deathstroke potential. And we’d love that more than anything.
In Spider-Man universe, it is known who Flash Thompson is – a high school bully, something like Draco Malfoy to Peter Parker’s Harry Potter. Manganiello played the role in Sam Raimi’s 2002 movie Spider-Man starring Tobey Maguire. Today, the role of Flash Thompson is played by Tony Revolori, who played the role in Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Spider-Man: Far From Home. Revolori is also set to reprise the role in the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Unlike some other actors from the so-called Raimiverse, Manganiello won’t appear in No Way Home, but he did share his thoughts on Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, who is also the first Spider-Man that had the chance to fight alongside Avengers.
“Jon Watts is a former producing partner of mine. In Raimi’s universe, Peter Parker is the only one, he doesn’t live in a world of superheroes. What I really thought was genius about the new Spider-Man films, the burden on the character is different. He’s a kid living in the age of Avengers where there’s Iron Man and Thor and Captain America. He wasn’t the only one. I think that was a really cool take on that.”
Joe Manganiello for Variety
Manganiello also recalled his days working with Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire two decades ago:
“We all knew it was the beginning of the dawn of something different. They were spending more money on that film than had ever been spent. They had the greatest producers, the greatest special effects artists. Up until that point, it was Tim Burton’s Batman, it was The Crow, it was Blade, it was X-Men. Everybody is in black leather. They all shot at night and very dark and borderline gothic. So when you see Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, it’s bright! It’s light! It’s a kid in high school. And he was wearing a red and blue suit, not a black leather suit.”