dream casting

Empire’s Hakeem Is Already Campaigning to Star in the Inevitable Next Spider-Man Reboot

Spider-Man may be a biracial teen named Miles Morales in the current comics, but the version you’ll see in the film franchise’s next reboot will once again be Peter Parker, played by yet another white kid (Tom Holland). It’s a tired trend Marvel has no intention of breaking, but there’s at least one nonwhite actor still holding out hope of playing Spidey in more than just a cartoon: Bryshere Y. Gray, a.k.a. Yazz the Greatest, who plays Hakeem on Empire, has already begun his campaign to become the first black Spider-Man, posing for Paper in full cosplay. He’s ready to make that spiderweb drip drop from his wrist, and it ain’t just about the money; he was born to play Spider-Man: “I’m young and pretty and I represent the youth in America and speak to them in a way no one can at this time. I’m the American Idol. And I like to climb and fly through the sky and also would look amazing in the Spider-Man outfit.” Hey, if Lee Daniels can finesse a Pepsi commercial for Jussie Smollett out of an Empire story line, who’s to say he couldn’t work an MCU plug into the show next year?

Photo: Photo by T. Harrison Hillman/Courtesy of Paper Magazine
Photo: Photo by T. Harrison Hillman/Courtesy of Paper Magazine
Empire’s Hakeem Wants to Be the Next Spider-Man