Asa Butterfield and Tom Holland were the final two in the running for the Spider-Man role

It’s hard to imagine the rather shy and awkward teenage boy from Sex Education playing MCU’s Spider-Man instead of Tom Holland. Asa Butterfield was the runner-up for the role of the web-slinger in Captain America: Civil War and was even flown to do a screen test. However, he ended up losing to Tom Holland, only to land his breakout starring role in Sex Education a few years later.

Asa Butterfield in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
At the time when Butterfield lost the role of Peter Parker, it was heartbreaking for the actor who wanted the part so badly. But everything turned out well, as both Holland and the Hugo actor achieved their career successes by pursuing different paths in the industry.

Asa Butterfield Lost The Spider-Man Role To Tom Holland

Asa Butterfield in his breakout role as Otis Milburn in Sex Education
Asa Butterfield almost starred alongside Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans as MCU’s Spider-Man before he lost the role to Tom Holland. The defeat felt crushing at the time for the child star who moved the audience to tears with his role in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. In an interview with Collider, Butterfield opened up about his lost role.

The X+Y actor revealed putting his heart and soul into the Spider-Man role, as it would have launched him into new heights. Although losing the role was difficult, Butterfield hoped that something better would come out of this failure. That opportunity did come three years later in the form of Sex Education, which he felt worked out better for him than the Marvel role. Butterfield shared with Collider:
“Every so often there’s a part [that you really want] and it’s a script you love, and you kind of put your heart and soul into it, and you don’t get it. And it is tough and it is sh*t, but I often find that something even better comes out of it at the end. And so in the case of Spider-Man, I did Sex Ed, because I wouldn’t have been able to do both of those at the same time.”
Butterfield admitted that he couldn’t have portrayed the role in the same way Tom Holland did. The Ender’s Game actor explained that each actor has their own interpretation of a particular character. He added it was necessary for his interpretation to align with the vision of the director and the producers, which, unfortunately, didn’t happen with this role. The Choose or Die actor told Collider:

“Because Tom did amazing things with Peter and he had an entirely different portrayal of him and I think it’s worked so well in the universe and in that part, and I don’t think I could do it. So I think all things work out in the end.”
Tom Holland went on to star in three standalone films in the MCU, in addition to his ensemble films. His Spider-Man trilogy grossed a grand total of $3.9 billion at the box office.

Other Actors Were Also Considered For MCU’s Spider-Man Role

Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man in Spider-Man: No Way Home
Before Asa Butterfield and Tom Holland competed for the final spot, several other actors were considered for the role. Before he came on board for an extended cameo in No Way Home, Andrew Garfield was set to continue his Spider-Man role from Sony’s universe into the MCU. However, the integration of Sony-Marvel universes resulted in a recasting of the role.

Out of the 1500 actors who auditioned for the role, a shortlist of six made it to the screen test process. These actors included Judah Lewis, Matthew Lintz, Charlie Plummer, and Charlie Rowe along with Butterfield and Holland. Besides these relatively new faces at the time, actors like Dylan O’Brien, Logan Lerman, Dylan Minnette, and Timothée Chalamet were also popular choices among fans.

Asa Butterfield’s role as Otis Milburn lasted for four seasons, earning critical acclaim and opening doors to new roles in movies. Sex Education is now available for streaming on Netflix, while Tom Holland’s Spider-Man movies are available on Starz.