by: S. Scott Stanikmas – Senior Staff Writer

Slowly but surely the cast of Spider-Man is growing. Tom Holland has yet to make his debut as the Friendly Neighborhood crime fighter (that comes in this spring’s Captain America: Civil War) but Tom Holland already has a small supporting cast. The actor chosen to play Peter Parker will be joined by Marisa Tomei as his loving Aunt May. And now another cast mate has been chosen.

Deadline reports that actress/singer Zendaya will join the cast as a character named Michelle. Nothing outside of a name was given at the time, so this character is a total mystery. She could be friend or foe; she might be an original character or a re-worked adaptation of an existing Marvel creation. What is reported is that it is unlikely that she’ll be a love interest for Peter, as the young scientist only has eyes for Mary Jane Watson or Gwen Stacy.

Zendaya cut her teeth onscreen with the Disney channel, starring in such productions as Shake It Up and K.C. Undercover. But seeing as she’s nineteen, despite her youthful look, the actress may want to branch out and start a career outside of the tween universe. A role in major film like Spider-Man could go a long way in helping that career blossom.

This will be the third rebooting of the wall-crawler since he made his major motion picture debut almost fifteen years ago. The first trilogy was directed by Sam Raimi and had Tobey Maguire don the tights. In 2014, seven years after the last installment of the Raimi films, director Marc Webb and actor Andrew Garfield made two films before Sony (and audiences) felt like the franchise was fizzling.

Now using the character in a joint venture with Marvel Studios it looks like Sony is hoping the third time is the charm. The Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit tweeted that Sony is looking to go “heavily non-white” with the supporting cast, most likely hoping to appeal to as wide an audience as possible.

The film is said to be channeling the spirit of early John Hughes films. Tackling scripting duties will be John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein while Copcar director Jon Watts will step behind the camera.

Spider-Man is set to debut (again) to a worldwide movie-going audience on July 7, 2017.