Earlier today, Marvel and Sony Pictures announced that 19-year-old Tom Holland has been cast as the new Spider-Man, with the actor beating out other top contenders such as Asa Butterfield, Charlie Rowe, Matthew Lintz and Charlie Plummer. The studios also settled on relatively new director Jon Watts, whose film Cop Car hits theaters this August, to direct the superhero movie which takes Peter Parker back to high school. Variety has details on how Marvel and Sony landed on their new star and director, including that Spidey will only have a brief cameo in Captain America: Civil War.

When Marvel and Sony struck a deal to bring Spidey into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was revealed that the new Spider-Man will first appear in one Marvel movie before the stand alone Spider-Man reboot, set to hit theaters in July 2017. While this still hasn't been officially confirmed by the studios, Tom Holland will reportedly only have a cameo in Captain America: Civil War, and he will only be on set for about one week. Of course, details about how he will fit into the story have not been released yet.

Before the casting decision was made, there was talk that the studios were seeking unknown actors between the ages of 14 and 18 to play the new Peter Parker, since producer Kevin Feige wanted to establish Peter Parker as Spider-Man right away, while he was still in high school. After meetings with unknown actors didn't go anywhere, they widened their search to include slightly older actors who have still accomplished a lot in a short amount of time, which lead to Tom Holland, Asa Butterfield, Charlie Rowe, Matthew Lintz and Charlie Plummer testing for the role in Atlanta. The studios reportedly started looking for actors in their late teens and early 20s because they didn't want the production to be hampered by labor laws, which state that actors under the age of 18 are restricted to a certain amount of hours on set. They ended up going with Tom Holland because, at 19, he could still feasibly play a teenager for several more years.

As for director Jon Watts, he was mentioned as a possible directorial finalist earlier this month, alongside Jonathan Levine (Warm Bodies) and Theodore Melfi (St. Vincent). Insiders claim that Jonathan Levine and Theodore Melfi became frustrated with the process and bowed out, leaving Jon Watts with the job. What do you think about these new details?