Thanks to an unprecedented agreement between Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures, Spider-Man will finally be able to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After presumably making his debut in ‘Captain America: Civil War,’ the friendly neighborhood web-slinger will star in his own film set on July 28, 2017. Currently, the search for the new Peter Parker is going on and ‘Ender’s Game’ and ‘Hugo’ star Asa Butterfield is the frontrunner for the role.

However, the studios are simultaneously looking for a brand new director to helm the wall-crawler’s third attempt at a major motion picture franchise. Previously, Drew Goddard was rumored for the job considering that he left ‘Daredevil’ to work on Sony’s Spider-Verse films, but now a shortlist of potential filmmakers has emerged without his name on it. According to Deadline, there are currently six options on the table for the director of ‘Spider-Man’:

  • ‘50/50’ and ‘Warm Bodies’ writer/director Jonathan Levine
  • ‘St. Vincent’ writer/director Ted Melfi
  • ‘Pitch Perfect’ director Jason Moore
  • ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ and ‘Nacho Libre’ writer/director Jared Hess
  • ‘Vacation’ sequel/reboot writers/directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein

Though this list is likely not the definitive choices for the upcoming Phase Three film, which means Goddard could still be in the mix, these are probably the favorites to helm what is being described as “a coming of age tale [with] John Hughes humor and emotion plus all the superhero stuff.” With a description like that, it’s no surprise that the assortment of filmmakers include people with plenty of comedy/dramedy experience. None of them have much action experience, but then again, neither did the Russos and they directed ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, which is arguably the best solo MCU film to date.

It’s interesting to note that Sony and Marvel are going for a John Hughes vibe and two men who are currently remaking a John Hughes classic are in contention for the Spidey job. Although, Daley and Goldstein are relatively new to the directing game, so if I were to make a choice, I would go with Jonathan Levine. I’m a fan of his humor and his film ‘The Wackness’ was one of the most underrated movies in the past decade. I feel like if there were anyone out of this group that could really make Peter Parker interesting again, it would be Levine. But no matter who it is, we should know who will be directing ‘Spider-Man’ by mid-May.

What do you think of the shortlist for the next ‘Spider-Man’ director? Do any of these names stand out to you as excellent choices? Or do you hope that Drew Goddard is still in the running after the amazing work that he did on ‘Daredevil’? Share your thoughts and theories in the comments below.