Before Andrew Garfield was cast in The Amazing Spider-Man, Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson was in contention for the role – and his audition tape proves he would have been great.
There is a common consensus about Garfield: he may be the best Spider-Man we’ve ever had, he was a little too cool to be Peter Parker, and his movies were mostly a let-down, barring a few spectacular swinging sequences and Gwen Stacy’s iconic death scene.
His first film was released in 2012, two years after Sony confirmed the cancellation of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4. The reboot paved the way for a whole new cast, including Emma Stone (Gwen), Rhys Ifans (Dr Connors/the Lizard), Martin Sheen (Uncle Ben), and Sally Field (Aunt May).
Garfield was confirmed as the next web-slinger in July 2010 after a long series of auditions – and Hutcherson’s remains one of the best.
Watch Josh Hutcherson’s audition for The Amazing Spider-Man
In the three-minute-long tape, Hutcherson’s Peter Parker is shoved to the ground by a group of high school bullies. “It looks like your dream girl is sweet on Parker, bro,” one of them says, and they ambush him.
Of course, it doesn’t go well, with Hutcherson relying on his Spidey senses and reflexes to fight them off. The choreography in the video is excellent, and it features a mix of music from Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and The Matrix. Plus, Hutcherson looks great in the role.
The footage has more than one million views on YouTube. “Actually love this. Josh strikes a good balance between dorky and cool which certain adaptations fail to balance well. Plus he’s just a good actor,” one comment reads.
“With the current MCU saga being all about the Multiverse, it wouldn’t exactly be that hard to bring Josh in for a small role, if only to allow him to pay off this impressive audition scene,” another user suggested.
“Wow this is actually sad, how awesome this would’ve been for his career if he was chosen. And how good he likely would’ve been in that role. Too old now obviously but he would’ve been a great Spider-Man,” a third wrote.
In a 2024 interview with Inverse, the actor revealed he never found out why Garfield was cast instead of him. “I also do know that three weeks or so after I auditioned, I ended up getting Hunger Games, so it kind of worked out,” he said.
He was also asked if he’d consider a multiversal cameo (perhaps in Secret Wars). “Potentially, yeah. I was a big Spider-Man fan all my life growing up from the old-school cartoons and stuff. But yeah, I’d be open to it, man. I’d throw some webs around,” he teased.
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