A Jewish actor will be stepping into Spiderman’s suit, 48 years after the superhero was invented by Jewish artist Stan Lee.

Californian actor Andrew Garfield has won the part of Peter Parker in the fourth film in the Spiderman franchise, replacing Tobey Maguire in the role.

The 26-year-old, who grew up in what he has described as a privileged middle class British Jewish home, has previously appeared in war film Lions for Lambs and the opposite Heath Ledger in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. He has also been in three episodes of Doctor Who.

He will soon be on screen in the Aaron Sorkin film about the creation of Facebook as Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard business partner.

Director Marc Webb said: “Mark my words, you will love Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker.”