Deep breath. Exhale. And try to stay with me here. This week will see the introduction of the third incarnation of Spider-Man in just 15 years. In a world where Hugh Jackman can play the same character in several different franchises for several decades, as can Robert Downey Jr - three seems like a lot, right? Why so many? Where did it all go wrong? Well, starting in 2002, Tobey Maguire and Sam Raimi knocked it out of the park. They broke records, they created a generation of new Spider-Man fans, and they turned Maguire into a superhero. Who saw that coming!? The sequel was good, but they totally screwed the pooch while trying to make lightning strike a third time when they turned Peter Parker into Tony Manero with emo hair. Yikes. It was bad and they haven’t been forgiven since. Then enters Andrew Garfield and Marc Webb (Ha! Webb. Get it?) They were good, but not as good, and they too screwed the pooch when they gave us yet another origin film. Bad move! Now we have third-time’s-a-charm Tom Holland and Jon Watts - and here’s why it’s going to work: 1) No origin movie. It’s been done. Twice. We get it. and 2) Spidey has finally joined the MCU. Yes folks, Sony Pictures and Marvel have at last learnt to share for the greater good.
SWITCH: 'SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING' TRAILER 3
Peter (Tom Holland) has just returned from his adventures with the Avengers in ‘Captain America: Civil War’ and he’s keen for more. Abandoning his extracurricular activities and his friends and flaking on his family and responsibilities, Peter spends his evenings helping the little people of Queens, New York while honing his new skills. Itching for more responsibilities and constantly being held at arms' length by Tony Stark and Happy, Peter discovers an illegal operation led by Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) of advanced weaponry being sold on the black market that utilises the alien technology salvaged after the events of ‘The Avengers’. But as it turns out, school, family, friends, a flying bad guy and a budding love life all at the same time might be a bit much for a 15-year-old boy with superpowers.
This is the Spider-Man we’ve all been waiting for. We’ve already seen Peter get his powers and discover why he should be Spider-Man. Now in ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ we finally get to see Peter become Spider-Man.
This is the Spider-Man we’ve all been waiting for. We’ve already seen Peter get his powers and discover why he should be Spider-Man. Now in ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’, we finally get to see Peter become Spider-Man. He starts and ends this film as a smart, innocent, naïve 15-year-old finding his feet. The big bad he has to fight hasn’t been dropped in a vat of chemicals, bitten by anything extraordinary, electrocuted, injected or poisoned. It’s just a dude with some gnarly tech. Appropriate and not too far-fetched (we’ll save the aliens and sentient robots for the Avengers). Peter is joined by Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) - some familiar faces to help ease the audience into the life of yet another MCU character. And finally, Tom Holland is just great. Cute, funny, fun, fearless and naturally athletic, they’re found the perfect Peter Parker.
‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ has delivered a fresh and entertaining coming-of-age movie with a side of superhero. For those out there wondering why we need yet another Spider-Man movie and so soon after the last, this is why. All questions and fears will we laid to rest after the first 15 minutes. Enjoy everyone. My spidey-sense in tingling that this is just the beginning of something big. Infinitely big.