Anthony Bergamini
Spider-Man: Homecoming represents a lot of things in the grand scheme of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) but will most fondly be remembered as Sony finally acknowledging that its best bet at creating an uber-successful Spider-Man franchise is through partnering with Disney. Despite that being the film’s legacy, Spider-Man: Homecoming holds a lot of merit in itself as a genuinely good Spider-Man film, despite how revisionist historians may present it on their rage-bait social media webpages. Oddly enough, this has happened to a lot of films of the last decade or so, not limited to Marvel or Star Wars, with “fans” feeling like all those who loved it before were simply incorrect. So, as a challenge to those rage-bait accounts, I’d like to look at Spider-Man: Homecoming from a (mostly) objective perspective to see if there is any merit in these new found opinions.
Spider-Man: Homecoming follows the fledgling adventures of Peter Parker after the events of Captain America: Civil War. Realistically, this is the hardest part of the film for audiences to wrap their minds around, considering that Peter recently returned from a fight in Germany where he was asked to fight against other heroes who had been deemed terrorists by the United States’ government. In all fairness, Civil War does little to justify Spider-Man’s necessity in that battle as well, but Homecoming more so uses it as a jumping off platform to tell its story about responsibility and maturity. In a film about a teenager with the powers of a spider, this element seems to require the most suspension of disbelief.
Getting into the actual film, a lot of credit to this film’s success needs to go towards the direction from Jon Watts. One of the biggest complaints about the MCU is that every threat in every movie seems to be getting less personal and more world ending, creating unrealistic stakes that make everything feel the same. Homecoming does an excellent job of grounding Spider-Man and his supporting cast by utilizing Watts’ approach of making the film in the same vein as The Breakfast Club and other John Hughes classics. This really gives the film a tone and setting that makes it feel more personal, making it a very unique offering in the wide range of MCU films.
One of the results of this direction is the dry, comedic tone that is present throughout most of the film, especially in the scenes where Peter gets to genuinely be a high school student. The supporting cast doesn’t get a ton to do like they would in other MCU films, but instead they fill a role that captures the essence of making the film feel like it’s genuinely about high school students. Even the inclusion of larger stars like Zendaya feel like they are used for a purpose outside of star power, with her role specifically being relegated to the background but purposefully so. This tone stays present in the other films in this series, but in a much more muted sense, despite Watts’ involvement.
The plot of the film gets a lot of criticism nowadays because of the perceived importance of Tony Stark and other MCU elements that are broadly exacerbated by those who may not quite remember the film as well as they think. In actuality, these elements are played well in the background to service those core concepts of growth and responsibility. Throughout the film, Peter is constantly struggling to gain approval from Stark, despite not truly understanding how Stark feels about the whole situation. Even the Spider-Man suit is a representation of this, with the idea of it being made by Stark representing a version of Peter who wants to grow up and mature much faster than he should, setting up false expectations and responsibilities for himself. This ingenious approach allows Peter to learn these lessons through his own failures rather than a teacher telling him where he went right and wrong. In many ways Stark is less of a mentor and more of an idealized aspiration.
The whole idea of Stark’s role in the film is mirrored between Peter and the film’s villain, Adrian Tombs, The Vulture. Tombs has an almost opposite relationship with Stark, seeing him as someone who took away his dreams, forcing him into a life of crime. Because of this, Tombs sees Spider-Man as an extension of Stark, much like Spider-Man sees himself. This all plays out in the subtext where keen audience members will gleam into the fact that all of this perception is a facade surrounding a character who has four short scenes in the movie and plays a more important role as an idea than anything else. Once again, this idea is expanded upon in the film’s sequel in a more literal sense, which in some ways negates the subtle approach here that made this film’s subversion of expectations so impactful.
Speaking of subverting expectations, those who look back on this film rarely recall the value of the major plot twist in this film, and how well thought out it really is. Towards the end of the film, Peter learns that his crush’s father is Tombs. Unlike other aspects of the MCU, the plot twist is not something that would be spoiled by fans of the comics but is something unique to the film. Upon rewatching the film, the hints are definitely there, but it is done in such a clever way that it makes for one of the most memorable parts of the experience. But even more memorable is the subsequent scene following, where Tombs inadvertently figures out Peter’s secret, creating a very tense car ride that forces Peter to make that famous Spider-Man decision of forgoing a personal relationship in favor of committing to his responsibility.
