Comic Vine News

59 Comments

Does Having Spider-Man Wear the Iron Spider Suit in 'Captain America: Civil War' Make Sense?

What is the Iron Spider suit and could it appear in Captain America: Civil War?

With the inclusion of Spider-Man, played by Tom Holland, coming to 2016's Captain America: Civil War, a lot of fans are wondering what his role in the film is going to be. There's been reports that Holland's involvement with the film is much larger than people expected, which leads many to wonder whether or not we'll see the Iron Spider suit in the film.

No Caption Provided

More recently, the director of Civil War, Anthony Russo was asked about the Iron Spider outfit and said that fans will see a mix of everything, but did not get any more in-depth. What does that mean? No idea, but many people new to comics have no idea what the Iron Spider suit is or what it means to the comics.

In brief, back in 2006, during the Civil War storyline, which the upcoming Captain America film is loosely based on, Tony Stark build this suit for Peter Parker and offered him the position of Stark's second in command. Parker accompanied Stark to Washington to discuss the Super Human Registration Act as Stark's bodyguard, which Stark apparently needed, since Titanium Man showed up and does what villains do best: attack people.

Parker, wearing the Iron Spider costume, continued by Stark's side as Pro-Registration, fighting heroes and villains who refused to register, up until Parker saw that Stark and the government were sending to a Negative Zone prison permanently and conditions there were pretty awful. Parker left Stark and publicly stated he no longer supports Stark's efforts or the Super Human Registration Act. Parker got rid of the suit after joining up with the Secret Avengers.

No Caption Provided

What makes this suit different from his normal suit is the technology to enhance his abilities. The suit was bulletproof, for small weapons, and it gave the wearer the ability to fly for short range trips. There were also three spider legs attached to the suit which the wearer could use. It also had a secret override system which Stark could switch on if Parker switched sides, but Parker found out about that and disabled it. It also took measurements of Spider-Man's spider-sense, so Stark could try and replicate it. Think of Iron Spider as Spider-Man with some Iron Man abilities. Actually, that's exactly what it was.

The history of the suit is really tied to Peter Parker being a big part of the Civil War story, which is really easy for the comic books because said story could just be told within the pages of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. This may be a bit tougher to do in the Captain America film because of the fact this is a Steve Rogers-centric film. That's not to say this isn't possible if this is all super-condensed, but...

A part of this whole story also deals with Spider-Man joining the Super Human Registration Act and revealing, on television, that's he's Peter Parker. Tom Holland has said in a few interviews that Spider-Man is the only character in the cinematic universe (we're assuming he forgot about Daredevil) with a secret identity and he said that's important, so does that mean the idea of having a secret identity is going to play out in this film and will giving up the Spider-Man identity also be a part of the movie?

No Caption Provided

The point is moot as it's just as easy for Tony Stark to give Peter Parker this costume just for joining up with him. There doesn't really need to be any backstory, cinematically, to the Iron Spider suit, in order for it to work on the big screen. But is the Iron Spider suit even necessary?

This is the first time we'll be seeing Tom Holland's Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Prior to this, Spider-Man existed in his own private universe, where there were no other heroes to join forces with. Does it make sense to essentially introduce a brand new character and put them in a new costume moments later? Wouldn't people want to see regular old Spider-Man on screen? A new costume is something filmmakers could easily explore later on but it feels like it's just too soon.

No Caption Provided

Don't get me wrong, the Iron Spider suit is really cool and breathed a bit of life into the Spider-Man series during that time, but seeing it on the big screen seems like a bit of a stretch, especially since this is supposed to be a Captain America movie, not a Spider-Man movie. We'll just have to wait and see when Captain America: Civil War comes to theaters on May 6, 2016.

Do you think Spider-Man should wear the Iron Spider suit in the film? Let us know why or why not in the comment section below!