SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING - 5 Things Marvel Studios Is Doing Wrong With The Wall-Crawler
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5. Spider-Man Is Iron Man's B*tch
From a business perspective, you'd have to be an idiot not to realise that having Iron Man appear in Spider-Man: Homecoming is a smart move on Sony and Marvel's part. Not only is both the character and Robert Downey Jr. a huge box office draw, but it's probably also the most effective way to make it clear that Peter Parker is now part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Unfortunately, the way their relationship is being handled isn't the best.
It's clear that Peter idolises his new mentor, but Iron Man replays that by treating him the same way he did that kid in Iron Man 3. That's not bad for a few laughs, but Spider-Man deserves more respect than that. He'll hopefully earn that by the end of the movie, but having his costume confiscated and a number of its abilities made off limits is far from the best way to handle the character's reintroduction in this movie and him reporting to Iron Man hopefully ends sooner rather than later.
4. Peter Parker's Fancy New Costume
While it's understandable that Marvel Studios wanted to shake up Spider-Man's status quo following five movies of pretty much the exact same thing, Peter Parker's fancy new costume just doesn't sit right with me. There's no doubt going to be plenty of laughs to be had as we see the youngster interacting with the A.I. that Tony Stark has built into the costume, while his gadgets look undeniably cool.
However, somewhere along the way, Marvel appears to have forgotten the essence of what makes Spidey great. That is the fact he comes up with his own solutions and inventions, and while I know it would be impossible these days for a high school student to develop cutting edge tech, this just feels like a lazy storytelling decision. It could be redeemed once Peter puts on the homemade costume, but not if he's back in Stark's suit by the time the credits roll.
3. Spider-Man Is A Loser
Peter Parker has always been a bit of a loser, but that's what makes him so endearing. When he puts the Spider-Man costume on, however, things change and he becomes a cockier, brash hero who will do anything to save the day. Sure, he doesn't always get it right and makes mistakes, but Spider-Man: Homecoming appears to be portraying the wall-crawler as a joke.
Before I go any further, I do think that will change by the time the credits roll, but seeing him treated like a numbskull by Tony Stark and helping old ladies cross the street and stopping bicycle thieves may not be quite as funny as Marvel thinks. Hell, the trailer makes it clear that he can't even put an end to a bank robbery without screwing up pretty much an entire neighbourhood, and while him tackling street level crime is a smart move, it just doesn't seem like the young - and dumb - hero can even get that right.
Commentary: OK. This one is a little divisive for me. First off, Peter is just STARTING his Spider Man career so he shouldn't be flawless coming out of the gate. Both Spidey and Peter make mistakes and screw up but in the end those mistakes help him and in the end he wins. If they make Peter flawless right out of the gate, then he'll be turned into Miles Morales. That being said its a delicate balance between when he makes the mistakes and when he does succeed.
2. A Shared, But Non-Shared, Spider-Man Universe
This isn't necessarily Marvel's fault (more Sony's), but it's still worth a mention. The news that Tom Hardy will be suiting up as Venom is massively exciting, but it's disappointing that his Eddie Brock will more than likely never get to cross paths with Tom Holland's Peter Parker. Marvel can't stop Sony from launching a series of Spider-Man Universe spinoffs because they want to make money, but you'd think Kevin Feige would have sat down with Amy Pascal and figured out how to make the paths of these characters cross.
Couldn't Spider-Man come across the alien suit during the events of Avengers: Infinity War and have it somehow come into the possession of Eddie Brock? Sure, it wouldn't be exactly like the comic books, but if Sony realised that they needed to join the MCU to make Spidey succeed, can they not see that Venom should at least share Peter's world?
1. One Too Many Ties To The Avengers
Spider-Man being part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is obviously amazing (and long overdue) so it seems almost silly to complain about the fact he's entrenched in that world now. However, everything we've seen from Spider-Man: Homecoming points to the reboot being crammed with mostly unnecessary references to this shared universe.
While I'll give Marvel credit for finding a way to tie The Vulture's plan to The Avengers and Tony Stark, there's really no need for that and it makes Spidey feel like something of an afterthought as he basically cleans up a mess Earth's Mightiest Heroes are too important or busy to deal with. It's going to be interesting seeing if future villains end up also making use of salvaged tech upgraded by The Tinkerer because if that is the case, we can probably expect this franchise to remain firmly tied to Iron Man and company for the foreseeable.
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