Spider-Man: Homecoming

Welcome to week 16 of the 39 week countdown to Avengers: Doomsday. I’m watching the MCU films in order of release, one per week, in the buildup to December 17, when Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters. This countdown will culminate the following day, with my thoughts on that film.

WARNING: Geeky gushing about comic book panels below. Proceed with caution.

For years, it seemed as if Spider-Man would never be a part of the MCU. I covered this topic in depth in the early Doomsday Countdown posts, but to quickly recap: when Marvel decided to get into movie-making, they faced a dilemma. They’d sold the rights to all their best heroes to other movie studios, which is why they had to use lesser-known heroes like Iron Man, Thor, and the rest. Sony owned the rights to Spider-Man. However, after a failed reboot of the Spider-Man franchise left Sony unsure what to do with the hero, Marvel stepped in and negotiated a deal that allowed them to reclaim their premier hero in exchange for a share of the profits. Spider-Man was officially a part of the MCU! After his cameo in Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man got his own film, the aptly titled Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Sony had made five films. The first two, directed by the great Sam Raimi, were wonderful super-hero films, but while they looked like Spider-Man movies, they didn’t feel like Spider-man movies. They were very generic, Hollywood superhero movies, and had the protagonist not been wearing a Spider-Man suit, you’d have never known it was a Spider-Man movie. Then came the awful Spider-Man 3, which killed the franchise.

When Iron Man came out the following year, followed by a string of successful MCU films, Sony rushed to reboot, and launched a second trilogy that was so poorly received that they scrapped the third film altogether.

We fans knew Spider-Man could succeed on the big screen. If Captain America and Ant-Man could star in compelling movies, surely Marvel’s top hero could, too. He just needed that Marvel touch. And sure enough, he got it. At last, fans had a proper Spider-Man movie!

And what a movie!! At times, I feel like this is the best of all the MCU films to date. You’ll see below that I didn’t rank it quite that high, but I have zero argument with anyone who says this is the best of the bunch. Director Jon Watts gives us a brilliant portrayal of Spider-Man’s attempt to balance high school with heroism, and it comes together perfectly in every way.

Whether it’s the kid who periodically runs by in a tiger costume, no doubt late for drama class, or the chess club kid, there are many moments that feel like they belong in a Wes Anderson film, but if there is any director who feels homaged here, it’s John Hughes. Spider-Man: Homecoming is the superhero take on Sixteen Candles or Weird Science. There’s even a direct homage, as Spider-Man finds himself running through suburban backyards in pursuit of the Shocker, and runs past a TV showing Ferris Bueller’s own run through the backyards of suburbia.

I’ve been a fan of Spider-Man since I began reading comic books. The first comic book I ever owned was The Amazing Spider-Man #186, and I began catching up on the back issues through reprints. When I read through the Steve Ditko stories, which were the first 41 Spider-Man comics, I was enthralled, and to date they are my favorite Spider-Man stories. That may be why I like Spider-Man: Homecoming so much, because it is the Ditko Spider-Man brought to life on the silver screen.

Marvel modernized the setting, placing Peter in a magnet school rather than the local public school, but the vibe is the same. They did make one significant change, which is for the best. They gave Peter a friend. Comic book Peter Parker had no friends at all, but for a movie, it works much better to give your hero a buddy. To do so, they pretty much took the Ganke character from the Ultimate Spider-Man comic, but gave him Ned Leeds’ name. And Ned makes for the perfect confidant to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. His Guy in a Chair, if you will.

My single favorite moment in all of comic books comes from The Amazing Spider-Man #33. The issue opens with Spider-Man trapped beneath a pile of rubble that he’s unable to move. But he has to, to save his Aunt May. I’ll never forget the feeling I had while watching Spider-Man: Homecoming on opening night, and seeing that scene unfold onscreen. Call me a comic book nerd, but as soon as I saw the iron girder with the circle on top I knew what was about to happen. If that made no sense to you, let me try to explain using screenshots. Bear with me, or skip ahead, if this gets too geeky.

For starters, here’s the cover of The Amazing Spider-Man #33.

Things look pretty bleak for Spider-Man here, don’t they? We’ll see in a moment how he manages to escape, but first, let’s look at a still from the film.

Notice anything? I sure did. The moment that orange circle doohickey appeared on screen, my breath caught in my throat. I couldn’t believe I was about to see what I suddenly knew I was about to see.

Let’s continue with the comic.

Maybe you don’t need all 4 pages, but it’s such a powerful moment that I want to share it with you. Reading it just now brought actual tears to my eyes. As an aside, I believe that a large part of my moral code, and the reason I am the way I am, stems from reading this, and other Spider-Man comics as a child. I internalized everything he did, and mimicked his behavior in my real life, and it’s something I continue doing even to this day.

He’s almost there…

And our hero is free! Hurray! Now, back to the movie:

If there was a point to any of the above, other than to share one of the great moments in fiction— and I absolutely consider Spider-Man to be one, if not the greatest, fictional characters of all time, it was simply to illustrate how wonderful it felt to finally have a Spider-Man movie that ACTUALLY FELT LIKE A MOVIE ABOUT SPIDER-MAN.

It is a superb film. It’s clear that Watts, and the MCU team, have a deep understanding of who Spider-Man is, and what makes him the most popular, and beloved, superhero in the world. Raimi made it a Hollywood Romance. Marc Webb, who directed the truncated trilogy, seemed to have no roadmap at all. With this film, we have Peter Parker, struggling to handle the social pressures of high school, while simultaneously struggling to be an effective super-hero. He constantly messes up on both fronts, but by the end of the film, he is able to find the courage, and self-confidence, to save the day.

I haven’t even touched on the villain yet. Michael Keaton is one of the greatest, and most underrated, actors working today, and he gives a terrific performance as Adrian Toomes, aka the Vulture. He switches from charismatic to cruel in a heartbeat, and gives a believability to the villain. Loki is the benchmark for MCU villainy, but the Vulture is even better in some regards. His actions make sense, and are justified beyond “hey, I’m the god of mischief!” When he gives his speech to Peter, just before dropping a building on him, you almost want Spider-Man to agree with him. He isn’t the typical “bad because he’s evil” villain. He’s a working class guy, fed up with the government and their wealthy cronies leaving the rest of us with scraps, who has found the power to take something back. He’s still a villain, don’t get me wrong, but he’s the most realistic supervillain I’ve ever seen in a film.

Finally, let’s talk about the music. The soundtrack is at least as iconic as what James Gunn used in Guardians of the Galaxy, but unlike Gunn, who hits you in the face with the songs, Spider-Man: Homecoming allows the music to fit organically into the film. It’s beautiful in its subtlety. The closing credits, over the Ramones, are the best MCU credits to date.

“I think Spider-Man is different from Iron Man and the other heroes, because he actually has to give up stuff in his real life to live his superhero life. At one point he said that he’s nothing without the suit Tony Stark made him, but at the end when he’s getting crushed by the fallen building he realizes that the suit is not Spider-Man, he is Spider-Man, and that gives him the strength to win.”

I watched this at its Thursday night opening, on July 6, 2017. Letterboxd tells me I watched on May 8, 2024, and again this past Wednesday night. I also watched it a second time during its initial theatrical run, at a drive-in movie theater in San Jose, with my wife, and a not-yet-1-year-old Giacomo, and at least once more after that before 2024. I’ve seen this film at least 5 times, and it gets better every time.

I own this on a 4k UHD Blu-ray. You can click the image below to buy a copy. (I get nothing if you do, so this isn’t a ploy to make money.)

You’re getting two clips this week, with my excuse being that they are back-to-back scenes in the film. First we hear the Vulture justify his crimes to Spider-Man, followed by Spider-Man’s escape, described in detail above, from the rubble.

Not in the slightest.

While contemplating this project my biggest question was whether or not I should rate the films. I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m terrible at assigning films a score. I either like ‘em or I don’t. However, I know readers like ratings, so I’ve come up with something close. I’m going to rank the films as I go along. This isn’t as easy as it sounds, and with each week it grows more difficult.

1. The Avengers

2. Spider-Man: Homecoming

3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

4. Guardians of the Galaxy

5. Captain America: Civil War

6. Ant-Man

7. Iron Man 2

8. Iron Man

9. Avengers: Age of Ultron

10. Iron Man 3

11. Thor

12. Doctor Strange

13. Captain America: The First Avenger

14. The Incredible Hulk

15. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

16. Thor: The Dark World

Next week I’ll write about the 17th installment in the MCU, Thor: Ragnarok.