MCU Retrospective: Spider-Man: Homecoming
Surprise! I know when I started this adventure I said I wasn’t going to be covering either of the Spider-Man films or The Incredible Hulk, but I felt that by not re-watching the Spider-Man movies I was missing out on the overall MCU experience (not re-watching The Incredible Hulk though was a sacrifice I was willing to make). So here we are! Spider-Man: Homecoming!
The first thing I noticed about the movie right away is that they wasted no time in introducing the villain and showing him in all of his Vulturey goodness. I appreciate that because most of the first movies for a hero in the MCU spend a very long time introducing the character and letting you get a feel for them. We all know who Spider-Man is and that Uncle Ben dies and “With great power…” blah blah blah. So it was nice for Marvel to be like “Yeah we all know who this is, let’s just get on with it.”
The acting was very solid from everyone throughout as well. Tom Holland’s believable high school dork Peter, Michael Keaton’s menacing Vulture/Adrian Toomes, Marisa Tomei’s younger take on Aunt May which works really well with a great dynamic between May and Peter. I also have to acknowledge Zendaya’s aloof loner version of MJ which I really liked. I know it’s not the traditional take on the character, but something about this portrayal really resonates with me. Maybe it’s the fact that she’s a bit of a sarcastic asshole like me…
Spoiler warning here if you haven’t seen this movie yet, but the plot twist towards the end of the movie regarding Adrian being Liz’s father is honestly probably the best plot twist in the entirety of the MCU. I remember sitting in the theater as the door opens and you see Adrian standing there and everyone in the theater being absolutely shocked. It was a genuinely unexpected moment that made the movie so much better.
The first time I watched this movie I completely missed the fact that Donald Glover’s character was Aaron Davis aka The Prowler aka Miles Morales’ uncle. He even mentions that he has a nephew that lives in the area in the movie. So maybe we’ll get some Miles in the future?
I’ll be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of Tom Holland. Something about him I don’t love and I don’t really know what it is. That aside, he does a fantastic job in this movie. Everything about this movie is great; not perfect, but great. For it’s return to the MCU, this movie does Spider-Man justice and worth a re-watch at some point.