Every week, a group of friends and I are rewatching a Marvel movie in preparation for the Avengers: Endgame. Might as well talk about them on the way, right?
Here’s my hot take- I propose the hypothesis that Spider-Man: Homecoming is the first “superhero” entry into the Marvel Cinematic universe. A lot of the tropes of the genre have to do with the struggle of dual-identity, and protecting civilians, stopping purse-snatchers, et cetera- The MCU has erased the former and completely failed at depicting the latter. The other movies would just be sci-fi. That’s not a criticism, I actually think it was the right choice. But the moment you take away the dual identity of Peter Parker and Spider-Man, you alter the character to the point that you’re just creating something new. Spider-Man hides his identity and saves little old ladies who repay him in churros. That’s just how Spider-Man do. We haven’t seen street-level superheroing in a long long time, and this is a welcome return to the roots of the genre.
Seriously, I can’t say enough nice things about Homecoming. When I heard that Sony was doing another take on Spider-Man, I was really skeptical. What ground could they cover that we haven’t already seen?
Enter Tony Stark. Like a lot of people, I was reluctant to accept that Spider-Man only got his start because Tony built him super-armor, but god damn if that relationship wasn’t incredible. Tony spends the whole movie being a distant mentor/father-figure type while trying to be a better role model than his own father Howard Stark. While Iron Man is only in a couple scenes, his presence resonates throughout the film and is always felt. There’s a serious bond there, which is good because the Russo brothers are coming, and they plan to use that bond to devastate us.
I’ve heard some comics fans criticize the movie for Spider-Man being too Iron Man-reliant, and I respectfully submit that this was the best way to integrate him into the existing franchise. If the MCU had started with Spider-Man, maybe we could have had a more comics-accurate version. Having Tony provide the suit makes a lot of sense- Peter’s broke, Tony needed an ally right that second, and no matter how smart Peter is, he couldn’t make such an advanced suit in high school with no money or resources. It was always a little odd how Tobey Maguire went from crappy costume to only-Sony-could-afford-this overnight, and Homecoming addresses that issue directly. It’s barely believable that a high school kid could even make that fancy web-fluid! Both of Sony’s Spider-Man franchises found their way around having Peter invent the spider web stuff because no mainstream audience would buy it. But in this universe that starts with Tony building the arc reactor with spare parts in a cave, we can suspend our disbelief.
That Tom Holland though. Marvel’s second irresistibly charming Tom H. Maybe they’ll start collecting Toms the way they collect Chrises. We already knew he was great from Civil War, but that was just the teaser. Now we’ve got the whole thing and it’s delightful.
There are two things that weaken Marvel movies, generally speaking, and Homecoming steps up to address both of them: Boring, forgettable music and boring, forgettable villains. Michael Giacchino, who wrote this masterpiece, kicked ass putting together the Homecoming score, and I loved every bit of it. And the villain?
God damn, Marvel villains are lame. The only reason we like Loki is because Tom Hiddleston is so captivating. He’s not really well-written, either. Michael Keaton’s The Vulture matches a great script with a great performance. He takes an angle that resonates with millennials and generally everyone who’s broke right now- Already-wealthy Tony Stark gets to make money cleaning up the messes he’s made over the course of this series and Adrian Toomes wants a piece of the pie. He’s clearly wrong, and I don’t think anyone would dispute that, but he has a point. The rich keep getting richer and everyone else has to feed on the table scraps. I respect that in an evil criminal enterprise.
But my favorite part of Homecoming has to be its tone. It’s a fun movie! Lighthearted, web-slinging fun for an afternoon’s enjoym- I’m just kidding, it’s crazy intense.
Best scene in a Marvel movie so far.
It is shocking how suddenly Homecoming turns from light and silly to horrifying. Normally I would condemn that kind of tonal dissonance, but this one makes it work. Like the stakes were never low, but now it’s personal and it hurts. Nobody’s coming out of this unscathed.
The main issues with Homecoming are some weird logical choices. For example, Tony Stark just left a movie all about accountability, so why did he give a multi-million dollar spider-suit to a teenager and then completely ignore his calls and texts for months? And let/encourage Happy Hogan do the same? That’s kinda-sorta in character for Tony, but then we find out that Tony was actually paying attention, just never responding? Was he trying to get Peter killed? Jesus Christ Stark, get your life together, man.
And then there’s some continuity problems- The Avengers took place in 2012, and the opening titles of Homecoming say “8 years later” (and that is also referred to in dialogue later on). That’s 2020, and then in Infinity War Tony says Thanos has been in his head for 6 years… citing the events of the Avengers. So wait, does Homecoming take place after Infinity War? I’m confused.
Also, the climax of the movie hinges on Tony moving his stuff from Avengers Tower to the other Avengers building in upstate NYC. But… that already happened. At the end of Age of Ultron. When they moved to the upstate facility that we saw in Civil War. So… does Homecoming take place before Age of Ultron? I’M CONFUSED.
I could watch Homecoming over and over again, and I definitely will. It’s compelling, charming, and intimate- really everything I want out of a movie, superhero or otherwise.