It seems fans of our friendly neighborhood webslinger won't be disappointed with the latest iteration of their favorite superhero. "Spider-Man: Homecoming" just finished a Hollywood premiere to glowing reviews, which is par for the course for Marvel, but a most exciting development for Peter Parker as a character on the big screen, as well.
Spider-man will remain a high-school student all throughout the Marvel Universe movies
Comicbook enthusiasts from The Hollywood Reporter's "Heat Vision" blog attended the "Spider-Man" premiere. While they obviously enjoyed the film (going by their optimistic reports), they also got to chat with the people responsible for making it.
They got insights as to what director Jon Watts wanted to do with "Homecoming." He also shared some hints about the direction of Spidey's character in the big, tangled umbrella of stories that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Watts differentiates "Spider-Man: Homecoming" from previous Spider-Man films mainly because he decided to keep Peter Parker in High School. This is one of the things that he would want to maintain as the MCU trudges to the events leading to "Avengers: Infinity War."
Every movie in the MCU could be treated as a window to future events, and "Homecoming" is no different. Being a high school student, we could see a level of dynamic the character could not exhibit in the previous films.
In any case, it would be interesting to see how Peter Parker would deal with the struggles of high school while also actively playing his part in the otherworldly war that is to come.
This is exactly what director Jon Watts intended. "To deal with the fallout of 'Infinity War' and be a junior in high school, I think sounds like a pretty good movie to me," Watts said.
A homage to classic high-school films
Watts also did not deny that he got inspiration for classic high school films — particularly the ones by John Hughes. The director admitted that one of his most favorite movies was "Back to the Future;" it was not hard to see that "Homecoming" pays homage to the very same, and several other movies in the subgenre.
Of course, there's also praise for actor Tom Holland, who plays the titular role. THR thinks that Holland adds to the personality-rich Marvel franchise, particularly because of his humor. This is actually high praise, since the MCU already has powerhouses in the humor department, like Robert Downey Jr. ("Iron Man") and Chris Pratt ("Guardians of the Galaxy"). Holland's in good company.
All in all, the premiere was a success. Skeptics perhaps had reason to be worried then, but with the consensus being that the movie is good, we can rest those concerns for now — the Spider-Man franchise is in good hands.
"Spider-Man: Homecoming" will open to theaters on July 7.
