#is Spider-Man in a universe where Toby played my favourite spidey

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Spider-Man Homecoming Thoughts

People may not want to read if you haven’t seen Spider-Man Homecoming yet, but I’ve just seen the movie last night and I’ve gotta say, wow! I thought it was a brilliant movie! I’m not saying it was perfect in every way, but there were so many things they got right this time and I am so happy they seem to have done a good job of rebooting the Spider-Man franchise.  Anyway, this is just me sharing some of my thoughts on the movie.

*SPOILER ALERT*

1. Tom Holland as Spider as Peter/Spidey Perfect casting choice and great acting from him all around. Tom’s Peter is exactly how I imagine a young Spidey to be. He isn’t obnoxious, too much of a nerd or too cool (like Garfield was), but he’s is still an introverted kid, kind of nerdy, not to mention cute, adorable and most importantly, relatable. Prior to this movie, I always thought Toby Maguire did it best, but Tom is definitely the one true Peter Parker for me now (other than Drake Bell as my fave Spidey VA but that’s another somewhat controversial rant in itself). I loved how Tom really captured the spirit of a young Peter. He gave an incredibly realistic take on the character as being a young, scared kid underneath it all with a huuuge responsibility, but he is still having fun with his powers and reacting as you would expect a kid to do. I actually found his performance very credible.  One question, though. Did Peter have Spidey sense in this movie? I don’t recall it being showcased or mentioned. 

2. Marisa Tomei as Aunt May - I am a huge fan of Ultimate Aunt May, so it goes without saying that Marisa Tomei’s Aunt May is my favourite version too precisely because she is shown here to be a character who has her own life which doesn’t just revolve around Peter. It was a good casting choice.

3. Zendeya as “Michelle”. For the record, I really liked Zendeya’s character. Loved her tomboy look and she had a lot of sass and one liners in the movie. She was generally a great character. However, I did have some issues with this character, particularly surrounding what she reveals at the end of the movie. Okay, so she is called Michelle Jones which, I get, is “MJ” for short. Fair enough. But if Michelle is “MJ”, then why not just call her Mary Jane? I wouldn’t have minded if they had had just done what they did with Flash who is obviously a very different take on his character, but at least they still called him “Flash”. Michelle’s personality could have easily fit with a cooler and nerdier Mary Jane, similar to kind of how she is in Ultimate Spider-Man comics and cartoon, so I don’t know why they had to invent this “Michelle” character, who is the “MJ” of this universe. Like I said, I don’t dislike their take on the character. I’d take her to Kirstin Dunst’s Mary Jane any day of the week, but why “Michelle?”

4. Robert Downey Jr as Ironman and Tony and Peter’s relationship – Robert Downley Jr was great (as you’d expect), but it goes without saying that having Ironman and his relationship with Spidey feature in this movie was one of the highlights. Now that Peter is finally in the MCU universe, we get to see the dymanic between them on the big screen and it is perfect. I’m a big IronSpider fan and this movie did not disappoint. There was so many great Tony + Peter moments to appreciate such as the awkward “hug” scene, Tony giving Peter a lecture after the Statten Island Ferry incident and Tony comparing himself to his own father while lecturing Peter. There were so many other cute moments between them and so many feels, needless to say I love the Tony/Peter dynamic of Tony as the mentor/older male figure who pretends he’s too cool to care and Peter as the teen who idolises and wants to be like him. At first I was disappointed that Peter did not make his own suit, but actually I can now see how it made more sense that Ironman was involved. At least Peter still made his own web fluid. It was more realistic, I guess. But yeah, loved seeing Ironman and Spidey in this movie. 

5. Michael Keaton as the vulture. We actually have a great bad guy for once in Michael Keaton. Having a strong villain is just as important as having a strong hero and this is something the other Spider-Man movies have previously lacked (with maybe the exception of Otto in Spider-Man 2). Usually in Spider-Man movies, they either try to cram too many villains in at once (here’s looking at you Spider-Man 3) or the villains are just plan forgetful (I honestly cannot remember who the villain was in Amazing Spider-Man). Keaton, on the other hand, did a great job. There is also that great scene where the twist is revealed and the characters come face to face. You can actually see the fear and shock on Peter’s face when he realises who The Vulture is outside of costume. When I was at uni, my tutor (a professional writer who writes scripts for various UK TV shows) once said how in every great action movie, there always have at least one scene where the hero and villain come face to face off the battlefield, where there is a moment of understanding between them.  This really was one of those great moments which made this movie so much better because of it. 

6. Other supporting characters, such as Ned Leeds, Flash and Liz – I felt the supporting cast was mostly good. My initial worry is that Ned was too much like Ganke. To be honest, I still think that’s the case, but I can see how he was a nice addition to the movie and a funny character who was actually useful to the plot. I’ll be honest about Flash. I hated this take on Flash, mainly because I have always associated Flash as being a jock but then, as it has been pointed out, this movie is trying to move away from stereotypes like the “big dumb jock” and “preppy girl.” Liz was fine as the beautiful but smart girl who has depth. I’ll be honest, I do not like Liz as Peter’s love interest in any universe, but she played her role well enough. Flash…well… I’m still not sure about Flash to be honest, but I see what the writers we’re trying to do and I’ll give them a nod for that. But the true star of supporting characters was Happy!! Can we talk about HAPPY?!!!

7. Conclusion

Overall I thought it was well written, well acted and entertaining as far as superhero movies go. It has it’s flaws, but it is so much better than the mess that was Amazing Spider-Man (in my opinion) and it provides a much more up-to-date version of the character which was needed. There are some things I might have liked to see, like maybe a quick cameo from J K Simmons as J Jonah Jamerson, even if they had just flashed his face flash on the screen like they do in The Ultimate Spider-Man Cartoon.  I for one am glad we didn’t get a repeat of the same story with Uncle Ben and the Osborns. It will be interesting to see where the series goes next.