BY KYLE LESNAK

The popular superhero Spider-Man has had a very up and down history at the cinema. With 5 movies in total, two different Spider-Men, and mixed reviews for the last 3 movies, Spider-Man’s future in cinema was very foggy due to Sony having the movie license for the character. With Disney’s films in the Marvel cinematic universe, everyone was wondering if they would be able to put Spider-Man into it. After finally making a deal with Sony, Spider-Man was put into the latest film Captain America: Civil War, played by Tom Holland, and only a year later got his own solo film, Spider-Man: Homecoming. 

Following the battle of New York in 2012, Adrian Toomes and his salvage company are contracted to clean up the city after the attack, but their operation is taken over by the Department of Damage Control, a partnership between Tony Stark and the U.S. government. Angry about being driven out of business, Adrian convinces his employees to keep some of the chitauri technology they grabbed and use it to create advanced weapons and sell them off, including a vulture suit that Toomes made for himself. Eight years later, Peter Parker is drafted into the Avengers by Tony Stark to help with a conflict in Berlin, but he goes back to his studies at Midtown School of Science and Technology after Stark tells him he isn’t ready to become a full-fledged Avenger yet. Peter quits his school’s academic decathlon team to spend more time focusing on stopping crime as Spider-Man. His best friend Ned eventually discovers his secret identity and tries to help in any way he can. Peter comes across one of Adrian’s associates, Jackson Brice, also known as the Shocker, and Herman Schultz selling weapons to local Aaron Davis. Peter stops the sale but is grabbed by Adrian in his vulture suit and thrown into a lake, nearly drowning when his suit’s parachute releases and entangles him. Stark rescues him and tells Peter about how he’s been monitoring his suit and gives him a warning not to mess with the criminals. 

Spider-Man is one of the most recognizable superheroes of all time and this movie takes this into account. As the third Spider-Man to hit the big screens, they went in an interesting direction and don’t show anything of Holland’s origin as the spidey sensed hero. We don’t see uncle Ben die Peter getting bit by the spider. I think this gives the movie more time to focus on the story instead of focusing on stuff that we know is going to happen. Because of that, the film has more time to explore ideas that it might not have been able to due to run times. I think casting Holland as Peter Parker was a great choice–with how nerdy the character is, he represents that very well. The vulture is also such an intimidating villain compared to his comic counterpart. He might lose parts that make him look like the vulture, but I think it works for the film’s overall look. Though the fight scenes themselves are a little lacking: they aren’t fight scenes most of the time and just end with nothing impactful happening. They also have a romantic interest that goes nowhere, and it just feels like something they had to throw in because Peter Parker can’t go without a love interest.

The Marvel cinematic universe has so many different pieces in it, and this is one of the big ones. While not having much impact on the overall story, it still has the impact of Spider-Man finally becoming a part of this world. This movie is just the running start for this Spider-Man trilogy and a new era for the web-slinger. And from this point forward the entire franchise became one of the most popular movie franchises on the planet.