Today, Marvel Studios and Sony revealed the first full trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming, marking the character’s first full appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since his minor starring role in Captain America: Civil War. Tom Holland is back as the titular wall-crawler, along with Marisa Tomei as Aunt May and Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark.
The two will be joined by a murderer’s row of talent, including Michael Keaton, Hannibal Burress, Zendaya, Donald Glover, Martin Starr, Tony Revolori, Bokeem Woodbine, and Jon Favreau. Jon Watts, director of the critically acclaimed Cop Car, will be helming the film, working from a script by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley.
Let me be the first to assuage your fears on a surface level; the movie looks great, it’ll probably be up there with the first two Sam Rami films. None of the artificial darkness from The Amazing Spider-Man is present, Tom Holland is still a pitch-perfect Peter Parker, and hey, the Vulture finally got his due on the big screen!
But of course a money shot of Iron Man and Spider-Man flying at the camera works, of course every glorious millisecond of Michael Keaton sizzles, and of course every inch of that great new Spider-Man suit still feels like comic art come to life (in what should be the lasting hallmark of the Marvel films, not the need to cram everything into a cinematic universe). All that stuff makes for a great trailer, and this is a great trailer.
What makes me excited for Spider-Man: Homecoming is the fact that it so expertly captures why the character resonated so deeply. Peter Parker is a teenager, and like all teenagers, he wants to be taken seriously. He has to find time to keep his social life and grades afloat while also still fighting crime — he’s busy with extracurriculars. He has crushes on girls that he can’t quite articulate properly. Spider-Man, for all his superpowers, is an everyman.
Spider-Man: Homecoming doesn’t just feel like a superhero film, it feels like a teen comedy and a superhero film. Yes, we all want to see Spider-Man beat up the Vulture and save the day, but I’m more invested in Peter’s struggle to prove himself to a sort of father figure who doesn’t seem to care about him all that much. That’s how you inject stakes into a movie where you know the main character doesn’t die.