A Second Trailer Arrives for Marvel Studio’s 16th Feature Film: Spider-Man: Homecoming. Jason Flatt looks at the motivations of this third iteration of the character.
The second trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming dropped today giving viewers much of what they saw in the first trailer with a whole lot of extra web-slinging goodness. Back in 2015 when Marvel and Sony announced they would be partnering up on future Spider-Man silver screen endeavors, it was a huge deal. In its earliest days making big screen blockbusters, Marvel had sold off several of its properties to other studios. Spider-Man was one of those properties.
This was a maneuver that made perfect sense at the time. However, since then it has rendered many of Marvel’s most popular franchises legally locked out of Marvel Studios productions. The Sony deal meant that your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man would be getting its third chance on the silver screen. But this time, it would be as part of the monumental Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
While this is Tom Holland’s first time in starring in a film as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, it’s not the first time he and his character have appeared in an MCU film. Since his appearance in Captain America: Civil War, this marks the first time in the franchise’s history that a property’s first film will not address how that character received their powers or their superhero moniker. This allows the film to skip those trite motifs and get down to deeper themes. Themes like, “what it actually means to be a hero.”
Third time’s the charm
The new trailer takes all the action scenes from the initial trailer and buffs them up. There is more of Michael Keaton’s mechanically menacing villain Vulture. There is just as much quip-slinging as there is web-slinging, the two things Spidey is known best for. The trailer provides an extended cut of a potentially epic ferryboat disaster scene that could rival train disaster scene of Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man 2. It even provides an extra serving of Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man, set to be a major character in this film.
Fans and critics alike have their trepidations about this film based on their opinions of the previous two renditions. This trailer may not assuage all of those fears, but it certainly contains some of the promises a good take on Spider-Man requires: comedy, action, and most important, fallibility as a character.
“If you’re nothing without this suit, then you shouldn’t have it.”
What made Spider-Man so unique when he burst onto the scene back in 1962 was that he was relatable. He was a high-school nerd living with his Aunt in Queens. Peter got sick, he broke bones, he missed deadlines at work, he dealt with great joys as well as great losses. The main character was really Peter Parker more so than it was Spider-Man. He was and remains today, a character with real problems real people can relate to. If Spider-Man: Homecoming can portray Peter Parker in this kind of way, it could be the best rendition of his character in film yet.
That is why when Tony Stark tells Peter in this new trailer “If you’re nothing without this suit, then you shouldn’t have it.” It feels like the film is alluding to this very strength. If Peter Parker is not a well-rounded and dynamic character without his superhero persona, then how can Spider-Man: Homecoming be a worthy film?
Spider-Man: Homecoming arrives in theaters in the United States June 7, 2017. Expect at least one more trailer before the release; possibly attached to Marvel Studio’s next release Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on May 5, 2017.
Jason wants to tell you about his current job, but he’s afraid that it might be more trouble than it’s worth. When not writing, Jason works on food justice and sharing music with communities throughout the region. Or he’s unlocking Xbox achievements.