What am I looking for in Spiderman: Homecoming? First off, it’s nice to see that Marvel Studios finally has creative control of its most popular superhero. This reality makes me more than confident that this movie will be excellent.
But beyond being a really good movie, I expect to see:
- A career-defining turn as Peter Parker/Spider-Man by Tom Holland. The talented, young British actor nailed the character in his scene-stealing performance in Captain America: Civil War. Tobey Maguire was actually a good Spider-Man. Andrew Garfield, who is a fine actor, was OK in the role. It didn’t help that Garfield’s two Spider-Man films ranged from forgettable (the first one) to regrettable (the sequel). I don’t expect this film to earn either distinction.
- A “passing of the torch” from Iron Man to Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). I was initially annoyed when I saw Robert Downey, Jr. getting so much face time in the trailers. I asked myself, “is this basically Iron Man 4?” But the more I think about it, 1) RDJ can’t play Tony Stark forever and 2) new Avengers have to start taking shake to lead the cinematic universe going forward. It’s only fitting that the MCU‘s highest-grossing superhero, Iron Man, is ushering in it’s most popular comic book character, Spider-Man, on his way to a leadership role with the New Avengers perhaps.
- A really, really diverse cast. In this day of increased cultural, ethnic and racial divisiveness (in the U.S. at least), it will be refreshing to see “your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man” spinning webs and leaping through a New York City in all of its melting pot splendor. Peter Parker’s bestie is played by a Filipino Jacob Batalon, his possible love interest is Laura Harrier or Zendaya, and he’s surrounded by a cast that includes actor/rapper/comedian Donald Glover, Latino-American actor Tony Revolori, and veteran Korean-American actor Kenneth Choi. It’s arguably MCU’s most dynamic and diverse cast so far.
- The (second) best Spider-Man movie of all time. It is going to be really hard to top Spider-Man 2, which is still one of the best superhero movies ever. However, it is not impossible for Spider-Man to exceed the heights of Spider-Man 2. Shoot, if anyone’s going to do it, it’s Kevin Feige and his cronies at Disney. If it exceeds Spider-Man 2, we may be in store for a top 5 box office take for the comic book movie genre and an update to my top superhero movie rankings list!
