5 Ways to Prep - Spider-Man Homecoming

By George Rose

July 9, 2017

Just hanging out on the Washington Monument. How about you?

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I’ve written several versions of this article already and have come to a now rather obvious conclusion: Spider-Man is incredibly hard to adapt and discuss. Considering that Homecoming is Sony’s third attempt at the character, this should seem obvious. Spider-Man is a legend of both comic books and cinema alike. The way Spider-Man must walk on eggshells through his life as he juggles high school drama while saving the world, this is how we must treat the character. Since the new film is ditching the origin story all together, I too will attempt to ignore a lengthy introduction and try to get right to the good stuff.

The Spider-Man cinematic journey is one that many know, in large part due to the amount of different box office records the series broke. The original trilogy took the biggest opening weekend title TWICE, while the second version of the series… umm… existed. Disney buys Marvel, Sony begs Marvel for help, Marvel rules the world, so on and so forth. It’s as classic and boring a story as telling you that Peter Parker’s parents died, then his uncle dies, growing up is hard, with great power comes blah blah blah.

Basically, Spider-Man is now part of the untouchable MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) and that’s all that matters. Actually, the reviews matter. Oh, they’re currently 93% positive? I still don’t know why anyone doubts the golden touch of Marvel. Spider-Man’s cinematic history and origin story are a thing of the past with Marvel’s sights set squarely on next year’s Avengers: Infinity War. I am 100% okay with the domination Disney has on my life right now and would be honored to sing their praises. So sit back, relax and listen to me obsess over Spider-Man.




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1) The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

Homecoming isn’t the first time Spider-Man has been rebooted. That honor goes to The Amazing Spider-Man back in 2012. After Sam Raimi’s original trilogy ended with a whimper in 2007, Sony took a few years and a few of Hollywood’s newest superstars in the making (Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone) and updated their classic character. This time, Spidey went back to his roots and his web cartridges, something the original films ignored. Though I understand wanting Peter Parker to be able to spin his own web, like a spider would, this is not the case in the comic books and takes away from some of the tension the character experiences when battling the supervillains of NYC. If he can’t spin web then he is without most of his powers.

Since Homecoming is ignoring the origin story all together, The Amazing Spider-Man might be the closest origin you’ll get to this new Marvel version of the character. In the new film, web cartridges make their triumphant return, along with a whole new treasure chest of weapons incorporated into the suit (courtesy of Tony Stark). Though The Amazing Spider-Man wasn’t as loved as the 2002 origin story, it does give Peter Parker’s parents (and their death) a bigger part in the Spider-Man mythology. It didn’t fly so well with critics or audiences, but I rather enjoyed Sony’s attempt at making Peter’s parents a couple of bad asses who, in their own way, tried to save the world just like their son. It’s an interesting version of the classic Spidey tale but also serves as a reminder of why Sony had to go web-crawling back to Marvel. It wouldn’t hurt to see a not-so-great version of the character before the new film to help reset your expectations. Let’s be honest, broken records aside, the original trilogy still claims the honor of having one of the greatest blockbuster sequels of all time. Can the new film possibly be better?


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