Spider-Man: Homecoming

"You need to stop carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders."

After the Battle of New York, Adrian Toomes (Keaton) and his team are collecting Chitauri wreckage.  They are ordered away from the wreckage, but manage to keep one of the pieces.  Eight years later, Toomes is a successful business man, selling Chitauri powered weapons.

Meanwhile, Peter Parker (Holland) is recruited by Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) to help with an internal Avengers matter.  After the battle, he gives Peter a high-tech Spider-Man suit.  He doesn't think Peter is ready to be an official Avenger and has Happy Hogan (Favreau) monitor Peter and be his connection to the Avengers.  Peter continues to monitor the city as Spider-Man, while telling everyone in his life that he has an internship with Tony Stark.

No one else knows that Peter is Spider-Man: he hides the secret from his Aunt May (Tomei) and best friend Ned (Batalon).  He is a high school student, which keeps him busy by day, and Spider-Man keeps him busy by night.  The job gets a lot harder when Toomes advanced weapons hit the streets and put people in danger.  Can Peter protect his city and become a real member of the Avengers?


The character of Spider-Man was created in 1962 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.  It was one of the first comics to focus on a teenage superhero and became a huge success.  The character starred in numerous animated TV shows since 1967.

In 2002 director Sam Raimi brought the character to the big screen in Spider-Man, with Tobey Maguire as the lead character.  The film was popular enough for Sony to make 2 more sequels, Spider-Man 2 in 2004 and Spider-Man 3 in 2007, all starring Maguire and directed by Raimi.  A fourth film was planned, but never made.  In 2012 director Marc Webb made The Amazing Spider-Man with Andrew Garfield in the lead.  The film offered a fresh take on the character and his origin story and featured a different villain from the Raimi trilogy.  It did well and they returned in 2014 with The Amazing Spider-Man 2.  The planned to build up the world of Spider-Man, with sequels and spin-offs, but ultimately those plans fell through.

In 2016 Sony Pictures (who own the film rights to the character) reached a deal with Marvel Studios to allow the character to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Tom Holland was cast as Peter Parker and made his debut in Captain America: Civil War.

Unlike the previous Spider-Man films, this one does not show how Peter gained his abilities.  It begins with the Chitauri invasion from The Avengers, and jumps to Peter's involvement in Captain America: Civil War.  He has the abilities and is trying to figure out how to be a hero.  Holland captures the humor and heart of the comic.  He is clearly a high school student, while also trying to be a hero.

Michael Keaton is menacing as Adrian Toomes, while also being very grounded.  Bokeem Woodbine is his right-hand man, Herman, also known as Spider-Man villain Shocker (the film also features Logan Marshall-Green as the other version of Shocker, Jackson Brice).  Jacob Batalon is funny as his best friend Ned.  And Tony Revolori is the perfect foil as Flash Thompson.  Marisa Tomei is good as Aunt May.  The other female characters are ok, but not as developed.  Peter has a crush on Liz, played by Liz Harrier, but the film doesn't focus on the romance.

An enjoyable Spider-Man film.  Holland is set to appear in the next 2 Avengers films: Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4.  And they are planning to make a sequel to this film.

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) 133 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for sci-fi action violence, some language and brief suggestive comments
Director: Jon Watts
Starring: Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man
Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes / Vulture
Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan
Zendaya as Michelle
Jacob Batalon as Ned
Laura Harrier as Liz
Tony Revolori as Flash Thompson
Marisa Tomei as May Parker
Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man
Bokeem Woodbine as Herman Schultz