Why Spider-man Might Still Succeed at Marvel

Over a year ago, I did a post on Why Spider-man might Still Fail at Marvel.

In this article, I made the case that Civil War was going to be a success regardless of whether or not Spider-man was in it or not (this was before it was confirmed that Spider-man was in the film). The real test comes when Spider-man has his own standalone film under the Marvel brand and we see if being apart of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is really enough to give the web slinger a successful movie like the Sam Raimi movies were.

Since then, there has been a lot of news that has surrounded Spider-man. First an foremost, Tom Holland was casted and he appeared in Civil War. It was the first time that Spider-man has ever interacted with the Avengers and I will say, it was a lot of fun.

And my favorite part was the fact that he fit so well fighting among the much older heroes we've known before.

My biggest concern when they said Spider-man was going to be young high school aged and played by Tom Holland who will probably look 14 for the rest of his life, I was worried that they weren't going to be able to have Spider-man look authentic to the rest of the group.

Now, Spider-man has a pretty small role in this movie and its not enough to really tell if Tom Holland has what it takes to take his own standalone movie. But the part that I knew this was going to work out was when Spider-man was in line with the rest of Team Iron Man and he's running into Battle the same as everyone else. It was at that moment, regardless of whether or not the standalone movie works, I felt Spider-man was finally home.

Again, its really too early to tell if he can hold his own standalone film, but Tom Holland shows a lot of promise with his portrayal of Spider-man in Civil War.

Looking back at the other actors who played Spider-man, they both brought great things to different aspects of the role. Tobey McGuire was good at playing the nerdy Peter Parker but wasn't as strong in the cocky antics of Spider-man. The opposite was true for Andrew Garfield. While we've only had one scene with Tom Holland playing Peter Parker, and one great battle scene with him playing Spider-man, its still hard to determine if he's the good balance we need for someone to play Spider-man. But what I do know is that he has made me rethink my stance that Spider-man doesn't have to be in highschool to be a successful character. I still would have liked to see an older Peter Parker, but if they were going to go down the route of a younger, still in high school Peter Parker, I think Tom Holland is on a very good path to doing that in Spider-man: Homecoming.

And while we're on that topic, let's talk about the upcoming standalone Spider-man coming in 2017, Spider-man: Homecoming.

There has been a lot of information that has come out about Spider-man: Homecoming that I haven't really talked about because the information by itself doesn't give me enough material to do a whole post on. But all the news about this movie together, and me reanalyzing Civil War and Spider-man's role in it does make for a pretty hefty post.

So what're the highlights?

Well as far as casting goes, Robert Downey Jr is going to be have a part in the movie that I actually think is pretty substantive which I am all for.

The reason Tom Holland worked in Civil War was because of his relationship with Tony Stark, which plays back into the way Holland interacts with the rest of the Avengers and how that's exciting. It makes sense that Tony Stark is going to be in Spider-man Homecoming because this could be a really great pair up and Stark Industries could be playing the same kind of role Oscorp was playing in The Amazing Spider-man where a lot of super villains come from its jaded history. And one of those villains is The Vulture.

The Vulture apparently is going to be the main villain in the movie and its also been stated that Michael Keaton is going to be one of the movies main villains... so its more than likely that Michael Keaton will be playing The Vulture.

Its also rumored that The Vulture will be a formed Stark Enterprises employee with a personal

vendetta against Tony Stark but all of that is really put to the wayside when you put in perspective the fact that Michael Keaton is in a superhero movie again. Its been quite a long time since he was Batman and with his career only becoming more and more interesting these days with excellent performances like the one he had in Spotlight, the potential of him being the Vulture is very exciting.

Now, I am worried that the movie will fall under the same formulas that other Marvel superhero films have fallen under where the villain is underdeveloped and only has this one outing and then you never see him again. But the thing that makes me think otherwise is going back to Sony's original plan to bring in the Sinister Six. Like I said in my original article on Spider-man, the Sinister Six won't be a thing for another five years at least, but if they do Michael Keaton's Vulture right and make him an intricate part of the future Sinister Six and perhaps the leader, this brings  a lot of promise for the future of the Spider-man franchise under the Marvel flag.

The final biggest piece of casting news worth mentioning is the casting of Zendaya.

Now originally, when Zendaya was casted, it was announced that she was going to be playing a character by the name of Michelle and she would be a friend of Peter's.

Recent reports however have all but confirmed that Zendaya will be playing Mary Jane, the iconic love interest of Peter Parker.

Now, if you know anything about Spider-man, you will know that Mary Jane has traditionally been a white female character. Zendaya is not white. An of course, because we live in a world where everything is a story before we even see how it will work, everyone flipped out due to this casting news. There were people freaking out in support, people freaking out against the casting and I guess the world is wondering what I think of the casting.

The first thing I will say is, nothing has been confirmed so there is no reason to freak the hell out about this yet. Wikipedia and IMDB still have Zendaya listed as Michelle, not Mary Jane. Everything is rumor and speculation and who knows what it could actually turn out being.

Secondly, I have a hard time really caring if it is true. I adopted a mindset with casting where I don't care if the race or ethnicity of a character changes as long as that person is the best person to play the role, its the best for the story they are in and not a publicity stunt to change things up for a political stance, and finally if it doesn't get in the way of the true nature of the character.

Was there anything written about Nick Fury that required him to be a white male? Did making him black change the nature of the character? No? Okay then I don't care if Samuel L Jackson played him. Same for Johnny Storm. And I'm sort of the same way for Mary Jane Watson.

There is a thin argument that Mary Jane was always written as a natural red head but is that really something we should be freaking out about if she doesn't have natural red hair? As long as it doesn't look stupid, it makes sense to the character, who cares if he hair isn't naturally red?

I might do another post on that because I do have some interesting opinions on recent(ish) castings for big blockbuster movies like this one, but for now, I'll just leave it at this. Regardless of whether or not Zendaya is Mary Jane or not, I'm going to be looking at her performance and how true she remains to the character. Everything else, I don't think will be an issue.

But all this news about the movie, does this mean that Spider-man: Homecoming is going to break the downward trend Spider-man movies have been on and actually be successful under Marvel?

I still have my doubts.

I think Civil War showed us that Spider-man will work as a member of a team and could add a lot to movies like Infinity War and other MCU films. But I don't feel like Civil War alone makes Spider-man more of a captivating character enough to have his own unique standalone films again this soon.

Reports have said that this Spider-man will have a little more of John Hughes, high school drama feel to it with Spider-man going through highschool like Harry Potter going through Hogwarts. My question is, how much is that going to make a difference with an audience that has probably sat through both Spider-man franchises that came before this one, each one pushing out more and more diminishing returns.

Spider-man definitely made a splash in Civil War, and having Iron Man and a black Mary Jane are ways to shake up the franchise in the way that its never been done before. But The Amazing Spider-man franchise looked like something different than the Sam Raimi films. They had Gwen Stacey, they had the Lizard and Electro and The Rhino... sort of, and it ended up being a wasted reboot. Until I sit down in the theaters and see something different and something riskier than the same formulaic superhero film that I've seen from both the previous Spider-man films and the recent Marvel films, I still remain skeptical.

I of course will be first in line to see Spider-man: Homecoming and I want it to succeed. I did really enjoy Spider-man in Civil War and even if they said that we're not doing a Spider-man standalone film tomorrow, I would be crushed if they staid that Spider-man wasn't showing up in later installments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I think it was a good idea to bring him over, I would just like to see more risks taken with the character and see some things that we've never seen before. Otherwise I might as well pop in the Sam Raimi films and just call it a day.

But those are my thoughts on Spider-man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. What do you think? Do you think Spider-man: Homecoming is going to be a good film or follow in the footsteps of the other Spider-man movies that have come before it? Is being apart of Marvel really going to rejuvenate the character? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. I mean even if you don't like Tom Holland as the new Spider-man, you have to admit, going to a hospital dressed as Spider-man is pretty cool. Enjoy!