When Sony and Marvel first announced their deal to share the
Spider-Man film rights, it seemed logical that some of the MCU's biggest stars might make their way into the webslinger's world. This was confirmed with Robert Downey's Jr.'s inclusion in
Spider-Man: Homecoming, and director Jon Watts has confirmed that this was a cornerstone of the film's story.
In an interview with
Den of Geek, Watts explained that it was always part of the plan to have Iron Man appear as the "reluctant" mentor figure to Peter, especially with the way it contextualized Peter's childhood.
"[Iron Man] was always a part of it," Watts said.
"That was always a big part, the idea of him being this reluctant mentor – or the unintentional mentor – to Peter. Like, just sort of the grand ambition to be like that someday. Because if you think about it, now that Spider-Man is in the Marvel universe, that means that Peter Parker was probably like eight years old when he saw Tony on TV telling the world he’s Iron Man. And when you start thinking about it as a whole world like that, it gets really fascinating. You know?"
"And now the most famous person in the world has picked Peter Parker and taken him on this crazy adventure, and now dropped him back off and gone to deal with his own thing. And here’s Peter, left in his bedroom, you know, having had the greatest experience of his life, and not being able to tell anyone about it. That would be crazy!"
Of course, going by most reports, it seems that most (but not all) of Downey Jr.'s scenes have been shown off in trailers. While there has been some derision that the same trailers have shown the whole film, Watts assured there's plenty fans haven't seen yet.
"Well, if it was up to me, I wouldn’t have revealed anything. Ever. Like, I wish my movie could be just, only, a series of complete surprises. But I can say that there’s still a lot more to be revealed than what’s in the trailers. You know, we’ve made a pretty dense movie. A lot happens. So, yeah, there’s more to it than just what you see in the trailers, for sure."
Spider-Man: Homecoming swings into theatres on
July 7, 2017.