While we were all holding out hope that it might not happen, it now appears as if
Spider-Man is destined to return to Sony Pictures' "Spider-Verse" after spending the past few years in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That's a great shame, but with Tom Holland vowing to continue playing the wall-crawler for a "very different" third chapter, all hope might not be lost.
While Marvel Studios did a spectacular job with rebooting the web-slinger, there's still an awful lot that fans have been unhappy with, and Sony now has the opportunity to make some changes.
Whether it's a lack of a certain line to inspire Peter to be a superhero or the fact all his enemies have all been tied to Iron Man, an MCU-less version of Spider-Man might just be an improvement. Well, in some ways!
To check out this breakdown in its entirety, hit the "View List" button below.
Shed Some Light On Peter Parker's Origin Story
In a bid to avoid repeating what's come before, Marvel Studios decided against touching on Peter Parker's origin story and while we know that he was bitten by a spider, we have no idea when it happened or what the fallout from that might have been.
While we certainly don't need to spend too much time on it (and Sony should absolutely not go back down the route of tying the spider to Peter's parents or even Oscorp), it would be nice to learn more about the day he got those powers and what he chose to do with them after being bitten.
On that note, was this version of Peter responsible for his Uncle Ben's death? Did he seek fame and fortune and ignore a robber at an inopportune time? Getting some answers to these questions would be appreciated and would flesh out her hero's past.
Give Spider-Man The Black Suit He Deserves
It was all well and good seeing Spider-Man in that black "Stealth" suit in
Spider-Man: Far From Home, but it's not the black costume the vast majority of fans would actually like to see him in.
Sure,
Venom wasn't great, but with Andy Serkis in charge of the sequel, things are already looking up for Eddie Brock. Putting the wall-crawler in that costume now may not be exactly like the comics, but it would be cool seeing the web-slinger interact with the Symbiote and something very, very different for Holland's version of Peter Parker.
Honestly, it's hard not to be excited about that prospect, and Marvel Studios missed a trick when they didn't have the wall-crawler return from his time in outer space with an "alien costume."
Introduce Spidey's Rivalry With J. Jonah Jameson
At the end of
Spider-Man: Far From Home, the webbed warrior's secret identity was outed to the world thanks to Mysterio and a report from TheDailyBugle.net's J. Jonah Jameson.
Making that a one and done appearance for the one-time newspaper publisher would be a real disappointment, and it definitely feels like now is a good time to revisit this relationship and do something different with it. Just the fact that the world knows Spidey's secret identity should be a huge part of the sequel, and having Jonah brand him a menace makes sense in the "fake news" era.
Jonah could also enlist the help of the Scorpion or even some Spider-Slayers if that means he can take the young hero down and be branded a "hero" for doing so.
"With Great Power..."
The Amazing Spider-Man glossed over this in perhaps the most awkward way possible, and Marvel Studios has, for some reason, completely decided against referencing it in any way. Instead of Uncle Ben, Tony Stark has been Peter's father figure and while that's worked in a lot of ways, it's also lessened the impact Ben must have had on the high school student's journey to becoming a hero.
Even if it's said just the once, this is something fans would appreciate in a huge way.
After all, it's an iconic line and one that's played a role in Peter's development as a character for decades. Now the world knows who he is, perhaps we could see Spidey explaining to them why he decided to be a superhero and how Uncle Ben inspired him with a simple but meaningful piece of wisdom.
Take Peter Parker Out Of High School
Marvel Studios sending Spider-Man back to high school was understandable, as it might not have made a huge amount of sense for us to suddenly learn that an adult version of Peter Parker had been swinging around the Big Apple for a decade without anyone mentioning it or even knowing.
However, we've spent enough time in high school at this point and the gloss is beginning to wear off.
Bear in mind that Tom Holland is actually 23, so there's really no reason why he can't start playing his age. This loosely defined time-jump would help separate Spidey's next adventure from the MCU, while also delivering a fresh new take on the wall-crawler. Even if he's just a college student, moving away from high school set stories feels like the right move for Peter at this point.
More Manhattan, Less Queens
Spider-Man staying a "friendly, neighbourhood" superhero wasn't a bad move by Marvel Studios, but it was pretty disappointing to see him hanging around Queens catching bicycle thieves and doing backflips on rooftops in
Spider-Man: Homecoming. The sequel finally saw him swing into New York City, though, and it would now be nice to keep that going.
The sight of Spidey swinging through Manhattan is simply iconic, and a well Sony should return to.
They don't necessarily need to repeat the past, of course, but it would be nice to have a Spider-Man movie set back in the Big Apple rather than in Queens or even places like Washington D.C. and Venice. Taking Peter overseas was a lot of fun, but the Avengers-less New York needs a hero more than ever.
A New, Peter Parker-Created Suit
Spider-Man's first costume was given to him by Iron Man, as was his second, while his latest red and black suit was created using Tony Stark's technology (oh, and that Stealth suit was made by the remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D.). Now, it's time for Peter Parker to make his own damn costume from scratch, hopefully without all those arguably unnecessary technical add ons.
It's cool seeing Spider-Man use technology to an extent (and something we've seen in the comics a lot over the past few years), but he's not meant to have access to billion dollar technology and the like. It would be far more satisfying for Peter to don his classic costume without the extra abilities that come with a suit which has almost all the powers of Iron Man's armour.
Whatever happens, Sony Pictures would be wise to stick to the source material in this threequel.
An Enemy Who Hates Spider-Man, Not Iron Man
This is a given now that Spidey is no longer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the next
Spider-Man movie villain needs to have a grudge against the wall-crawler instead of Iron Man!
The Vulture hated Tony Stark because he formed Damage Control and Spidey simply got in his way. The exact same thing could be said for Mysterio with some very minor changes, and now the franchise's next big bad should most definitely want to target Spider-Man, thus making the conflict between them a whole lot more personal.
The Scorpion certainly wouldn't be a bad choice as he definitely has it out for Spider-Man, but it definitely feels like the plan is to put the spotlight on Venom next. That might work, though.
Introduce The Sinister Six
Surprisingly, Marvel Studios never really took the opportunity to tease the Sinister Six and that might be because they didn't want to set up a story they knew they wouldn't get the chance to tell.
Regardless, we know Sony is interested in the Six as Drew Goddard was once enlisted to write and direct a movie which would have seen Spidey forced to team up with the villains. That obviously needs to undergo massive rewrites, but bringing the filmmaker back and pitting the web-slinger against that group of bad guys could be awesome, and it would definitely make fans happy.
This isn't something that should be rushed (we're looking at you,
The Amazing Spider-Man 2) but Sony would be foolish not to take advantage of this team's big screen potential in the near future.
Make Good Use Of The Web-Slinger's Spider-Sense
For reasons that still aren't entirely clear, Marvel Studios decided to hold off on giving Peter Parker his Spider-Sense. While it certainly felt "earned" by the time it was introduced in
Spider-Man: Far From Home, now is the right time for Sony to really embrace this power and use it in some exciting new ways. That would particularly be the case in terms of visuals.
There's so much more that can be done with Spider-Sense than slow-motion shots of the hero leaping into action, and the fact that Venom doesn't set it off should definitely be used in some way.
This is a relatively minor request, but it's one that could make a big difference in the long run. If Spider-Man does one day battle the Sinister Six, then this power will obviously come in very handy!
For a ranking of Spider-Man's best moments while
he was in the MCU, continue reading below!
10. Taking Down Giant-Man
Spider-Man's first real outing as a superhero in
Captain America: Civil War saw him joining Iron Man and the rest of The Avengers in Germany to take on Captain America's team of, well, Avengers, after Zemo's machinations saw Earth's Mightiest Heroes torn down the middle.
Putting his ingenuity to good use, the wall-crawler took inspiration from a "really old movie" called
The Empire Strikes Back to use his webs to wrap up Giant-Man's legs and take him down just like an AT-AT (with an assist from Iron Man and War Machine). Spidey had a lot of memorable interactions during the airport battle but this stands out as a highlight.
The MCU's version of Peter was very inexperienced at this stage but this sequence provided a glimpse at exactly what he's capable of a superhero and that's something fans should appreciate.
9. Peter Parker Meets Captain Marvel
Like a lot of other heroes, Spider-Man's role in
Avengers: Endgame was a minor one but the Russo Brothers made good use of him. The "Instant Kill" sequence has been somewhat controversial, of course, but Peter (who has a "no-kill" rule in the comic books which us a huge part of the character) was only taking out a bunch of mindless aliens later dusted by Iron Man.
His emotional goodbye to Tony Stark was obviously noteworthy but so too was the youngster's first meeting with Carol Danvers.
Comic book fans will be well aware that these two are close friends in the source material and so seeing Captain Marvel meet Spider-Man before that awesome A-Force moment was very cool and a real treat for moviegoers who love seeing their favourite characters interacting on screen.
8. An Awkward Car Journey
Heading into
Spider-Man: Homecoming's final act, we obviously knew that Adrian Toomes was The Vulture. Peter Parker did as well but what none of realised was that he was also Liz's father!
As a result, we were left every bit as shocked as Peter when the villain answered the door and what followed was a superb sequence in which Spidey tried to play it cool as Toomes slowly realised that the high school student in the back of his car dating his daughter had been interfering with his plans.
It was an awesome sequence and one Marvel Studios successfully managed to keep under wraps before Spider-Man: Homecoming arrived in theaters. It also showed that Peter was willing to do what's right to protect those around him even if that meant giving up what he wanted in the process.
7. Spider-Sense, At Last
Something that baffled fans from the start was the fact that the MCU version of Spider-Man didn't have his Spider-Sense from the comics. It had certainly been alluded to but the web-slinger wasn't exactly dodging incoming attacks the way you might expect. Well,
Spider-Man: Far From Home finally introduced the "Peter Tingle" and, silly name aside, it was awesome.
Introducing it during that final fight with Mysterio made this particular superpower feel earned and while we don't know how it was supposed to develop moving into future movies, it certainly would have been interesting exploring it alongside the webbed warrior.
As it stands, though, Spidey taking out those drones thanks to his "Peter Tingle" remains a highlight.
6. "Hey, Everyone!"
We're actually moving outside the movies themselves for a second to highlight a now iconic moment from the
Captain America: Civil War trailer. It was no secret that Spider-Man would make a cameo appearance in the movie but this teaser pulled back the curtain on the MCU's version of the character in a huge way that wouldn't soon be forgotten.
We'd been wondering whether Spidey might make an appearance in the trailer and him leaping into action and declaring, "Hey, everyone!" was the perfect way to handle this.
The moment played out slightly different in the movie itself, of course, but it's hard not to look back at this trailer and not get goosebumps, especially as it was our first look at Spider-Man in the same world as The Avengers, something none of us ever thoughts we would get to see.
5. "What's The Fu-"
Spider-Man: Homecoming ended with what appeared to be a typical final superhero movie scene as a suited up Peter Parker stood triumphantly in his bedroom decked out in the costume given to him by Tony Stark. However, it's fair to say none of us could have predicted the scene that came next.
As the camera panned around the hero, Aunt May could be seen in the background and she shouted "What the fu-" before the movie ended and we were left for two years waiting and seeing how she would react to the revelation that her nephew is actually a friendly, neighbourhood superhero!
It was an awesome cliffhanger and something which delivered an exciting new status quo for Spidey.
4. More Than A Costume
Spider-Man: Homecoming also made some dramatic changes to what had come before by giving Peter Parker a costume which had been created by Iron Man and was, as a result, packed full of crazy gadgets. However, when a costly mistake led to that being taken from him, the wall-crawler found himself back in that homemade costume.
Well, proving that he didn't need any of those fancy gadgets to be a superhero, Peter managed to dig deep and lift the rubble The Vulture had buried him under before putting an end to Toomes' plan once and for all.
This was a great homage to the comic books and while some fans were unhappy with the hero's fancy new costume, it was also a moment that proved this Spider-Man was still the hero we all know and love. It's noteworthy that in the sequel, he relied a lot less on all of those additions.
3. "Mr. Stark, I Don't Feel So Good..."
Marvel Studios didn't have Spider-Man for very long but, yes, they really did kill the wall-crawler off in
Avengers: Infinity War! In perhaps the movie's most emotional scene (and there were a lot of them), Peter Parker suddenly didn't feel very well and collapsed in Iron Man's arms, making it clear that he wasn't ready to die. Then, he turned to dust.
This scene not only emphasised how young this Spidey is but also effectively got across the horror of what Thanos was doing.
It's hard to imagine this moment working as well with anyone else and Tom Holland's performance here was fantastic. This scene is bound to go down as one of the most powerful in the history of the MCU and it just goes to show how quickly Spidey became this shared world's emotional backbone.
2. Mysterio Illusion Sequence
Wow.
Spider-Man: Far From Home director Jon Watts absolutely outdid himself here and this entire illusion sequence is probably the most comic book-y set of scenes in a superhero movie ever! As the web-slinger found himself fighting off Iron Man's corpse, multiple versions of himself, and a skyscraper sized version of Mysterio, it's hard to imagine any fan not sitting their with their jaw agape.
This was a beautifully crafted sequence in the sequel which perfectly portrayed the lead villain's powers, all while putting Spidey in a position it's fair to say we could have never imagined him in.
I can't wait to watch this again and again when the Blu-ray is eventually released...
1. Spider-Man's Secret Identity Is Outed
Now, if we're talking about jaw-dropping moments, it really doesn't get any better than this. In what appeared to be a pretty straightforward mid-credits scene with Spidey hanging out with MJ, we were treated to both the return of J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson and the mind-blowing moment when the hero's secret identity is outed...oh, and he was framed as a criminal!
As cliffhangers go, this was even more spectacular than the one with Aunt May and it's something none of us ever imagined happening (what is it with Marvel Studios and epic surprises?).
A true game-changer for the wall-crawler's status quo, the mind boggles with where this particular plot thread was meant to go and if your jaw didn't literally drop when this happened, you may very well be dead inside.
Spider-Man: Far From Home was one heck of a movie but this was the best mid-credits scene of all-time. Now, here's hoping we get to see Marvel Studios follow up on it.