Lauded by critics as the best Spidey movie yet, it’s fair to say that Spider-Man: Homecoming proved to be another slam dunk for Marvel Studios.
Building on the foundations of Captain America: Civil War, the Jon Watts-directed reboot doubled down on Tom Holland’s Web-Head, not to mention his father-son dynamic with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). True to his word, Downey Jr. only appeared in five or six of Homecoming‘s scenes, but perhaps the most memorable exchange between Peter Parker and the great Tony Stark – barring the moment when RDJ’s billionaire saved the hapless Peter via a remote control Iron Man suit – is reserved for the finale, when Stark prepares to formally introduce Spider-Man as the newest member of the Avengers.
It’s an offer that Peter Parker ultimately refuses on the belief that he will continue to operate on the ground level as NYC’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man – for the foreseeable future, at least – but as John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein reveal to Yahoo!, an early draft of the Homecoming script initially included an ending lifted from the pages of Mark Millar and Steve McNiven’s Civil War #2 comic.
In short: Tom Holland’s sprightly teen would’ve waltzed on stage to reveal that Peter Parker and Spider-Man are one and the same, but as Daley tells Yahoo!, harboring a secret identity from the world has its advantages – not least because it protects Peter’s nearest and dearest.
“That scene with the press behind the door, that started off as a more clear opportunity for Peter to say to the world, ‘I Peter Parker, am Spider-Man.’ And he decides not to do it and walks away. It’s still that, but it had been set up that if he could just tell the world who he is, he would get all his problems solved and be loved by everyone.” Daley adds: “What he realizes is that there is a virtue in being a secret identity and how he kind of has the advantage in many ways over his other superhero buddies.”
Spider-Man: Homecoming made a beeline for theaters two weeks ago (our review) and has since amassed $472 million worldwide. For the sake of perspective, it’s now closing in on Guardians 2‘s box office total, which currently stands at $858 million.
