Spider-Man: Homecoming is one of the best Marvel movies for fun supporting roles, from Donald Glover’s Aaron Davis to Hannibal Buress’ Coach Wilson to Chris Evans’ meme-able cameo. There’s also Martin Starr as Peter Parker’s teacher Mr. Harrington, who escorts Spidey and his Academic Decathlon team on their trip to Washington.
Harrington was actually Starr’s second role in the MCU though, after he made a brief cameo in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk six years earlier as a student in the computer lab at Culver University who encounters Edward Norton’s Bruce Banner. The character is unnamed in the movie, but Kevin Feige’s now confirmed that this is a younger Harrington in his college days. The Marvel Studios president revealed the news in response to a fan during his first Reddit AMA yesterday.
It’s worth noting that the novelization for The Incredible Hulk previously stated Starr’s character to be Amadeus Cho. This caused controversy and confusion from fans as, Cho’s an Asian teen in the comics. Starr was confirmed not to be Cho, however, when Claudia Kim appeared as Dr. Helen Cho, Amadeus’ mother, in Avengers: Age of Ultron.Â
Thanks to Feige’s comment, we now have the much more sensible explanation that Starr’s two roles are one and the same. It’s a similar situation to Kenneth Choi’s Principal Morita, who’s also in Spider-Man: Homecoming. If you’ll recall, a photo in his office revealed that he’s the grandson of Jim Morita, one of Cap’s Howling Commandos from Captain America: The First Avenger (also played by Choi).
As for Starr’s character, it now becomes a hilarious coincidence that Harrington’s life has involved him unwittingly getting caught up with two superheroes. No doubt he’s got more problems coming his way, too, when he chaperones the kids across Europe in Spider-Man: Far From Home, swinging into cinemas on July 2nd.
