Spider-Man: Homecoming
After the muddled Amazing Spider-Man franchise, superhero movie history was made in Captain America: Civil War when Peter Parker crossed over to the MCU for the first time. 2017 quickly followed up on his scene-stealing appearance there by giving Tom Holland’s friendly neighbourhood hero his own vehicle.
With the winning combination of the MCU’s firepower and Spider-Man’s name recognition, Homecoming was a barnstorming success. It capitalized on the wider Marvel connections, by featuring Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man in a key role, but also let Spidey stand alone, building a John Hughes-esque high school coming-of-age drama around him. Also, a shout-out is in order for Michael Keaton’s terrific performance as the Vulture.
The reason we’re ranking Homecoming as the third best MCU movie of the year (only by a smidgen, mind you) is because the film made some controversial decisions with Peter Parker’s iconic character – editing out the all-important Uncle Ben backstory, arguably making him dependent on Tony Stark and changing up virtually every character from his supporting cast. There’s no denying Homecoming is a high-level MCU film, but it’s arguably lacking something as a Spider-Man movie. Â
