Spider-Man: Homecoming Director Explains Why Uncle Ben Was Not Included

Just like Batman’s murdered parents or Superman’s infant escape from Krypton, everyone knows that it was the death of Uncle Ben that pushed Peter Parker into becoming Spider-Man, right?

This is especially true after two movies in the past 15 years have told that same story. For Spider-Man: Homecoming, then, director Jon Watts decided to steer clean away from the Uncle Ben arc. Apparently, the character is not even mentioned once in the movie, and here’s why.

Speaking to Uproxx, Watts mentioned that Uncle Ben won’t be referenced by name in the film, which leaves the possibility that his fate might not even be the same as usual Spidey canon in the MCU.

“He’s actually not specifically mentioned. Peter says, “I can’t do this after everything that happened.”

As for why Ben was left out, Watts says he wanted to go all out on focusing on how awesome it would be to become Spider-Man, going from a geeky teen to possessing superhuman powers. Dealing with the fact that Peter is partially guilty for a loved one’s death would have put the dampers on that.

“I wanted to make sure that nothing like that was dwelled on, because I did want to focus on just the excitement of what it would be like to be 15 and to have those powers. So, you know, what happens in the movie is what has happened, but it’s still a jumping-off point to see where else we can go.”

Not showing Uncle Ben’s death in Homecoming is definitely the right move, seeing as the best thing the film can do is to not cover the same ground as 2002’s Spider-Man and 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man. Removing Ben from the equation entirely is a bigger deal, though, as it’s cutting a key moment of Peter’s life from the story. That said, it’ll be nice to have a Spider-Man who actually enjoys being a superhero for once.

Spider-Man: Homecoming arrives in theatres on July 5th in the UK and July 7th in the US.