‘Well, he’s basically being such a creep’: ‘The Marvels’ director found unlikely inspiration from a comic that painted Spider-Man in a bad light

Nia DaCosta’s incoming comic book blockbuster The Marvels is obviously indebted to the respective backstories of its three main heroines, as well as at least four previous Marvel Cinematic Universe projects covering both film and television, but it turns out that an unexpectedly creepy Spider-Man arc played a huge part in its conception as well.

The first-ever appearance of Monica Rambeau came in 1982’s The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #16, where the web-slinger gets distracted waiting for Harry and Liz Osborn to arrive at Grand Central Station. His eyes wander to an unnamed character and he decides to follow her, before being blown away by her hidden superpowers when he checks to see if she’s okay following a failed mugging.

Wholesome Peter Parker indulging in some voyeurism isn’t exactly what you’d expect to be a touchstone for a brand new MCU movie with budget well north of $200 million, but as DaCosta revealed to Total Film, it stuck in her memory nonetheless.

“[There was] the first issue where we meet Monica Rambeau, which is in a Spider-Man issue and he’s, well, he’s basically being such a creep. He’s like, ‘There’s someone in this airport who’s giving me vibes’ and he sees her and he’s like, ‘I’m gonna follow her’ and then, and the text just says ‘who’s that lady?’ which I love.”

We dare say Tom Holland won’t be caught lurking in the shadows of The Marvels to get a better glimpse of Teyonah Parris’ freshly-minted costumed crimefighter, although don’t rule out the trolls and haters interpreting DaCosta’s decision to label Spider-Man as a “creep” to be taken the wrong way.