During the promotional tour for July’s hotly-anticipated Spider-Man: Homecoming, Tom Holland has “confirmed” a popular fan theory about Peter Parker and the Marvel Cinematic Universe: it turns out that Captain America: Civil War wasn’t the first appearance of the character after all, as Peter has been retconned into Iron Man 2 as the young kid in the Iron Man mask who confronts one of Justin Hammer’s drones.
“I can confirm that is Peter Parker,” Holland tells Comic Book. “I can confirm that as of today. I literally had a conversation with Kevin Feige only 20 minutes ago. Maybe I’ve just done a big, old spoiler, but it’s out there now. It’s cool. I like the idea that Peter Parker has been in the universe since the beginning.”
UPDATE: Homecoming director Jon Watts has also spoken about the inclusion of Peter in Iron Man 2 during an interview with Uproxx:
“I was watching all these other movies and being like, ‘What if that little kid at the Stark Expo was Peter Parker? In the Iron Man mask.’ Like, he’d be about the right age for that. And he loves Tony Stark… I remember watching that with [Marvel Studios head] Kevin Feige and everyone and being like, ‘Does the math work on that?’ He was like, ‘It might, maybe.’ Then I found out that was Jon Favreau’s kid.”
Here’s the scene in question…
And while you’re here, check out another clip from Spider-Man: Homecoming…
A young Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland), who made his sensational debut in Captain America: Civil War, begins to navigate his newfound identity as the web-slinging super hero in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, Peter returns home, where he lives with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.). Peter tries to fall back into his normal daily routine – distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man – but when the Vulture (Michael Keaton) emerges as a new villain, everything that Peter holds most important will be threatened.
Spider-Man: Homecoming sees Tom Holland and Marisa Tomei reprising their roles from Captain America: Civil War as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Aunt May, alongside Marvel veterans Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts and Chris Evans as Captain America. New additions to the cast include Michael Keaton, Zendaya, Donald Glover, Jacob Batalon, Laura Harrier, Tony Revolori, Bokeem Woodbine, Tyne Daly, Michael Barbieri, Abraham Attah, Hannibal Buress, Kenneth Choi, Angourie Rice, Michael Chernus, Michael Mando, Logan Marshall-Green and Jennifer Connelly.