Marvel and Sony dropped an early Christmas present for fans of the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man this week with the release of the very first trailer for next year’s reboot Spider-Man: Homecoming. The film sees Tom Holland taking centre stage following his debut in this year’s Captain America: Civil War, while Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark is also along for the ride, and former Batman star Michael Keaton looks to join a rather select group by delivering a memorable Marvel villain with his turn as The Vulture.
So, what did the Flickering Myth writing team make of this first trailer? Here’s our reaction…
Mark Bartlett: Positively a perfect portrayal of pubescent Peter Parker. This trailer absolutely nails it. It’s nothing to do with the spectacle of it all; his suit and Michael Keaton’s Vulture look cool and everything; it’s the fact that this is actually Peter, and not some old man playing a kid. Putting some real focus into Peter’s high school life, and relationships with other students is the best decision they could make. Also, I love MGMT’s ‘time to pretend’ so great job getting me totally on side here SONY/MARVEL. I have every faith that getting this right matters to them, and I’m sure it’ll be fantastic.
Eric Bay-Andersen: Loved it! This is easily the most excited I’ve been about a Spider-Man film in 12 years – Tom Holland was the perfect choice for the new TEENAGE Peter Parker. As it’s only a first glimpse we don’t really get a sense of Vulture yet, but Michael Keaton is always reliable so I’m sure he won’t be just another generic villain with a CGI tech suit. Although the scenes with Peter and Tony Stark will no doubt be great fun I hope Robert Downey Jr. isn’t in the film too much because I want Tom Holland to carry this film on his own, which based on what we’ve seen in Civil War and this trailer I’m sure he can. (Token gratuitous I-worked-out-for-six-months-so-you-better-show-my-new-superhero-abs shot!).
Villordsutch: I’ll be honest here. The Spider-Man movies I wasn’t overly fussed over, they weren’t bad, they just weren’t ground-breaking. However the interaction between Tony Stark and Tom Holland were excellent and the closing Michael Keaton threat received a Cheshire Cat like smile. I have hope for this Spider-Man release.
Chris Cooper: Iron Man and Spidey – Check. We actually see high school – Check. Holding something under great strain with webbing – Check. It covers everything you want from Spidey, and then gives us Michael Keaton!!! So excited to see him in this. I just hope he doesn’t go out like a punk like 99% of Marvel villains.
Eddy Gardiner: It’s been a long time since I really looked forward to seeing a superhero movie based on a trailer, but here I am now really looking forward to this. Looks like a lot of fun.
Ben Robins: Not only an incredible reinvention of Spider-Man (which is nuts considering it’s the third in however many years) but of the Vulture too. So excited to see it all work and so happy that it looks like they’ve thoroughly nailed it!
Anghus Houvouras: To quote Tommy Lee Jones as Two Face “I’m terrible in this role. Who thought this was a good idea?” Oh, wait. Sorry. The quote I was looking for was “We’re of two minds on the subject”. I love Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. I like that the story is going in a new direction and it’s not going to be another damn reboot of a story we’re all very familiar with. I like Tony Stark as the mentor which makes perfect sense given Peter’s lack of a father figure. However, there’s part of me screaming in the deep recesses of my brain “Is every Marvel movie going to be a team-up?” I’m sure every fan in the world is at half-chub status for the shot of Spider-Man and Iron Man side by side, much like people were suppressing full on erections for that shot in the Avengers trailer where Hulk grabs Iron Man in mid air. There are things that are always going to seem cool as hell the first time you see them. I’m optimistic based on the trailer, but I’m always a little wary of shoehorning the entirety of the Marvel Cinematic Universe into every film. I’m also a little bummed with the design of the Vulture. Looks like Falcon 2.0. Marvel villains and their costumes have been uninspired for almost a decade. This looks to continue the trend.
Matt Spencer-Skeen: The great thing is we already have a fairly good handle on Tom Holland as Spider-Man after Civil War and seeing him have this growing relationship with Tony Stark will be fun. I do hope that as we won’t have some origin story shoehorned in at the start it’ll give more room for time with Keaton’s Vulture to be a good villain that Marvel really needs.
Helen Murdoch: Loved the trailer. Three minutes of pure joy. Superb casting, right energy and style. Fingers crossed that Marvel deliver a decent villain!
Martin Carr: Solid humour, self-awareness, Holland fits the role like a glove. Downey Jr contributes but never overshadows and Keaton implies badass overtones in limited screentime. Everything about this trailer works and I am keen to see if they have carried it through into the final film…
Tai Freligh: This looks like a lot of fun. It looks like they are hitting the right age period for Spidey and teenager issues he’s dealing with along with having superpowers. Tom Holland’s gee whiz, aw shucks, quippy, zippy Spidey is exactly how I imagined the character when reading the comic books. I like the little bits of Tony Stark as a mentor, but I don’t want Iron Man to overshadow Spidey or take up too much screen time. Spider-Man and Black Panther were the best part of Civil War, so let him have his own movie! Also, I think Vulture as a villain is a nice choice along with Shocker. Doc Ock and Green Goblin are typical, but this choice has potential to change it up a bit as long as he doesn’t come off looking silly. Bottom line- I’m really looking forward to seeing this!
James Garcia: This is one of the few times Marvel’s particular brand of humor has really really worked on me. I think they captured the spirit of Spider-Man perfectly here, and can’t tell you enough how relieved I am that we’re finally getting a true teenage Peter Parker, with what looks like real teenage problems. That’s always been a big draw of the character for me, so I’m excited to see it on film. I wasn’t sure how director Jon Watts would be able to handle the action, but it all looks crisp, clear, and kinetic. I also can’t believe we have Michael Keaton in this movie, going full Birdman. That alone has me looking forward to this.
Samuel Brace: Meh. Looks like more of the same. Pretty middling stuff. Trailers obviously don’t tell the whole story but can only judge by the evidence on display. And the evidence presented here is not much to get excited by.
Ricky Church: I’m actually a bit underwhelmed. I like the interactions between Peter and Tony and love the high school emphasis on the film, but something just seemed missing to me. I can’t quite place what it was, but this wasn’t really the trailer I was expecting. That said, there is a lot to like about this. As I said, the interactions between the characters are great and the humour really works. Holland really sells both Peter Parker and Spider-Man where I found Toby Maguire a good Parker but not Spidey and Andrew Garfield the opposite. Keaton also looks good and Vulture looks like a cool adaptation, should be exciting to see him and Spidey fight. Still looking forward to it, but I was left feeling underwhelmed all the same. Upon thinking about it more, it was some of the humour that bugged me. Nothing involving Spidey or even Tony, but more Peter’s interactions with Ned Leeds. It might just be the clips shown in this trailer, but the humour between them seemed rather forced and awkward. Obviously I’ll hold out until the movie, but right now I’m a bit skeptical in their chemistry.
Andrew Newton: I really enjoyed the trailer. I’m not a Spider-Man fan thanks to Toby Maguire but I will go and see this. Looks like it has the right balance of humour and action just like the Spider-Man cartoon of old used to have.
Jake Peffer: I like the different approach they are taking with this Spider-Man over the previous two series. Seeing more of Tom Holland as Spidey is great because has captured the character in the best way. The glimpses of The Vulture make it seem like he’s going to be a solid villain. I just hope the movie lives up to the great trailer.
So, a near-unanimously positive response from our writers to this first glimpse of Spider-Man: Homecoming, but what did you make of the trailer? Let us know in the comments below…
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 and Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan. New additions to the cast include Michael Keaton (Birdman), Michael Barbieri (Little Men), Zendaya (K.C. Undercover), Angourie Rice (The Nice Guys), Tony Revolori (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Logan Marshall-Green (Prometheus), Martin Starr (Silicon Valley), Donald Glover (Community), Laura Harrier (One Life to Live), Kenneth Choi (Captain America: The First Avenger), Hannibal Buress (Broad City), Isabella Amara (The Boss), Jorge Lendeborg, Jr. (Graceland), JJ Totah (Glee), Abraham Attah (Beasts of No Nation), Michael Mando (Better Call Saul), Selenis Leyva (Orange Is the New Black), Bokeem Woodbine (Riddick), Tyne Daly (Cagney & Lacey), Garcelle Beauvais (Hollywood Today Live), Tiffany Espensen (Kirby Buckets), Michael Chernus (Orange is the New Black), Jona Xiao (Halt and Catch Fire) and Martha Kelly (Baskets). The film is set for release on July 7th, 2017.
