Review| Spider-Man: Homecoming

Spider-Man: Homecoming, is a wonderful continuation of the groundwork laid in Captain America: Civil War. The creativity of the Marvel Studios team has injected this character with new life. Homecoming is funny, lighthearted, and has a youthful exuberance that matches the personality of the titular character in the comics.

The relationship between Peter Parker and Tony Stark is the emotional highlight of the film. As with all great master/student relationships, each one comes out wiser. It is a reflection of a piece of our Creator’s personality, and what He tries to teach us in the rearing of children.

SPIDER-SPOILERS AHEAD!

Stuff I Liked

Homecoming‘s greatest strength is bringing Spider-Man back to his teenage origins and have him actually be played by an actor who looks like a teenager! The awkwardness, the street-level crime-fighting, the issues he has with life – those are the things that made the character relatable when Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created him over five decades ago.

Homecoming’s Spider-Man make more sense in the semi-real world of the MCU, especially when it comes to his tricked-out costume. Peter’s homemade costume actually looked homemade, and it makes sense that Tony Stark would give him an amazing suit. Even the adjustable irises have a function other than expressing emotion. I never believed, in all the Spider-Man film incarnations, that down-on-his-luck Peter could actually make a costume like the ones worn by the previous Spider-Men.

Despite what the very peculiar one-sheet poster attempts to sell, there was very little Tony Stark is this film, and it was better for it. Homecoming has just enough Stark to make one smile when he appears. It was also great to see Pepper Potts make a brief appearance, mending some sadness from Civil War, as well as Happy Hogan. And those Captain America cameos were hilarious – and definitely something Steve Rogers would do.

I loved how this story was integrated into the MCU. The villains’ weapons were a bi-product of the battles in other Marvel films like The Avengers? Brilliant! It gave the other MCU films a sense of real consequences, first explored cinematically in Civil War. The MCU-based TV shows have done this with varying levels of success.

Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes is one of the best villains the MCU has seen. Not only is the Vulture armor really cool and somewhat plausible, but Toomes was someone we as an audience could sympathize with – even if his actions were wrongheaded and based in absurd class-envy. Toomes just wanted the best for his family. He has humanity, as displayed by the mid-credit sequence that had Toomes hiding Spider-Man’s identity from other criminals out of gratitude for saving Toomes’ life.

Stuff I Didn’t Like

When Marisa Tomei was cast as Aunt May, I thought it was a great idea. I’ve always felt that May was way too elderly to be Peter’s aunt, even in the comics. And Tomei is truly wonderful in the role. However, I thought the attention paid to May’s attractiveness went way overboard in Homecoming. It was a fun gag in Civil War, and made sense because of the source (Stark). But it seemed like every man in New York was vying for May’s affection, and her increasingly skin-tight wardrobe wasn’t making things better.

Zendaya’s character was the only one who didn’t feel real to me. She was just there spouting one-liners and being stereotypically weird and angsty. The whole Michelle/MJ thing felt tacked on. There was no reason to refer to her as MJ and spark connections to Mary Jane Watson. This is a completely different character. It’s not like combining personality traits of several characters into one like they did with Ned. Michelle was a character that had no basis in the comics, and calling her MJ just isn’t right. Even Marvel Studios honcho Kevin Feige admitted that Michelle isn’t Mary Jane, so why give her that nickname?

Stuff to Ponder

The relationship between Tony Stark and Peter Parker is central to Spider-Man: Homecoming. Stark was there to guide young Parker in the ways of hero-dom, gauge the teenager’s maturity and intelligence, and eventually recruit him for the Avengers full-time. Through the story, both Tony and Peter grew and matured as people. Tony began to see Peter as more than just a project or a teenager, but a pseudo-son (which Peter desperately needed, considering the traumatic death of his uncle).

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” -Proverbs 22:6

I have always believed that God set up the raising and rearing of children the way he did to teach us about a part of His nature. In the raising of children, we understand how God feels teaching us how to live and grow.

Peter thinks he knows it all and can handle anything the bad guys throw at him. Stark (and to an extent, Happy) is there to quell Peter’s ego and humble him. By the end, Peter realized that he was not yet ready for Avengers-level action, and was content with his street-level heroics for now.

Like Peter, we are sometimes eager to face life’s challenges, but still need some growing before we can face them. God will often put us into situations to not only challenge us, but make us grow. We are His children, and he knows what’s best for us. It’s up to us to heed His instructions to become the people He wants us to be.

“Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from Him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.” -Psalm 127:3-5

Teaching children how to be mature adults makes the parent/mentor grow as well. Stark began the film not terribly involved with Peter’s struggles, feigning interest and even saving Peter remotely through an Iron Man drone. Tony became more and more involved, and enacted discipline on Peter after his mishap on the ferry – taking his suit away. But Tony also learned to trust Peter by seeing what he did without the snazzy Stark suit.

I’ve always thought that the analogy used in the Book of Psalms describing children as arrows in a warrior’s quiver to be particularly intriguing. Several theologians have pointed out that it’s a very apt comparison, since the warrior launches the arrows out into the world – pointing them in the right direction. Stark does this with Peter (albeit lazily at first), and eventually grew into his role as Peter’s mentor/father-figure. 

So What I’m Trying to Say is

Welcome home, web-head! Spider-Man Homecoming is the near-perfect follow-up to Spider-Man’s appearance in Civil War. It’s really fun to watch and is a great addition to the larger MCU. Hopefully Sony will continue to partner with Marvel Studios on future Spider-Man films. And I really hope they drop their plans for other films based on Spider-Man characters.

The relationship between Peter Parker and Tony Stark is the best part of the film, and displays a truth about the way God set up how we are to rear our youngsters. Adults are in the lives of children “to bring them up in the way they should go.” Both child and adult grow and mature during the process, and understand the nature of God a little bit more.