Given the number of characters involved in Captain America: Civil War, directors Joe and Anthony Russo could have gone in any number of directions with their final post-credits sequence -- choosing to highlight any of the awesome characters with bright futures in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ultimately they decided to spend a bit more time with the latest version of Spider-Man, played by Tom Holland, and there's a very specific reason why: they wanted to really show off how this big screen adaptation of the webslinger is different than all that came before it.
As you would expect, it's at the very, very end of the new Captain America: Civil War audio commentary attached to the blockbuster's digital release that the Russo brothers discuss the post-credits scene and why it was that they gave the spotlight to Spider-Man. Noting that the sequence was reworked more than any other in the entire movie (with several different options considered), the directors explained that they felt it was a prime moment to showcase one of the key differences between Tom Holland's wall-crawler and those played by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. Said Joe Russo,
Ultimately it becomes about the fact that, what makes Spider-Man different in the Marvel Universe? Well, his suit was created by Tony Stark -- which means that there might be some technical enhancements.
For those that don't remember, the final scene of the movie has Peter Parker hanging out in his bedroom in Queens, looking quite worse for wear after his battle with The Avengers at the Leipzig Halle Airport. While talking with Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) about how he was jumped "by a guy named Steve," he begins to fiddle around with his webshooters, and discovers a function that shines a bright red light. After managing to successfully hide the projection from his guardian and she leaves the room, Peter casts the light on the ceiling and discovers that Tony Stark has given him some pretty cool bits of technology.
Of course, after hearing the Russos comments and watching the Captain America: Civil Warpost-credits scene, there is one natural question: exactly what other kind of enhancements did Tony Stark pack into Peter Parker's upgraded Spider-Man suit? When fighting in the aforementioned airport battle he doesn't seem to have any special abilities on beyond the ones for which he is already famous, but who knows what kind of potential we may wind up seeing unlocked in the future. It's worth mentioning that the Iron Spider costume that Tony gave to Peter in the comics included gliding mechanics, enhanced visuals, bulletproofing and mechanical arms. Some of those are probably not going to be included, but who knows?
Fortunately, it won't be long until we start to learn what the new big screen version of the webslinger can actually do. Director Jon Watt's Spider-Man: Homecoming is currently in the midst of production down in Atlanta, and we can assume that the hero's battles with Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes a.k.a. The Vulture will require him to use some of the nifty gadgets made available to him thanks to Tony Stark technology. We expect it will be worth the wait when it arrives in theaters on July 7, 2017.
While you wait, you can once again dive deep into the world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Captain America: Civil War, with the film now available for digital purchase.
