Spider-Man (Tom Holland) is home. That's the point of Spider-Man: Homecoming, both on the screen and off. Sony and Marvel struck a deal, sharing the character for two solo Spider-Man movies, and appearances in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4. But acquiring Spider-Man, and using him to his full potential, creates an issue for the MCU. Peter Parker is being set up as a ground-level superhero, limited to Queens and the surrounding boroughs. As Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) says to Peter in the Homecoming trailers, he's better served being a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
So I asked Marvel President Kevin Feige how Spider-Man will react to the whiplash in tone from being a ground-level superhero to fighting cosmic threats in Thanos in two Avengers movies. And Feige told me that HOW Peter reacts to the events in the next two Avengers movie is a major part of the character's development in the MCU. Feige explained:
In Infinity War, we'll showcase almost all aspects of the worlds we've established. What is exciting is that after Infinity War, and the untitled Avengers in May of 2019... everything will be very different, and the universe will have been radically altered after this 22-movie saga comes to its conclusion. And our first foray back into the MCU will be with Peter Parker, and through his eyes, and back on the ground level. And just as the events of Civil War impacted him greatly, when Tony [Stark] dropped him off and he had to go back to school, what in the heck is going to happen, and what is the state of the universe going to be, and how will he deal with it, when he starts his junior year in the next Homecoming?
There's a LOT confirmed in that statement. The MCU is going to be "radically altered" at the end of the as-yet-untitled Avengers 4, which is something that Kevin Feige has hinted at before, back when he was promoting Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. And as we had reported, Spider-Man's second solo MCU movie, scheduled to drop July 2019, will be the first MCU movie after Avengers 4... and Peter Parker will be the first Marvel hero reflecting on the major changes that have happened in Infinity War and its mysterious follow up. He'll be processing these massive MCU changes from the ground level, as he did in Homecoming (following Civil War).
Also, he'll be a junior in high school.
So Marvel's Phase Four, if it's even called "Phase Four" at that stage, begins with Spider-Man 2... which won't be called Spider-Man 2. But Peter Parker (Tom Holland) will be handed the all-important task of shepherding audiences through the rubble caused by whatever Marvel has in store for Avengers 3 and 4 -- which makes us incredibly excited for the reveal of those plans, and incredibly impressed by the weight they are putting on Spider-Man to continue being an all-important character in the evolving MCU.
Spider-Man: Homecoming bring the wallcrawler home for a high-school-based comedy adventure. It opens in theaters in July 7. Head over here for more information on all the Upcoming Marvel Movies.
