Spider-Man: Homecoming is being advertised as the web-slingers first appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and to help usher in this new era of Spidey stories, director Jon Watts was given the opportunity to use Iron Man as a mentor for Tom Holland's Peter Parker. But what if these two met before Homecoming? According to Holland, Peter Parker DID cross paths on an MCU movie, and it happened in Iron Man 2.
Tom Holland is making the press rounds on behalf of Spider-Man: Homecoming, and was asked if a little kid (pictured above) who stood with Iron Man at the Stark Expo and stared down a killer robot was, indeed, young Peter Parker. And Holland told The Huffington Post:
It is Peter Parker. I can confirm that as of today. I literally had a conversation with [Marvel Studios president] 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.
So do we. It makes total sense, too. The young boy doesn't have any powers in the scene. But the Stark Expo takes place in Queens (where Peter Parker lives), and it's a science expo... an event that young Peter absolutely would attend. Watch the scene again, quickly, to see where the fan theory came from.
And now your fan theory has been confirmed. Now, Gizmodo hopped on the phone with Tom Holland minutes after the HuffPo story broke, and they got Holland sort of side-stepping, but not really. He tells them:
It's funny, I literally had a conversation with Kevin like 20 minutes before [The Huffington Post] interview and he didn't confirm it, I took it upon myself just because I thought it would be a good story and it's exploded.
It's a lot of conversations, and a few half-confirmations. But you know what? I'm making this canon. Peter Parker has been in the MCU since Iron Man 2. It's official. We don't see him in his suit until Civil War for the first time, and now we're left to wonder where, on the timeline, Peter (Tom Holland) lost his Uncle Ben, and got bit by his spider.
What do you think of this theory? Rock solid? A fun fan lark? Weigh in below. And grab your tickets to Jon Watts' Spider-Man: Homecoming. It opens on theaters on July 7.
