Even though Spider-Man can do whatever a spider can, he has a history of using technology to aid in his battles against crime, from his trusty web shooters to briefly riding around in a Spider-mobile. Within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though, that's been kicked up a few notches because Tony Stark designed Peter Parker's superhero costume. During Spider-Man: Homecoming, Peter unlocked a lot of hidden features, which included almost triggering the "Instant Kill" function. Seeing the teenaged Peter slaughter his criminal adversaries through his Spider-suit would have been shocking, but Tom Holland thinks that the "Instant Kill" classification might not be entirely accurate. In Holland's mind, it's not meant to actually snuff people out, as he explained:
I don't actually think the "Instant Kill" function does what everyone thinks it does. I think it simply just shuts off electricity. I actually don't think it's a killing-like piece of tech. I don't think it is to murder people. I don't think Tony Stark's that dark... I don't know if "Instant Kill" would work against Thanos.
Tom Holland's musing about the "Instant Kill" function came when he was asked at the London premiere of Avengers: Infinity War HeyUGuys why Spider-Man doesn't use that feature on Thanos, who is threatening to kill half the universe against Thanos. Keeping in mind that Thanos is one of the universe's most powerful beings even without the Infinity Stones, and thus Holland is likely correct that "Instant Kill" wouldn't work on the Mad Titan, as seen in HeyUGuys' video, the actor believes that "Instant Kill" is actually just an EMP device. That would certainly come in handy if you want to shut down any phones, computers and even cars before engaging with the enemy, but given how Spidey's eyes turned black and red when that function was triggered, I can't help but think that Holland is wrong on this one. With a look like that, it definitely seems that "Instant Kill" is indeed lethal, but I'm sure Tony Stark could still outfit the Spider-suit with an EMP device if Peter wanted one.
The "Instant Kill" function came into play during Spider-Man: Homecoming when Peter Parker was tracking two of Vulture's goons in the middle of a heist. Before attempting to move closer, Peter took Karen's (his suit's AI.) advice and decided to switch to "Enhanced Combat Mode," which subsequently triggered "Instant Kill". Peter quickly shut that feature off, but his groove was still thrown off because his web shooters had been changed to rapid fire, the default setting for "Enhanced Combat Mode." Peter's only just begun in his superhero journey, but looking at how he's portrayed both in the MCU and in the comics, I highly doubt that he'll ever resort to using "Instant Kill", whether it's against a human opponent or a large, purple, muscular alien.
You can see Spider-Man swinging back into action when Avengers: Infinity War is released on April 27. Don't forget to also look through our Marvel movies guide to lear what other MCU projects are in development.
