Spider-Man: Homecoming: Did Tony Stark Reassemble The Avengers Post-Civil War?

With the debut of Spider-Man: Homecoming being as successful—if not more successful than predicted, it shouldn't come as a surprise to hear of all the praise it's receiving. Considering how Homecoming delivered on creating a worthwhile universe for Spider-Man to exist in, while at the same, keeping him closely tied into the current events of the MCU, the positive reviews are a given. The film also seemed to satisfy both long time fans of the comics and casual moviegoers alike with its seemingly perfect introduction for Spider-Man.

Going into the movie, there was a bit of skepticism towards Spider-Man being introduced well after the Avengers, and as a young teenager at that. But it's overall success speaks for itself. That said, Homecoming is arguably the best Spider-Man film so far—second to Sam Raimi's first Spider-Man movie that is.

In addition to setting up one of the best iterations of Spider-Man, Homecoming also offered up some intriguing hints at what the Avengers are currently doing. Or rather, what they're going to do when the Infinity Wars begin.

What Does Tony Stark Have Planned For The Avengers?

If you've seen Homecoming, then you know the movie takes place two months after the events of Captain America: Civil War. In this post-Civil War era, one would expect the Avengers to still be disbanded after a majority of the team was branded a fugitive, but it appears as though the Avengers have reestablished themselves as heroes, with a little help from Tony Stark.

Towards the end of #SpiderManHomecoming, we learned that Stark has been busy prepping the Avengers for another fight. Stark has renovated his new facility and emptied out the weapons cache he had at Avengers Tower, which held a new shield for Captain America and a magic belt for Thor. Spider-Man: Homecoming also featured a scene at the new Avengers facility, which shows a jet taking off right before Happy Hogan arrives with Peter Parker, giving us reason to believe one of the Avengers was aboard that flight. But more importantly, the Avengers jet taking off gives us the impression that the Avengers are actively running ops again.

Assuming one or multiple Avengers were using a jet for a mission of some sort, that would imply Stark has either recruited new members to his team, or he's reassembled the Avengers. The latter being the likeliest since the inventory on Happy's plane had a shield for Cap and a mystical item for Thor stored away on it. Meaning, Stark probably intends to team up with Thor and Cap once again, if he's taking those things along with him to the Avengers facility. However, the aftermath of Civil War will need to be addressed before any of these heroes team up again.

Are The Avengers Back Together Again?

After the events of Civil War left the Avengers disbanded for the most part, we didn't expect the team to be operating in the public's eye so soon. Especially since the Avengers roster only consists of Stark's Civil War team: Vision, an injured James Rhodes, and Black Widow—Widow's presence is questionable after she slightly defected towards the end of Civil War. More to the point, I don't think the Avengers can operate just with Iron Man and Vision, which means they've probably recruited their old comrades, regardless of their status as fugitives. Steve Rogers' ending monologue in Captain America: Civil War also seemed to hint at the Avengers reuniting in the near future.

For those who don't remember, the final moments of #CaptainAmericaCivilWar depicted Tony Stark and Steve Rogers coming to an accord of sorts. Despite not being able to sort out their differences amicably in Siberia, the two heroes found some common ground in the end, evidenced by Rogers' letter to Stark. The phone inside the letter also was Rogers himself saying that he's ready to be an Avenger again, if he's called on to do so. With that known, it appears reasonable for Stark to use his status as one of the only publicly accepted Avengers left, to facilitate the union of the Secret Avengers, Steve Rogers included.

Since the rest of the team can't be seen in public, Stark has likely taken it upon himself to reassemble the team without government officials like Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross knowing about it. Some fans could argue that Stark wouldn't be the one responsible for assembling the Secret Avengers since it was Cap who formed the team during the Civil War event, in the comics. But, those fans fail to remember that the MCU's adaptation of the Civil War event hasn't been a frame by frame shot of the comics, meaning its plausible for a different iteration of the Secret Avengers to be assembled by Tony Stark, instead of Steve Rogers in the MCU.

The aspect of a new shield for Cap being stored in one of Stark's weapon caches also adds more evidence towards the claim of Iron Man and Captain America working together again. Otherwise, why would Stark have a shield for Captain America in his possession? The only argument that could be made there is that the label of "Captain America's shield" belongs to the newest iteration of Cap, since Steve Rogers will no longer carry the title in the MCU:

Russo Brothers: "I think him dropping that shield is him letting go of that identity. [It’s] him admitting that certainly the identity of Captain America was in conflict with the very personal choice that he was making."

All that said, there is the matter of Avengers: Infinity War continuing the Civil War plot, which the Russos have confirmed to be a pivotal stepping stone going into Infinity War. The Russos made it perfectly clear the Avengers are still fractured as a team, going into Infinity War, so they won't necessarily be working togehter when we see them.

Russo Brothers: "What we love about [the Marvel Cinematic Universe] as storytellers is that we get to tell a story over the course of movies. We get to take the characters on journeys that, again, can be unique to the cinematic experience. So knowing that we’re doing Infinity War really informs Civil War because we knew we wanted to leave the characters in as complicated a place as possible to set up Infinity War. You gotta walk into that movie going, ‘How the hell are they going to figure this out? Can they ever repair it? What’s going to happen?’ The greatest threat that the universe has ever seen is coming, and they’re completely fractured."

However, the events of Spider-Man: Homecoming seem to indicate that Iron Man is prepping the team for a relaunch, giving us reason to believe the fractured team Joe and Anthony Russo are talking about will work things out towards the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War. If that's the case, the Avengers coming to an accord of their own seems like the direction that'll be taken as soon as the movie begins. Granted, not every member of the Avengers will be on board to work side by side once again. But, their workplace preferences will likely be overlooked in the face of threats like Thanos and his Black Order arriving on Earth.

Will The Next Iteration Of The Team Be The Secret Avengers?

Regardless of whether or not Steve Rogers and Tony Stark are working together again, the Avengers look to be up and running. With a new facility in working order, and the compound itself functioning as a takeoff point for the Avengers' missions, there's quite a bit of evidence towards the team getting back to work. Keep in mind that they may be forced to work as a covert unit much like their comic counterparts, the Secret Avengers, since most of the team is still on the world's most wanted list. Of course, we should remain open to the possibility that some other major event in the MCU has called for the Avengers to step in to another cosmic level battle that Earth isn't prepared for. If so, the fugitive members would likely be granted pardons for their crimes, in exchange for their superhero services.

Avengers: Infinity War opens in theaters on May 8, 2018.