This 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' Easter Egg Confirms A Cameo From A Fan-Favorite Comic Book Team

Right now, the Internet is buzzing with excitement over the latest trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming, which is sure to be one of the blockbuster hits of the year! It's a surprising trailer, revealing a lot more of the plot than I'd expected, right down to revealing the character arcs of both Tony Stark and Peter Parker. But it's also revealed two more details — including a company name that will leave fans cheering!

Damage Control Confirmed

Just yesterday, #Marvel and Sony revealed the Vulture's motives as a villain. It turns out that he's a blue-collar worker who starts out trying to build a business out of superhero cleanup. Unfortunately, Tony Stark gets in the way: Homecoming sees the next step after the Sokovia Accords, with Stark running a new government initiative dedicated to just this kind of cleanup. It makes sense in terms of Stark's character arc, but it inadvertently leads to the destruction of Toomes's business. As a result, Toomes decided to use scavenged technology to launch a life of crime, selling technology on to criminals.

Spider-senses were left tingling with anticipation, as fans joined the dots pretty quickly. Over in the comics, there's a company called Damage Control, who are dedicated to superhero cleanup. In fact, back in 2015 Marvel Television announced they were going to try a sitcom based on the idea, but we've not heard anything about it since then.

That clip from the trailer reveals that Damage Control is indeed now entering the #MCU, but it doesn't look as though that's the name of Toomes's company. Instead, it seems that Damage Control is the name of Tony Stark's new government project. Although this is an exciting twist on the concept, my suspicion is that it's also confirmation that the TV show is dead, Jim.

Notice, though, that the trailer also teases that the exclusive was reported by WHIH Newsfront — a news company that will be very, very familiar to Marvel fans. Just before the release of Ant-Man, Marvel set up an in-universe YouTube and Twitter channel that they use to promote certain films. We had a short campaign in the runup to Ant-Man, and then much more extensive coverage in the run-up to Captain America: Civil War. It's a fascinating marketing strategy, using social media to create a genuinely immersive experience, and it typically features Leslie Bibb reprising her role as Christine Everheart from Iron Man. The logo has been glimpsed a fair few times on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., subtly tying the TV shows and movies together.

That said, we've never seen Newsfront play such a major role before. It seems as though they'll actually play a minor role in the story, broadcasting news of Tony Stark's Damage Control initiative — much to the Vulture's displeasure (will we get a scene of him blowing up a TV? Go on, it's such a well-loved trope!). Of course, this does raise another intriguing question; will Marvel use WHIH Newsfront to market Spider-Man: Homecoming? Is it possible they'll release that particular video on YouTube? I think we'll all need to be following Marvel's in-universe news channel...

Marvel fans will be thrilled to see such subtle ideas worked into the film. Tony Stark's new direction seems to be a fascinating one, with the character finally taking responsibility for his own actions. Even more excitingly, that's leading to Damage Control finally entering the MCU! Meanwhile, I have to say that the inclusion of WHIH Newsfront is another thrilling Easter Egg, suggesting that we could get some very exciting snippets on YouTube as we draw nearer to Homecoming's release date...