Why Spider-Man Works in the 'Civil War' but Not 'Homecoming'

When it was revealed to the world that Spider-man was going to be introduced into the MCU, minds were blown. A lot of people grew up watching the Sam Raimi Spider-man movies, so it wouldn't be far to say that Peter Parker is a fan favorite character. Not only that, but he would end up appearing in a movie that was not only a Captain America movie but also a movie that has the same name as an infamous comic that has the same name. In that comic, written by Mark Miller who is a famed comic book writer who wrote such works as V For Vendetta and The Dark Knight Returns, Spider-man was a huge player. Peter ends up revealing his identity to the world, and he pays the price for it; because of how his information is out there, one of Pete's enemies assassinates his Aunt May. So, seeing that he would be introduced in this story, the general audience was excited.

For the most part, they did a high school Peter well in Civil War. He had a slight New York accent, it was a nice touch, and while he was funny, he wasn't too funny. They hinted a Uncle Ben sort of death but did not entirely go into it. Personally, I appreciated this because they did not feel the need to due to this not being an origin movie. At the end of the movie, there was high hopes that there was a good road ahead for him. However, this did not lead into Homecoming, which was his solo movie.

Go ahead and call me an elitist but one of the critiques I have for Homecoming is that it doesn't feature some of the most influential characters for Peter. One of the most needed characters to talk about Spider-man, is Gwen Stacy. When Gwen died at the hands of Norman Osborn AKA Green Goblin, it was a turning point for Peter because that was when he realized that being Spider-man was not something that could be taken as a joke any longer. When Pete puts on that mask, he can not just joke around all the time. People that he loves will die if he is not careful. Sometimes, writers put Gwen in high school and other times, some writers put Gwen in college. Hopefully, marvel decides to implement these characters in a future movie. Another major character that was not there was Mary Jane Watson. Now, there was a character in Homecoming that was named Michelle Jones, who was nicknamed “MJ.” I will refer to her as “Michelle” throughout the rest of this because she is does not exhibit the same personality traits as Mary Jane Watson. MJ, at least in her high school years, was someone who resorted to partying and becoming the popular girl because her family situation at home was not the best. Michelle does not exhibit these some qualities. Therefore, I will refuse to say that Michelle is Mary Jane Watson. That is not to say that I don’t like Zendaya as an actress, though. I just feel that the screenwriters did not write her that well.

One of the other aspects of Homecoming that I feel belittled Spider-man in the MCU was him being so connected to Tony Stark. High school Peter is more than interesting enough for him to have a movie with just him in it. While I did like how in the Civil War comic that Pete and Tony had a relationship, but that wasn’t a movie just about one of them. That comic, as a whole, was about the superhero community dividing amongst itself due to a bill becoming law. However, this is a Spider-man solo movie so why is there so much interaction with an outside superhero? It would not have been a problem if it was a small interaction. Due to it being a plot point, that’s a problem. It derails Pete’s ability to be interesting enough to have his own movies. One of the best parts about Spider-man is that he is an everyday guy. If he gets constantly visited by a billionaire superhero, that makes him less relatable to the everyday person.

I want Spider-man to be a great force in the MCU. All of this article talking about how much I critique Homecoming is because I want them to improve upon him. So, I’m going to end this article by saying a few things. I think the actors are good, but the script is leading in a direction that I don’t think will be beneficial in the long run. It can improve and I would love for it to do just that.