Features Film

TRAILER: Spider-Man: Homecoming

Your neighbourhood is about to get a whole lot friendlier. No, Mr. Rogers isn’t moving back to town. It’s a Marvel Spider-Man. On Thursday night, Jimmy Kimmel Live! broadcast the first official trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming. We got a taste of what Peter Parker’s been up to since his stint in Captain America: Civil War. But before Peter Parker can spread his underarm spider wings and fly, he has some growing up to do.

The trailer offers many snippets of what exactly a Spider-Man homecoming entails. It may or may not involve someone sobbing in the girls’ bathroom and awkward slow dancing. But what we do see is a budding bromance, some web slinging and plenty of teenage angst.

Spider-Man is still the same Spider-Man audiences awed over in Civil War. He hurtles quips at thieves wearing Avengers masks, proceeds to kick the crap out of them, then is as giddy as a school girl over what he’s done. We actually see more of Peter Parker rather than Spider-Man. With so much of showing Peter at school and interacting with other characters as himself, the trailer is very reflective of that John Hughes style its screenwriters wanted. All Tom Holland needs to do is hold up a boombox to someone’s window or do a ‘spontaneous’ song and dance during a parade. Then they’ll stick the landing. The trailer also shows Peter Parker is capable of having more than one friend. Good for him!

Even though he’s not in the popular click at school, Peter’s awful chummy with one of Marvel coolest heroes: Iron Man. Being on Team Iron probably didn’t hurt, but it appears Tony Stark is keeping a sharp eye on his Marvel starlet. Perhaps Peter is seeing Tony emerge as a new father figure, what with Peter eagerly hugging Tony even though he was just opening a door, or having a stereotypical teenager complaint of your parent treating you like a child. The chemistry between Holland and Robert Downey Jr. is still there and keeps their scenes entertaining to watch.

One of the major reservations I have about of the trailer is the inclusion of Michael Keaton as the Vulture, or rather lack of. The picture painted of Homecoming’s villain isn’t pretty. Though shown briefly, he didn’t leave a big impact. He threatens to kill Peter and everyone he loves, but who cares? Keaton wasn’t menacing enough to be taken seriously. His costume certainly doesn’t help him in that regard. Sure, the comic book costume is silly, but there still could have been more of an effort to keep elements of that costume while modernising it. If Marvel can take a man, slip him into a catsuit and still be taken seriously, then anything’s possible. Instead, Keaton looks like an animatronic, Chuck E. Cheese’s reject. If this is the villain Homecoming has to offer, Marvel may continue its curse of terrible villains.

Overall, I think this trailer did its job well. It’s surprising really how much of the trailer had so little of its titular character, but it was refreshing. We saw a great deal of Peter’s internal and external struggle with being Spider-Man.  It balanced the comedy and the action well. Mostly, it left me wanting to see more, and I am more than excited for when Spider-Man swings back into theatres in July 2017.

What did you think of the Spider-Man: Homecoming trailer? What scene were you most excited for? Sound off in the comments or send us your thoughts on Twitter

About the author

Ariana Zink