Spider-Man: Homecoming trailer review

By Jim Scroggs
Twitter:@JHScroggs
December 12, 2016

As much as I keep up with my favorite fictional character, it was my brother who told me about the trailer premiering on Jimmy Kimmel when I was driving to work Wednesday morning. It's safe to say that was the longest 24-36 hours I’ve had in a while but we finally have our first look at what a Sony/Marvel Studios collaboration will look like so let’s take a look at what Spider-Man: Homecoming has to offer.

The trailer starts with classic city shots of New York because that’s a part of who Marvel is and I wouldn't expect anything less. That leads to a scene of an ATM robbery with some pretty intense looking tech, possibly Alien but low and behold, Spider-Man sneaks in the vestibule and just waits for the action to start. The robbers are wearing Avenger masks and of course, Peter uses that classic wit and then proceeds to deal with the group in his own special way. The next few shots are of Peter in high school where we see Liz Allen, Peter’s likely crush, in some generic shots of walking and hanging a Homecoming banner as well as Ned Leeds sitting next to Peter admiring her. They ask if starting too long is creepy and the voice of Zendaya, who is either Michelle, Mary Jane Watson or maybe another character but it doesn’t matter because she immediately chimes in and calls them losers.

Peter meets Tony in a car and gives him some pretty convoluted advice in only the way Tony can, which is a nice role for him playing the mentor to the spider-ling as he called him in Civil War. A voice over of Tony telling Peter that “school sucks” as Peter is watching video of the airport battle in Civil War in class and he knows that Peter wants to save the world but Tony thinks that he’s not ready yet. There are some shots of Spider-Man arriving on the scene of an explosion,  walking on the wall and then we see something that kind of shocked me. Apparently, Ned Leeds finds out Peter’s secret quite soon and when confronted, Peter denies it adamantly like he did when Tony found out in Civil War. One thing about the suit is that it’s pretty loose but the little spider on the front seems to be a sensor or button that when hit, tightens and releases it so that’s a nice touch.

The first time we see Vulture is when he’s coming down from inside a building (that building in real life is the Marriott Marquis in Downtown Atlanta) and the thing about the Vulture suit, is that it’s got the thrusters like the old SHIELD Helicarriers so that kind of confirms the rumor about some old Stark or SHIELD tech being involved with the villains. I like the Fighter Pilot look to him, especially the bomber jacket and how it represents the feathers around the neck to the original character design. Tony tells Peter, “Forget the flying monster guy. There are people that handle this sort of thing” as Happy Hogan walks in the background and It’s good to see Jon Favreau back in the MCU. Peter complains about not wanting to be treated like a kid but Ned reminds him that he is a kid. There’s a great shot of Peter jumping off the top of the Washington Monument and he flashes the first appearance of the web wings. I’m glad they went back to that touch, however, I would have made them a little shorter, maybe stop at his hip but that’s a minor thing.

The next few shots are Liz Allen being concerned about Peter, Donald Glover standing next to the Tinkerer, which leads me to believe that the Atlanta native is working with the Vulture, Spider-Man getting thrown into a school bus, Adrian Toomes, played by Michael Keaton, telling someone not to mess with him, Spider-Man possibly saving someone from an elevator shaft, one final action shot from the Vulture flying in a tunnel and then the definitive shot in this trailer, a Ferry getting split in half after an explosion and Spider-Man is trying to hold it together with his webs, ala the shot of Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man 2 on the train. The final shot is Iron Man and Spider-Man flying through the air side by side. There’s an international trailer as well but the only thing that I saw that was interesting and different from the official trailer was a quick, and I do mean quick, shot of The Shocker, rumored to be played by Bokeem Woodbine.

This became my most anticipated film of 2017 when I found out Marvel and Sony came to a deal in February of 2015 and I’m glad to see an age appropriate Peter and see what he was like in high school. Two easter eggs that I saw were Bruce Banner’s picture on the wall in the classroom scene and Howard Stark’s face was on a mural in the background in the hallway. The fact that my favorite character would be in a milestone movie that was also shot in my hometown swells me with pride and yes, I know that this is just a small look at what to expect, but my confidence in this being the best Peter Parker and Spider-Man is pretty high.

Spider-Man: Homecoming will be in theaters on July 7th, 2017