Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Summary

Spider-Man squares off against a new enemy, with a little bit of help from Tony Stark.

Director

Jon Watts

Downey Factor

Low. He's a supporting character.

Character

Tony Stark, self-funded superhero and deliverer of one-liners.

Looks

Bearded and wealthy.

Performance

Confident and quippy

Line

Don't do anything I would do, and definitely don't do anything I wouldn't do. There's a little gray area in there and that's where you operate.

If you're nothing without the suit, then you shouldn't have it.

Love & Sex

Pepper shows up for this one, but the focus remains on the high schoolers.

Dies, Gay or Villain

Obviously not.

Cast

Marisa Tomei, Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Jon Favreau, Zendaya, Donald Glover, Gwyneth Paltrow, Martin Starr

Connection

Marisa Tomei in Only You, Chaplin and Captain America: Civil War.

Jon Favreau in Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Chef and in Iron Man 3.

Tom Holland in Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame and Dolittle.

Michael Keaton in Game Six.

Stan Lee in Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War.

Chris Evans in The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

Kerry Condon in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

Jacob Batalon in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

Martin Starr in The Incredible Hulk.

RDJ Says

Unlike many superheroes [Tony Stark] has been in a committed relationship for some time, but you know, it you have a nice wife, she'll say, "Oh, you can flirt, just don't do anything about it," and I wanted to play that up, because Aunt May was remarkably different previously and I've known Marisa [Tomei] for a long time, and she's just a perfect [Aunt May]. If you look at the way Spider-Man: Homecoming is cast, it tells you everything about what a fresh start this franchise is getting … [Tony] is self-aware enough to know he's not always making the right decisions. He's a lot more personable than he used to be.

Lit Reference

Spider-Man comic books

Time & Place

Present day (2017) New York City

Availability

On DVD, Blu-ray and streaming everywhere

Foreign Titles

Croatia: Spider-Man: Povratak kući (Spider-Man: Back Home)
Hungary: Pókember: Hazatérés (Spider-Man: Returning Home)
Taiwan: Spider-Man: Back to School Day (English translation)
Iceland: Köngulóarmaðurinn: Heimkoman (The Spider: Homecoming)

Rotten Tomatoes

92% fresh | 383 reviews

Critical View

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: Tell me you're not experiencing a few symptoms of Save the Universe Fatigue after a seemingly non-stop parade of huge-budget superhero movies in which various caped and costumed crusaders engage in epic, ultimate-stakes battles with various warped and evil villains — with the fate of EVERYONE FOR ALL TIME in the balance. Even with a goodly amount of explosions and action and expensive-looking CGI sequences, Spider-Man: Homecoming is a relatively and refreshingly scaled-down adventure.

Tufayel Ahmed, Newsweek: Homecoming is colorful, bright and extremely funny. But the film isn't without drama. This teenage Spidey is plagued not just by the existential threat of a supervillain but also contends with relatable teen melodrama.

A.A. Dowd, AV Club: "Stay close to the ground," he's told by his mentor figure, Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr, summoning that deadpan snark for an eighth or ninth time). It's advice that Homecoming itself takes by scaling the conflict down, past world-saving stakes to the divided priorities of a 15-year-old superhero.

2 Reasons to See It

1. You've always wondered what it'd be like if Tony Stark were your uncle.
2. So it'll sound super weird to you when you hear Tom Holland's real accent.

Overall

While it does have some of the charm and humor that the original Iron Man movie had, ultimately, it's just a run-of-the-mill comic book story with some Marvel Movie Comic Soap Opera Universe stuff crammed in.

If You Liked It

You might also like Iron Man (2008) and Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Photos

Video