{"id":97683,"date":"2017-07-03T12:15:51","date_gmt":"2017-07-03T11:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=97683"},"modified":"2017-07-03T12:47:35","modified_gmt":"2017-07-03T11:47:35","slug":"spider-man-homecoming-what-to-expect-from-peter-parkers-solo-mcu-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/interviews\/spider-man-homecoming-what-to-expect-from-peter-parkers-solo-mcu-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"Spider-Man: Homecoming: What to expect from Peter Parker’s solo MCU debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

You know the story \u2013 boy gets bit by radioactive spider, boy becomes your friendly neighbourhood web-slinger. But while other Spider-Man<\/strong><\/em> movies have been origin stories, romances and tragedies, none have been a coming-of-age tale. And that\u2019s very much what Spider-Man: Homecoming<\/strong><\/em> is about. This time around, Peter Parker is a 15-year-old, nerdy, excitable high school student. <\/span><\/p>\n

When Sony and Marvel first approached director Jon Watts, he says it was \u201cperfect timing because I had been working on my own high school coming-of-age movie that I wanted to make, so I had been watching all kinds of high school movies and I\u2019d been writing this stuff so I was able to sort of speak to that genre and come up with some ideas and apply things I\u2019d already been working on to how they would apply to Spider-Man.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Homecoming<\/strong><\/em> sees Tom Holland\u2019s Spider-Man \u2013 who made his debut in Captain America: Civil War<\/strong><\/em> as Tony Stark\u2019s new sort-of prot\u00e9g\u00e9e \u2013 take on Michael Keaton\u2019s Vulture while learning what it really means to be a superhero. It\u2019s a grounded, fun take on the MCU.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Tom Holland and Michael Keaton with director Jon Watts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen the penthouse version of this world, and this is now the ground level version,\u201d Watts explains. Watts took the same approach when getting Keaton on board to play the Vulture. <\/span>\u201cI think he really liked the idea of building this ground level villain who starts as a regular guy and becomes something more than that. That was always the idea \u2013 if Peter is a ground level superhero, then let\u2019s show what a ground level supervillain might look like.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Watts giggles with glee whenever he\u2019s asked about Keaton\u2019s performance. \u201cHe\u2019s so great. It\u2019s so fun to watch him be a bad guy. And when it\u2019s him versus Peter Parker, you feel like Peter doesn\u2019t really stand a chance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Holland\u2019s Spider-Man is also joined by Zendaya as Michelle. \u201cShe\u2019s like my Ally Sheedy from Breakfast Club<\/strong><\/em>,\u201d Watts says. \u201cI wanted to have a weirdo, smart outsider to put the pressure on Peter, who is trying so hard to keep his identity secret.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The film boasts an enormous cast of high school characters. \u201cI wanted to make sure I was building this ensemble cast of the kids in the high school and the teachers too where we could go somewhere with that… It had to have that sort of depth where we can tell a completely different story in that same world and it would still be compelling.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps most potentially intimidating of all for Watts was the presence of both Robert Downey Jnr and Jon Favreau in the cast \u2013 the men who essentially launched the MCU with Iron Man<\/strong><\/em>. But Watts was genuinely thrilled to have them on board. \u201cJon did everything possible to help me out and to have the director of Iron Man<\/strong><\/em> \u2013 with Iron Man!<\/i> \u2013 it couldn\u2019t be better. Jon\u2019s such a great guy, just overall. In every way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Spider-Man: Homecoming<\/em> is in cinemas from 5 July. Get all the latest superhero news with every issue of SciFiNow.<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n