It’s another Wednesday, it’s another week that I looked at the comics on sale and it’s another week that I let out a little sigh and only ordered one. Figured I wouldn’t dedicate a whole blog to that one comic, nor would I dedicate a whole blog to why I’m not buying more comics at the moment. Instead I thought about a few other subjects for this Wednesday night entry, based on last week’s Justice League blog, and decided I would write not about a future film but instead one that’s already been and has almost left it’s cinema run now (although I notice a few cinemas are still showing it). That film, of course, is the latest from Marvel Studios, their first co-produced release with Sony, and the first of a potential third attempt at an on-going franchise for Sony, Spider-Man: Homecoming.
What is there to talk about? Well, actually there are a few different subjects ranging from its performance at theatres (especially when compared to previous Spider-Man films) to its critical reviews to the enjoyment it gave us, hopes for the future and indeed whether Sony and Marvel are even going to work together for another film in the series. Quite honestly I was impressed they managed it once, and I’ve been wondering with the news about Sony’s plans for other films just how long that’ll last. But let’s not waste any more time and get on with this, shall we?
Commercial Success
There have been numerous articles written about Spider-Man: Homecoming’s commercial success, with many dubbing it only a mixed success. It’s hard to argue against that point, unfortunately.
I would love to sit here and type out a dozen reasons why Sony should be thrilled with the money they made on this but… that’s hard to do. While the film made a lot of money worldwide during its run in theatres it’s unfortunately failed to reach the kind of levels of success as films that have come before it, both in the previous Spider-Man trilogy and duology and in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Thus far, with its run quickly coming to an end, Spider-Man: Homecoming has made $724.9 million worldwide, which isn’t a bad amount of money by any stretch of the imagination… but it’s probably less than Sony were hoping for. They had reasons to set their hopes high as well, after all the first film of a new franchise for them previously has done well. The first Spider-Man film raked in an impressive $821.7 million worldwide, while Amazing Spider-Man raked in a still impressive $757.9 million. That makes this film a drop on both previous incarnations, which can’t have pleased the money-hungry people at Sony.
What’s worse, from Marvel’s point of view, is that the film is only the 7th highest grossing film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It pales in comparison to the Avengers films, which grossed $1.518 billion and $1.405 billion respectively, and rank 1 and 2 in the highest grossing MCU films list. Third in that list is Iron Man 3, which pulled in a staggering $1.214 billion. Third, also topping the billion-dollar-mark, was Captain America: Civil War, which grossed an impressive $1.153 billion. Not bad figures from the supposedly smaller properties, right? And they all have Robert Downey Jr. starring in them as a connection, so with that in mind one would hope his appearance in Spider-Man: Homecoming would have helped. However, fifth on the list of highest grossing films is this year’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, with a very impressive $862.6 million worldwide gross. And sixth on the list was the unexpected smash hit Guardians of the Galaxy, which tops the list of debut MCU films at $773.3 million. Spider-Man: Homecoming therefore only sits 7th overall, just ahead of Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($714.3m) and Doctor Strange ($677.7m), with Thor: The Dark World ($644.6m – figures courtesy of Box Office Mojo) completing the top ten.
That has to make painful reading for Sony. What’s worse, from their point of view, is that it’s merely the 5th highest grossing Spider-Man film to date, beating out the massively disappointing Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($709m) but losing out to every other film, especially the Sam Rami trilogy, which grossed a combined $2.495 billion. The amount of money the films make can hardly be a solid indicator of the film’s quality, especially considering the absolute worst film in the six – Spider-Man 3 – is the one that actually made the most money worldwide ($890.3m). Sony won’t care about the quality of the films though, they’ll only care about the amount of money that people are paying, and that makes Spider-Man: Homecoming a disappointment. We can but hope that they consider the various reasons for this, which includes the abundance of superhero films released lately, the competition it’s faced from some other movies, and the fact that Amazing Spider-Man 2 was so disappointing that it’s entirely possible people simply didn’t want to risk the next one being a waste of their money. Will that make a difference to them? We can only hope!
Critical Success
While commercially the film may not have lived up to what Sony had hoped for it, critically they can surely have no complaints. But do they care about the opinions if it doesn’t make as much money as they hoped for?
You should know that when I talk about stats for this I’ve gotten them all from my favourite review site (which should be yours as well), Rotten Tomatoes. And it’d be hard to compare this film to others in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in terms of the critical reviews because of how well, with audiences and with critics, the other MCU films have done. Even their less successful films, like the co-production with Universal of The Incredible Hulk, scored far better than Universal’s solo attempt at a Hulk film. It does seem at the moment that Marvel have found a formula which works for their characters, actors who work in the roles, and are rarely having a misstep. Spider-Man: Homecoming was another massive success for them in that department. It’s comparable with the very best MCU films in terms of reviews, in terms of the Tomatometer, and in terms of audience scores. In fact it’s lost out in its score at present (an impressive 92% at the time of writing) to only Iron Man and The Avengers. It also has a staggeringly high audience score, at 90%, again putting it in the upper echelon of Marvel Cinematic Universe films.
It’s when we compare it to the other Spider-Man films that we see the true magnificence of Spider-Man: Homecoming in this department. It’s second in the overall Tomatometer, losing out to only Spider-Man 2 (which scored 94%), and smashing every other film in terms of audience rating (Spider-Man 2, the second highest, only managed 82% in comparison to Homecoming’s 90%). To put that in perspective, Spider-Man has 89% on the Tomatometer and 67% with the audience, Amazing Spider-Man has 72% on the Tomatometer and 77% with the audience, and Spider-Man 3 and Amazing Spider-Man 2 score just 63% and 52% respectively on the Tomatometer and 51% and 65% with audiences. There can therefore be no doubt that Spider-Man: Homecoming hit it out of the park with the critics and the audience alike, so you’ve got to therefore believe when those numbers got back to Sony they were very happy with them. Perhaps that’s why they were equally as disappointed with the box office return because their best film couldn’t return the best amount of money for them. However, when this hits Blu-ray and DVD surely it’ll sell very well, and surely that’ll stop Sony from making any very stupid decisions, right?
My Opinion
Having looked at the two performance indicators for the film now it’s time to talk a little about how I felt about it and I won’t lie: I honestly believe this was the best Spider-Man film by far.
I left the cinema with my friend with a huge smile on my face, talking about things I liked about the film and trying desperately to find fault in it and just couldn’t. There were things I was surprised by, for example the lack of many of the “regular” supporting cast for Peter, but when I thought about that for a few moments I struggled to say it was a bad thing. It wasn’t. It helped make the film a little fresher than a rehash of the old gang again, and it gives us so much to look forward to in the future. If you talk to any comic book fan who’s followed Spider-Man throughout the years and you ask them for the single most iconic Mary Jane moment I’d bet most of them will say it was her introduction and her iconic line to Peter informing him that he “just hit the jackpot”. We didn’t waste such a brilliant moment on the first film. We didn’t get a watered down version of Mary Jane. We didn’t get a high-school version of Gwen Stacy. We did get Flash Thompson, but what would high-school be without everyone’s favourite high-school bully? And instead we got new characters – many of whom seemed inspired by Miles Morales’ supporting cast, rather than Peter Parker’s – which made the film feel fresher and more exciting, not least of all because unknown supporting cast means that any of them could have died at any point!
When it came to the villains I had no complaints as well. I was thrilled – THRILLED – that we didn’t see another version of the Osborns. After their rushed introduction into Amazing Spider-Man 2 the last thing this film needed was a third reimagining of them. We also didn’t get a reimagining of any villain we’d seen before either. Instead we got a very interesting new take on a classic villain, fantastically played by the brilliant Michael Keaton, which tied in so brilliantly with the Marvel Cinematic Universe that it was both ludicrously simple and fantastically suited. He was a villain I genuinely enjoyed, and one that I even sympathised with the motivations of. He didn’t start out trying to be evil. He was just trying to make a living and trying to do right by his family. He got screwed over and was left with very little other choice due to mounting financial pressure, and oh boy did he come up with a perfect solution! Using the tech from previous Marvel adventures was an act of sheer brilliance from the writers. And the costume for the Vulture, that intimidating suit, was possibly my favourite ever incarnation of the classic villain. Plus tying in The Shocker was great as well, and the incredibly subtle use of Phineas Mason (The Tinkerer) and Mac Gargan (The Scorpion/Venom) was a work of brilliance, leaving the door open for a future debut of Scorpion, or not, depending on how the writers want to progress that.
The thing that made this film though was the story. It wasn’t over the top. It wasn’t jam-packed full of action. It just worked as a wonderfully laid out storyline showing the progression of a young Peter Parker who’s learning to be Spider-Man in a world full of far more experienced heroes. The appearances of Tony Stark, Happy Hogan and even Pepper Potts (yes, Pepper Potts was in it! She and Tony have made up!!) weren’t shoved down our throats or in there to steal the limelight but instead there to provide guidance for the plot and more than a few good laughs along the way. The story was funny and serious in the perfect balance, and Peter exploring the functionality of the suit we saw him given in Captain America: Civil War, and then losing that suit when he disobeyed Stark only to have to return to his original Spider-Man hoodie, made it one of the most perfectly balanced and – as already stated – simply best Spider-Man films to date. Not to mention the acting of Tom Holland was perfect for this role, so, so, so much better in terms of casting than Toby Maguire in the original trilogy, in my opinion, as the sense of humour of Spider-Man this time around was far more like the Spider-Man I fell in love with reading (and watching) as a child.
It’s rare that I can watch a film and not offer any serious criticism when it’s over. Hell, even in Captain America: Civil War, which I loved, I offered a few criticisms when the movie was over. I really do struggle to say what I’d have changed this time, however. The ending of the film is one thing I would definitely not change under any circumstances, as it was not only one of the single most laugh-out-loud moments in any Marvel movie but also one of the greatest teases for a sequel that we’re ever likely to get. If you haven’t seen the film and don’t know what I’m talking about then I won’t spoil that for you, you’ll just have to watch it for yourself and enjoy the brilliance of that moment. Oh, plus the various cameos by Chris Evans as Captain America were also just out of this world funny. Those I will spoil. He doesn’t appear in the actual narrative of the film but rather in pre-recorded videos throughout Peter’s high school, in full Captain America gear, talking to the kids in the hopes of inspiring them in various subjects, with a joke after one of them that he’s now a war criminal and the teachers have no idea why they’re still forced to play the videos. Honestly, the sense of humour of the film is just spot on.
What Happens Next?
Early rumours were that Sony and Marvel had already planned the sequel, but will that happen? And with Sony planning so many other projects, how will those affect Spider-Man’s future?
It’s no secret that Sony wants more films. They’ve already started casting their first Venom film, and while I’m excited about the idea of Tom Hardy playing Venom (and presumably Eddie Brock, but possibly Flash Thompson or possibly someone else entirely?) in comparison to the Spider-Man 3 casting choice, I’m still worried about what this film means for Spider-Man. Will this version of Venom be based on Spider-Man? Will it be the same alien symbiote we saw in Spider-Man 3 or something new? And if so, will we get a link to Tom Holland’s version of Spider-Man or will the connection to Spider-Man be implied but not explicitly stated? Weirder still, will we see another incarnation of Spider-Man in this film (Toby Maguire, Andrew Garfield or even someone else entirely?) to make the connection to Spider-Man more complete? All of those things worry me, as honestly the last thing we need is to potentially confuse audiences. The fact that we have two X-Men casts simultaneously (Patrick Stewart still playing Xavier in Logan, despite the fact that the main X-Men movies have moved on with the First Class cast) has confused people – and created a joke in Deadpool – so I’m not overly keen on the idea of doing it again with two versions of Spider-Man, and I’m definitely not keen on tying this Venom film into the MCU indirectly by having Tom Holland appear, especially since an MCU version of Venom in the future could be amazing!
Then there’s the other rumours about a future Black Cat film, the fact that Sony don’t seem to have learned from the mistakes they made with Amazing Spider-Man 2 and are STILL talking about a future Sinister Six film, and all the other various rumours that seem to circulate with Sony desperately doing all they can to try to squeeze every penny out of their Spider-Man movie rights. It’s entirely possible that not only could they affect the future of their new franchise by attempting to link in all these off-shoot movies, none of which I’m filled with confidence in, but it’s also possible they could ruin future plots of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man by destroying potential characters before they’ve gotten a chance to appear. A Black Cat solo film, for example, is just a bad attempt to make money, and would be far better left to Marvel Studios to introduce Felicia Hardy in one film, turn her into Black Cat in another film, and then – and even then only maybe – talk about a solo project. Venom, in my opinion, is in the same boat. After his terrible movie debut why force out another film that could be equally as ill-thought-out? Why not talk to Marvel Studios and see what a Kevin Feige co-produced film could offer them? Think about how cool a Venom introduced into the MCU could be? Think about how much fun we could get from a Tom Hardy villain going up against a Tom Holland Spider-Man, and THEN spinning off into his own franchise.
Not only is it possible Sony could be killing future villains, future subplots and future fun we could get from Spider-Man films by trying to milk the movie rights for all their worth (if they want a Black Cat movie why not just create a new character? It’s not like Black Cat actually has any name value outside of Spider-Man fans) but it’s also possible they may not even cooperate with Marvel in terms of the sequel. The deal they have with Marvel is that they still make the final decisions on any future films… so what decisions could they make for the sequel? It’s not unthinkable that they could try to force in 5 new characters they hope to make money off separately, is it? It’s not unthinkable that they could choose the worst possible actors or actresses for major roles. And, as far as I know, it’s even possible that they could decide to do Spider-Man films from here without even involving Marvel Studios, which would just be a horrible mistake. Would they do that? I don’t know, but I’m genuinely worried that the amount of money the film made might see them doing something stupid, and honestly that would just be sad.
Hopes For The Future
Now that I’ve got my fears for the future out, let’s talk about my hopes for the future of the MCU version of Spider-Man. I could talk about that all day, so I’ll try to keep this short.
First off, the most obvious hope is a hope for a sequel. The rumours here are good, but nothing is set in stone as far as I’m aware and until filming starts I’m going to remain worried. What I have heard regarding a sequel though is we’re not going to get anything as dumb as “Spider-Man: Homecoming 2”, but that they’re going to keep with the subtitles rather than adding numbers this time. I’ll assume that the subtitles will therefore be linked to the plot of the film, which could be fun and will be impossible to guess until we get more about the actual plot. I like this idea. It follows the same pattern as Captain America (The First Avenger, The Winter Solider and Civil War) and personally I think that makes for more fun marketing than the inclusion of numbers. But assuming we get a sequel, what can we hope for in it? I’d imagine that Marvel won’t repeat the mistakes made before, but it’d be nice to see their interpretations of the classics.
When it comes to villains my biggest hope is to see an introduction for Doctor Octopus. It’s still way, way too soon to have another Green Goblin. We could potentially talk about a Hobgoblin, following the same plot as the 90’s animated series and having the Hobgoblin funded by and receiving his weapons from a Norman Osborn-run Oscorp, but I’d shy away from this until possibly a fourth film just because we’ve had goblin-overload from four of the previous five. We’ve only had one version of Doc Ock, and that was far from a disappointment. A new version would be more than welcome, preferably without a death at the end this time. Something like the animated version would be very welcome as I loved that version as a child, and keeping him alive not only sets up all kinds of classic Doc Ock vs. Spider-Man plots from the comics but also keeps even the possibility of a Superior Spider-Man movie in the future open. While I think we’re at least a decade from that, an introduction for Doc Ock would at least keep that as a possibility, and if they get a good enough actor who we all want to see return in the role then why not look at that as the plot of a fifth or sixth film? I have a few others I’d like to see (not least of all Kraven the Hunter) but I’ll save that for a future blog.
My next hope for the sequels is an introduction of more of Peter’s regular cast, including both Mary Jane AND Gwen Stacy. As much as I’d like to see an introduction of Harry Osborn as well I’m just not sure about that given his prominence in the previous films. I think possibly using Flash in that role instead, or creating a new character with all of Osborn’s traits but without his connection to the Goblin legacy, would be the way to go there. This does depend on when in Peter’s life the sequel takes place, however. If he’s still in high school then I’d shy away from this, but if he’s just starting college and therefore has a chance of meeting new people then why not go for Flash happening to end up at the same college, Liz Allen as his girlfriend, the Harry Osborn-replacement character introduced, Aunt May trying to set Peter up with a friends’ daughter/niece, or a neighbour wanting to set Peter up with their daughter/niece, Mary Jane, who also happens to be in the same college and perhaps ends up dating the Harry replacement, and of course the lovely Gwen Stacy introduced as another classmate. You don’t need to rush to a romantic storyline either. You could set up a situation where Peter has a date with Mary Jane, set up by the aforementioned connection to his life, only he fails to show up due to Spider-Man duties. Same could even go with Gwen. Rather than forcing Peter into a relationship, why not put the Parker luck on full display when it comes to the ladies? One thing’s for sure though, if we’re going to get Gwen then DON’T KILL HER. Not yet at least. We’ve seen that in the films as well, and it was HORRIBLY done. If we’re going to repeat that then we need to wait a while… and even then, why not add a twist and make someone else die? Mary Jane is dispensable now, isn’t she?
My final hope for the future is for a twist on the comic books to occur. For those who don’t know there’s a comic book character named Silk, real name Cindy Moon, who’s origin is that she just so happened to have been bitten by that very same spider that bit Peter on that fateful day. She has a whole story in the comics that I don’t think you could repeat in the movies, but the idea that there could be a Cindy Moon out there in the Homecoming movies is a very exciting one. The problem that you have with Cindy is that… she’s not that popular. She was intriguing when she was introduced but her first major storyline in the comics kind of overshadowed Cindy by introducing us to an alternative world in which it wasn’t Peter who was bit by a spider but a certain beloved blonde instead, creating that world’s version of Spider-Woman, and the incredible comic series Spider-Gwen. So, my idea for the future – having already spoken about Gwen as a classmate – is to mix these two stories together. Why not have Gwen Stacy in the Homecoming sequel, but give her Cindy Moon’s storyline? You could even have the same “undeniable attraction” between them that Cindy and Peter had when they first met, with Peter acting like a complete idiot around her in an attempt to impress her when he meets her at college, unable to take his eyes off her, and the thought originally be that he’s just infatuated until the villain – Doc Ock in my version – comes to the college in need of something from their science department, he traps Peter in amongst a bunch of classmates with no idea that Peter is Spider-Man and so Peter can’t do anything heroic without revealing his identity, and they’re saved not by Spider-Man but by a woman who’s covered her face in a makeshift mask instead.
I know I said previously about introducing the gang from the old-days of Spider-Man, and the same old coffee-serving hangout for our college kid gang, but introducing this twist on Gwen Stacy, mixing her with Cindy Moon, would completely change this version of Spider-Man into something we’ve never seen before. It would create a new franchise-worthy character for more Marvel/Sony projects moving forward (with her own cast, able to interact with the MCU characters as well), a strong female character for solo films (which Marvel currently lacks. Please let Captain Marvel be good), but also completely change everything we know about Spider-Man. His friends are different. His love interest is now different, because we’ve never seen Spider-Man/Spider-Woman relationship before. And Gwen’s future is now completely different. We could end up with Mary Jane dying, or just avoid that storyline completely in favour of exploring this new dynamic to a new degree. After all, nothing is ever going to have the same impact as that incredible Amazing Spider-Man #121 (which one day I will own), so why go that route? Then we could see “Spider-Woman” in the second Homecoming sequel in full, before launching into her own franchise thereafter. Oh, and Sony/Marvel, you’re welcome to use this idea if you give me credit for it, ok?
What do you guys think? What are your hopes for the future? Do you trust Sony in making movies using classic Spider-Man characters on their own? Do you think tying them into old versions of Spider-Man (even Andrew Garfield’s version) is a good idea? And what do you think about introducing a new take on Spider-Woman in the future? Let me know on Facebook (facebook.com/ajebdon) or Twitter (@AlexisEbdon).
Until next time, happy Comic Book Wednesday!