Recently we got our first real trailer for next summer’s Sony-Marvel team-up attempt with Spider-Man: Homecoming. If you haven’t seen the trailer yet, see below:

While this movie makes swing #3 for Sony at getting this character/franchise right, and is a bold partnership on Marvel’s part to integrate into their nearly flawless MCU, I think that this will not be a strike-out for the team and I see some choices in the recent trailer that give me hope that I’m right.

Fortunately not a third attempt at an origin, this film does rewind the clock a bit by making Peter Parker a younger (and believable) high schooler than previously depicted. And while it seems like they are being decently faithful to Stan Lee’s and Jack Kirby’s original vision of Spidey (e.g., adding the under-arm webs for gliding, keeping the webbing mechanical), there are some departures from the ’60s version that long-time fans might question. But I’d argue these are not only closer to canon than some might think, they are also the keys to success that this spire of the Marvel castle needs to reach the sky.

First, let me address some of the supposed points of divergence that I’ve heard raise:

1. Tony Stark as Peter/Spidey’s mentor. While this type of thing was not prevalent in the older comics (partially due to timing of these titles – Spider-Man predates Iron Man and crossovers were less common in that era), it has been a thing we’ve seen in more modern story arcs in the comics – most notably in the lead-up to the first Civil War comic event and a good way through it. This paradigm worked well enough on the pages that it was also mirrored in the Disney XD Spider-man cartoon (which also features a teenaged Spidey).
2. Ned Leeds as Peter’s in-the-know BFF. In this case, there is no precedent for this in the comics. Ned Leeds was a friend to Peter Parker before he later became the Hobgoblin – even choosing Peter as his best man when he was to marry Betty Brant – but this relationship was fostered after high school at the Daily Bugle and didn’t involve Ned knowing Pete’s alter ego or helping him deal with his dual identity as this trailer implies. But there is a character who fits that archetype in the comics for an alternate version of Spidey – Ganke Lee vis a vis Miles Morales in the Ultimate Marvel Comics universe (and now the 616 universe as well since they merged them). One might argue “why not save Ganke for an actual Miles Morales in this version?”, and perhaps they will have such a character eventually, but for now I think this is not only an acceptable divergence, but an important one that I welcome.

Here is where I get into the brilliance of these choices. So far we’ve seen two iterations of Spider-Man on the big screen, and both were flawed in their depiction of both halves of his dual identity. Tobey Maguire’s Peter was decent (until #3), but his Spidey was underwhelming. Andrew Garfield’s Spidey depiction was better and quippier, but his broody skater Peter was too far from the mark. Tom Holland has already started to prove he hits both marks well in his brief intro in Captain America: Civil War, but a key ingredient in playing both roles well is exposition. The comics handle this well because we get Spidey’s thoughts. While his banter is an important character trait, it’s difficult to depict how much goes through his head on the screen without narration (and I doubt any of us really want too much of that) or breaking the 4th wall (which works for Deadpool, but might seem copycat-ish if done with Spidey). By including Tony Stark as a mentor and confidante, and turning Ned into a Ganke to Peter’s Miles, it gives this film an opportunity to vocalize some of that exposition that would otherwise be trapped in his head with no way to express other than an unmasking for facial expressions. And as such, I see this as a bold and smart move for this film and hopefully the many that follow it.

It is certainly way too early to know whether this will in fact work well for the film, but I’m definitely hopeful and optimistic. Only time will tell, but I’m confident that, if done right, these maneuvers are choices that can make Spider-Man great again!

Don’t forget to check out the latest Super Hero Speak: http://superherospeak.com/wp/185-ersos-eleven/