What To Expect From Spider-Man In Civil War
Now that the final Captain America trailer has given us our long-awaited first glimpse of Tom Holland as the Marvel Cinematic Universe's new Spider-Man, it's time to take a look at the amazing wall-crawler's influence on Tony and Steve's big feud. Power down the repulsors and drop the shield for a minute as we look into how Spider-Man will fit into Captain America: Civil War.
He's a kid, and that's a good thing (we think)
The obsession with youth in the Spider-Man movies has become something of a running joke, particularly as we've seen the part of Aunt May go from elderly woman (like the comics) to middle-aged cutie (Marisa Tomei in the upcoming reboot). Tom Holland won't even be 20 when Civil War debuts, making him the pipsqueakiest Spider-Man yet, but this could actually make quite a bit of sense from a storyline perspective.
In the Civil War comics, Spidey is essentially the reader's proxy, grappling with the various thorny sides of the very complex debate at the heart of the story. What would our world look like if superpowered beings walked (and/or flew) among us? Should we force them all into registering their powers and secret identities? That's the crux of the debate that splits our heroes in the movie, and in the comics, Spider-Man was at the literal and figurative center, evolving his position as the war raged on. That kind of flexibility is far more believable coming from a kid, so as much as we've grown to be wary of rebooting and de-aging franchise characters, this is one film where it could end up making quite a bit of sense.
He's on Iron Man's side (at first, anyway)
The new Spider-Man makes his first appearance at the end of the trailer, when Tony Stark cuts short a disagreement with Captain America by hollering for "Underoos"—his nickname for Spidey, who leaps into the frame after webbing up Cap's hands and stealing his shield. This is a basic reflection of his relationship with Stark in the beginning of the Civil War comics, which started during a period in which Spider-Man was working very closely with Iron Man (and even got some new duds from him). Perhaps Peter Parker is getting a student internship at Stark Industries?
It looks like he'll be wearing his original uniform
The Civil War comic gave us the debut of Spider-Man's "Iron Spider" costume, a Stark-designed, souped-up version of his suit that added a bunch of gizmos and extra functionality (including extra appendages). Judging from this brief clip, we won't be seeing it in the movie, but you never know—it could pop up later in the film.
Tom Holland's making more than just a cameo
Marvel could have gotten around the fact that Sony owns the movie rights to Spider-Man by giving another character his basic function in the big-screen version of the story. As we saw with Ultron's revised origin story in Age of Ultron, they're not averse to switching things up on the way from the printed page to theaters. Since people tend to be more impressionable at younger ages, Spidey's the perfect hero to end up caught in a tug o' war between ideological divides. After watching this trailer, we're betting Captain America: Civil War takes full advantage of that.
Still, expect some differences from the comics
Comics, like soap operas, have the advantage of longevity to build up the suspension of disbelief. Once you've been immersed in a canvas of characters long enough, you can accept even the most outlandish actions, because they correspond with a long chain of other events. Movies, even interconnected ones like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, have to play by a different set of rules, which is why we'd be surprised if Spider-Man's Civil War journey contained every plot point from the comics.
At one point in the comic series, Stark pressures Spidey into revealing his secret identity, and eventually convinces him that it'll be exactly what the public needs to feel at ease with the passage of the Superhero Registration Act, which Captain America and his team openly opposes. At a press conference, Spider-Man takes off his mask and shows the world he's really Peter Parker, which has all kinds of ramifications. While Spider-Man undid his problems in a convoluted comic storyline later on, we have a feeling Peter Parker won't be revealing his face to the public in the film.
Nevertheless, we're still going crazy over Spidey's Marvel Cinematic Universe debut: