The sixth “Spider-Man” movie since 2002 skips a lot of the usual ground for the wall-crawler. It tosses the origin story, assumes you know a lot about Spider-Man’s history, and drops only a few hints about what happened in “Captain America: Civil War.” If you’re a casual Spidey fan, here’s your Spider-primer to get you ready for “Spider-Man: Homecoming.”
1. It’s not related to the other “Spider-Man” movies
While there were three Spider-Man movies starring Tobey Maguire and two with Andrew Garfield, “Spider-Man: Homecoming” has nothing to do with those. It’s an entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and follows that continuity, fitting into the timeline after “Captain America: Civil War” and tracking most closely to the “Avengers” and “Iron Man” movies.
2. This is New York after “The Avengers”
Key to the plot of “Spider-Man: Homecoming” is the Battle of New York, the big climactic battle at the end of “Avengers” (2012). That fight had the Avengers team battling aliens who came out of a dimensional gateway in the sky, and left a huge mess afterward. Plus, there’s a ton of powerful, scary alien technology on Earth, with lots of it littering the streets of New York in the aftermath. Everything that happens in this movie is because of that battle.
3. Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider six months before the movie
Spider-Man’s origin story is well-known: Radioactive spider bites Peter Parker (Tom Holland) at a lab during a school trip. He gets spider powers because of it, which include super strength and agility, and the ability to stick to walls. At the start of “Homecoming,” Peter has only been Spider-Man a short time — and he’s only 15 years old.
4. Peter’s Uncle Ben was killed
Essential backstory for Peter Parker is the death of his uncle, Ben, husband to his aunt May (Marisa Tomei). Peter blames himself because, canonically, he had a chance to stop the criminal who kills Ben but chooses not to. Ben’s death instills Peter with that “With great power comes great responsibility” feeling, and drives his inner need to protect people from bad guys.
5. Spider-Man built his web shooters
Unlike in the Tobey Maguire Spidey movies, here, as in the comics, Spider-Man’s web-slinging ability is mechanical — he made the shooters he wears on his wrists that let him swing through the city and tie up bad guys. He also has to make the fluid that becomes the webbing he fires — he does so in his school lab, as you’ll see in “Homecoming.”
6. Spidey fought in the Avengers’ ‘civil war’
Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), better known as Iron Man, recruited Peter Parker to help him stop Captain America (Chris Evans) in “Captain America: Civil War.” In that movie, Stark sought out Peter, who was doing low-level hero work in New York, and gave Peter his high-tech Spider-Man costume, an upgrade from the blue-and-red sweatsuit costume Peter made himself.
Tony also deflected his Aunt May’s worries by telling her Peter had won an internship with Stark Industries. Despite their efforts, Captain America escaped the fight in Civil War, and Spider-Man was brought back home, hoping to be called up to help the Avengers again.
7. The other students at Peter Parker’s school are way less white than they used to be
Pretty much all of the other students and faculty at Midtown Science High are traditionally white in the comics. But in “Homecoming” the faces you’ll see are a lot more diverse even those they’re largely the same characters that have always been a part of Peter’s high school life — most notably Flash Thompson (Tony Revelori) and Liz Allen (Laura Harrier, pictured), and one extremely important character you’ll need to keep your eyes and ears peeled for. Likewise Peter’s best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) in the movie was originally a white guy Peter met at the Daily Bugle.
