Since Tony Stark appeared in Peter Parker’s apartment in “Captain America: Civil War,” fans have wondered if Iron Man had unknowingly crossed paths with the boy who would become Spider-Man in previous Marvel Cinematic Universe adventures. Now Spidey himself, Tom Holland, has confirmed that Parker has a secret appearance in one of the earliest MCU titles, “Iron Man 2.”
As the fan theory states, there’s a scene in the climax of “Iron Man 2” in which a young boy wearing an Iron Man mask is confronted by one of Ivan Vanko’s robotic drones. The boy holds up a toy Iron Man glove as the drone aims its gun at him, when suddenly the real Iron Man shows up behind him and blasts the drone away. Iron Man turns to the boy and quips, “Nice job, kid!” before blasting off.
Since the scene took place at the Stark Expo in Queens, Parker’s home borough in New York, and would have fit right into the timeline at a point where Peter was still a kid, MCU fans have theorized that this chance encounter could have been possible. In an interview with ScreenCrush, Holland confirmed that the theory is now reality and that the boy Iron Man saves does indeed go on to get bit by a radioactive spider.
“I can confirm that as of today. I literally had a conversation with Kevin Feige only 20 minutes ago,” Holland said. “Maybe I’ve just done a big, old spoiler, but it’s out there now. It’s cool. I like the idea that Peter Parker has been in the universe since the beginning.”
Fans will get to see Parker swap out that toy Iron Man glove for web-shooters and fight evil with the man who once saved his life in “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” which opens July 7. Check out the scene from “Iron Man 2” in the clip below.