Here’s Why Spider-Man: Homecoming Reminded Robert Downey Jr. Of Iron Man

Even though Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) will only appear in five or six scenes in Spider-Man: Homecoming, his presence will surely be felt throughout the entire film — helping to further connect Sony’s rebooted Webhead (Tom Holland) to the MCU.

Since Peter Parker doesn’t have any other male figures in his life that he can look up to or understand what it’s like to be a burgeoning superhero, Tony fills that void as his mentor — or a big brother if you will. And with any mentor-pupil relationship like that, there will be plenty of teaching/learning moments.

As for Downey Jr., working on the film brings back memories of Iron Man, the 2008 film directed by Jon Favreau that launced the MCU. “Being back with Tom Holland and Jon Favreau, it’s just crazy,” he says in the featurette above. “And it reminded me of that kind of first Iron Man experience.” He adds later on, “It’s a straight forward Spider-Man movie. There’s always opportunities for heavy-hitters dropping in to kind of support him.”

As for Holland, he’s just so happy that his Captain America: Civil War co-star wanted to be part of his solo film. “[Director] Jon [Watts] rang me up and was like, ‘Robert’s gonna do it,’” he explained. “And I’m like, ‘That’s amazing! I thought it would take like a huge amount of persuading.’ And they were like, ‘Nope. We rang him up, we asked him and he said yes.’ He loved being here. He was like a happy little kid on-set.”

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A young Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland), who made his sensational debut in Captain America: Civil War, begins to navigate his newfound identity as the web-slinging super hero in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, Peter returns home, where he lives with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.). Peter tries to fall back into his normal daily routine – distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man – but when the Vulture (Michael Keaton) emerges as a new villain, everything that Peter holds most important will be threatened.

The cast features Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr., Zendaya, Donald Glover, Jacob Batalon, Laura Harrier, Tony Revolori, Tyne Daly, Bokeem Woodbine, Logan Marshall-Green, and Marisa Tomei.

The film is being directed by Jon Watts (Cop Car), based on a screenplay by Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley (Vacation reboot) and Jon Watts & Christopher Ford and Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers.

Spider-Man: Homecoming will be released on July 7, 2017.

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