Marvel Fan Creates Awesome VHS Copy of Spider-Man: Homecoming

Fan art based on Marvel movies is nothing new, and given the Captain Marvel/Blockbuster Video connection, even fan-made VHS art isn’t anything new (says the guy who’s made a couple). But committing the film itself to an actual VHS tape is some next-level stuff, and that’s exactly what one Redditor has done with Spider-Man: Homecoming, the first installment in Jon Watt’s Sony/Marvel Studios Spider-Man collaboration series. Using ’90s-era Columbia, Marvel, and Spider-Man logos, Devaughn’s Tapes took to the Marvel Cinematic Universe subreddit to share his masterpiece. As you might expect, plenty of fans are already asking how they can get their hands on one.

The VHS format has been largely irrelevant since 2003, when DVD started really dominating the market, although there were some commercially released tapes from major studios until 2006. Ironically, the last mainstream VHS release was a comic book movie: director David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence, adapted from the graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke.

You can see the Spidey tape here:

Devaughn’s Tapes apparently has turned custom VHS tapes into a cottage industry, with not only an Instagram feed full of photos of the work, but a website where fans can get on board. With attention to detail in the packaging, the tapes are essentially sold not so much a “a bootleg copy of the movie” but as a collectible piece of art. You can even sign up for a monthly box that ensures you don’t miss a key tape drop.

Recently, one of those drops was a six-tape run of Avengers: Endgame, complete with period-appropriate box art.

The VHS market still exists for hardcore collectors. Much of it is B-grade (and lower) movies produced to order or in very small print runs, although companies like Witter Entertainment will sometimes get the rights to make a print run based on cult hits like Mandy or Yoga Hosers. A documentary, Rewind This!, was released in 2013 and tracked the history of the videocassette and a look at the people who still love and collect it. The last mass produced VHS players rolled off the line three years later, in 2016.

The home video industry, particularly Blockbuster Video, has enjoyed something of a nostalgic renaissance in recent years, although that hasn’t necessarily helped the remaining mom and pop video stores (or Family Video, the last remaining chain) weather the challenges of an ever-changing market and a global pandemic.