5 Important Ways Spider-Man: Homecoming Sets Up The MCU’s Future

Spider-Man: Homecoming is another major success for Marvel Studios (and Sony), and as we’ve previously stated, the film pushes the Marvel Cinematic Universe forward in important ways.

In fact, Homecoming does more than just filling in the details of how everyday people have adjusted to the events of the MCU saga following the battles of New York and Sakovia in Avengers 1 & 2; through some clever use of dialogue and nonchalant references, the film actually sets up a lot of pieces for what’s to come in Avengers: Infinity War, and beyond.

While fans have been steadily picking out Marvel Easter eggs buried in Spider-Man: Homecoming‘s storyline, we identified 5 crucial teases of what’s to come that are definitely worth discussion.

Here are 5 Important Ways Spider-Man: Homecoming Sets Up The MCU’s Future.

New Underworld

The first and most obvious development that Homecoming adds to the MCU is the evolution of everyday criminals, who must now compete with superpowered crimfighters. 

Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) and his crew run a syndicate based on taking the technological advances of the MCU and converting them into weapons that street-level criminals can use to even the odds. Even though Peter shuts down the Vulture’s big aerial heist of Avengers Tower tech and weaponry, the real brains of the operation (Phineas Mason / The Tinkerer) is still at large, and presumably still operating. Even though The Shocker #2 (Bokeem Woodbine) is taken down by Peter (mostly Ned, really), he’s also never seen in the post-credits scene where Toomes and Mac Gargan are shown in jail. 

The progression of the MCU criminals has been slower than the rise of heroes – but after Spider-Man: Homecoming, it’s conceivable that the entire MCU underworld has gotten a serious upgrade.

More to the point: Those upgrades could very well lead to The Sinister Six villain team finally making it into the live-action action movies, as Sony has been trying to do for years now. 

MORE: How the Sinister Six Fit Into The MCU

Damage Control

 

One of the most most famous additions to the Marvel Comics Universe was Damage Control, a construction company that specializes in cleaning up after the destructive superhero/supervillain battles that rock the Marvel Universe on the regular. 

In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Adrian Toomes becomes The Vulture and leader of a criminal syndicate after Tony Stark forms his own version of Damage Control, and usurps Toomes’ city contract to be the one who cleans up the advanced and alien tech left behind after The Battle of New York. 

Now that Damage Control has been established in the MCU, it represents more than just a fun new element that can be explored in greater detail (like a TV series?); as we saw in Spider-Man: Homecoming, the materials that Damage Control collects and stockpiles have the potential to become much greater threats should they ever fall into the wrong hands – whether those hands are crooks like The Tinkerer, or even the government officials who might use them for less than benevolent ends. 

Factor in groups like A.I.M. and HYDRA, and it’s easy to imagine how the damage could eventually spin out of control. 

Avengers Tower

The Avengers have been upgrading their home base ever since the first film, but Spider-Man: Homecoming makes the almost nonchalant advancement of taking the iconic Star Tower (which became Avengers Tower) and retiring it from MCU continuity. 

One of Homecoming’s biggest subplots is Happy Hogan overseeing the clean up of Avengers Tower and getting the tech and weaponry safely to the new facility upstate (the new base first seen in Age of Ultron); however, there are several big questions that the film never really answers. 

Why Avengers Tower is being retired, and who the new tenant of that building is, are the two biggest immediate questions that come to mind – and we have some theories about the answers: 

MORE: Who Bought Avengers Tower?

In any event, this is a big advancement for The Avengers team, and the potential fate of Avengers Tower could potentially have major impact on the MCU, going forward. 

New Suit

Spider-Man: Homecoming spends a lot of time exploring the tech that Tony Stark put into Peter’s iconic Spider-Man costume from Captain America: Civil War – but at the end of the film, Stark reveals an even newer and more advanced version of the suit, which Peter declines… for now. 

While we don’t know the exact details of the new Stark suit, or which iconic suits from Marvel Comics it may be an adaptation of, we do know one thing: Marvel Studios doesn’t go through the trouble of designing flashy new superhero costumes with no intention of ever using them. 

Spider-Man’s new costume will most likely come into play during Avengers: Infinity War – though just how crucial it will be to the events of that film, remain to be seen. 

MORE: What Is Spider-Man’s New Costume?

New Shield

 

In another nonchalant moment during Spider-Man: Homecoming‘s third act, Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) is doing final inventory on the Avengers Tower clean out, and details a list of items that have yet to be loaded on the plane. 

Of those items, the one that stuck out the most with fans who were carefully listening was the “prototype for Cap’s new shield.” 

That line is of major significance to the next chapter of the MCU saga: Captain America left his Vibranium shield with Tony Stark at the end of Captain America: Civil War, out of respect for the fact that it rightfully belonged to Tony. With this line of dialogue in Spider-Man: Homecoming, it’s clear that the schism between Cap and Iron Man isn’t so wide anymore, as Tony clearly is working on replacing and/or enhancing his former friend’s iconic weapon. 

In fact, as we speculate, this moment in Homecoming could be setting up one of the most iconic moments from the classic “Infinity Gauntlet” storyline from Marvel Comics: 

MORE: What Is Captain America’s New Shield?

More Spider-Man

Have a theory on what other MCU advancements Spider-Man: Homecoming paves the way for? Let us know @Comicbook or @ComicbookNOW

• All of the Villains in Spider-Man: Homecoming
• All of Spider-Man’s New Costume Gadgets
• What is that New Costume at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming?
• Did Felicia Hardy Make An Appearance In Homecoming?
• Plans for The Sinister Six in the MCU
• The big Twist to Zendaya’s Character Confirmed
• Homecoming Has Massive Marvel Cinematic Universe Plot Hole

Spider-Man: Homecoming is in theaters now! Give it your personal rating below!

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 includes Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Zendaya, Donald Glover, JacobBatalon, Laura Harrier, Tony Revolori, Tyne Daly, Bokeem Woodbine, with Marisa Tomei, and Robert Downey Jr. It also includes Jon Favreau, Martin Starr, Kenneth Choi, Michael Mando, Selenis Leyva, Isabella Amara, Jorge Lendeborg, Jr., JJ Totah, and Hannibal Buress.