Longtime Spider-Man Writer Attended The High School From Spider-Man: Homecoming

Veteran Spider-Man writer Howard Mackie, who helped shape the character from 1992 until 2001, took to Facebook this week to reveal that he went to the same high school that is used for exterior shots in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Mackie, who also wrote stories based on a cemetery in the same neighborhood during his time at Marvel, joked about some bits of trivia on the film’s IMDb page, suggesting that while it reached to make the building relevant to readers, it missed the easy answer: a longtime Spider-Man writer went there and lived down the street.

Per Wikipedia, “In 1992, Mackie became the regular writer of Web of Spider-Man with #85. He would remain on various Spider-Man titles through the Clone Saga. In January 1999, Mackie became the writer of both The Amazing Spider-Man and the Peter Parker: Spider-Man series when those two titles were relaunched with new first issues. Mackie left the Spider-Man franchise with The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 2, #29 in May 2001.” During that same era, fellow New York natives J.M. DeMatteis and Todd Dezago worked on the Spider-Man titles as well.

Here’s how Mackie described his reaction to the IMDb material:

“One of my favorite bits of Spider-Man: Homecoming trivia on the IMDb: ‘The exterior shot of Peter Parker’s High School is Franklin K. Lane High School, which is located on the Brooklyn and Queens border. The New York Daily News March 8, 2004 front headline label FKLHS the ‘City’s Worst School,’” Mackie posted to Facebook. “Some notable alumni are: William “Red” Holzman (NBA), Richie Havens (singer-songwriter, guitarist), DJ Spinderella (of Salt-n-Pepa), and John Gotti.’ You know who else graduated from Franklin K. Lane? A guy who wrote Spider-Man for about 10 years.”

But that’s not all: Mackie, who also spent years writing Ghost Rider and co-created the Danny Ketch version of the antihero, added, “Franklin K.Lane borders a cemetery. The Cypress Hills cemetery. The cemetery in which most of another Marvel property was set…Ghost Rider. Written by the same writer — who happens to have lived two blocks from Franklin K. Lane.”

Avengers: Endgame is in theaters now. Spider-Man: Far From Home will land in theaters on July 2nd.