Spider-Man: Far From Home Writers Explain “Super Embarrassing” Peter Tingle

Spider-Man: Far From Home culminates with Peter Parker (Tom Holland) fully tapping into his [...]

By Cameron Bonomolo

Spider-Man: Far From Home culminates with Peter Parker (Tom Holland) fully tapping into his Spider-Sense for the first time, but writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers didn't want to play Spidey's danger alert system seriously — leading to Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) playfully calling the gift the "Peter Tingle."

"Somehow tingle came up. Spider-Tingle, and then [director Jon] Watts said Peter-Tingle," McKenna told The Hollywood Reporter. "That's horrible, yes! We have to use that. That's super embarrassing."

Added Sommers, "It's just the kind of thing your aunt would call it that would embarrass you."

When facing off against Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) and his army of killer drones in London, Spider-Man closes his eyes and leans into the "Peter Tingle" — saving the day when he trusts his senses over his own eyes, lest they be fooled by Mysterio's deceptions.

The not-so-serious name change also came as part of an effort to incorporate Spider-Man's iconic ability without directly naming it the "Spider-Sense."

"We were always struggling to be a little more nuanced about it or a little sideways about this special power of his without being on the nose and calling it 'Spider-Sense,'" McKenna previously told TheWrap.

"Well do we call it nothing? What do we call it? Do we go for something that's more of a joke name?" added Sommers. "And I assure you, we went around and around and tried all different kind of things."

The writers also considered having Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), who acts as a sort of chaperon at times for Peter and his classmates during their trek across Europe, be the one to ultimately give the MCU's Spider-Sense its name.

"We definitely had some scenes where Happy was stumbling through different descriptions of trying to think of a thing to call it himself," Sommers said.

"We liked Peter Tingle because it's like your aunt calls it something, and that's the last thing you want it called, so then, of course, she doubled down and that's what she's calling it, and she tells someone else, and that's what they're calling it. It's very authentic teen life."

Spider-Man: Far From Home is now playing.

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