Spider-Man: Homecoming: Why Spider-Man Will Need His Web Wings

Comic-Con Experience 2016 in Brazil was the venue where Marvel Cinematic Universe fans got their first look at Spider-Man: Homecoming footage. The description of the preview revealed that Tony Stark will provide Peter Parker with a new upgraded suit, one that will incorporate a classic comic book design element: web wings.

Truthfully, they’re more like “gliders” that look like patches of web under Spider-Man’s armpits. Nonetheless, they’re a costume element that we have yet to see in a live-action movie, but they’re certainly something that could be very relevant in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Here’s why.

The Vulture

The most obvous reason for Spider-Man to get an aerodynamic upgrade to his suit is to battle one of the main the villains in the film: The Vulture (Michael Keaton).

What we’ve seen of Vulture’s costume suggests that the villain’s hi-tech upgrade in the movie will make him quite capable when it comes to aerial maneuvering and combat. In fact, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if Spidey’s first encounter with Vulture left him seriously outmatched, which leads to Tony Stark providing him with an upgraded suit in order to keep pace with his tech-enhanced foe(s).

In fact, one of the more subtle plot threads rumored for Homecoming is a sort of street-level tech race. What we’ve heard is that villains like The Tinkerer (Michael Chernus) are revealed to be hording Chitauri technology from the Battle of New York in Avengers, in order to enhance tech-based villains like Vulture and The Shocker (Bokeem Woodbine).

If that’s true, it only makes that much more sense for Spidey, Iron Man and their allies to reveal their own upgraded tech, in order to keep pace with the new threats. It would basically be a superhero version of the constant arms race between cops and crooks.

Teen Angst

The other reason we might see some good Spider-Man flying sequences in Homecoming would be something more thematically indulgent than narratively important: The subtitle “Homecoming” works as a double entendre that plays to Spider-Man joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but also to Peter Parker’s high school life.

With the cast and filmmakers all claiming that Homecoming will explore Peter’s existence as a modern teen, a Spider-Man flight sequence would be a thematic expression of freedom (or any other metaphor) in the same way that CGI Spider-Man “swinging sequences” existed in Sam Raimi’s trilogy, and “Spider-Man POV” existed in Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man.

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What do you think about Spider-Man having web-wings in Spider-Man: Homecoming? What kind of “Spidey flight” sequences do you want to see in the film? Let us know @ComicBookNOW and @KofiOutlaw

More Spider-Man: Homecoming: First Footage Described / Jacob Batalon Reveals Role / Will Liz Allan Be The Love Interest / Why Spider-Man Can Beat Batman / Michael Keaton’s Vulture Costume Analyzed

Doctor Strange is in theaters now, followed by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on May 5, 2017. Next up is Spider-Man: Homecoming on July 7, 2017, with Thor: Ragnarok landing on November 3, 2017. Black Panther debuts on February 16, 2018, followed by the eagerly anticipated Avengers: Infinity War on May 4, 2018. Ant-Man and the Wasp hits on July 6, 2018, with Captain Marvel finally hitting theaters on March 8, 2019.