Marvel

Did Spider-Man: Homecoming Reference One of the Most Controversial Parts of Marvel’s Civil War?

The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s take on Spider-Man was introduced during Captain America: Civil […]

The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s take on Spider-Man was introduced during Captain America: Civil War, a movie that loosely adapted Mark Millar and Steve McNiven’s controversial Marvel Comics series Civil War.

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The movie, one of the best-reviewed superhero films of all time, managed to avoid much of the controversy involved with the comics, for a number of reasons — one of which was that, unlike the Civil War: Front Line tie-in miniseries, there was never an implication that Tony Stark was using the superhero conflict to make money…

…of course, we get a little bit of that in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Toward the beginning of the film, Adrian Toomes, who had essentially mortgaged his future to take a job for the City of New York cleaning up after the events of Marvel’s The Avengers, was tossed out in favor of the newly-formed quasi-governmental Department of Damage Control.

Damage Control, in turn, was overseen by Tony Stark, who as Iron Man had created many of the messes that he was going to be cleaning up and salvaging.

When Toomes sees a report on the news that connects Stark to Damage Control, he says something like “Now the guys who made the mess get to get rich cleaning it up,” something that…well, yeah. That’s a bit of a conflict of interest, right?

In the aforementioned Civil War: Front Line, Ben Urich and Peter Parker hack into the computers of Tony Stark’s accounting firm to discover that Tony Stark has used inside information to manipulate the stock market for personal gain. Eventually, Urich finally resigns from the Daily Bugle because he knows they won’t print what he’s discovered. It ultimately leads to Urich and another reporter, Sally Floyd, starting their own publication and developing a confrontational relationship with both Captain America and Iron Man.

What’s the difference?

Well, in the movies, even if you take it at face value that, yes, Iron Man is in a bunch of battles that he has a vested business interest in, it would be hard to argue that he broke any laws. Manipulating the stock market is a lot more on the legally-questionable side, even if Tony’s actions in Homecoming do a pretty solid job of making The Vulture’s concerns feel valid.

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.

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