Will We See the Iron Spider Costume in Captain America Civil War?

Ever since Sony and Marvel announced their new partnership that involves essentially time-sharing [...]

iron-spider-man-armor
(Photo: Marvel Comics)

Ever since Sony and Marvel announced their new partnership that involves essentially time-sharing the character of Spider-Man between Sony Pictures solo films and Marvel Studios team movies, rumors have been flying. The question everything stems from is, of course, how will Spider-Man fit into the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

The first step was casting a new Spidey, which they did with Tom Holland. Then, it was a matter of deciding where he'd show up first. The character will debut in Captain America: Civil War, a movie based on a comic book storyline that Spider-Man played a pivotal role in. There are also rumors that Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey, Jr.) could show up in the first Spider-Man solo movie birthed from this partnership.

That all begs the question of what Spidey's presence will be in Civil War, and how involved Tony will be in his new movie origin. If rumors that he'll be involved in making Spider-Man's film costume in the movie are true, that makes us think of a comic book costume that would certainly be a visual stunner on the big screen.

In the comics, Peter Parker, already an adult (he'll be a young teen in the movies), joined up with Tony Stark, Iron Man, in more ways than one. He joined Stark Industries as a scientist, and publicly supported Stark's stance for the Superhuman Registration Act. He revealed his identity to the public, and told the world that Peter Parker and Spider-Man were ready to take responsibility for their actions, and all other superhumans should too.

As part of this newfound alliance, Tony helped Peter design a new costume, dubbed the "Iron Spider." Sporting Tony's preferred red and gold colors, the costume included all sorts of gadgets, repulsors, and even extendable extra "spider legs."

So could we see that on the big screen? Maybe, but probably not in Captain America: Civil War. While Tony Stark taking an interest in the young Spider-Man makes a lot of sense, Marvel Studios is trying to establish this Spidey for a new era in the MCU. Doing a crazy, unrecognizable to most fans costume would only confuse the issue. For his first appearance, Marvel has to have a fairly classic red and blue costume, one of the most recognizable looks of any hero in the world, to say "hey, Spidey's here."

The Iron Spider only lasted a few months in the comics, too, and such gimmicks don't often get translated to film. One thing that could help its case was its presence on the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series, but even there it wasn't worn by Peter Parker. One thing that majorly hurts it as a possibility is how much it would look, on screen, like the Yellowjacket costume worn by the villain in Ant-Man. Yellow, armor, bug-looking outfit with extra insect-like legs out the back, plus beams and flight? Yeah, that's been done in the MCU already.

Ultimately, we're probably going to get some kind of half-way point here. Tony will offer young Peter some pointers, and maybe help him add some durability of some kind to his costume, but a full, spider-legged, repulsor-equipped armor costume is not very likely. Of course, Marvel has surprised us before, but this one would be a huge stretch.

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