20 facts you might not know about Spider-Man: Homecoming

While this is the first Spider-Man movie for Holland’s turn as the character, this is not where the character debuted. One year earlier, Holland showed up as Spidey in Captain America: Civil War.

After Sony decided they weren’t going to do another Andrew Garfield Spider-Man movie, they turned their attention to looking for a new actor. After having a couple of older Peter Parkers, they wanted somebody who could plausibly pass for 16. Actors that were considered include Logan Lerman, Timothee Chalamet, and Liam James. The final two under consideration were Asa Butterfield and Holland, with the latter winning.

The credited screenwriters for the movie are almost as long of a list as the main cast. A whopping six different people got writing credit for the movie. Although to be fair, that includes two writing teams. One of those teams — Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley — got the “story by” credit.

Jon Watts dipped his toe into the world of Spider-Man before getting the job. While under consideration for the gig, Watts created what he called “mood reels” that featured Nick Fury serving as Parker’s mentor. They may have worked because Watts ended up directing the movie.

Marvel bigwig Kevin Feige said the films of John Hughes served as an influence for Homecoming. Watts cited Cameron Crowe’s Say Anything… and Almost Famous among his inspirations in terms of coming-of-age films. On top of that, the character of MJ was inspired by Ally Sheedy’s character in The Breakfast Club, among others.

Mary Jane Watson, a.k.a. MJ, is a classic love interest of Peter Parker’s. Kirsten Dunst played her in the first Spider-Man trilogy. Upside-down kisses were had. However, Zendaya’s MJ is not that MJ. In fact, her name is Michelle. Since her character serves the same role in the story, they decided to call her MJ in homage.

Glover, who once campaigned to play Spider-Man, plays criminal Aaron Davis. He mentions a nephew in the movie, which was a nod to the comics. Aaron is the uncle of Miles Morales, a different take on Spider-Man. Since Homecoming, Morales has appeared in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which also featured his uncle Aaron.

In the world of Marvel, a lot of the baddies are like Ultron or Thanos. Watts didn’t want that. He wanted a “regular guy” as the villain to match Peter’s turn from a regular kid into a superhero. Additionally, this sort of villain could plausibly fall under the radar of the Avengers. Thus, Michael Keaton is the Vulture.

Principal Morita, the principal of Peter’s school, may look familiar. He’s played by Kenneth Choi, who also played Jim Morita in Captain America: The First Avenger. No, this wasn’t some were double casting. Principal Morita is the descendent of Jim Morita.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home featured producer Kirk Thatcher as a punk on the bus in a memorable moment. Homecoming decided to pay homage to that. Thatcher has a cameo as a punk in this movie, though admittedly an older one.

We didn’t need to see Peter’s Uncle Ben die again, did we? Homecoming seemed to agree. While Peter having an uncle is mentioned, Ben is never mentioned by name. Apparently, he was going to be in the lead-up to the homecoming dance, but they decided against it, feeling it was too much of a throwaway.

Keaton was going to play Vulture, but then there was a scheduling conflict with The Founder. While schedules moved around and Keaton was able to take the role, there was an intriguing replacement on deck. Mark Hamill was reportedly interested in playing the role if Keaton could not do it.

In previous iterations — and in the comics — Flash Thompson is a hulking football player. In this film, Flash is slightly less physically imposing but no less antagonistic to Peter. While Revolori may not have bulked up to linebacker size, he still put in the work to play Flash. Evidently, he gained 60 pounds for the role.

Big movies shoot under assumed titles to try to avoid heat and attention. The title chosen by the Homecoming production would have only served to entice Seinfeld fans further. It had the working title of “Summer of George,” a reference from the hit sitcom. And yet, nobody in the movie frolfs.

Iron Man’s computer system J.A.R.V.I.S. is voiced by Paul Bettany, who would go on to play Vision. Spider-Man’s suit has its own computer voice, Karen, voiced by Jennifer Connelly. Fittingly, these two voices are provided by a married couple, as Bettany and Connelly have been together for several years.

Adrian Toomes lampoons one of his henchmen for calling himself "The Shocker,” which would be odd if he called himself Vulture. While in the comics, Toomes goes by Vulture, he never calls himself that in the movie. The closest he comes to being called Vulture is when he is referred to as “that vulture guy.”

To get ready for the role of Peter Parker, Holland spent a few days “attending” the Bronx High School of Science. To avoid calling attention to himself, he used his acting coach’s name as a pseudonym.

We had gone through three Tobey Maguire films and two Andrew Garfield films. Would the audience want yet another take on Spider-Man? Evidently, yes. It made $880.2 million worldwide from a $175 million budget. That made it the second-highest-grossing Spider-Man movie.

More Spider-Man movies would happen, regardless of how well Homecoming did. Far From Home came out in 2019 and was a big success. That said, it all pales compared to No Way Home, which brought Maguire and Garfield back into the fold. It made $1.807 billion, making it the sixth-highest-grossing movie ever. Mind you, this was during the COVID-19 pandemic when box-office numbers have been down considerably.

At the end of 2021, it was announced that a Spider-Man TV show is coming to Disney+. Spider-Man: Freshman Year will focus on Peter Parker’s early days as Spider-Man. The series will be animated as well.