The future is bright for Peter Parker after Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Heat Vision was on the scene for the film’s Hollywood premiere, where the keepers of Spider-Man’s cinematic keys shared a few thoughts on what’s next for the wallcrawler following the film, which opens July 7 and stars Tom Holland as the titular hero, as well as Michael Keaton as the villainous Vulture.
Homecoming differentiates itself from previous big-screen versions of the character by keeping him rooted in high school. That’s something director Jon Watts, who has not officially signed on for the 2019 sequel, could see continuing following Spidey’s appearance in next summer’s Avengers: Infinity War. An untitled fourth Avengers film will also come out two months before the Homecoming sequel.
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“I think that would be a lot of fun. There’s still a lot of unexplored territory,” Watts told Heat Vision of keeping Spider-Man in high school. “To deal with the fallout of Infinity War and be a junior in high school, I think sounds like a pretty good movie to me.”
Homecoming pays homage to the high school classics of director John Hughes, but Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige said for him the goal wasn’t necessarily to make a high school movie.
“One of my favorite movies is Back to the Future. I don’t think of that as a high school movie. I think of it as a great adventure movie, which is what Spider-Man: Homecoming is,” said Feige. “But at the same time, having a Peter Parker, who is so different from our other heroes, that’s what Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created him to be in the early 60s, was an unbelievable counterpoint to all these other heroes. We want to maintain that and I don’t think we will be jumping ahead too much.”
Holland brings an extra dose of humor and spirit to the MCU, which already has big personalities in Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man and Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord.
“There’s a lot of laughing, there’s a lot of joking, it’s a lot of action,” Holland said of sharing the Infinity War set with so many larger-than-life characters. “But it’s really fun.”
But at the end of the day, the biggest stars were Spider-Man himself and his creators: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Lee walked the carpet along with his staff, stopping to sign autographs from adoring fans. During opening remarks, Watts recognized the writer and artist for kicking off something special all the way back in 1962.
Homecoming is the second of three films Marvel Studios has out in 2017 — the first time in its nine-year history it’s put out that many in a single year. They have three films a year out through 2019, but after that, who knows?
“Two a year is what we originally were sort of built as a studio to do. We expanded,” said Feige. “We have an amazing team, we felt comfortable going to three some years. I think it will always sort of vary.”
Spider-Man: Homecoming opens July 7.
