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By: T. Olajide
The highly anticipated Spiderman Homecoming trailer was released yesterday, many fans have been excited about the reboot because of the inclusive casting choices and the rest of us who are ‘live action skeptics’ have grimaced at the thought of yet another horrible attempt at telling Peter Parker’s story.
I remember the face I made when I heard that there would be yet another reboot of one of my favorite comics, Spiderman. I had grown tired of over flogged, lazy and boring story lines that we had already seen a thousand times, I really wanted something fresh and I craved a complex storyline with exceptional production.
Now, on to Homecoming.
The trailer is short and sweet; I must say that it gives enough away without ruining the plot. We know these things from the trailer:
- Peter seems to be well versed in his role as a hero, and so I’m assuming that we aren’t starting at the beginning of the narrative — which is refreshing! The new suit really reinforces this too.
- He still desperately wants to become an avenger, while I enjoy the added dry humour and wit of Tony Stark, I think that it would be very inaccurate to chalk up all of Peter Parker’s efforts to simply wanting to be an Avenger — the bravado I’ve grown to love seems like it’s almost reduced to boyish recklessness. It would suck if we didn’t get to see the intuitive and honest Peter Parker, I don’t care for a kid who fools around just to hang out with the Avengers.
- We have a young Aunt May and we don’t have to see Uncle Ben die again, that’s a relief.
- Peter is into Liz Allan, and I am so excited for Laura Harrier to step into this role! Would it be mean if I said I didn’t like Liz Allan though? Maybe she will be more sensitive to Peter and not be as cold as the comics portray her to be? And hopefully, she sees him for who he really is before the suit and not after. #TeamMaryJane
- Speaking of Mary Jane, Marvel has really been pushing Tom and Zendaya but the trailer didn’t give us too much, many people are saying that Zendaya is playing Michele Gonzales and some fans are still waiting on the big MJ reveal. I don’t really know what to expect, but it would be interesting to see how Michele is incorporated into the narrative if she is indeed Michele and not MJ.
- We’ve got our villain — Adrian Toomes aka Vulture. Again, this narrative between Vulture and Spidey could unravel in many ways and I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
- What is Donald Glover’s role? I watched the trailer a few times and totally missed him — could he be the prowler?
- Miles Morales isn’t good enough for his own standalone movie but his best friend is, I’m happy for the Filipino-American representation, but this is such a major side eye moment to whoever made that call.
Based on these points I think I might get off my Death-To-Live-Action Soapbox for a second and give this a shot. I loved that the trailer had elements of other Heroes and Marvel Comics, which also leads me to believe that Civil War might not suck as much as I thought it would after all.
To round this up, I am going to admit that I’m really excited for this film, I am really proud of the cast for working hard and earning their stripes — starring in a Marvel movie or any comic book adaptation is not only an honour but a huge responsibility, but I definitely think Jacob, Laura, Zendaya and Tom are going to set a new paradigm and will most definitely prove to the world that inclusion doesn’t thwart chances of Box Office success, I mean if ratings are your main concern I don’t think any of this is really for you anyway.
Keshav Kant, aka Mx. KantEven, is a med student tuned Executive Director of Off Colour!
You’ve probably seen her on Twitter and TikTok, both @MxKantEven, or caught her work on Off Colour's many channels.
From consulting on films & shows, manuscript review, conducting interviews, or hosting podcasts & panels, if there is some way to bring sensitivity and authenticity to diversity, inclusion and equity conversations, Keshav will be there.