I’ve got a hot take about Marvel: I believe Tom Holland really only has one true Spider-Man movie in his trilogy, and that’s the first one. Even though Spider-Man: Homecoming doesn’t have a single scene of him swinging through the skyscrapers of Manhattan, it stands out as the only film in the trilogy that really focuses on Peter Parker’s hometown — rather than Europe or the multiverse. It may be a different kind of Spider-Man movie compared to its predecessors, but Homecoming is the only one that shows him as a street-level hero, genuinely helping his community while staying grounded in his familiar Queens surroundings. Plus, it’s the only film that truly captures Peter’s everyday school life, striking a perfect balance between realism and staying true to the character, something the later sequels overlook (and the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield versions never quite managed to get right).
The more I watch Spider-Man: Homecoming (which just became available on the free streaming service Tubi), the more I find myself wishing that Sony’s upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day will bring back that magic we saw hinted at in No Way Home’s final shot.
The perfect villain
One of the main reasons I really hope that Brand New Day captures the same vibe as Homecoming is because of the Vulture. He embodies those small-time crooks from Spider-Man’s rogues’ gallery that keep him grounded in street-level crime. Adrian Toomes, played by Michael Keaton, is a blue-collar salvage worker who turns to a life of crime after being pushed out of the construction industry by Tony Stark and the Department of Damage Control. So, he starts a criminal enterprise selling alien weapons he scavenges from the wreckage of the Battle of New York.
As the Vulture, Toomes transforms into a relatable, working-class villain whose resentment towards the Avengers directly drives his conflict with Spider-Man. Even though Tony keeps urging Peter to stick to being a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and leave the bigger threats to the Avengers (or the police), the Vulture is actually the perfect kind of adversary for him to face. They’re both street-level characters, and their climactic showdown in Coney Island—where Spider-Man has to rely on his old homemade suit after Iron Man takes away his new one—really highlights the gritty essence of Homecoming.
When you look at it, the villains in Sony’s follow-up films, Far From Home and No Way Home, just don’t feel as personal for Holland’s Spider-Man. Mysterio is all about getting revenge on Tony Stark, and his backstory doesn’t really connect with Peter’s at all. As for No Way Home, while it’s fun to see a trio of villains from before the MCU, it feels more like a nostalgia trip than a genuine engagement with the current state of the franchise. They just don’t hit the same way that Vulture did.
Now, Brand New Day has a real opportunity to set things right, and who knows, maybe even bring Toomes back into the mix. While it seems like everyone in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has forgotten about Peter, Vulture might just be the exception. The last time we saw him was in the post-credits scene of 2022’s Morbius, which pulled him into Sony’s Spider-Man villains universe, making his status in the MCU even more confusing. Being shifted to another universe might have kept Vulture’s memory intact, and he already knows Spider-Man’s true identity. If he makes a comeback in the next movie, it could really bring the franchise back to its roots in a fantastic way.
School Daze
One of the things that really grounds Homecoming is how it portrays Peter’s school life. Those scenes showcase a diverse group of students, capturing the essence of real locations and the borough of Queens in a way we haven’t seen before. In contrast, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man tends to rely on idealized images and stereotypes, presenting a New York that feels stuck in the past, with a school that’s mostly filled with white classmates in what’s meant to be a multicultural city. Plus, his classmates look way too old to be in high school (since the actors were all over 21). Andrew Garfield’s Amazing Spider-Man gave us a Peter who felt more like a cool millennial than a nerd. But in Homecoming, even though Peter (realistically) attends a specialized science school, he’s still portrayed as a genuine dork, even among a crowd of fellow nerds.
Far From Home and No Way Home pretty much overlook this essential part of Spider-Man’s character. The former takes place during a summer school trip to Europe, so we miss out on the classic tension of Peter trying to juggle his homework while battling villains. The latter almost forgets that Peter is a student at all, aside from a brief storyline about college applications that gets dropped pretty quickly.
Now that Peter is officially in his college years in the upcoming Brand New Day, the film has the chance to authentically explore what it’s like to be a city kid in college, something the Raimi films didn’t really touch on.
Despite its flaws (like its heavy dependence on Stark tech and the lingering babysitter vibe of Tony as a stand-in Uncle Ben), Homecoming comes the closest to giving Tom Holland a truly classic Spider-Man experience. From its villain to Peter’s academic challenges, it captures perhaps the most genuine version of Spider-Man that comic fans know and love.
With Brand New Day just around the corner, revisiting Homecoming is thrilling, especially when considering what director Destin Daniel Cretton might refine and enhance now that Spider-Man seems to be returning to his street-level roots.
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