Spider-Man has been a staple of Marvel Comics since the ’60s, and he has been a teenager and a young adult trying his best to be the hero that New York needs. And while he is no stranger to getting live-action versions on the big screen, it has been a long time coming for fans of the comic Spidey to feel like we were watching a teenager grapple with the mantle of Spider-Man the way we see it in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
But then came Tom Holland’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, and with it came a version of Peter Parker that actually felt like we were watching a child become a hero, mainly because Holland was 19 years old when he was filming the movie, which, in comparison to previous Spider-Man actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, is significantly younger than previous iterations of the character, and the MCU has been playing it that way.
All of this culminated in one of the most important scenes in Holland’s films, and now, years later, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has highlighted the movie and why one scene in particular in Spider-Man: Homecoming was so important to the character. Feige did an interview with editor Nick Lowe that’s part of The Amazing Spider-Man #900 issue (via The Direct) and there talked about some of the more iconic moments in Spider-Man’s film career, but specifically the moment that is pivotal to Holland’s arc.
“It’s lifting the rubble. [Steve] Ditko’s ‘lifting the rubble,’ and it has stuck with me my whole life, and from the moment I joined Marvel Studios, I was like, ‘We should do that in the movies.’ There’s a pit at the end of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man where he kind of lifts a heavy place [sic] off of them at the pier where Doc Ock is making his machine. But it wasn’t until Spider-Man: Homecoming that we said, ‘Oh, we’re doing it,'” Feige said. “To me, that is when Torn Holland truly becomes Spider-Man. Anyway, that’s the moment. Ditko’s angular metal debris on top Spidey and water coming down in front of his face.”
Come on, Spider-Man.
For me, that was the moment that I realized what I was missing out of the previous Spider-Man movies. I grew up watching Tobey Maguire, and I was in love with Andrew Garfield in his movies, but neither of them felt like I was watching a kid come into his own as a hero. Tobey Maguire was in his mid-20s for his Spider-Man movies, and so was Andrew Garfield, and so, when Holland showed up—at just 21 when his first solo Spider-Man movie hit theaters—and it felt like I was watching a kid become Spider-Man, it felt like the hero I’ve always loved was finally onscreen.
Granted, Holland is not that much younger than me, and what really worked was just that Holland has a younger face, but this scene in particular really sticks out as something that shows just how much Peter Parker wanted to be a hero and the struggle it took for him to get there. Watching him in the rubble, fighting to free himself and reminding himself that he’s Spider-Man? It’s perfect and a scene I often cite as why Holland is my favorite Spider-Man, and I’m glad that Kevin Feige agrees with me.
(featured image: Marvel Entertainment)
