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So, did you see Spider-Man: Homecoming yet? Chances are you probably did given the film’s had a big box office success, more or less everyone is praising it, and Marvel is more or less our culture’s cinematic guardian. What’s more, it does feel like Marvel has poured a lot of time and effort into establishing Tom Holland’s Spider-Man as a new standard bearer for the company. He’s not quite there yet, mainly because of how much he’s defined by his junior Avenger status, but give him about 3 years I get the sense Spider-Man is going to be one of the faces of the MCU come 2020 along with Black Panther and Captain Marvel.
As such, and given that the film itself was loaded with references, it’s not too early to start talking about what we might see in a sequel to Homecoming. Spider-Man’s always had one of the most expansive single character mythos in the entire Marvel brand and a lot of that has already started showing up in the MCU proper so let’s dive in to see what we might see in Spider-Man: Homecoming 2.
THE SCORPION
If you saw Spider-Man: Homecoming one of the Easter eggs you may have picked up on was the character of Mac Gargan. Gargan in the film is a gangster looking to buy some high tech weaponry during the ferry scene that was featured in numerous trailers. He also appears in the film’s post-credits scene vowing vengeance on Spider-Man. For fans not in the know- Gargan is the alias of one of Spider-Man’s more well-known foes: the Scorpion, which actually popped up a few times in the film among Gargan’s aliases and he had a scorpion tattoo prominently displayed.
In the comics Scorpion is sort of a weird Spider-Man villain. He’s usually linked to J. Jonah Jameson as JJ’s the one talked him into the mad science experiment that trapped him inside that weird mech suit of his. I don’t know if Homecoming 2 will even TRY to add in a Jameson, largely because NO ONE has since Spider-Man 3. Maybe if they got JK Simmons back for the role that’d work though frankly I’m still disappointed Donald Glover didn’t turn out to be Jameson.
It seems more likely this Gargan will transfer his vendetta more centrally to Spider-Man, maybe with the suit experiments being tied to the injuries he sustained on the ferry. When we last saw him he had a very sci-fi looking medical brace on so it’s entirely possible that could transform into a full Scorpion costume. It’d be an interesting approach though I don’t think Gargan’s the kind of bad guy who could hold down a whole movie by himself, he’s a bit too limited in power and depth, especially compared to how compelling the Vulture turned out to be in Homecoming.
THE PROWLER
Speaking of Donald Glover’s character in Homecoming, he was another civilian identity showing up to tease a future costumed appearance, in this case: the Prowler. The Prowler isn’t really a villain though, he’s more of an anti-hero, working alongside Spider-Man some of the time though sporting a more ground-level focus than Peter usually has (remember Parker is usually facing evil CEOs and villainous scientists with a shocking degree of funding.) That’s part of the reason for the throwaway line in Homecoming about Glover’s character being interested in climber gauntlets, the Prowler’s signature device.
Prowler and Spider-Man have fought on occasion so I wouldn’t be surprised if we got a version of that on screen, maybe with Prowler taking a great stand for the criminal community. It’d be a nice way to keep the tone of Homecoming wherein the villains are more victims of circumstance and the true antagonist of the film is Tony’s Department of Damage Control.
What’s more, it’d be a nice way to frontload the movie with additional superheroes while separating Peter from his Avengers surrogate family, partially because he needs to stand on his own but also because the future of a lot of said Avengers is a big hanging question these days. Tony Stark can’t be around forever in the MCU so Peter can’t rely on him as a father figure forever either.
MILES MORALES
Here’s an idea that seems far out but probably isn’t as unlikely as you’d think. Honestly, I have the sinking suspicion Spider-Man: Homecoming was originally written as a Miles Morales Spider-Man film from before Marvel got the shared rights deal back. A lot of that comes from the structure- Peter hasn’t been in high school in forever and the whole supporting cast feels much more in line with Miles’ background than Peter’s. Obviously, I have no proof of this but I really wouldn’t be surprised if Sony wanted to unload Peter on Marvel so they could save Miles for an animated featured because they were still skittish after the failure of Amazing Spider-Man 2.
All of that is neither here nor there as Miles Morales’ character WAS alluded to in Homecoming by his uncle Donald Glover and Kevin Feige has confirmed they’ll have Morales and Parker share a universe instead of getting bogged down with the Ultimate alternate reality.
Like Prowler, Morales would be an easy way to get some additional heroes into the film, especially now that it feels like multiple heroes are the way we want our superhero movies. We haven’t had a Marvel film where the hero was forced to work solo since Captain America: First Avenger and I don’t foresee that changing anytime soon.
THE SYMBIOTES
This one’s a little dicey as it’s largely a question of what’s going to happen with the solo Venom film that Sony is willing into existence. Personally, I'm not sure Venom is all that interesting without Spider-Man unless you change everything about the character like making him a black ops government agent or a space knight.
However, if Sony’s Venom movie actually proves a hit I could see Marvel conceding to find a space for Tom Hardy and the other symbiotes in their inevitable Spider-Man sequel, especially with how hot Sony are for this film to be considered part of the MCU. I mean, at the end of the day Marvel can only make so many films and you’d have to assume they’d enjoy being able to let Sony handle the heavy lifting on Spider-Man adjacent material while they only swoop in for the crossover productions.
The question, of course, would be WHICH symbiotes they’d bring in. It’d be pretty cool to see Tom Hardy Venom team-up with such a younger Spider-Man plus you have to assume Carnage is going to be in the mix somewhere so ‘Maximum Carnage’ could be a real possibility as well. Alternatively, if Marvel just wanted to forego any connection to Sony’s Venom and focus on the lesser symbiotes like Agony, Lasher, Phage, Riot, and Scream that’d be pretty cool too. Hell, they could even do a full on ‘Planet of the Symbiotes’ movie if they wanted.
KINGPIN
Consider this one an outside chance but one I think a lot of people would thoroughly enjoy if it came through. At this point, Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin is one of the series villain standouts of the MCU and the fact his character originated as a Spider-Man villain gives him an easy into the theatrical side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. What’s more, he’d be a villain of about the right strength and caliber to actually hold down a Spider-Man movie. His position as a New York crime lord means he would be a perfect foil for Parker and he could easily end up funding a version of the Sinister Six like he did in the Spider-Man animated series.
He’s a villain with actual resources to throw around against Spider-Man, something someone like Scorpion couldn’t really muster. What’s more, it’d be a natural progression of his ambitions if he went from Daredevil level crime and land deals to attracting the attention of the youngest Avenger. Plus, fringe benefit, it’d actually yoke the Marvel shows and movies together for a change, with the possibility of maybe even finding a point for the Defenders to make a cameo, there’s got to be fans that would dig that moment.
THE IRON SPIDER
This one might actually BE in Spider-Man: Homecoming, I’m not totally sure. In the film’s climax, Tony Stark shows off a more advanced version of the Spider-Man costume to Peter in the Avengers headquarters. It’s possible this costume is meant to be the same as the so-called Iron Spider armor that Parker wore in the comics during the Civil War event. I’m not really sure though, even if it is, I wouldn’t be surprised if Stark’s Spider-Armor made another appearance in Homecoming’s sequel.
Peter’s costume was already pretty advanced in Homecoming with different kinds of webbing attacks and an onboard computer similar to Tony’s various armor AIs. I’m not sure how much the Stark Armor will enhance this, though in the comics the Iron Spider armor allowed for a full-on invisible stealth mode and had big, Doctor Octopus-style arms with incredible prehensile strength.
Much like Cap’s Super Soldier costume from Winter Soldier if we do see the Iron Spider suit in Homecoming 2 I doubt it’ll be the whole of what Peter wears in the movie. It’s a bit too much of a departure from his standard costume and there’s something just weird about seeing Spider-Man in a more metallic costume. Still, it’d make a nice change of pace and I do like how much they commit to various costumes given there have already been 3 Spider-Man suits thrown around in these movies.
OSCORP
Green Goblin is going to be one of those hovering problems the Marvel Spider-Man films will need to solve eventually. Goblin’s easily one of the three most well known Spider-Man villains but his history of adaptation has made him kind of unique. Willem Dafoe’s version was an iconic early bad guy who’s still really enjoyable in his theatricality and then there was the bizarre Dane Dehaan Goblin from Amazing Spider-Man 2 tying the character into that particular failure. It’s a tricky spot because both associations make him a difficult villain to make unique but his popularity also kind of warrants an adaptation, sort of the like Joker in the Batman franchise.
While I doubt Marvel is all that keen to throw their hat into this ring that doesn’t mean they can’t start prepping for Green Goblin, especially with the major role Norman Osborn went on to play in the Marvel Universe as a whole. In the comics Norman ended up running the Thunderbolts, the Marvel version of the Suicide Squad, then eventually landed the job of director of SHIELD and even ran his own team of Avengers that were actually all villains dressed as heroes.
Given all that backstory, getting Norman and his company on deck in Spider-Man 2 would be an easy first step toward doing bigger things with him. What’s more, OsCorp could provide a unique foil to Peter’s community crime fighting, acting as a more pronouncedly evil version of Damage Control. Plus, fringe benefit, we could get a Norman Osborn/Tony Stark rivalry started early and I’d love to see that go down.
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