Panel Vision - 7 Things to Expect from Spider-Man: Homecoming 2

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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. 

Gina Prince-Bythewood to Direct Silver Sable/Black Cat Film

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As we move into the 2020s one of the significant emerging trends is the way that trends aren’t going away in any meaningful manner.  The decade is beginning to dwindle, and there’s no outward indication that audiences are going to lose interest in the broad multimedia franchises that have managed to stick- most pertinently superheroes.  Despite a thousand and one hit pieces about the impending death of the genre or superhero fatigue, the format has proved itself just too versatile to actually collapse in on itself.  However, just because a thing isn’t going away doesn’t mean it isn’t changing. 

As we begin to cap-off the defining multimedia stories of the 2010s the superhero genre is already evolving in new and different ways like Fox’s non-continuity approach to the X-Men or the CW’s functional TV Multiverse.  One of the biggest changes going forward is the beginnings of a demand for diversity with stuff like Black Panther, Luke Cage, Black Lightning, Captain Marvel, and Wonder Woman.  There’s a lot of reasons for this change, and I’ll end up getting into them more as we go, but this week it added another notch to its belt as Sony has tapped director Gina Prince-Bythewood to direct their planned Silver Sable/Black Cat movie as part of their Spider-Verse. 

Spider-Man: Homecoming Final Trailers Breakdown

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With around a month left to go, Spider-Man: Homecoming is revving up to be a superhero film this year.  I’m not trying to denigrate the movie, in fact as we go through this breakdown I hope it shows I’m somewhat excited for the film, I’m just being honest about where it stands.  In many ways, 2017 has been kind of a hard year on Marvel Studios overall.  There are certainly successes, I don’t think anybody thought Agents of SHIELD would pull off a fourth season as well as it has and Thor: Ragnarok has smash hit written all over it.  But during a year when Marvel is facing down Wonder Woman, Logan, and Justice League none of their adaptations really seem to matter as much, and Homecoming is a pretty solid example of this. 

The film will be the second reboot of Spider-Man this decade and the fourth Spider-Man over the past 10 years.  There’s something in that to the fatigue of franchise management and repetition, especially with a character like Spider-Man who tends to revert to the same role of “teen hero” every time his film series reverts back to square one.  However, credit where it’s due that Homecoming looks very good, it just looks a bit like there might’ve been a more important movie lurking in the original script.  What am I talking about, let’s dive into this latest trailer, and I’ll tell you. 

Spider-Man: Homecoming Trailer Breakdown

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No character more embodies the state of Marvel Studios at this moment in time like Spider-Man does.  On the one hand, he’s a multi-billion dollar franchise and ranks among the likes of Batman and Superman as some of the most influential and well-known heroes on the planet.  I mean, lest we forget, Spider-Man has had 5 mega-budget solo movies, a ton of TV shows, and even appears in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade- he’s one of the few characters that acts as an ambassador of the entire genre of superheroes.

On the opposite hand, he hasn’t had a good solo movie since 2004 and his past 2 bombs were so explosive they threatened to drag the entire franchise down to the bottom of the sea.  What I’m saying is that Spider-Man occupies the unique space of being essentially a sure thing but with enough franchise dead weight to seem like a risky venture, which is the exact Venn diagram center point Marvel Studios thrives in.  And, with our first look at the new Spider-Man: Homecoming trailer, thriving looks be exactly what Marvel’s up to. 

Panel Vision - Legacy Heroes Guide

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So, the big comic book news sweeping the nation this week is that the mantel of Iron Man will now be held by a 15 year old black girl.  It’s a pretty major deal though not entirely out of left field given the current Marvel line-up features a woman as Thor, a black guy as Cap, a black latino bisexual dude as Spider-Man, and a Muslim Ms. Marvel.  Still, this is definitely good news and a pretty interesting advancement for the house of ideas as they continue to push for more on-panel diversity. 

Some folks have complained, because of course they have, saying that creators should just make new heroes instead of legacy ones but I really don’t get this argument.  A lot of the most prominent superheroes of color are following in the footsteps of a previous hero, so I figured I’d give a guide to 12 such heroes, a list including some big names and some personal favorites (in case you were wondering why your personal favorite might not make the cut.)

15 Characters to Expect in Spider-Man: Homecoming

Edited by Robert Beach 

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We are now a little over one year out from Spider-Man: Homecoming: the joint Marvel-Sony feature that’s set to revitalized the Spider-Man brand after the disappointment of the Amazing Spider-Man film series. This year’s Captain America: Civil War shined a spotlight on Tom Holland's Spider-Man. If you skipped that flick, Holland is a great Peter Parker and an even better Spider-Man. He’s jokey and irreverent with just a hint of obnoxious that feels appropriate for a Spider-Man that’s still in high school while distinctly nerdy and mousey as Peter Parker. 

In short, he’s a thoroughly modern update of the classic Peter Parker story and the bizarre blend of subversion and power fantasy he embodied. Lately, there’s been a deluge of casting news about Spider-Man: Homecoming to the point I’ve stopped trying to keep up and report all of it. Instead, this is my way of capitalizing on the upcoming film: a look at 15 characters likely to show up. That’s 5 fellow heroes, 5 villains, and 5 supporting characters I suspect we’ll see in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Let’s dive in.