Spider-Man: Homecoming: the character’s cinematic legacy gets back on track

There are two credits scenes at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming. One might figure into future Marvel films, while the other is nothing more than a playful — but worthwhile — joke.

Mid- and post-credits scenes have become a Marvel tradition, something fans look forward to every time the company releases a new film. Sometimes they contain huge reveals that hint at future movies (see: Black Panther at the end of Captain America: Civil War). Other times, they serve as little winks from Marvel to its biggest fans, and call back to the company’s history (see: Howard the Duck at the end of the first Guardians of the Galaxy). They’re fun. They can be exciting. And if we’re lucky, they give us something to chew on until the studio’s next big release.

There’s a lot to love about Spider-Man: Homecoming: the awkward high school moments like the little boy in chess club or the academic decathlon team sneaking out of their hotel rooms to swim; a massive character reveal; the elastic fight scenes; and, of course, Tom Holland’s star-making turn as Peter Parker.

But one of the best parts of the film is a loving homage to Peter Parker’s co-creator, Steve Ditko.

Spider-Man: Homecoming is the most referential movie in the Marvel Cinematic universe, jam-packed with nods to the comic books and laced with treats for fans of both the Marvel universe and Peter Parker’s comic book origins. From a wink to Deadpool to a Miles Morales reference to a Cindy Moon spotting, there’s all types of stuff in Homecoming that casual fans may have missed, and that even fans might need a second viewing to really catch.

Here are five of the movie’s best Easter eggs; needless to say, there are spoilers ahead.

There’s a joke at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming in which Happy, Tony Stark’s loyal body-man, produces an engagement ring from his pocket and says, “I’ve been carrying this since 2008!”

It’s a gentle nudge meant to remind us of the rich history these characters share, with both each other and their loyal viewers. Next year, the Marvel Cinematic Universe will turn 10 years old. In that time, it has upended Hollywood’s blockbuster business model, establishing the formula for overlapping big-budget franchises connected by shared characters and setting.

Spider-Man has found his home sweet home.

Spider-Man: Homecoming opened with an estimated $117 million at the domestic box office this weekend. It’s a confidence boost for a film studio that has struggled to achieve success in bringing the legendary Marvel character to the big screen.

This article contains spoilers for the climax of the film Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Near the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming, after the villain has been defeated and Peter Parker has returned to his everyday life, he sits down for a meeting with his academic decathlon team.

Any actor who headlines a superhero movie faces significant pressure; that’s simply the nature of the beast. Superhero characters have huge, extremely opinionated fan bases, film studios are banking on actors that can ideally sustain a multi-picture franchise, and performers have to please critics and news outlets that are increasingly exhausted by superhero properties. But few have had to deal with the weight of expectations placed on Tom Holland, a.k.a. Hollywood’s newest Spider-Man.

Spider-Man has been on shaky cinematic ground as of late. The character has headlined two different film franchises in the past 15 years: director Sam Raimi’s initially promising Spider-Man trilogy in the 2000s, which ended with a disastrous third installment, and Marc Webb’s Amazing Spider-Man series, which was truncated after the second film. Sony was desperate for a fresh take, and turned to superhero movie juggernaut Marvel Studios for help, striking a deal that allowed Peter Parker to enter the immensely successful Marvel Cinematic Universe. Spider-Man: Homecoming is the product of that union, a co-production between Marvel Studios and Sony’s Columbia Pictures that puts the expectations of two studios on the shoulders of the 21-year-old Holland.

Over the past decade, Spider-Man’s famous credo — “with great power comes great responsibility” — could very well apply to Sony, the studio that owns the film rights to Marvel’s web-slinging superhero.

Despite Spider-Man’s massive, multigenerational fan base, Sony has struggled to give the legendary character an equally legendary story on the big screen. Spider-Man (2002) and Spider-Man 2 (2004) were the makings of a solid franchise, but then 2007’s Spider-Man 3 seemed to cast a dark spell over the superhero’s cinematic legacy. Not only was the movie a sour end to a once-promising trilogy, but it was followed by an underwhelming, too-soon reboot in 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man, an aggressively mediocre sequel to said reboot, and then a series of delays and uncertainty from the studio in response to that sequel’s disappointing box office haul.

Spider-Man: Homecoming is a flat-out triumph. Calling it anything would be selling it maddeningly short.

Directed by Jon Watts, Homecoming is a joyful celebration of Spider-Man, a character who’s arguably the most popular Marvel superhero in history. But the movie thankfully doesn’t just rehash what we already know, and Watts makes a few savvy choices to give the iconic webslinger a fresh feel.