No Origin Story Re-Hash

This is something that is SUPER important. At this point, it's 2018 and we ALL know that Spider-Man got his powers through a bite by a radioactive spider. It's super refreshing that we've didn't have to see it for the third time after already seeing it in not only "Spider-Man", but also "The Amazing Spider-Man."

This is an issue we often see whenever there is a new "Batman" movie regarding the death of Bruce Wayne's parents.

The origin story is simply glimpsed over in a one-off line by Peter's best friend, Ned Leeds, this is one of the best ways to explain an origin story when it has been done so many times over before. This keeps the movie fresh and gives it little to compare to the other movies in this department. Ned's obsession with this radioactive spider and possibility to be bitten by it also makes for a good laugh!

An Underclassman

While we're not given the exact ages of Maguire and Garfield's renditions of the web-slinger, they both just appear to be older. They always struck me, personally, as late high schoolers or early college students.

An amazing part of 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' is that Tom Holland appears to look so young. He actually passes for the age he's portraying in this film. This younger version of Spider-Man has much more of an edge over the previous versions we've seen. He's young and he's still trying to balance being a superhero with his regular duties as a teenager and high school student.

Ned Leeds: Guy in the Chair

I wouldn't necessarily consider Ned a 'sidekick', but he does a lot to help Peter behind the scenes in "Spider-Man: Homecoming" and contributes a significant amount to the defeat of Vulture.

Ned offers something we've never quite seen in a Spider-Man movie before. He gives us the idea that Peter Parker cannot do everything on his own. A lot of the original Spider-Man relied on Peter Parker talking to himself. This is something that the video games did an amazing job playing into. In the movie, though, it just feels odd.

Ned is one of the people that Peter can interact with and speak with as if he were interacting with the audience the way that he would in the comics. Not to mention all of Ned's amazing one-liners.

Michelle Jones: a New MJ

Zendaya's Michelle Jones is a nice change of pace to Kirsten Dunst's Mary-Jane that we know from Tobey Maguire's run as Spider-Man in the early 2000's. While Maguire's version of Parker had a large part in chasing after MJ, Holland's version hardly takes any notice of her other than a classmate and later the decathlon captain. He even seems to have his eye on another classmate, Liz. The relationship between the two as school acquaintances and perhaps even 'school friends' doesn't feel rushed or forced.

Peter and MJ have plenty of time for this to work out as in the original comics, the two didn't even date until college. Perhaps this leaves room for us to see another version of his high school girlfriend, Gwen Stacy? Only time will tell, but there is still plenty of time in this franchise to see where it goes between these two.

Iron Man and the MCU

The movie rights to Spider-Man are owned by Sony and due to a deal struck between Sony and Marvel Studios. This gave the opportunity for Tom Holland's Spider-Man to be the first to interact with those characters made famous through the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This brings us to the addition of the relationship between Tony Stark and Peter Parker. For the first time, we can see as Holland's Peter Parker is a bit different from the previous two because he has a mentor. It makes him feel significantly more believable. It feels odd in previous movies how Peter Parker has access to such materials and no one seems to notice.

The Home-Made Spider Suit

A continuation of the last point is my own personal genuine enjoyment of the home-made spider-suit. This suit has elements that seem easy enough for Peter Parker to achieve and is functional! The suit seems to be a combination of clothes that are easy enough for a fifteen-year-old to acquire. Homemade goggles and web-shooters are types of technology that could have easily been made with the tech he is able to use in his own high school and given his intelligence, the combination makes a lot of sense.

Eye Movement

Eye-movement in both the home-made and Stark Industries suit give Spider-Man a lot more character to this version of Spider-Man. It gives the opportunity of facial expressions without actually having to see Peter's face.

Spider-Man is a very funny character, contrary to the previous on-screen versions we've seen of him. The eyes are used for vision purposes, to help him zoom in or out to get a closer look at things, but it seems that they also mock the eyes beneath. Whether this is intentional by Peter or just how Stark designed this suit, we may never know, but it certainly is an awesome addition to the already cool concept of his eyes.

Karen

Yes, I know. Another mention of the suit, but this is the last one, I promise!

Karen is a great addition to the suit. Like Ned, she gives Peter someone to interact with while in the suit. She also helps to walk him through the new abilities of his suit. It's just familiar enough to Tony Stark's AI but just different enough that she's not a re-hash of what we've seen before with J.A.R.V.I.S. and F.R.I.D.A.Y. in the past.

A Different Villian

While we've seen a spectrum of different villains through the first two renditions of Spider-Man, something about The Vulture is just different and refreshing. He ties in very nicely with Peter's connection of the MCU. I'm personally hoping that we don't see ANOTHER rendition of the Green Goblin in the untitled sequel to 'Spider-Man: Homecoming'.

The Vulture offers a nice touch as he is not a villain that we have seen on screen before. There's also the nice touch of the relationship between Peter and the Vulture, as he is the father of Peter's date to the homecoming dance. This also offers us the chilling scene where The Vulture realizes who Peter is and even threatens him now that he is aware of Spider-Man's secret identity.

Stan Lee's Take

Stan Lee has spoken out about the casting of superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe before. He once referred to Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. as the best fits for both Captian America and Iron Man.

In 2006, Lee was asked about Holland's portrayal of Spider-Man while at Denver Comic-Con. He voiced how pleased he was with Holland's rendition of everyone's favorite web-slinger by stating the following:

"Oh, he's wonderful, I was with him the other day. He's great. I can't believe it. It's as if we created a living being to be Spider-Man and it turned out to be Tom. Really!"

He has even stated on his twitter that he feels Tom is the best fit for the role as he appears to be the perfect height and age. While actor Tobey Maguire is the same height, he did seem to be a bit older. 'Amazing Spider-Man' actor Andrew Garfield only was about two inches taller, but his proportions made him seem significantly taller and a bit too old for high-school.