"Listen to me. You have a gift. You have power. And with great power, there must also come great responsibility."
— May Parker
A trilogy of Super Hero films based on the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man, all set in Marvel Cinematic Universe, directed by Jon Watts and running from 2017 to 2021. Due to the Idiosyncratic Episode Naming of each movie, the trilogy is officially referred to as the "Home Trilogy" by Marvel.
The films starred Tom Holland as the titular webslinger, Zendaya as Michelle Jones-Watson/MJ, Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds, Marisa Tomei as May Parker, Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin, Jake Gyllenhaal as Quentin Beck/Mysterio, Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes/The Vulture, Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Stephen Strange, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury/Talos, Alfred Molina as Doctor Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus, Jamie Foxx as Max Dillon/Electro and J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson.
After the abandonment of The Amazing Spider-Man Series, Sony Pictures signed a deal that allowed the wall-crawler to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The trilogy follows Peter through his high school years as he finds his place in the world at large and what it means to be Spider-Man.
- Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017): Following the events of Captain America: Civil War (which can be considered a Prologue), Peter Parker returns to his normal high-school life as he's confronted with his first serious adversary, Adrian Toomes, a criminal using a vulture-like wingsuit to steal the leftovers of the Avengers' battles in order to utilized obtained technology to make weapons and sell them on the black market. In the meantime, Peter deals with the burden of a superhero and clashes with his mentor-turned-father figure Tony Stark/Iron Man.
- Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019): Set eight months after the events of Avengers: Endgame, Peter is about to go on a school vacation trip while still mourning the death of his mentor and father figure, Tony Stark. During the trip, he encounters Nick Fury and a small SHIELD subunit, consisting of a bunch of former SHIELD agents. The team aims to stop the Elementals, supernatural beings from an other universe. They are accompanied by Quentin Beck/Mysterio, a hero with cosmic/mystical powers, who allegedly comes from the Elementals' universe. As they battle the Elementals in various European cities, Peter and Beck develop a bond and befriend one another.
- Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021): Upon having his identity revealed, Peter finds himself in a turmoil. When a legal battle for his innocence and reputation ensues, young Spider-Man decides to undo the situation, asking the sorcerer Stephen Strange for help. The latter finally agrees, performing a rune-based memory erasure spell that quickly goes awry after Peter starts altering its contents. Before things get really bad, Strange locks the spell in an artifact. Soon, it turns out the whole thing has opened a breach in the multiverse and brought five superpowered criminals into the universe, including Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin and Doctor Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus.
As part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man also makes crossover appearances in a few other movies:
- Iron Man 2 (2010): During the Hammer drones' assault on the Stark Expo, a boy wearing a toy Iron Man mask and repulsor stands up to them before the real Iron Man steps in to blast them. The boy would be identified as Peter retroactively.
- Captain America: Civil War (2016): Peter's official debut in the MCU, setting up Homecoming. With the Avengers at odds with one another and splitting into factions, Tony Stark decides to pad his group's roster by recruiting a promising young super-hero from Queens...
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019): Set between Homecoming and Far From Home, an attack from aliens prompts Peter to follow Iron Man into space, and he ultimately joins the rest of the Avengers and their allies in a battle for the entire universe.
This version of Spider-Man also appears in a few MCU spinoffs:
- The What If...? episode "What If... Zombies?!", an Alternate Timeline where a Zombie Apocalypse occurs between Homecoming and Infinity War.
- Avengers C.A.M.P.U.S., a Disney Theme Parks land. Spider-Man is featured in the ride W.E.B. Slingers, where one of his inventions goes out of control and he calls on park guests to help him clean up the mess.
Amy Pascal, a producer who has worked with Sony Pictures and an architect of the initial deal between Marvel Studios and Sony, indicated that there are plans for three additional Spider-Man movies in the MCU during the press tour for No Way Home, with Kevin Feige also stating that the writers have a story for a fourth film locked and are "putting pen to paper"
. However, no additional films or crossover appearances have been announced by either Marvel or Sony at this time.
Initially the upcoming animated series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, previously titled Spider-Man: Freshman Year, was advertised as a prequel to this trilogy. However, while still part of the MCU and loosely inspired by these films, it was later revealed to take place in an alternate reality to the MCU where Norman Osborn, instead of Tony Stark, met and recruited Peter. This Peter attends a different school with a very different set of friends (such as Nico Minoru and a non-Tombstone Lonnie Lincoln), meets Doctor Strange and Daredevil much earlier, and battles a smorgasbord of Spider-Man rogues other than the Vulture and Mysterio.
Not to be confused with the Spider-Man Trilogy from 2002-2007, though as stated above, No Way Home uses characters from that film series.
Tropes used throughout the series include:
- Adaptational Friendship: In the original comics, Ned Leeds and Peter Parker are not friends and, in fact, competed for the affection of Betty Brant. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they are best friends and Ned acts as Peter's Mission Control. The Ned of the comics is also not close to Mary Jane Watson, but the film version is close to her MCU adaptation, Michelle Jones-Watson.
- Adaptational Name Change: Played for Laughs. The Spider-Sense is renamed the Peter Tingle (at first to Peter's dismay) ever since Aunt May first called it that. It even applied to the previous films' Spider-Men.
- Adaptational Late Appearance: This Peter lived in a world where the Avengers existed for years before he became Spider-Man and idolized Iron Man. His comic book counterpart actually predates Tony becoming Iron Man and by extension, the founding of the Avengers themselves.
- Adaptation Origin Connection: All over the place.
- Spider-Man is given his classic suit by Iron Man in this continuity instead of making it himself. In addition, Peter dreams of being an Avenger here while in the comics, he actually predates them. He also declined to officially join the team initially.
- In Spider-Man: Homecoming, the Vulture's winged flight suit is created from leftover technology from the Chitauri invasion seen in The Avengers, and the entire reason he's a villain in the first place is because Stark Industries and government initiatives ruined his business. It's also revealed late in the game that the Vulture is the father of Liz Allan, Peter's love interest. Additionally, the Shocker's gauntlet is created from one of the gauntlets used by Crossbones in Civil War.
- In Spider-Man: Far From Home, Mysterio turns out to be a bitter former Stark International employee who tried to con people into thinking he was a superhero after being fired for his unstable demeanor.
- Zigzagged with Norman Osborn; While he was not there for Uncle Ben's death nor Peter's initial transformation into Spider-Man, his murder of Aunt May triggers a harsh change in Peter that makes him much more like the majority of iterations of his character. It forces him to finally absorb what it means to be Spider-Man.
- Affably Evil: All the villains save for Mysterio. Vulture had some redeeming qualities to him, due to his background and deep care for his family. Electro, Doctor Octopus, Lizard, Sandman and (surprisingly) Green Goblin are victims of scientific accidents which influenced them in a negative way or gave them a Superpowered Evil Side.
- Bittersweet Ending: Each movie reminds Peter that being a superhero doesn't always lead to a happy ending.
- Homecoming: Due to her father being arrested and exposed as the Vulture, Liz is forced to relocate. It also ends on a bad note for her and Peter's relationship, since he had to leave during Homecoming to stop Toomes without her knowing.
- Far From Home: While Peter and MJ get a Relationship Upgrade, Mysterio had left a post-death revenge ploy by revealing Peter's identity to the world and make it look like he murdered a hero.
- No Way Home: While Peter finds a way to stop the interdimensional crisis, he's forced to have all memory of who he is erased from the world, including his girlfriend and best friend. His Aunt May has also died by the Green Goblin's hand, so he's now left in a world with neither friends or family. And since nobody remembers who he is, he has to drop out of high school and get a GED while living alone in an apartment. Despite this, he soldiers on as Spider-Man.
- Book Ends: Vulture, the Starter Villain, and Green Goblin, the Final Boss, are both men in green suits who use technology to fly.
- Brainwashing for the Greater Good: At the end of No Way Home, Doctor Strange removes any memory of Peter Parker from the minds of all beings in the universe to seal the cracks in the multiverse. The process has no negative implications (so far) other than what it means for Peter personally.
- Create Your Own Villain: Both villains in Homecoming and Far From Home have a vendetta with Tony Stark, who mentored Parker. In No Way Home, the villains learning of their deaths in their respective films set them in opposition to the MCU's Peter.
- Deducing the Secret Identity:
- Spider-Man: Homecoming: When Peter is riding with Liz and Adrian Toomes to the school dance, Toomes pieces together that Peter is Spider-Man when Liz talks about how he keeps disappearing, both at her party and at Washington, DC.
- Spider-Man: Far From Home:
- With all the time that MJ spends spying on Peter, she would notice all the times he disappears without providing a decent explanation as to why, especially since he and Spider-Man are somehow never in the same place at the same time. Adrian Toomes figured it out in the span of one conversation, small wonder that an intelligent girl with a crush on Peter realized it long before the movie began.MJ: I mean... It was kind of obvious.
- Peter Parker himself is his own worst enemy when it comes to this. Yes, he wears a mask, but not only does he speak in his regular voice, he talks a mile a minute, cannot shut up to save his life, is a horrible liar, and has the world's worst poker face. Therefore, it is not difficult for several people to figure out his secret identity.
- With all the time that MJ spends spying on Peter, she would notice all the times he disappears without providing a decent explanation as to why, especially since he and Spider-Man are somehow never in the same place at the same time. Adrian Toomes figured it out in the span of one conversation, small wonder that an intelligent girl with a crush on Peter realized it long before the movie began.
- Engineered Heroics: Mysterio's whole shtick is orchestrating multiple cataclysmic events of varying scale in order to stop them and gain recognition through his actions. He is so good at it, that a fully-fledged Avenger and a bunch of Skrull impersonators fall for his lies.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each film in the trilogy includes the word "home" in its title.
- In Name Only: The movies' version of Ned Leeds has pretty much nothing to do with the comics version. A lot of his character traits were borrowed from Ganke Lee, best friend of Miles Morales.
- Lighter and Softer: Than The Amazing Spider-Man Series, with the first film being more optimistic and lighter than the Raimi films. The next two films do get darker in tone, but not to the same extent as the Marc Webb films.
- Local Soundtrack: Two of the movies in the MCU (Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home) use the songs "Blitzkreig Bop", "I Wanna Be Sedated" and "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" by The Ramones in parts of their soundtracks, since The Ramones were a band from Queens, New York - where Peter Parker lives.
- Movie Superheroes Wear Black: Downplayed, but Spider-Man's costumes incorporate more black in their color schemes this time. In Far From Home, the Upgraded Suit outright replaces blue with black. Averted at the end of No Way Home, as the Fresh Start suit goes back to the classic color scheme.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Appears in all movies. In Homecoming, Peter tries way too hard to incapacitate an alien hand cannon and in result slices the ferry he and Vulture are battling on in half. Despite his best efforts, Parker fails to keep the ship together, and has to be bailed out by Iron Man. In Far From Home, Spider-Man's most egregious mistake is giving Mysterio a set of lethal combat drones controlled by an extremely powerful satellite system. Granted, Quentin Beck was one Manipulative Bastard, but still. In No Way Home, the young webslinger constantly switches between naive and undecided, which causes most of the negative precedents in the movie.
- No-Sell: The Vulture takes virtually no damage in Homecoming until the final fight. And his defeat comes from his inability to focus on his own safety. Green Goblin takes most of Peter's punches in No Way Home pretty unphased. It's not until Parker starts channeling his dark side, that Norman gets in trouble.
- Official Couple: MJ and Peter, starting in Far From Home.
- Once per Episode: There's a few recurring elements between the movies in the trilogy.
- In every movie, Peter teams up with another MCU hero, only for Peter's inexperience and the hero's own flaws to clash and create an easily avoidable disaster.
- Peter and someone else gets Caught with Your Pants Down in a Not What It Looks Like situation.
- A member of the Parker family shouts "WHAT THE FU-?!"
- Pictorial Letter Substitution: Each movie's title logo has an "o" replaced with Spider-Man's mask.
- Primary-Color Champion: The three Spider-Men, Iron Man and Doctor Strange wear red, blue and yellow attire, which makes for a neat contrast with the bad guys, using the colors of purple, orange, green and grey. Double Subverted with Mysterio, who wore secondary colors, but turned out to be the bad guy. Averted with Electro, whose aura ranged from blue to yellow.
- Save the Villain: Played straight in Homecoming and No Way Home, but averted in Far From Home. Throughout his journey in Homecoming, Peter recognizes the good inside the seemingly despicable Adrian Toomes, and when the villain’s life becomes threatened by his very own equipment and greed, Peter uses all the strength he can muster to save The Vulture. Toomes remembers that and repays the favor by not revealing Spider-Man's identity in prison to a potential future supervillain. In Far From Home, however, saving Mysterio is out of the question as he’s lied too many times and taken/endangered too many lives to be considered redeemable. This is exemplified and enhanced through Peter’s no-nonsense attitude towards Beck in the climax. He straight up rubs it in his face and refuses to help despite Quentin’s obvious lethal wounds. We find out shortly after that Peter was right as Mysterio fails to shoot him in the head after offering him his glasses.
- Taken to its logical extreme in No Way Home. After learning that the multiversal villains are all fated to die in their home universes, Peter makes it his personal mission to cure and reform all of them before sending them back. He eventually succeeds, but at a great personal cost.
- Secondary Color Nemesis: Each Big Bad of the films use green as the primary color of the suits, with Mysterio and Green Goblin also adding in purple.
- Sequel Escalation: Each film raises the danger of the Big Bads higher than the last and forces Peter to push himself even more to win. In the first film, the villain was a good example of a Pragmatic Villain who in the end showed Peter Villainous Respect, while the second film had an Evil Is Petty villain with no redeeming qualities who was prepared to destroy a whole city. His third film had him fight against a group of villains from other universes in order to prevent the destruction of his own.
- Special Guest: Each movie has a prominent MCU character involved in the plot. Homecoming has Tony Stark/Iron Man, Far From Home has Nick Fury revealed to be Talos the Skrull and No Way Home has Doctor Strange with a cameo by Matt Murdock, and the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield Spider-Men in the final act.
- Superhero Movie Villains Die: Averted in Homecoming. In Far From Home, Mysterio seemingly accidentally kills himself, but it's Mysterio, who is known to be anything but honest and straightforward and had already faked his death twice within the film, so who knows if even his final death is just another play on his part. No Way Home subverts this to an extreme by undoing a number of villain deaths from the previous two film series'.
- Superhero Origin: Played with. When Peter first appears in Civil War, he already has his powers and has been active as Spider-Man for several months. However, each film in the trilogy teaches Peter important lessons about being a hero and instills in him his "With great power" philosophy. In a way, he isn't truly Spider-Man until the end of No Way Home, making the trilogy an extended origin story.
- Taking You with Me:
- In Far From Home, Mysterio's last act of spite is revealing Spider-Man's identity to the world and framing him, effectively setting up his end.
- In No Way Home, during the final clash with Green Goblin, Peter uses a Pumpkin Bomb to topple the glider they're both on, risking the loss of his life.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Played straight with Quentin Beck/Mysterio, Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, Otto Octavius/Doc Ock, Curt Connors/The Lizard and Max Dillon/Electro. Averted with regards to both Flint Marko/Sandman and Adrian Toomes/The Vulture, with each character acting primarily out of desperation and love for their respective families.
- With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: The overarching theme of the trilogy, with each movie serving as a building block for Peter's moral code.
- Homecoming: Peter's "friendly neighborhood" duties are just as important, if not more so, than any Avengers-level threats that may arise in the near future.
- Far From Home: Though it's difficult to live a normal life while being a superhero, it's still worth it to at least try.
- No Way Home: Doing the right thing often punishes more than it rewards, but the selflessness of it makes up for the loss.
- Would Hurt a Child: Mysterio and Green Goblin. The Goblin emanates malice from every inch of his being, there is nothing he won't do to accomplish his goals. It's less obvious with Mysterio, but once he decides to assassinate innocent high-schoolers to evade exposure, it's clear how he really feels.
