Spider-Man: Homecoming chose not to show that Peter Parker was bitten by the radioactive spider, and director Jon Watts has clarified why.
the director of Spider-Man: HomecomingJon Watts talks about the film’s decision not to show Peter being bitten by the radioactive spider. It’s been six years since Tom Holland was part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Spider-Man Captain America: Civil War. At the beginning of that film, Peter Parker was already operating as Spider-Man within the MCU, and many took on his first solo film, Spider-Man: Homecomingwould contain its origin story.
But unlike both Sam Raimi’s Spider Man and The great Spider-Man, which were origin stories that showed Peter developing his powers and becoming the iconic superhero, Spider-Man: Homecoming chose to skip it. Instead, the movie continues with Peter trying to be a full-fledged superhero, though it does hint at the origins of the conversation. The MCU’s series continued with two more episodes, and Peter’s key original story moments of being bitten by the spider and the death of Uncle Ben were never shown, leaving some onlookers frustrated for not seeing how this Spider-Man got his start. .
In the new book With Great Power: How Spider-Man Conquered Hollywood During the Golden Age of Comic Book Blockbusters by author Sean O’Connell, Spider-Man: Homecoming director Jon Watts talks about the decision not to show Spider-Man’s origin story. This put Peter in a similar mindset to the audience, trying to work together and understand how his powers work. The full quote from Watts can be read below:
“It was just so much fun to skip it and just deal with the consequences more… and just explore it from someone else’s perspective who finds out and has a lot of questions.”
Should the public see every origin?
By the time Spider-Man: Homecoming hit theaters, audiences had already seen five separate Spider-Man movies and countless animated series, all of which touched on its origin story. It was ground that had been explored so much that it was safe to assume someone went in Spider-Man: Homecoming was probably familiar with the hero start so they could jump into a more exciting story of an established hero still coming into his own. This is the same route that the batter taken; director Matt Reeves chose to skip Thomas and Martha Wayne getting shot and instead showed Batman in an adventure similar to countless comic book stories. That’s why it’s easy to see a world where movies tend to go over known origins more often. If the public already knows them, there’s no need to waste time treading trodden ground.
Marvel is going to give fans a version of the MCU Spider-Man origins, but with a twist. The previously announced animated series Spider-Man: Freshman Year was recently revealed to take place in an alternate timeline where instead of Tony Stark recruiting Spider-Man, it is Norman Osborn who will be known to the public as the Green Goblin. This produces a version of the Spider-Man origin story, but also one that does not contradict what was captured in Spider-Man: Homecoming and further.
Source: With Great Power: How Spider-Man Conquered Hollywood During the Golden Age of Comic Book Blockbusters
