spider-man homecoming

We haven’t heard too much about Spider-Man: Homecoming apart from endless speculation about Zendaya’s character and tons of videos of Tom Holland’s parkour skills, but we know that Tony Stark will definitely make an appearance. He took Peter Parker under his wing in Captain America: Civil War, so he’s probably going to keep showing up in Peter’s life to see how his new protege is doing. And what’s a friendship with Tony Stark without a few very high-tech gifts? [If you want to go into Homecoming knowing as little as possible, now’s the time to turn back because there be SPOILERS ahead.]

On the big screen, being a superhero looks fun and thrilling — and maybe also sort of dangerous and painful, but mostly exciting. But behind the scenes, being a superhero involves some awkward stuff, like motion capture and clingy spandex costumes and weird accessories, all of which, with the help of countless hours of movie magic, somehow translates to looking incredibly badass. Thanks to this new video from the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming, you can catch a glimpse of some of the weirder work that goes into making Tom Holland’s Spidey look so darn cool.

When you’ve been fortunate enough to land the headlining role in a potentially lucrative film franchise, the least you can do is give a little back. Superhero actors making guest appearances in hospitals to spread a little cheer to bed-ridden children has become an increasingly common practice in recent years, with Chrises Evans and Pratt both leveraging their celebrity as Captain America and Star-Lord, respectively, to brighten sickly youngsters’ days. It’s a harmless PR stunt — the movie gets some positive, feel-good publicity while making some kid’s day/week/life, and everyone walks away smiling.

Listen, we still have eight months before Spider-Man: Homecoming is released in theaters, so it’s not exactly surprising that there hasn’t been so much as a teaser trailer for Tom Holland’s first solo Spidey adventure. If a new rumor is to be believed (and it seems likely), then that will change relatively soon, as the first trailer for Homecoming is reportedly attached to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

While filming on Spider-Man: Homecoming has wrapped, not a whole lot is known about the characters or storyline. Some casting news has come out recently, like Michael Keaton playing Vulture, but so far most of the details about the plot are being kept under wraps. Fans are interested to see which familiar characters form the comics will be making an appearance in the movie, and today we got some more confirmation that one of these is going to be Peter Parker’s bestie Ned Leeds.

Over the summer, we learned that Zendaya’s mysterious role in Spider-Man: Homecoming may very well be Mary Jane Watson — news that unfortunately spurred a bit of sadly predictable controversy among some fans, who felt that casting a young woman of color was a betrayal to the traditional depiction of Peter Parker’s white love interest. In a new interview, Zendaya herself addresses the negative reaction to her casting, and though she skillfully dodges the big MJ question, the actress does have one interesting detail to offer about her character.

X-Men isn’t the only superhero franchise with some major updates today — there’s also some interesting new info from Sony and Marvel’s upcoming Spider-Man reboot. Homecoming star Tom Holland has revealed the details of his contract with both studios, while Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has offered official confirmation of Michael Keaton’s villainous role in the new Spidey film.

While most of the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have managed to please audiences and critics alike, in recent months, the Marvel soundtrack has come under fire for its lack of imagination. Last month, for example, the popular video essay channel Every Frame a Painting devoted an entire video to this subject, beginning with a demonstration that your average moviegoer cannot even remember a specific theme from a Marvel movie. This is why fans were so happy when Michael Giacchino was added to Doctor Strange; at least this way there would be some musical skills to match all those trippy visuals.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has already made some major strides in bringing diversity to the big screen. With Black Panther on the way and Spider-Man: Homecoming casting an actress of color in the (rumored) role of Mary Jane, we’re looking at a much less white future for superhero movies. But the latest Spider-Man movie will also look much different from the previous iterations takes to one small details: realistic high schools.

Talking to Marvel actors about their upcoming projects is always a game of inches. Each actor is unlikely to break a brand new story off the cuff, so instead, you try and firm up rumors that have leaked from the production. For Tom Holland, this means a few simple questions about the production experience on Spider-Man: Homecoming and one big one: will Spider-Man be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe?