For many, the character of Spider-Man has more or less run his cinematic course, with five (soon to be six) solo movies — comparable to Batman and Superman’s stats. However, Marvel is planning to release two additional Spider-Man feature films. The news comes to us from the web-slinger’s mouth, or at the very least, the actor who plays him. In an interview with AlloCiné, Tom Holland said the following:
“Yes, there is what we call the arc of the character…There is still a lot of room for Peter Parker and Spider-Man, especially, to grow in the next two movies. He’s definitely not the finished article by the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming and I really look forward to exploring the different ways he can grow up and… go through puberty I guess. It’s going to be an exciting couple of movies….There will be a Spider-Man 2 and 3… Yeah, well now you know, sorry Marvel. Whoops!”
So, after Spider-Man: Homecoming, we will be getting a second stand-alone film on July 5, 2019, nearly an exact two years from the release of Homecoming. The third film will likely come out within a year or two of the sequel. There were no further hints as to what the plots of those two movies might be, outside of further character development for Peter Parker.
I’m not one to harp on study decisions — continuing to add films to Marvel’s most popular franchise in terms of merchandise and recognizability is not surprising. However, when a new actor or director comes onto Batman or Superman, something new is added, there’s a new take. Spider-Man lacks that kind of malleability, he’s always the same sort of character in the same scenarios: teenager gets in over his head due to his cockiness, finds strength from with to prevail. That’s not a bad thing but I didn’t leave a lot of wiggle room for interesting retellings. That said, nothing is set in stone until Homecoming comes out, so hopefully Marvel proves it really can do it all.
Spider-Man: Homecoming debuts in theaters on July 7, 2017.
