“Spider-Man: Homecoming” throws the cutest, most subtle shade at the OG “Spider-Man” movie
By now, you’re probably well aware that before there was Spider-Man: Homecoming, there were two other Spider-Man franchises. One starred Tobey Maguire and lasted for three films (even though I think we’ve all agreed that we do not count the third one); the other had Andrew Garfield as the web-slinger. These prior four five movies were all fine, but there’s a new Spidey on the block — and from the reviews and $$$’s his first weekend out in theaters, it looks like this Peter Parker is here to stay.
But, that doesn’t mean he’s completely forgotten all the Spider-Men who came before him. There’s one scene in Homecoming that while maybe not a direct reference to the first Spider-Man movie, it’s hard NOT to think about it.
Here’s the setup to the scene: Peter has a voice inside his head by the name of Karen. Okay, Karen is really the voice inside his Spidey suit, but he stars talking to her like she’s his conscious. Peter confesses to Karen that he’s got a crush on this girl in his class, Liz, and admits that he isn’t quite sure what to do about his feelings for her.
Karen then spends the next scene telling Peter he should tell her how he feels, even though he’s in the process of trying to save the world. It’s cute!
And that’s what leads us to this very subtle call-back moment to the OG Spider-Man. After Spidey saves the elevator in the Washington Monument from plummeting to the ground (it’s a long story), Peter finds himself face to face with Liz. Or rather, he’s upside-down face-to-face with Liz. He’s hanging from his web on the ceiling, Liz is standing in front of him,
“This is your chance, Peter. Kiss her,” Karen commands.
Except, the setup to kiss Liz is super awkward, and it would look something like this:
If you’ve seen Homecoming, chances are this scene got a BIG LAUGH from the audience. It’s hard not to think of this ~iconic~ upside down kiss between the then Spider-Man and Mary Jane, Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst.
It’s probably for the best that Peter didn’t listen to Karen, and Tom Holland and Laura Harrier did not try to attempt this recreation. Honestly, 15 years later, how does this kind of kiss even WORK?
