Spider-Man Homecoming is easily one of my favourite MCU movies. Watching the webhead wallcrawl his way back over to Marvel in Civil War was one of the most exciting times to be an MCU Maniac and the character’s first solo movie has a lot to unpack from it.
Throughout this post, we’re going to be breaking down all the insane details and Easter eggs that you only really notice after binge-watching the rest of the Infinity Saga. This doesn’t contain every single detail but there is a lot that I haven’t seen mentioned on any other lists so make sure you stick around until the end.
Obviously, there will be heavy spoilers so if you haven’t had a chance to check out the movie yet then I highly recommend that you check out now.
First Scenes
The movie opens right after the battle of New York with Adrian Toomes showing off his child’s drawing of the Avengers. We later learn that this was made by Liz and Adrian remarking on her talent is the first clue we get that the two are related.
This scene pulls back to show us Stark Tower with the A left as all that remains on it. This was shown at the end of Avengers and as we know it later became renamed Avengers Tower.
Toomes crew are salvaging scraps from the Chitauri in Central Station and we actually see the Leviathan that Thor and Hulk killed in Avengers as a main focal point in the location.
We’re introduced to Damage Control which is a fictional construction company from the comics.
The vendetta between Toomes and Stark is set up here and we also get a subtle hint that they’re opposites to one another. Toomes theme that we can hear introduced in the background here is actually the same as the Avenger’s but in minor tonality which shows how he is a darker version of the hero.
Adrian is really a blue-collar worker that felt screwed over by the one per cent that took things into his own hands and rejected the idea that he should always be a second-class citizen that has no control over his destiny. Toomes is literally shown in the opening having to deal with the trash left behind by the Avengers whilst Tony profits off it and it makes the villain one of the most relatable characters in the entire MCU.
Confusing Time Jump
We jump forward 8 years but this actually messes up the timeline quite a bit as Civil War takes place 4 years after Avengers which happens in 2012. If this time jump was right then that would mean this movie takes place in 2020. I kinda wish they would just replace this title card like…come on man you added new scenes for the Star Wars movies on Disney Plus…someone couldn’t just do this like one time.
Meeting Peter
Anyway never mind, we jump to Peter and see the trip to Berlin from his point of view in Civil War. Peter gets given a new suit in a briefcase which could be a reference to Iron Man 2 in which Tony gets his new suit out of a case called The Football, a reference to the nuclear launch code that travels with the president.
Peter jumps into the fight and it lines up perfectly with the battle from Civil War.
We also see the bruises that Tony receives in that film, namely his black eye appears in the car in the exact same place. We also see a hint of Peter’s spider-sense starting to develop as just before Happy is about to crash his car Peter looks back and forth nervously and then Hap honks the horn before missing the collision.
Tony calls Happy ‘forehead of security’ which is a call back to the jibe he did to the character in Iron Man 3 and he rejects Peter’s hug as he leans over. This hug would come to get some closure on it as when Tony and Peter reunite in Endgame the first thing that the former does is hug him.
Peter & Happy’s Communication
Flash forward two months and we see Peter texting Happy but he’s getting blanked. Don’t be afraid to double text…triple text…whhaaat quadruple text. That’s just embarrassing. Peter’s phone has a crack on it and throughout the movie, it gets more and more damaged eventually leaving the screen looking like a spider’s web.
Peter mentions quitting band practice in his messages and later in the film when Tony asks what he’s up to on the Ferry he says he’s at band practice. Tony says Happy told me you quit so this is a nice little callback to this message.
Now what’s interesting is that Happy pretty much ignores Peter throughout the movie. In thematic terms, he is very much a mirror of Toomes who too was overlooked by the Stark Company and its employees. When Peter finally kicks up enough noise they pay attention which is similar to the Vulture who flies under the radar a lot of the time.
I think Tony and Happy at the end of the movie regret not paying attention to Peter and through the turn of the Vulture, they realise that if they don’t pay attention to the little things it can blow up in their face.
Clever Animal Symbolism
Spiders are of course little creatures that we often overlook so even the name of the hero fits his name and how he is viewed. Vultures are also scavengers and the Vulture is a scavenger in the film so yeah…good job Marvel.
Nods to Other Films
At school, Peter Walks past a mural of famous inventors from time and we can actually see Howard Stark in the background too played by John Slattery.
Bruce Banner also appears as a lineup of famous inventors at one point in the film and this world-building really shows how much effort Marvel really put into their movies.
We also see the principal catching a drone as well and telling a student to go to his office. This is Kenneth Choi who also played Jim Morita in Captain America The First Avenger. We can actually see a photograph of Jim in his office at one point showing that the two are actually related.
Speaking of returning cast members Peter’s science teacher is also the same one that we see as a student in The Incredible Hulk. These really flesh out the MCU and show that characters often return in surprising and unexpected ways.
Science Class
Ned tells Peter that he’s gonna go to Peter’s home that night to build the Death Star but he’s distracted by Liz and just agrees to it without even thinking. Thus he doesn’t really know that Ned will be there on the night and accidentally reveals that he’s Spider-man to him.
Cut to the classroom and the teacher is asking the class how you calculate linear acceleration between two points. Flash gets the equation wrong and the teacher asks if Peter is still with them as he’s sat watching videos of himself on his laptop.
We see that the equation actually involves something that looks like a pendulum swing and even though Peter hasn’t been paying attention he still works out the answer pretty quickly. This is because he’s used to swinging through the city and quickly working out angles so he has no problem handling the math behind it.
We can see that the video has been uploaded by RocketRobinson67 and this is a reference to Robbie Robertson who debuted in 1967. Robbie works at the Daily Bugle and has become somewhat of a fan favourite.
We see how Peter makes his web fluid and then cut to Ned and Peter looking over to Liz and Betty hanging up the homecoming sign. Though Peter stares at Liz, Ned actually stares at Betty and this would pay off in Far From Home when the two end up dating.
Introducing MJ
MJ interrupts this and we can see that she has a pile of books.
Throughout the movie, she reads several that lowkey hint at why she’s interested in Spider-man. One of them is Of Human Bondage which is about an Orphan boy that ends up living with his aunt and uncle and the other is Invitation To A Beheading. This is about a man that has been sentenced to hang and he sits in his cell with only a spider to keep him company.
Tigers Connection
Cut to the decathlon team and we see the group practising questions. Flash sits there mocking Peter but behind him, we can see several school team signs.
The team is clearly called the Tigers and for a split second later in the movie we even see the tiger mascot running through the halls. We also see this same mascot running through the halls at the end. Pretty much every sign has Go Get Em Tigers written on it and Go Get Em Tiger is a famous phrase that Mary Jane said to Peter in the comics.
Peter’s Heroic Missions
Flash also says that he has a date with Black Widow and Peter heads to the Deli to get a sandwich. He asks for it ‘smushed down real flat’ and we later see him eating it. Now if there’s one thing I know it’s sandwiches and I think that he asked for it smushed down real flat to stop the ingredients falling out as he swings through the city.
Peter webs his bag up and we later find out that this got taken when the bin got emptied, this is why Peter can later be seen carrying his books instead of in his bag.
Now if you slow down him putting on his web shooters you can also see that he has a percentage sign on the right-hand side showing how much fluid he has in a cartridge. Later when he runs out of web fluid we get a warning and can see it’s on zero per cent.
We get a Stan Lee cameo and then Peter stops an ATM robbery that is being carried out by people in Avengers masks.
There’s also a sign in the background that says ‘Identity Theft, We Have you Covered’ which Peter stands in front of. These robbers are going under the identities of the Avengers and hey…nice little…nice little nod to what’s happening in the scene.
Peter says to Thor that he thought he’d be more handsome in person and later in Infinity War when Star-Lord says he met thor and he wasn’t that good-looking, Peter gives him a funny look. Ey, I’m just saying, Chris Hemsworth, is a good-looking dude.
Now one of the cool little things that you might not have noticed is that Peter doesn’t actually punch anyone in the entire movie. He has incredible strength and hitting someone could probably leave their face looking like Deadpool so instead he uses his webs to make everyone either hit the people around them or throw them into things.
Peter is attacked with the gravity gun and he tries to grip the floor but it rips up the panelling. However, when he gets slammed back into the floor he grips the concrete and thus he doesn’t get pulled up.
Iron Man 1 Link
Cut to Avengers tower and we see Happy and Tony’s robot arm Dum-E. Dum-E is often the butt of the joke and here is no different. We actually learned in Iron Man that this was the first thing that Tony ever built and it’s good to see it making a return. Don’t worry Dum-E I love you.
Ned Learns the Truth
Peter and May go get Larb and I larb this scene thank you very much. We also see Spider-man climbing out of a Portaloo which is held up in a news article at the beginning of Far From Home. Aunt May says she’s not a fan of Tony Stark and tells Peter that he should trust his instincts, this might be a nod to his spider-sense and the character learning to embrace it.
Cut to Ned asking Peter lots of questions namely if he spits Venom. This is of course a nod to one of Peter’s biggest foes who we learned last year is going to now be part of the MCU. He also says he would stand on a building and shoot his webs to see how far they would go and this is a nod to Tobey Maguire doing the same thing in the Raimi trilogy.
There’s also another nod to the Raimi movies when Vulture attacks Peter with the glider from behind at the end. Peter jumps over it just like how he did when fighting the green goblin but the vulture was smart enough to stop it before it hit him.
Liz’s Party
Liz starts crushing on Spider-man and her friend asks if she would still love him even if he was seriously burnt. Liz says she would love him for the person that he is inside and I think this might be a reference to Deadpool who yeah…hopefully entering the MCU soon as well.
They go to Liz’s party after promising that Spider-man will be there. Liz starts talking to them and we the sound of broken glass in the background and Liz goes to check on it.
This later becomes another clue that Liz and Adrian are related as when Toomes returns to Vulture HQ during the same night as the party, the Tinkerer says that his wife keeps texting him about a brake light. I’m guessing at the party that someone smashed one up and this is what we heard earlier in the movie. You know we love a good reach.
Donald Glover Triangle
We then see The Shocker one selling an Ultron arm to none other than Aaron Davis played by Donald Glover. In comic books, this is actually Miles Morales’s uncle who we also saw in Into The Spider-verse.
In Into the Spider-verse, Aaron’s character at one point is watching Community on the TV, most notably the scene in which Donald Glover wears Spider-man Pyjamas. So Aaron is watching the multiverse version of himself wearing Spider-man pyjamas and it’s one of the best easter eggs that I’ve ever seen in a film.
Aaron’s alter ego is The Prowler and we see at one point this is name-dropped when Peter looks at his profile.
Aaron initially turns down the gun but becomes more interested when the Shocker pair talk about how they have climbers, something that the Prowler uses when committing crimes.
A chase ensues and Peter runs through backyards in a scene that is a direct call back to Feris Buellers day out which we see playing on a tv at a party.
He’s picked up by the Vulture who ascends into the air and goes over the moon in what is a call back to Keaton doing the same thing with the Batwing in Batman 1989.
Clever Suit Characteristics
Peter is rescued by Iron Man and he dries his suit by using a heater. Iron Man says that he put everything in his suit and in addition to the heater we know that there’s a tracker and a parachute. Throughout our MCU videos, we’ve always talked about how Tony learns from his mistakes and the Heater is there after he landed in the cold wilderness in Iron Man 3. The tracker is there in case Peter gets kidnapped like how Tony did in the first Iron Man and the parachute is there to stop what happened to Rhodey in Civil War from happening to the webhead.
Another cool little detail is that we can also see the suit moving his arms to order a drink and later when it’s revealed he’s not actually there this is brought to him. I also like how Tony drives an Audi R8 Spyder in this movie.
At Vulture Hq we get a good look at the Shocker’s arm and this is actually the same as Crossbone’s arm so the group might have salvaged it from the character after he died.
Peter tracks the Vultures goons and realises that the decathlon in Washington is close to where they’re hiding out. He goes with the team across the country and the school members are actually also on the bus in Infinity War showing that Marvel reused the same cast to keep things consistent.
On the road, we see a sign for the Triskellion Cleanup which is a reference to Captain America The Winter Soldier. In that Cap and Co crashed a helicarrier into the building in Washington and thus the cleanup still continues.
When practising questions Peter mentions the fake Marvel element vibranium the fictional Marvel metal and then works on the suit where they remove the training wheels protocol.
This gives him access to Karen who is voiced by Jennifer Connelly. Connelly is the real-life wife of Paul Bettany who voiced Jarvis before going on to play the Vision.
Peter gets instant kill mode which is also a reference to Batman I think, I love you Batfleck. We can also hear the criminals talking about the cleanup on the Triskellion which again is a call back to The Winter Soldier.
Peter fights the Vulture as he pulls off a heist and ends up getting trapped inside the Damage Control truck. If you slow the footage down you can actually see one of the matter phasers roll on the floor near his feet and this is why it closes above him.
He goes to Damage Control Deep Storage and finds an Ultron head at one point. The eyes are still glowing red so who knows, maybe the big bad bot of the MCU will be back one day.
Washington Monument Scene
The scene at the Washington monument happens and we see Peter running along beside it similar to how Sam and Cap did at the start of the winter soldier.
That’s a reach…ok I’ll admit it that’s a reach.
Peter saves the group in the elevator and we cut to Adrian watching a report of the scene on the news. Clearly, he knows his daughter is in Washington so seems really worried about it which could be seen as a clue that his daughter is Liz.
We then cut to Liz’s mum hugging Liz hinting at a connection between the two.
Is that a reach?
It is now.
Peter gets detention and then goes to his locker before lifting them all up. We can actually see scrapes on the wall above them showing that he’s done this several times.
He watches back footage and when he’s shown his Avengers impression his heart rate shoots up showing just how embarrassed he is by it.
He goes to interrogate Aaron who mentions his nephew who we know from comic books is Miles morales. There is a theory that Miles survived the snap and that he’s gonna be brought into the MCU roughly the same age as Peter if not older but keep your eyes peeled on whether that’s true or not.
Ferry Fight
On the ferry, he comes across Matt Gargon and we see that Karen flags up he has a Scorpion Tattoo on his neck. Gargon and Scorpion are one and the same and I really hope that the little tease we got from Michael Mando on Instagram means that he’s gonna be in the third spidey movie.
When fighting the group Spidey also does the exact same roll that Cap did in Civil War showing that the webhead learned from him. I know we mentioned that in our Civil War video but it’s such a cool little detail I love it.
The ferry is torn apart and Peter pulls it together in a move that is referenced in the opening of Into the Spider-verse. The passengers are saved by Tony and I have to say I absolutely love this suit, I think it’s my favourite version you know. I even spent $40 to get a Funko of it that was just the civil war one repainted.
Anyway, make sure you join my Patreon or whatever.
Back to being Peter
Peter gets the suit taken away, has time to build the Death Star from earlier and seems happier. He even does a handshake with Ned that’s the same one that Miles does during Into The Spider-verse.
He gets a date with Liz and goes to pick her up which is when we discover that Toomes is the Vulture.
Toomes also discovers Peter is Spider-man and this is subliminally hinted at as the red traffic light turns to green when the penny drops.
After being dropped off Peter leaves the prom to stop him from robbing Stark. Happy discusses how they’re loading the old Hulkbuster armour, something that would be replaced in Infinity War and Cap’s new shield which we discover in Endgame that Tony had made for the character even though they weren’t really on speaking terms.
Confronting Vulture
Peter confronts Adrian and Toomes says he’s sorry before he brings the building crashing down on his head. This Sorry catches him off guard and leads to him almost being killed. Peter clearly learned from this as in Far From Home, Mysterio says it to him before he tries to kill him but Peter manages to stop it.
Toomes also takes out structural joints and as we know he previously worked in construction so would know how to do this.
Peter sees his reflection in the water with half the mask on his face which is the iconography that has followed the webhead throughout his rich history. He also lifts the rubble similar to how the character did in the comic.
Peter stops the Vulture from robbing the plane and whenever I watch this I always think that they might have ripped off the bit in Batman Rebirth when the Dark Knight tried to stop the plane from coming down on Gotham. I dunno if that’s for definite but it always does my head in so I had to bring it up here.
When Toomes is unpacking things we also see a case full of arc reactors, perhaps suggesting that Stark has built a lot more suits since destroying them in Iron Man 3.
Peter saves Vulture and thus he decides not to rat him out later in the movie but Liz and her family are forced to move away and Tony takes Peter upstate. They mention how Vision isn’t big on doors which is a nod to Civil War.
Iron Spider
A weird detail that I’ve seen pointed out a fair bit is that Tony wears the same t-shirt in bed in Iron Man 3 as Peter does in this film and I kinda wonder what is going on here…what a strange thing to put in your movie for several reasons. Is Pepper dating Peter or…is Iron Man…in love with…what?
Anyway, never mind.
Peter turns down the Iron Spider Suit but it of course pops back up in Infinity War. To make it so the press didn’t waste their time, Tony does a grand gesture and proposes to Pepper. Pepper is seen wearing this ring in Infinity War as well and the movie closes out with aunt May discovering that Peter is Spider-man. This reveal of his identity is mirrored at the end of Far From Home when his identity is shown to the world and he says What the F just like how Aunt May does here. A post-credits scene then happens of the Vulture and Scorpion meeting in prison, potentially teasing the sinister six.