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Why Fanboys Should Love Marvel’s New Spiderman

Why Fanboys Should Love Marvel’s New Spiderman

There are plenty of reasons to look forward to the thirteenth movie in the MCU, Captain America: Civil War. Based on the limited comic series Civil War, the film pits some of our favorite Avengers against each other as the government seeks to monitor and regulate superhero activity. Basically, in the course of saving the world, some stuff got knocked over and people got hurt (ok, so they died). This leads to governing bodies introducing legislation that would dictate exactly when and how the Avengers are to take action. For reasons that are likely already known to many of you, but for the sake of newer fans I won’t spoil, Steve Rogers (Captain America) opposes the act. Tony Stark, on the other hand, is supportive of government oversight, and this difference in opinion ends up fracturing The Avengers into two opposing parties.

The premise itself is enough to merit interest. Throughout the history of Marvel comics there have been multiple story branches that allot for a division and conflict between the most iconic superheroes. It’s fun to watch for the same reasons that a game like Super Smash Brothers is fun to play; we just love to pit our favorites head to head and imagine how certain fights would play out and who would win. In the latest trailer for Civil War , though, we’re given another reason to get psyched about this move: Spiderman.

It was long-rumored and then confirmed that Spidey would find his way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe where he belongs, but we haven’t had a good look at him (or seen him at all) until now. With Marvel and Sony sharing rights to Spiderman for their movies, I was wondering what the costume would look like in Civil War . Now that we’ve seen it, the response from fans and critics has covered the entire spectrum from inspired fanaticism, to passive apathy, to enraged indignation and feelings of betrayal. It certainly is different, I’ll say that, but personally I’m a huge fan of this new look. I say “new,” but it’s actually more classic than modern. What makes this suit so special?

Say goodbye to raised webbing.

The raised, rubbery, shiny webbing that we saw for the first time in 2002’s Spiderman starring Tobey Maguire is gone. The raised webbing and enormous logo in the Spiderman trilogy and in The Amazing Spiderman set a standard for superhero costumes that we’re still seeing, even in recent MCU films. Features are typically exaggerated, and costume material typically looks thick and rubbery. This new costume seems to be a throwback to the Spiderman’s comic-book origins in the 60s. The web patterning is no longer raised, the spider symbol is much more subtle, and the color scheme seems to be a mix between Steve Ditko’s darker blue / black and red, and John Romita’s light blue and red.

Why Fanboys Should Love Marvel’s New Spiderman

Say hello to some new tech.

In the image up top you can also see that Spiderman is wearing a utility belt. This is nothing new, especially to fans of the comic-books, where Parker usually sports a utility belt to store his extra webbing and tracking devices. In the comic books the belt is usually kept underneath his suit, here we can see it’s plainly visible, which I don’t mind. In the trailer you can also see black straps around Spiderman’s wrists, which would be his web-shooters. They seem to be flush with the rest of the costume, which is nice, but we don’t actually get a good look at his hands so in the movie he may be holding some kind of device. This is Spiderman’s signature tech as far as function is concerned, but we’re more interested in something else.

Those emotive eyes:

In the closing seconds of the trailer you can see Spidey’s eyes get more narrow and focused. For me, this was the drop-the-mic moment of the trailer, and those final frames got me more pumped than the rest of the trailer by far. Emotive eyes are something we were just recently treated to in Deadpool, and it is such a fantastic addition, aesthetically. In Deadpool things are kind of silly and flippant, and we don’t really need an explanation for these magically shifting eyes. In The Avengers story arc things are a little more serious, and function dictates form. You can see in the higher-res stills that Spidey’s eyes seem to be layered in some way, and it looks like there is some kind of technology allowing them to move. Whether Parker himself designed the suit and the eyes is unclear. In the comics that wouldn’t be out of the question, but for this film I’m guessing that Tony Stark has something to do with it, and that could be part of the bond that forms between the two.

There you have it! This new costume is a brilliant blend of classic and modern, and it’s totally decked out with useful tech. I can’t wait to see how these new emotive eyes work out, and I’m thinking that for masked heroes, they’ll soon be seen as a totally indispensable tool for showing emotion. What do you think of Spidey’s new look? Is it too classic, or do the emotive eyes seem too cartoony for the MCU? If you didn’t catch the latest Civil War trailer you can watch it right here:

Image Credit: Mattia Ruffo

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