Why Spider-Man is the Future of the MCU

As Spider-Man: Homecoming enters its third act, our web-slinging hero (Tom Holland) is at his lowest ebb. In his zeal to prove himself worthy to be an Avenger by catching the Vulture (Michael Keaton) and putting an end to his arms dealing operation, Spider-Man's inexperience causes an incident where the Staten Island Ferry is torn in half, threatening the lives of the many people aboard. Despite his best efforts to web the ferry together, Spider-Man's bungle is saved by the timely arrival of Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.). Tony Stark then scolds Peter Parker for his mishaps and takes back the high-tech Spidey suit he gifted Peter. When Peter its he disobeyed Stark's orders because "I just wanted to be like you," Tony retorts, "I wanted you to be better."

Tony Stark was the first in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to see the potential of Peter Parker. He even its to Peter that the other Avengers on #TeamIronMan thought he was crazy to bring a teenager to fight alongside them in Captain America: Civil War. But Tony was onto something about Peter Parker even then, By the conclusion of Spider-Man: Homecoming, he's even more impressed with his protégé, who responded positively to Tony's "tough love" and took down the Vulture on his own. Tony offered Spider-Man full hip in the Avengers and is surprised (though not disappointed) when Peter declines.

Peter learned a valuable lesson about his limits and how much more he needs to learn in Homecoming. He accepts that he's better off heeding Tony's earlier words to stay "close to the ground" and be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. For his part, Tony is tickled by Peter's "Bruce Springsteen working man vibe you've got going on," and though he's a man unaccustomed to hearing no, he was proud of Peter's choice to defer his destiny. After all, Tony Stark is a futurist and Tony sees clear as day what the audience sees as well: Spider-Man is the future of the MCU.

Tom Holland as Spider-Man with Cap's shield in Captain America: Civil War

There's never been a superhero like Peter Parker in the MCU before. He embodies the purest superhero values since Captain America, but with thoroughly modern sensibilities. Though Peter himself fought in the Civil War against Captain America, Peter is untainted by the hard feelings and political infighting that led to the schism within the Avengers. He was #TeamIronMan because Iron Man sought him out, but, as we find out via Homecoming's opening vlog, Peter didn't even know why Tony Stark brought him to Berlin. For Peter, fighting in the Civil War was one of the greatest moments of his life. As Spider-Man, he got to fight alongside and against the Avengers. There was no animosity towards anyone from Peter, nor was there any animosity for Peter. He was just a kid from Queens who had an amazing weekend with the superheroes he's ired his whole life.

Spider-Man is not just the youngest superhero in the MCU that we know of - he's the first superhero born in the 21st century. He grew up in a world where the Avengers exist as fact, with all the wonder and danger their presence in the world has wrought. Marvel has even retconned Iron Man 2 so that it was a very young Peter wearing an Iron Man mask whom Tony saved when the Stark Expo was attacked by the Iron Drones of Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke). Peter grew up hero-worshipping the Avengers and Iron Man in particular, so it was a dream come true when Tony Stark himself suddenly showed up in his apartment and revealed he knew all about Peter's exploits as "the Spider-Man of YouTube."

What was it about Peter Parker that impressed Tony Stark so much? At first, it was just the YouTube footage of Peter in his garish homemade Spider-Man suit stopping a 3 ton car with his bare hands. Tony also saw some of himself in Peter, a very smart science nerd who invented his own web fluid. But there was something else that left a powerful impression on Tony: Peter's altruism. This 15 year old kid was spending his days and nights swinging around Queens, placing himself in danger and using his powers to help people, not for reward or to boost his ego or on the orders of an authority figure, but simply because it's the right thing to do. This was reaffirmed when Tony heard Peter articulate his belief system in his own words: "When you can do the things that I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you."

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In Peter, Stark saw something that was missing in the world. After all, Tony Stark invented and presides over the modern world of superheroes. It was Tony Stark becoming Iron Man that launched the current universe of Marvels (just as his deepest fear is that he'll be the cause of its destruction). As its figurehead, Stark understands that he and his peers are superheroes for a plethora of reasons that aren't necessarily about pure altruism. That starts at the top: Stark himself donned the armor to rid the world of Stark weapons falling in the wrong hands. He remains Iron Man because, in his own words, "I don't wanna stop," and out of a sense of responsibility for the Avengers and the safety of the world. The Avengers each have their own reasons to be heroes: Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson are soldiers at their core; Natasha Romanoff is a spy, Thor is an Asgardian warrior; Vision is an android exploring the meaning of humanity.

What's more, most of the Avengers are killers. Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson will kill because they are soldiers. Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton have killed as spies and as agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Even Tony Stark has killed people and has never expressed remorse about it. Spider-Man is absolutely not a killer, and is horrified every time his Stark-designed suit goes into "instant kill mode". Spider-Man saves innocent people and he stops bad guys, but not only will he not kill, he even saved the Vulture from being incinerated.

One of the frustrations Peter felt during Homecoming was Stark's seeming disinterest in stopping the Vulture's illegal arms dealing syndicate because something like that was "below the Avengers' pay grade." Certainly, none of the other Avengers go on patrol to fight crime, stop robberies, or even foil a thief from stealing a bicycle. Spider-Man cares about those things. Spider-Man sticks his neck out for anyone and everyone without the promise of reward, though he'll be glad to accept a churro now and then. There's no one quite like him anywhere else in the MCU.

Stark knows Spider-Man is special. In a way, this also feeds Stark's ego - if someone as inherently good as Peter Parker is inspired by Iron Man to do the heroic things he does, that says something pretty positive about Iron Man as well, doesn't it? Moreover, Stark has the ability to look to the future and see what it needs. Still haunted by his own inadequacies and his failure to keep the Avengers together, Tony sees that the Avengers as they existed and functioned was innately flawed. To save the world from what's to come, he needs the Avengers to be better. Thus he needs the future of the Avengers - Spider-Man - to be better. Hence the Training Wheels program he had installed in the StarkTech Spider suit Peter was meant to complete. Peter being "better" actually very specifically means "better than Tony Stark himself."

Tony Stark is the alpha of superheroes in the MCU. Iron Man was the first of the modern era, the most ired by the public, and he has always set the tone for the others to follow, albeit to the chagrin of many in the world who see Tony Stark as a vainglorious opportunist. But Tony has been Iron Man for a decade and, ever the futurist, he can see that his time is coming to an end. Tony is actively trying to build the future; Spider-Man is the key to that future, as he should be. In Peter Parker, Tony Stark sees the one who can eventually carry the torch when Stark is ready to it.

What the MCU needs going forward is the vital component it was once missing but now has: Spider-Man, and the genuine, unselfish heroism he represents. Marvel is riddled with superheroes who struggle with personal demons and character flaws - this is what makes Marvel's heroes more interesting than DC's heroes to many fans - and Spider-Man falls under that category as well. But Spider-Man is also innately heroic, a pure-hearted force for good who inspires fans young and old with his values. It's not easy being Spider-Man, but he's Marvel's best superhero because he represents the best in people.

With Tom Holland Some Avengers will fall when Thanos dons the Infinity Gauntlet, but regardless of whom and what happens next, the MCU will continue onwards. With Spider-Man leading the way, the future is in the best hands.