Spider-Man: Homecoming Sequels Will Feature Deep-Cut Villains
Image via Marvel StudiosThere haven’t been very many legitimate complaints leveraged at the MCU so far (“Stop bringing me so much joy” doesn’t count), but some fans wonder if Marvel has started reaching too far into their back catalogue for new characters. Ant-Man turned out great, but few fans were begging for a Scott Lang solo feature. Any long-running adaptation like Game of Thrones or Walking Dead increasingly bumps up against their source material the longer they continue. But, given Marvel comics’ near century of existence, it seems like they should have new stories to mine from now until the sun explodes, for better or worse.
For now, that still sounds like it’ll be a part of Marvel’s long-term plans. In a recent interview with Hey U Guys, the king of Marvel, Kevin Feige, confirmed that the Spider-Man sequels will continue to introduce new, never-before-seen-onscreen Spidey villains. When asked about when we’d see classic Spider-Man villains like Green Goblin and Electro (and presumably Hypno-Hustler), Feige responded:
We haven’t talked about that. What’s fun about this is it’s the first time Spider-Man is in the MCU. And the first time he’s played by an actor who is the age, essentially, Spidey was in the comics for so long. And, as Michael Keaton does with the Vulture, we get to explore villains we haven’t seen before. Spidey has an amazing rogues gallery, so at some point I think it might be interesting to revisit some of the characters we’ve seen in films before, but right now, we think there are a lot of new ones we haven’t played with yet.
This makes perfect sense. By sticking with characters that virtually nobody has heard of, it actually lowers the barrier for entry a little bit for newer fans. Many of the MCU’s most faithful viewers grew up never reading the comics. They’re just as likely to be excited for Doc Ock as they are Hobgoblin. If a too-important character is introduced, films can run the risk of relying too heavily on everybody in the audience knowing the details of their backstory. If one of the sequels introduces Typeface as the main villain, we’ll all be on similar, stupid footing.
That said, it might be interesting to see what would happen if they invented an entirely new villain. Might we suggest the Golden Gobbler?
Read our review of Spider-Man: Homecoming here.