Spider-Man: Homecoming Title Explained (There IS A Dance)

So now we know. There really will be a homecoming dance as part of Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Given the promise of a John Hughes-like spirit, that shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, but it's strange to think that perennial outsider and self-preserved dork Peter Parker would have anything to do with such a social event. He might wish he could be a jock, but as he confirmed in Civil War, he's hogtied by the fact that he wasn't one before he gained his powers.

Anyway, the confirmation comes from Tom Rothman - chairman of Sony - who spoke with IGN on the red carpet for the Ghostbusters premiere. In amongst calling Tom Holland the best Spider-Man ever (again), Rothman explained the title somewhat:

"Here’s the thing I can tell you: We’re really, really fortunate on this because Marvel and Kevin Feige have really embraced the character and no one knows him as well as Marvel. It is another crown jewel of Sony’s for sure. But Homecoming, the name, is a double entendre on purpose, right?It’s relevant to the story because it takes place in high school and there is a scene — that I guess I can give a little thing — at a homecoming dance. I’ve actually seen the dailies of it because we already did the high school shooting of it in the first couple weeks and it’s fantastic. But it’s also a homecoming to Marvel. And a homecoming to the cinematic universe that Spider-Man belongs in. So it’s a pretty unprecedented deal between two studios, but we’re really proud of it. And all I can tell you is, those guys at Marvel — I think the technical term is — they know their sh-t."

If you didn't' expect that to be the case you probably weren't paying enough attention. And hopefully that should put paid to the rumours that the film is based on the obscure post-Secret Wars comic that saw the debut of the symbiote suit. It's just a coincidence.

We've already been told that Homecoming will focus chiefly on Peter's school life, and the complexities of balancing it with his superhero work, and that should change the dynamic compared to what we've seen in the past. And to the film's benefit, hopefully. Rothman again talked up this version of the webcrawler:

"We love all of the pre-existing movies and everybody and all the incarnations, but this is it. This is that character in all his youthful complications and ‘I have to save the world and get my chemistry homework done, and which am I going to do.’ I truly can’t wait ’til next summer."

So all-in-all we can probably expect a more classic comics-infused Peter Parker and Spider-Man, which is absolutely no bad thing. As long as we don't have to endure another catastrophic superhero dancing scene...