Spider-man Homecoming: Welcome home Spidey to the Marvel Cinematic Universe

by contributing writer Azrin Madin

Friendly neighborhood web slinger Spider-Man is coming to the big screens and this might be the best Spider-Man movie ever. So get your popcorn ready. You wouldn't want to miss this movie.

Official Synopsis:

A young Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland), who made his sensational debut in Captain America: Civil War, begins to navigate his newfound identity as the web-slinging super hero in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, Peter returns home, where he lives with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.). Peter tries to fall back into his normal daily routine – distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man – but when the Vulture (Michael Keaton) emerges as a new villain, everything that Peter holds most important will be threatened.

Spider-Man Homecoming is directed by Jon Watts with screenplay by the writing teams of Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, Watts and Christopher Ford and Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. It stars Tom Holland as Spider-Man, Michael Keaton as Vulture, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Zendaya as Michelle, Marisa Tomei as May Parker, Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, joined by Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds, Laura Harrier as Liz Allan, Logan Marshall-Green as Jackson Brice, Bokeem Woodbine as Herman Schultz, Donald Glover as Aaron Davis and Michael Chernus as Tinkerer.

Some moviegoers may feel they have seen enough of Spider-Man. This is after all Sony Pictures' third attempt at the franchise. So what is special this time?

As some of you folks would be aware, licensing rights for trademarked Marvel characters are spread out amongst various movie studios. The more widely popular successful transitions from comic books to films are the X-Men mutants by 20th Century Fox, the Spider-man saga via Sony Pictures and more recently the Avengers by Marvel Studios. Due to licensing rights, movies by each studio existing in it's own "pocket universe" and thus characters that regularly team-up in Marvel Comics could not happen in live-action productions.

Marvel Studios (red), Sony Pictures (purple), 20th Century Fox (blue), Universal (yellow).
Source: www.thegeektwins.com 

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was launched in 2008 by the first Iron Man movie paving the way for a handful of solo superhero titles leading up to the ensemble team of The Avengers in 2012 to massive box office success exceeding USD1.5 billion . Previous Spider-Man movies typically score the USD $700-800 million mark. No doubt seeing a most lucrative opportunity with Marvel's most popular superhero to swing higher in the box office, Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios revisited the licensing rights for Spider-man in 2015 allowing web-head to be part of the MCU. And that's what makes Spider-man Homecoming so special this time around: Welcome home Spidey to the Marvel Cinematic Universe!

Director Jon Watts (far left) and Marisa Tomei (left) as Aunt May with the "kids": Jacob Batalon as Ned (centre), Tom Holland as Peter Parker (right) and Laura Harrier as Liz (far right).

British actor Tom Holland is the first teenager to play the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Which makes sense. You get a teenager to play a teenager. Why hasn't this been done before with Spider-Man? At only 5ft 7in, he looks boyish and he can perform back, side and front flips. Manohla Dargis of the New York Times, a long time film critic, says “Mr. Holland looks and sounds more like a teen than the actors who've previously suited up for this series”.

15-year old high-school student Peter Parker (right) tries to solve a technical puzzle with his best friend Ned.

We were first introduced to Spider-man in the MCU last year in Captain America: Civil War. Recruited by Tony Stark, he fought along side Iron Man and stole Captain America's shield in his superhero debut. He then traded blows with many of the MCU's veterans is one of the most epic superhero battles on screen. Let's just watch it again, ya?

The Airport Battle: One of the greatest action sequences in superhero cinema.

In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Peter Parker returns from his experience with the Avengers, under guise as the Stark Internship Program, to resumes his high school life. But being left with Stark's awesome Spidey suit, Peter's yearns to prove himself for admission into the Avengers and swings into action as the "neighborhood" Spider-man in New York's suburb county, Queens.

Introducing Stark Industries Spidey suit, A.I. "Karen" included.

After 2 months of mundane superhero-ing after school, webhead gets into trouble with some serious bad guys and learns what it takes to truly be a hero. Enter the Vulture, one of Spidey's iconic villains from the comics.

Find out more about Michael Keaton's villain, Vulture.

Early reviews for Spider-man Homecoming are out now and it seems to be overwhelmingly positive. It is currently sitting at a fresh 93% over at Rotten Tomatoes. Vox has listed 5 reasons why this is the best Spider-Man movie yet. Screenrant says “Spider-Man: Homecoming works as both a (very) funny high school comedy/drama and strong standalone superhero movie set in the MCU”. Newsweek calls it "the best Spider-man movie to date". IGN has rated the movie 8.7.

Tom Holland with Jacob Batalon takes a wefie with Singapore fans during movie press junket in early-June.Take a look at Tom's arm muscles!Photo credit Ore Huiying/Getty Images for Sony Pictures

Whilst locally written reviews are not out yet, listen to At The Movies where Umapagan, Iain McNally and Bahir Yeusuff compare Spider-man movies past and present.

Be sure to stay during the end-credits as well as there will be 2 post-credit scenes. The first scene takes place mid-way and the second at the very end. So when the credits roll, don't leave your seats yet!

Marvel movies are definitely popcorn movies. For your popcorn needs, GSC Cinemas has a cool concession counter combo consisting of one Spiderman: Homecoming Figurine Cup (3 designs) and a regular popcorn.

GSC Cinemas is also offering 2000 pieces of Spider-man keychains at selected locations. Every 4 movie tickets purchased from 6 July will be entitled for 1 keychain (while stocks last).

Over at TGV Cinemas, their Spider-Man: Homecoming combo serves popcorn in a limited edition Spider-man head bucket with a regular soft drink for RM31. They also have a limited edition “Spider-Man: Homecoming” Movieclub card available to new members whilst existing members can swap their card at RM5.

mmCineplexes variant of the popcorn combo offers a Spider-Man Head Tumbler with a 32oz drink (like sucking brains out of Spidey!) and a regular popcorn for RM20.

MBO Cinemas does not have a popcorn combo but instead a mini-Spider-man figurines for RM7.90 and exclusive tshirts for RM39.90 available with purchase of 2 movie tickets. The figurine can also be used to for their Facebook and Instagram contests to win movie merchandise.

They also have their limited edition Spider-man Homecoming Allstar member card. Members are really in for a treat as purchase of only 2 tickets will entitle to participate in the "Be A Spidey" contest to win a holiday package to London plus Sony Experia smartphones. Members may also bid for movie premiums. Find out more directly from MBO Cinemas.

Whilst we can't figure out Spidey's association with London, we do know he comes from New York and Maybank has certainly caught on to this by offering their customers a chance to win a trip to the Big Apple. This Grand Prize is only applicable to new credit or charge card holders though. Existing cardholders can instead redeem free popcorn with purchase of 2 movie tickets from TGV Cinemas using their Maybank card from 6 July. Head over to the official Maybank website for full details on their promotions.

For the chance to win Spider-man Homecoming Movie Premiums, join the KLIPS contest before 7 July. There are tshirts, sunglasses, wallets, Funko POP keychains and more to be won as shown in the visuals above.

Sony Pictures Malaysia Facebook Page contest.

Sony Pictures Malaysia is likely to be giving away similar Movie Premiums via their Facebook Page contests. The first "Photobomb" contest ask to share creative photos ends 6 July whilst the 2nd "Caption" contest to post creative answers ends 13 July.

A giant Spider-man statue at the entrance of Pavilion KL shopping mall.
Photo credit user "anordinarymouse" on www.skyscrapercity.com forum

More of these movie premiums are available from GSC Cinemas through their Instagram contest for Spidey fans visiting Pavilion KL shopping mall in downtown Kuala Lumpur. Post your photo with the giant Spider-man display on Instagram to participate.

As for toys, lotsa official Spider-man Homecoming action figures and role play products from Hasbro are available from major toy retailers like Toys R Us. LEGO also has 2 building sets for the movie.

Hasbro's Spider-man Homecoming toys.

No one is ever too old of LEGO!

Welcoming all Spider-Verse cosplay to a Fan Screening this Thursday 6 July, 8pm at mmCineplex Damansara.
Photo credit John Gullidge.

To celebrate Spider-man coming home to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Outpost brought together Spidey cosplay fans for a special Fan Screening of Spider-man Homecoming on Thursday 6 July at mmCineplex Damansara, e@Curve. Together with Spiderpools of Malaysia (SPM) and The Ultimate Cosplayers (TUC), this could be the most diverse number of Spider-Verse cosplayers to-date in Malaysia.

Numerous cosplayers attended as Spider-man from Homecoming in Stark-tech suits, plus at least one in Peter's homemade suit. Other Spideys comprised costumes from the original Sam Raimi Spider-man Trilogy as worn by Tobey Maguire (both hero and symbiote editions), Andrew Garfield's Amazing Spider-man 2, comics Ultimate Spider-man, SpiderGwen, Spider-man 2099, Iron Spider and more! Also present were Tony Stark, Iron Man, Captain America, Venom, Vulture, and Mary Jane, with Deadpool crashing the party.

Can you identify all those Spider-men?

Deadpool, it's NOT your party!?!

Fans cheer on Spidey in Homecoming.

Check out more photos from this Spider-Friends gathering at the Facebook Pages of Outpost Productions and mmCineplex. Also thanks to The Star for featuring us in the news; read the online edition here.

For every 2 tickets of Spider-man Homecoming purchased at mmCineplexes, customers can participate in Spin & Win for a guaranteed chance to win goodies like movie merchandise, Spidey tumbler, movie tickets, & more. Get the full details from mmCineplexes website.

Spider-Man: Homecoming swing into in Malaysian cinemas 6 July.

Must-Watch Movie of the Year!

Disclaimer: Spider-Man and other trademarks are copyright to Marvel and/or Sony Pictures, referenced here for fan service announcements without intent to infringe.

Mission STGCC

Towards the tail end of Hollywood summer season, choices for our kind of fan movies to feature were limited. So the Outpost Movie Recon Team (MRT) undertook an Away Mission instead to the Singapore Toys Games and Comics Convention (STGCC). Held this year again in Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre, STGCC was packed loads with pop culture geekdom over the weekend of 31 August & 1 September 2013.

Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre (left) hosted STGCC for the 2nd year.

View of Hot Toys Iron Man exhibition, Walk of Fame, and Main Stage.

As evident over the entrance arch into STGCC, Marvel was on board this year in a big way thanks to its new partnership with Disney. Aside from generous loads of freebies every hour, Marvel also presented guests to share with fans their latest offerings in Comics, Animation and Games. Meet & greet sessions with Marvel artists like Joe Madureira (Uncanny X-Men, Battlechasers) and Adi Granov (Iron Man Extremis) also provided photo opportunities and autographs for fans to take home.

The Marvel booth.

Freebies for Marvel fans every hour.

The Marvel Panels also provided interesting insight into their artists and production process. Audience members pitching good questions even scored freebies, like invites to a special Marvel Showcase event screening previews of upcoming shows like Agents of Shield. One particularly good question:

Fan: "Is Marvel considering a reboot like DC's 52?"

Marvel representative C.B. Cebulski: "No, because our universe isn't broken."

Marvel Panel with C.B. Cebulski.

Marvel Panel with comic artist Joe Madureira.

Joe Mad autograph session.

Marvel cosplayers gather at the booth stage.

One particular Marvel character featuring more prominently than any other in STGCC was Iron Man as another variant of extremis has gripped numerous memorabilia companies to take up the licence and showcase their Stark products. With companies like Hot Toys & Play Imaginative showcasing legions of Iron Men, one could be mistaken for thinking they walked into Stark Expo!

Hot Toys 1:1 scale Iron Man Hall of Armour.

Upcoming 1:6 scale Iron Man franchise figures from  Hot Toys .

And it seems after 3 movies, Iron Man is still hot property with loads of collectors camping overnight to get hold of the Hot Toys Iron Man "Midas" limited edition 1:6 figure; we hear there was even a fight over these?! Alas, it's all high-end Iron Man collectibles with nothing of the Armored Avenger being sold for small change as even an Iron Man stamp collection came to SGD45.90! Perhaps Hasbro to be present next time to service the mass market toy fans and kids. Here's our photo snapshot of the Iron Men selection (if we took one of every Iron Man figure, there would be hundreds!):

Tony Stark's Malibu mansion workshop in 1:6 scale by Hot Toys.

The Armour Vault.

New Iron Man licensee Play Imaginative showcasing their Super Alloy series of collectible figures.

Lots of different Iron Man mark 1 to 42 and beyond.

Super Alloy's Mark 42 figure with Pepper Pots piloting.

Super Alloy's War Machines.

Life-style Iron Man statues brought in by Simply Toys available for purchase.
Yes, that guy on the right is really tall!

1:1 scale War Machine Mark II statue.

Now onto recon of some non-Iron Men eye-candy:

Spider-man epic battles toy showcase at the Marvel booth.

Enterbay's NBA series of collectible figures.

STGCC exclusive Titan-class Metroplex is HUGE!

Preview of upcoming X-Wing miniatures.

Sideshow Megatron statue.

Play Imaginative also has Super Alloy DC 52 characters.

Super Alloy Green Lantern looking good.

Hot Toys upcoming Man of Steel line.

Hot Toys classic Robocop line.

"So how's the Shawarma?"

For Star Wars fans, the massive Battle of Endor display by StarWars.SG would have provided some relieve from overdose of Iron Men. The 3.75in scale display primarily of Hasbro Star Wars toys also included some funny "easter eggs" to delight movie fans; see if you spot them below: 

Cosplay was abundant at STGCC and well populated with Western pop culture cosplayers. Cosplay celebrities Vampy Bit Me from US and Aza from Korea were present for meet & greet with fans as well as share more about themselves during the Cosplay Panel. Here are only a selection of cosplay caught on camera by our MRT Away Team:

Cosplay Celebrity Vampy Bit Me appearing as Jun the Swan of Gatchaman.

Marvel / DC Crossover.

1:1 scale "live" Iron Man!

The Hobbit and Dwarves stop by STGCC en route to the Lonely Mountain.

Daring cosplay as Game of Thrones character everyone loves to hate.

All hail Loki!

Tactical cosplayers or escorts of cosplay celebrities?

Arrow vs. Deathstrike.

Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask!

What's that up this @$$?

Hmm... yeah... bizarre cosplay.

Even pets get to cosplay!

Check out more (higher quality) photos on our Facebook Photo Album.

There's no shortage of stuff to buy from STGCC, only perhaps a shortage of limited edition products no thanks indeed to presence of scalpers aplenty! Other than the anchor exhibitors, toy retailers in the bazaar section provided a wider variety of new to vintage toy collectibles. Bargains were also found as much swag was spotted leaving the convention.

No doubt there was much more happening that our MRT team overlooked but there seemed to be no shortage of fandom over the 2 days at STGCC. To share some of the loot with our fans, Outpost latest giveaway from STGCC is a Thor Dark World Poster together with Marvel button badges and postcards. Just use PunchTab below by 16 September 2013 to stand a chance to win these giveaways.

Till 2014... Mighty Marvel!

(hope that gets DC to jump into the bandwagon next year)

Giveaway Terms & Conditions:

1. This online giveaway promo commences 7 September until 16 September 2013.

2. Participation is open to all residents in Malaysia. Outpost Events personnel are not eligible to participate.

3. Winner will be randomly selected among qualified participants. Each entry method via Punchtab increases chances for selection.

4. Winner will notified within 7 days of promo closing for giveaway collection arrangements. If the winner does not response within 14 days of notification, the giveaway may be awarded to next qualified participant.

5. Outpost as the organiser reserves the rights to change these terms and conditions without prior notice.

Thank you for participating.

Disclaimer: All trademarks are copyright to their respective owners, referenced here for fan service announcements without intent to infringe.