The 1980s icon that inspired Tom Holland's Spider-Man: Homecoming
Jon Watts' Spider-Man reboot for the MCU took inspiration from the movies of John Hughes.
2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming arrived late in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Infinity Saga, coming just two years before the climactic events of Avengers: Endgame. Nevertheless, Tom Holland’s Peter Parker became an instant fan favourite thanks to Jon Watts’ interpretation of the character’s world.
This involved going back to the past, specifically drawing on the work of iconic 1980’s filmmaker John Hughes to dictate the film’s approach to teen life, and give the MCU the Spider it needed.
Despite the immense popularity of Marvel, Homecoming had a very specific problem: other Spider-men. In the 15 years prior to the film, there had been five other Spider-man movies, three starring Tobey Maguire and two with Andrew Garfield. The most recent adventure, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, was fresh in the memory having only come out three years previously in 2014.
At the time, neither Maguire or Garfield’s Spideys were canon within the MCU, and so Marvel enlisted writer/director Jon Watts to help distinguish their Peter Parker from what had come before. Their solution? To make the film reminiscent of the teen movies of John Hughes.
Even if you haven’t seen the work of the late writer/director, chances are Hughes has influenced a high school movie you love. During the 1980s, made a series of movies that changed the genre, adding emotional nuance to the big screen teenage experience. Films like The Breakfast Club (1985) explored the isolation of high school; Sixteen Candles (1984) showed the messiness of teen romance; while Ferris Bueller’s Day off (1986) embraced the idea of seizing the moment.
These, along with hits like Weird Science (1985) and Pretty In Pink (1986) became staples of 1980’s cinema, displaying the kind of earnest characterisation Watts was looking for. "It’s that sincerity – that’s the main thing John Hughes always captured," he told Fandango in 2017.
"He always took his characters seriously even though they were 15, 16 or 17, and I wanted to do the same thing. Tell it from their perspective, try to get in their heads and tell you how they feel. As opposed to looking at it as an adult looking back at high school."
That inspiration helped make Spider-man: Homecoming one of the biggest hits of 2017, and the spirit of Hughes is present throughout the adventure. On one hand, the story is about Parker’s fight to stop villain The Vulture (Michael Keaton), as well as his mentor-student bond with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr).
However, equally as important are the trials of his life at school. We see him struggle to be both a teenager and a hero in a way that hadn’t been portrayed before, facing the consequences of standing up love interest Liz (Laura Harrier) at prom, travelling with his school’s academic decathlon team, and putting his trust in best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) as his 'guy in the chair'.
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Neither Maguire nor Garfield’s versions of Parker had those kinds of allies, and while there were some moments in school the focus was always on Spider-man, rather than Peter. Watts turned that focus around, using the inspiration of John Hughes movies to those rites of passage (love, study, friendship) just as important as saving a city.
There were also literal homages to Hughes’ films put into the movie. A chase scene where Spider-man pursues The Vulture’s henchmen in a van, he does so by moving through gardens and houses. It’s a sequence very similar to one in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, where Ferris (Matthew Broderick) cuts through back yards to avoid being caught by his mother. If there were any doubt as the to the link, the sequence from Ferris Bueller is showing on a TV in one of the back yards Spidey crashes through.
A major character also has her roots in the Hughes filmography: Zendaya’s Michelle, later known as MJ. Both in her appearance and sarcastic demeanour, she brings to mind The Breakfast Club’s Allison Reynolds, played by Ally Sheedy.
Although MJ’s appearance would change as the character grew in sequels, the dark jacket, messy hair, and love of books certainly draws parallels. It’s certainly something that was on Watts’ mind, saying in 2017 that Reynolds was one of the influences for the character.
While this may seem like a novel approach for a superhero movie, it’s just part of the evolution of the world’s most popular franchise. After the first phase of the MCU, Marvel moved away from the standard superhero movie formula and began making genre movies that happened to have superheroes in from 2014’s The Winter Soldier, Captain America starred in tense spy dramas that were influenced by 70s thrillers like All The President’s Men.
The Guardians of The Galaxy were presented as sci-fi films; Doctor Strange enlisted horror director Scott Derrickson to give the character a supernatural edge; and Thor embraced comedy. It makes sense, then, that when Marvel introduced its first high schooler Avenger, they would be inspired by the man whose portrayals of teen life had become a genre unto itself.
Spider-Man: Homecoming is back in UK cinemas from Friday, 6 September.
