Spiderman Homecoming (2017): Cast, Plot and Ending Explained

In Spider-Man: Homecoming, teenager Peter Parker tries to prove himself as Spider-Man by stopping Adrian Toomes, a salvager who sells weapons built from leftover alien technology. The story begins after the 2012 Battle of New York, when Toomes loses his cleanup contract because a government group backed by Tony Stark takes over the job.

Angry and out of work, Toomes and his crew keep the alien tech they have found and start building and selling powerful weapons. That decision gives the film a villain who is a working man with a grudge, which makes him a very different threat from a world conquering invader.

Eight years later, Peter is back at school after his part in the events of Captain America: Civil War. Stark tells him he is not ready to be a full time Avenger, so Peter drops his school academic team to spend his time fighting street crime as Spider-Man. His friend Ned soon finds out his secret, and from there the film becomes a coming of age story about a teenager who wants a bigger job than anyone is willing to give him.

In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Peter Parker stops Adrian Toomes's plan to steal an Avengers cargo plane, crashes it on Coney Island beach, and saves Toomes's life before turning down Tony Stark's offer to join the Avengers. Spoilers follow.

Toomes and his crew are pushed out of the cleanup job after the Battle of New York. They keep the alien tech and begin building weapons, including a winged flying suit that makes Toomes the Vulture. Eight years later, Peter returns to school after the events of Captain America: Civil War and is told by Tony Stark that he is not ready to join the Avengers. He quits the academic team to patrol as Spider-Man, and Ned learns his secret.

Peter interrupts a weapons sale by Toomes's men, and Toomes drops him in a lake while wearing the Vulture suit. Stark rescues him and tells him to stay away. Soon after, Toomes accidentally kills one of his own crew with a weapon, and another man, Herman Schultz, takes over as Shocker. Peter and Ned study a leftover weapon and trace Schultz toward Maryland, so Peter rejoins the academic team for a tournament in Washington, D.C.

There he is trapped in a truck while chasing Toomes and misses the event. He then races to the Washington Monument, where an unstable alien power core explodes, and he saves classmates trapped in an elevator, including Liz. Days later, Peter catches Toomes's new buyer on the Staten Island Ferry, but a faulty weapon splits the ferry in two. Stark arrives to help save the passengers and takes Peter's suit as punishment.

Peter then invites Liz to the homecoming dance and learns she is Toomes's daughter, and Toomes works out that Peter is Spider-Man. Toomes threatens him, and Peter realizes Toomes plans to hijack a plane carrying Avengers weapons. Peter leaves the dance in his old homemade suit, beats Schultz with Ned's help, and survives being buried under rubble at Toomes's hideout. He stops the plane by crashing it on the beach at Coney Island, then saves Toomes's life when the Vulture suit explodes and hands him to the police. Liz moves away, and Peter turns down Stark's offer to join the Avengers full time.

Spider-Man: Homecoming held its world premiere on June 28, 2017, at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. That was nine days before the film opened in US theaters on July 7, 2017.

The wider release rolled out quickly. The United Kingdom saw the film on July 5, 2017, and Australia on July 6, 2017, both reported dates rather than studio confirmed ones. In the United States the film carries a PG-13 rating, in the United Kingdom a 12A and in Australia an M.

The ending of Spider-Man: Homecoming shows Peter choosing to stay a street level hero: he saves Toomes, hands him to the police and turns down Tony Stark's offer to join the Avengers full time. Spoilers follow.

Why does Peter save the man who tried to kill him? Peter's rescue of Toomes shows the film's definition of a hero: he helps an enemy who gains him nothing, because the police arrest Toomes either way. Peter crashes the cargo plane on the beach at Coney Island, then pulls Toomes out when the Vulture suit explodes, so the act works as character rather than strategy.

The Liz thread lands with more sadness than the action does. Liz moves away after her father's arrest, which leaves Peter's homecoming dance as the one date that never really happened. That is the film's smartest consequence, since the villain's defeat costs the hero something personal.

What about the suit? Stark takes it as punishment after the ferry disaster, and Peter wins the climax in his old homemade version. When Stark gives the suit back, Peter puts it on in his bedroom just as May walks in. Peter earns the gear by proving he did not need it, which is why refusing the Avengers offer suits him better than accepting would.

The mid credits scene follows with Mac Gargan, who asks Toomes in prison whether he knows Spider-Man's identity, and Toomes says no. That small lie is another act of mercy, and it keeps Peter's secret safe going into Spider-Man: Far from Home, which follows Homecoming in chronological order.

Yes, Spider-Man: Homecoming has a mid credits scene with Mac Gargan and Adrian Toomes, and it reveals a plot point, so spoilers follow.

In prison, Mac Gargan approaches Toomes and says he has heard that Toomes knows who Spider-Man really is. Toomes says he does not. The scene confirms that Toomes keeps Peter's identity to himself after being arrested, and it introduces Gargan as a character to watch.

Spider-Man: Homecoming was filmed mostly in Georgia, with Atlanta standing in for New York, plus a shoot of about two weeks in New York City and school scenes in Los Angeles. Principal photography began on June 20, 2016, at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayette County, Georgia, and wrapped in October 2016.

Pinewood Atlanta Studios held the stage work. Giant sections of the Staten Island Ferry were built there and mounted on gimbals, so the crew could stage the ferry splitting fight as a practical set piece. Atlanta streets near downtown stood in for Queens, and locations in the city included Grady High School, Piedmont Park and West End. A former printing warehouse in Atlanta served as Vulture's lair, and the crew occupied it for about six weeks.

In New York City, the crew shot in Astoria, Sunnyside, Staten Island, Manhattan and Brooklyn. In Los Angeles, two magnet schools in Van Nuys and Reseda were used. The film was shot under the working title Summer of George.

Spider-Man: Homecoming was filmed under the working title Summer of George, and its ferry fight used full size Staten Island Ferry sections built on gimbals.

• The world premiere took place on June 28, 2017, at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, nine days before the US release.
• The film is rated PG-13 in the United States, 12A in the United Kingdom and M in Australia.
• Official Trailer #2 was uploaded by Sony Pictures Entertainment on YouTube.
• Peter wins the climax in his old homemade suit, after Stark takes the new one away as punishment for the ferry disaster.
• Vulture's lair was a former printing warehouse in Atlanta, and the crew occupied it for about six weeks.
• The soundtrack album, released on July 7, 2017, includes two hidden tracks.