We knew we were going to get to see some new footage from Doctor Strange and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 at tonight’s San Diego Comic-Con Hall H panel, but in a delightful surprise, we also caught a glimpse at Spider-Man: Homecoming. Directed by John Watts (Cop Car), Spidey’s standalone movie follows Tom Holland’s web-slinging superhero after his Avenging encounters in Captain America: Civil War, throwing him back into the halls of his lowkey Queens high school.

And that’s where today’s footage took place, focusing on the John Hughes-inspired high school comedy element of the film over the superhero action. Watts described Homecoming as a “straight up high school movie” about a 15-year-old kid, calling it the “ground level of the Marvel universe,” where we leave behind the billionaire playboy lifestyle and intergalactic adventures, for the simple, universal experience of going through puberty…well, sort of universal because Peter Parker ain’t your average teen.

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“Every story, every hero, has a beginning,” reads the screen as we cut to a high school yearbook filled with images of our Marvel heroes as teens (seemingly taken from the pages of their real life counterparts’ actual yearbooks). Then it zooms in on a still and transitions to footage from Homecoming. Peter Parker is walking down a delightfully, authentically diverse high school hall where he spies a poster for the upcoming Homecoming dance.


The scene cuts to a schedule breakdown. First up — 9:30 — Science class, where he’s definitively not paying attention, instead watching himself swing around Giant Man’s legs in footage from Civil War’s climactic airport sequence. His teacher busts him, calling on him to answer a complex question, but this is Peter Parker we’re talking about, so of course he knows the answer. Next up — 11:30 — Women’s Studies, aka watching the pretty girls in school with his buddy. “We should probably stop staring,” they say as a girl at the next table over gives them a dirty look. 1:00 — Web Design, where he’s secretly concocting his high-tensile webbing using chemistry equipment. 2:00 — Physical Education, which means eavesdropping on the pretty girls as the play F, Marry, Kill with the Avengers. They’re crushing on Spider-Man, and Peter can’t help but stare as he does push-ups.

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Image via Marvel

Finally, 3:30 — Study Hall, where he’s sitting around a table of his peers. “I gotta go,” he says, presumably rushing off to some high-stakes action, when Zendaya’s character suspiciously asks “What are you hiding, Peter?” The screen cuts to a montage of him in full Spider-Man mode; swinging on top of a moving car, climbing a building, generally being a superhero, and you’re reminded that being a teenage boy with classes, crushes and family makes it impossible to keep this secret. It’s classic Spider-Man. We cut back to Zendaya, “Just kidding,” she says, “get out of here.”


The screen cuts to a perfect logo — a Spider-Man: Homecoming sticker, stuck to the front of a bound notebook. The kind you’d doodle in while not paying attention in history. The scene quickly cuts to Peter and his friend doing an elaborate secret handshake, and finally, the capper at the end, we see vulture soaring down. Boom goes the dynamite.

It’s truly excellent footage, and while Marvel often touts that they’re creating superhero movies through genre lenses, Spider-Man: Homecoming looks to be one of the greatest successes in that regard — a full-fledged high school comedy that just happens to focus on Spider-Man. I can’t wait ’til you guys can see it.

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Image via Marvel