The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man has broken its biggest promise. When it was first announced that Spider-Man was coming to the MCU, Tom Holland stated that Marvel Studios was taking an approach that was similar to the Harry Potter movies, which followed the journey of the titular character during his formative years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - but only one film has truly matched this statement.

Spider-Man: Homecoming saw Peter Parker (Tom Holland) balancing the life of a superhero with that of a regular high school teenager. Peter stumbled through hallways, struggled with asking Liz (Laura Harrier) to be his date to the school’s prom, and hung out with best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon). Peter’s time in high school was relatable and served as a nice parallel to his stint as Spider-Man, with the film being a proper coming-of-age story that centered Peter’s life as a normal teen with that of his superhero responsibilities. 

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However, while Spider-Man: Far From Home maintained certain aspects of Peter’s high school setting, the fact that it took him and his classmates to Europe and was set in the years after Avengers: Endgame robbed fans of seeing the superhero carry on with a normal teenage existence. Sure, Peter, MJ (Zendaya), and Ned had to acclimate to a new existence after they’d been dusted by Thanos, but the film was far removed from the promise of being a Harry Potter-esque school story. In Far From Home, Peter’s high school barely even made an appearance in the movie, leaving fans without much in the way of Peter settling into a new high school experience after having been gone for five years.

Spider Man Homecoming Peter and Ned

With the untitled third film in the Spider-Man: Homecoming trilogy set to potentially tackle the multiverse concept, bringing back Electro and Doctor Octopus from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 2, respectively, the days of Peter going through the usual high school and teenage woes seem entirely impossible now. There’s also the fact that Peter’s identity as Spider-Man was compromised at the end of Far From Home, so he may have to go into hiding. It’s safe to say that Peter’s high school days are far behind him after the second film. 

One could argue that the scope of Spider-Man’s story has expanded beyond what was initially promised at the outset. However, the lack of Peter Parker’s high school experience means fans didn’t get to see him grow and develop as a teenager normally would during these years and that’s a shame because the original concept was pretty good and had a lot of potential to evolve Peter in ways that the story has not been able to do outside the walls of high school. There’s still hope that the third installment in the Homecoming trilogy will at least show Peter attending his high school, but it’s doubtful that it will be a substantial aspect to his character’s journey. 

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