Peter with his Spider-Man mask off in Homecoming

Warning: Spoilers for Spider-Man: Homecoming

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Spider-Man: Homecoming ended on a surprising cliffhanger that the movie's writers say will impact Peter and Aunt May moving forward. Since the movie is already making a splash at the box office, we'll see this change in the inevitable sequel. Since the ending of the film will change their relationship significantly, the writers have clearly been thinking ahead to how they can keep their characters fresh instead of reusing the same situations that we've seen in past Spider-Man films.

At the end of the film, after Peter rejects Tony Stark's offer of a new suit and Avengers membership, he returns home and dons the suit once more just as Aunt May walks in, discovering his secret. This isn't something we've seen in the Spider-Man films this far (although it's implied she knows during Spider-Man 2), so it'll completely change the dynamic between Peter and May during the sequel.

When approaching how to deal with this giant change to the characters, Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley spoke to THR discussing how May's discovery will actually help Peter become better in his role as a superhero. After all, her knowing about his costumed identity means that he doesn't have to sneak around anymore - if she agrees to let him continue, that is. Kevin Feige also talked about the ending, mentioning that the reveal has always been part of the plan. The writers also went on to mention that Marisa Tomei was a basis for the character going into the film, without them knowing Marvel was already in negotiations with the actress.

"It just sort of diminishes what is often the most trivial part of superhero worlds, which is finding your secret. It takes the emphasis off that, lets her become part of what's really his life, so it's not cloak-and-dagger stuff. It's how does he best use these powers to help the world, help himself and his family and act responsibly. What's funny is, when we first went in to Marvel, we said we were imagining that Aunt May would be a Marisa Tomei type, and they kind of exchanged a look, because they were already secretly in negotiations with her. So things worked out well; we were all on the same page."

Related: Spider-Man: Homecoming: Post-Credits Scenes Explained

Goldstein and Daley are clearly done with the stereotypes of superheroes having to hide their identities from their friends and families. Spider-Man: Homecoming used the fact that Ned was in on the secret in the majority of the trailers and marketing material. They're not afraid to do away with the 'trivial' parts of the superhero genre. But since Aunt May and Peter have presumably lost Uncle Ben at this point, surely she's not going to be happy at the thought of her nephew flinging himself into danger? According to the scribes behind the film, that dynamic between the two will be an interesting part of the sequel.

"It sets up a fun storyline of having this maternal figure, who is supposed to protect this kid, but also knowing this kid is so much stronger than she is, and in fact his job is going to be to protect her, presumably."

They mention that his job is to protect her - will Aunt May come under threat from any villains that Peter goes up against in the sequel? The Vulture knows who he is, and even though he didn't give anything away in the post-credits scene, he might talk under some pressure. She obviously hasn't stopped the wallcrawler from his crime fighting duties though. We know that Spider-Man will be part of Avengers: Infinity War and fighting Thanos, so it looks like there's some rocky times ahead in the future for the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

Source: THR