Tony Stark's Homecoming Plan Would Have Caused Spider-Man's MCU Twist

Peter Parker's (Tom Holland) secret identity was publicly revealed in Spider-Man: Far From Home but if Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) had his way, the world would probably have learned the web-slinger's real name at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming. In fact, Stark had designed an entire media event that would very likely have culminated in the reveal of Spider-Man's true identity.

Spider-Man: Far From Home's cliffhanger ending saw J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) out Spidey's real identity on the DailyBugle.net. This was the revenge of Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), who learned Peter was Spider-Man and exploited him as part of his scheme to take control of E.D.I.T.H., the orbital Stark Industries armed drones that Tony left to Parker, his protege, after he died. Spidey's secret identity becoming public knowledge is a major paradigm shift for the Spider-Man movies since all of the prior films starring Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield maintained the classic secret identity trope. Spider-Man: Far From Home was one of the furthest looks into the post-Avengers: Endgame future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe so fans still don't know what the fallout will be now that everyone knows Spider-Man is just a teenager from Queens, New York.

However, Tony Stark was actually all set to recruit Spider-Man at the end of Homecoming, and he likely would have prodded Peter to tell the assembled press that he's Spider-Man. After all, Iron Man had Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) bring Spider-Man to Avengers: Compound where Tony presented Peter with the Iron Spider suit as a reward for Peter defeating the Vulture (Michael Keaton). Stark orchestrated a major press event where he was going to debut Spider-Man as the newest member of the Avengers, which was Parker's dream up to that point. But instead, Peter turned Tony down to remain a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, so Tony and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) announced their impromptu engagement as a backup.

spiderman homecoming tony stark peter parker

Tony's media circus was obviously designed to replicate his press conference at the end of Iron Man, where instead of going with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s cover story that the armored superhero was his bodyguard, Stark went off script and declared, "I am Iron Man!" It's hard to believe that Tony didn't intend for Mr. Parker to take off the Iron Spider mask and make a similar, "I am Spider-Man!" announcement as a tribute to himself and Iron Man's legacy. But because Peter also went off-script and declined to be an Avenger, he unwittingly saved his secret identity and was able to enjoy being a 'normal' kid who moonlights as the wallcrawling superhero a little longer. Less than a year later, Spider-Man did become an Avenger in Avengers: Infinity War shortly before he was dusted by Thanos' (Josh Brolin) snap.

Had Peter joined the Avengers at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming and had his identity publicly revealed then, it would have completely changed Far From Home since Mysterio couldn't have enacted his revenge of outing Peter as Spidey. And since Peter was dead for five years, he would have only had to deal with the world knowing who he was for the months between Spider-Man: Homecoming and Avengers: Infinity War and for the months between Endgame and Far From Home. And although Stark didn't get his potential wish for Peter, someone found out Spider-Man's secret identity at the end of Homecoming anyway: Aunt May (Marisa Tomei).

Spider-Man: No Way Home will finally deal with the fallout of Peter's identity no longer being a secret, and it remains to be seen if the MCU will somehow walk it all back to re-establish Spider-Man's secret. However, Spider-Man's real name is still known to the U.S. government and global agencies who enforce the Sokovia Accords. Just to be able to operate as Spider-Man, Peter must have been asked by Tony to sign the Accords when he enlisted Spidey for Team Iron Man in Captain America: Civil War. Knowing Tony Stark, his Homecoming plan of Spider-Man joining the Avengers would have culminated in Peter telling the world he's Spidey so that Tony could vicariously live his seminal Iron Man moment through his protege.

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