We’ve known for quite some time that the newSpider-Man costumeworn byTom Holland’s Peter Parker was upgraded by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), with the post-credits scene fromCaptain America: Civil Warshowing of some off these gadgets. We’ve also seen some of these new enhancements, like thewebbed wings, displayed in the trailer. But today, we have a full report where directorJon Wattsbreaks down all of the technical innovations in this suit, along with a never-before-seen photo. The image features Peter Parker hiding out, with the cell phone he’s holding connected directly to the suit.
The Los Angeles Timescaught up withSpider-Man: HomecomingdirectorJon Watts, who confirmed that Tony Stark’s suit has a lot of “bells and whistles”. First up is the Recon Drone, which has been given the cute nickname Droney: ‘The detachable chest piece transforms into a drone and sends information back to the suit.’
Next, Spidey gets a new GPS Tracking System: ‘Goodbye, blinking red dot, hello, complex GPS system. The classic spider tracer has been upgraded with a holographic display.’ Peter has upgraded web shooters this time around: ‘The enhanced web shooters have more than one setting, a variety of webbing and a laser targeting system. This includes explosive web snares, which automatically deploy upon approaching targets.’
Included with the web shooters are some high-tech explosive web snares: ‘The snares automatically deploy upon approaching targets.’ The web-wings were seen in the first teaser trailer: ‘Spider-Man’s web wings act like a glider, a kid’s fantasy come to movie life.’
As in the original comic book, Stark has figured out how to give Spider-Man expressive eyes: ‘The new Spidey vision shows emotion but also reflects different functions of the suit. Flip to a different spider mode and the eyes will display the change.’ And in an ode toBack to the Future 2, Peter has an Auto-fit suit: ‘The suit’s auto-fit adjusts to the user, but that doesn’t mean anyone can slip it on. It’s adaptable “within reason,” director Jon Watts warns.’
Among these high-tech gadgets, it should be noted that the removable chest piece drone is in the shape of Peter’sSpidey logo. And no movie has ever allowed Spidey to haveexpressive eyesbefore. Here’s what the director had to say, revealing that there is “precedent” for these major changes to the suit within the comic books.
“There’s actually a precedent for a lot of these ideas in these comics. In the very first issue of Spider-Man, there was one page dedicated to all the different things that Spider-Man can do with his webs. We would always joke about that because there’s web skis, and a web boat, and a web shield. We were tasked with trying to build a practical suit that looked like the perfect computer-generated suit they had made for Civil War. That was very complicated, and I assume extremely stressful for Louise [Frogley, costume designer).”
Louise Frogleysays she concentrated on “trying to realizeKevin Feige’s vision,” whileJon Wattsteased that he learned more about textiles on thisSpider-Manmovie than ever before. Apparently, the practical costume became a pet project of Feige’s during production. The director says they tested a number of different fabrics for the suit before finding the right one. Here’s what the filmmaker had to say.
“We did test after test of different fabrics, ways of printing on the fabrics, different levels of patterns, different cutting patterns. I learned so much more about textiles than I ever thought I ever would need to in my life. … I also learned the hardest thing in the world to do is have a spider web pattern look consistent from every angle. It’s basically impossible, it’s like fishnet stockings. I think it’s all supposed to be strictly for crime fighting. But I don’t think ‘droney’ would be opposed to picking up some take-out if that’s what Peter needed for his mission. We don’t go quite as far as having web skis. But you do get to see the webs doing more than just a regular strand.”
Tom Holland’s Peter Parker will need all of these gadgets at his disposal, since he will be facing a number of villains, such asMichael Keaton’s Vulture and two versions ofShocker, played byBokeem WoodbineandLogan Marshall-Green.Jon WattsdirectsSpider-Man: Homecomingfrom a script byJohn Francis DaleyandJonathan Goldstein. Take a look at this new photo forSpider-Man: Homecomingbelow.
