Robert Downey, Jr.'s Iron Man joins Spider-Man: Homecoming

By Stephanie Topacio Long April 21, 2016

zuck ai downey jr robert iron man avengers poster — Walt Disney Studios

Tom Holland may be headlining his first Marvel film with Spider-Man: Homecoming, but he won’t be left entirely to his own devices. It turns out that the superhero flick will also feature Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, according to THR.

Homecoming won’t be the first time the two characters are seen sharing the screen; both Spider-Man and Iron Man are part of the upcoming, superhero-packed Captain America: Civil War. While key plot details haven’t been revealed yet, Civil War apparently sets up whatever interactions the two will have in Homecoming. Not much is known about what to expect in the latest Spider-Man flick either, other than the fact that it will focus on Peter Parker’s teenage years. Based on that, it would be interesting to see Iron Man serve as a mentor to the budding superhero.

Previous iterations of Spider-Man haven’t exactly been runaway box office successes, so it’s clear that Marvel is approaching his reintroduction very carefully and strategically. Audiences will first get a taste of the new web-slinger as he’s ushered into the MCU in Civil War, and then Downey’s familiar face (and armor) will add appeal to Homecoming. It sounds like a recipe for success, but of course, we’ll have to wait and see how it plays out.

Along with Downey, Holland will be joined by Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, Zendaya as a female lead, Tony Revolori, and Laura Harrier. Jon Watts is directing from a script by Vacation writers John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. The film is being produced by Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal.

Production on Homecoming is set to begin in June, and the film is slated to open on July 7, 2017. In the meantime, Marvel lovers can look forward to the May 7 release of Civil War.

Topics

Stephanie Topacio Long

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Stephanie Topacio Long is a writer and editor whose writing interests range from business to books. She also contributes to…

Entertainment

All the Spider-Man movies in order

Spider-Man crawling on the side of a skyscraper in a poster for "Spider-Man" (2002).

As one of the greatest superheroes in comic book history, Spider-Man has gotten the movie treatment many times in the past half-century. A total of 14 movies centered around the web-slinging hero have been made so far. While it may have taken a while for Spidey to get a film deserving of his character, the hero has now become amongst the cinema industry's most profitable IPs.

So now, with a third Spider-Verse film and Tom Holland's fourth solo adventure on the way, here's a chronological list of all the Spider-Man movies made so far.

Entertainment

Bringing back the original Avengers won’t save the MCU

The cast of "The Avengers."

It’s no secret in Hollywood that Marvel Studios is facing some serious issues that are now playing out in a very public way. Although the challenges Marvel has to deal with pale in comparison to the ones that the recently reorganized DC Studios will have to work through, the world’s biggest superhero movie studio simply isn’t the powerhouse that it used to be.

Earlier this week, Variety laid out many of Marvel’s current challenges in great detail, as well as a few plans to reignite the franchise. The report even indicates that there have been discussions about bringing back all of the original Avengers stars for a new sequel. Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk never really left the Marvel Cinematic Universe, while Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye was semi-retired even before Renner’s life-threatening accident earlier this year. However, Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), and Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) were already written out in Avengers: Endgame. Cap got to live out his life in the past, but Iron Man and Black Widow both died on-screen.

Entertainment

When is Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse streaming?

Miles Morales falls through a multiverse portal in "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse."

It took almost five years, but the sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse finally arrived and was one of the top hits of the summer. And Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is everything you could hope for from a follow-up -- and more. It has a much bigger scale than the first film, with literally hundreds of Spider-Heroes, at least five distinct animated worlds, and a ton of heart that made this sequel a huge success.

The incredible visuals got people into theaters, but the characters are the reasons why moviegoers kept coming back to see it. Shameik Moore reprises his role as Miles Morales, a teenage Spider-Man who has a lot of questions about his future. Also returning from the first film is Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy, New Girl's Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker, and Causeway's Brian Tyree Henry and Luna Lauren Vélez as Miles' parents, Jefferson and Rio Morales, both of whom have much meatier roles in the sequel.