When Stan Lee and Steve Ditko first created Spider-Man way back in 1962, he looked slightly different than he does today. He was drawn as thinner and more wirey, and his costume had a pair of “web-wings” under his arms, which later creators used to make him glide on occasion, although originally it was just a decorative feature designed by Ditko.
As other artists took over the book, the webbing wings came and went, and as most artists didn’t bother drawing them at all (a major exception to this was Todd McFarlane in the late ’80s). When it came time for Spidey to finally debut on film with the first Sam Raimi movie, the underarm webbing was nowhere to be found on the costume. Same goes for the Andrew Garfield version.
But now for Spider-Man, take three, aka Tom Holland, it looks like we are finally getting the classic Steve Ditko costume embellishment in live-action. Thanks to Comic Book.com, we’ve learned that during the Spider-Man: Homecoming panel at Comic-Con Experience in Brazil, Sony unveiled a new look at exclusive footage from the upcoming film, which hits theaters in July of next year. The new footage featured a new look at a brand new Spider-Man costume that will debut in the movie, and most of the tweets and initial responses to the new look were all about the wings on Spider-Man’s costume.
According to other descriptions that were tweeted out of the footage at CCPX (mostly in Portuguese, but which were thankfully translated into English by some kind souls out there), Spider-Man is seen flying, or more accurately gliding, by the end of the footage. Hopefully, we’ll see some of this in the trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming which is scheduled to hit with Star Wars: Rogue One.
Early rumors suggest that the new Spider-Man suit is designed once again by Tony Stark, and that the web-wings will be retractable, which they didn’t ever seem to be in any comics that I know of. Since we know Spidey is fighting the Vulture in this movie, played by Michael Keaton, it would make sense that Iron Man would help design a suit that could specifically come in handy when fighting a villain that can fly.
Actually, in the comics themselves, the web-wings weren’t even really used as gliding in the traditional sense — the webbing was actually used more for wind resistance, slowing his descent when free-falling from the top of a building when he ran out of webbing, or got knocked in the head by Doc Ock. Which makes you wonder why Peter Parker ever got rid of them in the first place, as that sounds like a handy feature to have. Interestingly, the Spider-Man spin-off characters of Spider-Woman and later, Spider-Man 2099 both had versions of the underarm webbing in their costumes, and they did use them for proper gliding.
What do you think of Peter Parker using his underarm webbing in Spider-Man: Homecoming? Are you excited for the retro style coolness, or is this a design element best left in the past? Let us know down below in the comments.
Images: Marvel Comics / Marvel Studios
