Spider-Man: Far From Home swung into theaters earlier this week, where it’s already breaking records at the box office. The story, which finds Peter Parker teaming up with the alleged inter-dimensional solider Mysterio to take on other, bigger inter-dimensional monsters, is inherently comic book-y by nature, so it’s a joy to see the film introduce some of the most famous aspects of the franchise’s lore into the MCU. For fans, the biggest inclusion – outside of that one cameo – has got to be the proper return of the web-slinger’s signature Spider-Sense, which was noticeably absent from the previous Homecoming.
While many critics were quick to praise Tom Holland’s youthful take on Peter Parker after his debut in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, some fans were eager to note that Marvel Studios made quite a few changes to the character to differentiate him from prior films. This feeling was exacerbated after president Kevin Feige confirmed that the Spider-Sense was too large a part of previous adaptations to adapt again in Homecoming.
But things have seemed to change for the studio, as now the Spider-Sense is back and it plays quite a large role in Far From Home. Just don’t expect it to have that familiar name.
While promoting the release of the sequel with The Wrap, writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers revealed that the Spider-Sense would always be an important part of the story, but didn’t want to be so explicit about one of the most recognizable parts of the character’s lore:
“We were always struggling to be a little more nuanced about it or a little sideways about this special power of his without being on the nose and calling it ‘spider-sense.’”
“Well do we call it nothing? What do we call it? Do we go for something that’s more of a joke name? And I assure you, we went around and around and tried all different kind of things.
We definitely had some scenes where Happy was stumbling through different descriptions of trying to think of a thing to call it himself. We liked ‘Peter Tingle’ because it’s like your aunt calls it something, and that’s the last thing you want it called, so then, of course, she doubled down and that’s what she’s calling it, and she tells someone else, and that’s what they’re calling it. It’s very authentic teen life.”
Changing the name of Spider-Man’s extrasensory ability to Peter Tingle may upset some fans, but those who’ve seen the movie know that Peter Parker doesn’t love it, either. Being embarrassed by an older family member is very common ground for most kids, so Peter Tingle almost perfectly ties into the genre sensibilities of a high school comedy. That being said, now that the joke’s worn out, I wouldn’t mind for the Spider-Sense proper to make its way into the MCU sooner rather than later.
Let us know in the comments below if you actually liked the Peter Tingle name though, and be sure to catch Spider-Man: Far From Home in theaters now.