Spider-Man‘s been in the Marvel Cinematic Universe ever since Iron Man 2, you just never knew it.
You see, back when Jon Favreau’s sequel hit theatres, an interesting fan theory started doing the rounds. There was a scene in the film (embedded above) in which Tony fights off some drones at Stark Expo. At one point, there’s a young boy with an Iron Man costume on who’s about to meet his maker until the titular hero saves him. That’s all there really is to it, but it was enough for fans to start theorizing.
With the expo being held in Queens, it didn’t take long for them to jump to the conclusion that this could actually be Peter Parker. There was no evidence to support it, of course, and it was nothing more than wishful thinking. At least, until now that is, as Tom Holland has confirmed that yes, the kid we saw back in the 2010 sequel was indeed a young version of the future Spider-Man.
“I can confirm that as of today. I literally had a conversation with Kevin Feige only 20 minutes ago. Maybe I’ve just done a big, old spoiler, but it’s out there now. It’s cool. I like the idea that Peter Parker has been in the universe since the beginning.”
Though Holland obviously isn’t lying here, it’s highly unlikely that the studio intended for that little boy to be Peter Parker back when they made Iron Man 2. What probably happened is that Marvel caught wind of the fan theory and decided to run with it, since it’s a fun way to connect the character into the MCU even further. Not to mention that it does make sense, given the current timeline.
Of course, the two heroes will be seen again on the big screen together next week, when Spider-Man: Homecoming swings into theatres on July 7th. Though this time, they’ll be spending a lot more time with one another than they did all those years ago.