Timeline
The movie begins at the start of September meaning it takes place about 8-9 months after NWH. In that time, Peter has gotten his G.E. as well as a Science Grant to ESU. He currently works as a freelance videographer for the Daily Bugle. To do this, Peter has managed to dumpster dive and purchase enough tech to cobble together a Spider-Drone that he has programmed to follow him from a 'safe' distance and will only start recording when it reaches that safe distance.
The movie starts on the first day of Fall Semester and will take place over the course of a month.
Plot Outline #1: Spider Slayer Story
Act 1:
Peter Parker wakes up to his alarm clock that is connected to the police scanner app on his phone. He groggily wakes up and looks at his Home Screen picture of May with Spider-Man at the FEAST center before getting ready for the day. His phone vibrates again and he gets two notifications; one is a reminder of the time of his first college class at 1:30 and the second is a voicemail from Robbie Robertson asking him to come down to the office to pick up his paycheck, followed by JJJ shouting in the background that if he doesn't get down there in time he'll dock his pay.
Peter gets dressed in his Spider suit and we see just what kind of tech he has at his disposal: his mask still has his expressive lenses, there's a tiny cobbled together drone with a camera on it, and his web-shooters and utility belt laying on top a notepad with sketches of web gadgets and upgrades all over it. Along with prototype Spider-Tracers. Peter then grabs his clothes and shoes and puts them into a shoulder bag. Before he jumps out the window to swing for the Bugle, Peter checks his Instagram to catch up on how Ned and Michele are doing. In the most recent picture. He finds a picture of Ned in front of Michele and a guy who are standing very close to each other. Peter lingers on Michele and the guy for a moment then turns off the phone and leaps out the window.
As Peter half-heartedly swings for the Bugle, he talks to himself, catching us up on the timeline and where he himself is at in the movie. He reassures himself that it's good they've moved on. All he did was make things worse for them.
As Spider-Man continues swinging, we zoom out until we are looking at Spidey through a pair of binoculars. They track Spidey for a long time, keeping pace with him through the air until they shift suddenly, almost like they were expecting something to happen.
A loud explosion goes off down the road as a giant mechanical wheel breaks through several buildings and rolls out into the street. Spidey immediately swings to intercept the wheel, seeing that he has several duffel bags with cash inside the wheel. We get some banter where Spidey remarks that the best name he's got for the guy is Big Wheel. During the fight, Spidey goes out of his way to save the bystanders while trying to figure out where and how to stop Big Wheel.
This is where Felicia, aka The Black Cat, will swing in and offer Spidey some help and flirtatious banter. At first, Spidey doesn't really bite and tries to figure out how to stop Big Wheel by himself while Felicia also does what she can. There will be several moments where Felicia will save some bystanders before Spidey does.
Spidey figures out how to stop Big Wheel, but realizes that if he uses Felicia to do so, he can end it faster. So he calls out to her to distract Wheel and the two bring down Big Wheel fast. Spidey and Felicia exchange words until the sound of a police siren catches Spidey's attention. In the second he looks away, Felicia disappears, leaving a note for him.
Spidey deals with the Police quickly then swings off for the Bugle. We get a very quick JJJ scene taking Peter's footage and Glory asking Peter if he wants to grab a bite to eat with her and some other employees. He declines, saying he's really busy.
Peter leaves the Bugle and swings around as the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man with some people being ungrateful to him thanks to the bugle and some being grateful. During the whole montage, Peter is more upbeat in the mask, but there is still this feeling that something is off with him. Then he realizes he's late and goes to his first college class. It's here where we meet Gwen Stacy and Professor Miles Warren. Warren lightly chastises Peter who snarks back, earning him a few smiles from his fellow students.
Peter sits down next to Gwen and Warren continues the class. They share a few words throughout the class, all initiated by Gwen and Peter gives short, deadpan responses back. His phone vibrates and both he and Gwen see the notification of Ned's new post. Gwen looks at the post then to Peter's face but says nothing. The class ends with Warren saying that their lab partners are the person sitting next to them.
Gwen tries to talk to Peter again, but he leaves before she can get a word in. We hold on Gwen's face as her gaze lingers on Peter's retreating form until one of her friends walks up to her and they go away.
The next time we see Peter, he's sitting on the top of a roof and staring at Ned's social media. He scrolls through Ned's whole page, all the way back to the Washington monument after Spider-Man saved them all from the chitauri core. It's a selfie with Spider-Man on the ground, and a wide shot of Spider-Man with all of the Decathlon team.
Felicia remarks about Spider-Man stalking some random people on social media and he quickly puts his phone away. The two converse about Big Wheel earlier, how well they worked together, then about who made the Wheel. Spidey asks how she knows this and she just says she can tell him, but showing him would be more fun. What follows is a swinging sequence that starts serious, then turns into playful, then turns into flirtatious. Felicia is the only one that is playful and flirtatious at first, and Spidey slowly starts to reciprocate.
The flirting doesn't stop, not even when they get to a Smythe Industries warehouse and sneak inside after the mechanic inside leaves to look for something. Here, we see a prototype Spider-Slayer in the midst of a workstation. Spidey is fascinated by the mechanics and science of it all, and geeks out much to Felicia's amusement. He's very excited until Felicia remarks that he seems oddly friendly with a robot designed to kill him.
From behind the corner, we see the man working on the Spider-Slayer return from his backroom, and crouches down when he sees Spidey and Felicia. Spidey lifts his head in the man's direction, but Felicia steals his attention by saying that the govt contracted Smythe industries to make a line of robots to help protect civilians. However, Smythe has taken some of the funding from the government to make his own personal projects that target the heroes. Spidey doesn't quite believe Felicia, but this conversation allows the man to remotely activate the Spider-Slayer.
We get a small scuffle showcasing the Spider-Slayer's power. After, Spidey and Felicia swing through the city as Spidey talks out loud about the Slayers and the piece of tech he salvaged from the fight. As they swing, they slowly start to use each other more in their swings, and it ends with Spidey slingshotting the two up to the Chrysler Building. Felicia asks why they stopped and Spidey will answer that a friend of his once told him this was a good place to get away to think. And that the view is pretty sweet.
Felicia would dial up the flirtation a bit more before asking if Spidey believes her now and if he would help her expose Smythe's secret plans against the heroes. Spidey hesitates for a moment before agreeing. He asks her what her plan is to which Felicia responds by pulling up his mask over his mouth and kissing him. Spidey freezes up for a second, but before he can fall into it, Felicia breaks away. She flashes him a coy wink and falls backward off the Chrysler Building. Before Spidey jumps off the building we hear the same notification sound effect that signals when Ned has made a post, and Spidey's hand automatically reaches for the phone when he realizes his mask is still pulled up over his face. He pulls the mask down just as a siren goes off in the distance and Spidey dives off the building to assist.
Act 2:
Act 2 begins with Peter running late yet again to his science class, where Warren's reprimands gain a little more bite to them, while also informing us how much time has passed between the first class and this one. Peter apologizes to Gwen for his tardiness, but Gwen doesn't mind, she's just glad Peter is here. Although she does say their being partners would go a lot easier if Peter would stick around after class. Peter responds by saying he's got to get to his job right after class or his boss would fire him.
Gwen nods her head in understanding, saying that her bosses are also hard-asses about time. This catches Peter by surprise and he asks Gwen how many jobs she has. She tells him that even though she was able to get a grant for ESU, she still has to work two jobs to pay for books and housing. Peter falls silent as he feels bad for making Gwen's life harder because he leaves so much, but he can't quite figure out what to say to her to make up for it. Gwen catches this, offers her phone to him, and tells him to put his number in there so they can coordinate on assignments better.
Peter does so, though with a bit of hesitation, and Gwen then asks if he wants to join her at the library with a couple of friends of hers while they study and work through their assignments. Peter quickly declines, saying he has plans with another partner. He all but runs away from Gwen as she says she'll text him about the class later. Peter disappears around the corner of the hallway and Gwen follows Peter with a concerned look.
The next scene shows us looking through the same binoculars as at the start of the movie. Felicia is casing the Smythe Industries headquarters. She zooms in on Spencer Smythe's head office where he and the mechanic from the warehouse are talking. Felicia pulls out a gadget to help to hear and eavesdrops on the conversation
We learn through his dialogue that Smythe is a very paranoid man who has hated Spider-Man ever since the Goblin raided his business and killed many of his workers when he took extra weapons. Spencer blamed Spidey and used the event to convince the Govt to fund his superhero defense robots. Spencer yells at the mechanic, telling him to update the blueprints for the next line of Slayers at their Harlem warehouse, and he asks what happened to the prototype.
We cut to Peter in his apartment looking at the remains of the Spider-Slayer he salvaged. He runs a few tests on the metal of the Spider-Slayer, finding that the metal is resistant to the adhesive of his webs. So, he gets up and calls the owner of a corner store that he's coming by to pick up his usual supplies. Peter walks down to the store and shares a fun interaction with the corner store owner who jokingly asks if Peter is ever gonna sell whatever he's making with the materials. Peter plays along, joking that if he ever sold what he's making, the store owner would be in trouble.
The owner and Peter laugh, and Peter pays for his supplies. However, before he leaves, Peter notices the flickering lights and leaky pipes in the bathroom and asks when those started to be like that. The owner rants a little, saying that he got ripped off by the plumber and electrician he hired to fix it. He tells Peter that if he knows anyone who can actually fix it, to send him by.
Peter looks at all the malfunctioning equipment, figures out what tools he needs to fix the pipes and lights, then tells the owner he'll be right back. Peter runs to the nearest hardware store, buys the tools and equipment needed, then returns to fix the pipes and lights. The owner tries to pay Peter for his work, but Peter declines and gets started.
It's the next class day and Gwen sits in class as Warren takes roll. She looks at the seat Peter occupied last time and her eyes flicker from that to the door, expecting him to come bursting through the door, but it doesn't happen. The time flies by, with Gwen constantly looking at the door and Warren saying that the next assignment is a research paper on bio-engineering.
As Gwen leaves the class, she nearly runs into Peter, who instinctively dodges out of the way, and catches Gwen before she tumbles to the ground, however, he doesn't catch the books that fall from her hands. Gwen apologizes for being a klutz while Peter apologizes for startling her. Gwen asks where Peter was for class and Peter stumbles over his words a little as he tries to come up with an excuse. It's been so long since he had to cover for himself, so he's a little out of practice.
To change the subject, Peter asks what he missed in class and Gwen tells him about the project. Before he can say how they should work on the assignment, Gwen asks him if he's busy today. Peter says he's got something to do later, and Gwen jumps at the chance Peter gave her. She tells him to come by her dorm and the two of them can get the work done, but Peter shakes his head. He tells her he needs to get back to his place and fix up his camera because the Bugle could need him at any minute.
Gwen asks if he's a photographer, and Peter says videographer. He explains what he does at the Bugle, and Gwen puts two and two together as to why he's always late. Peter says they all gotta pay the bills somehow and Gwen agrees. So, she suggests they go to his place to work if that would make things easier. Peter is taken back by this for a second but agrees. Although, he admits that he hasn't been able to afford the books yet.
Gwen says she'll go get hers and meet him at his place in an hour. Peter gives her his address and the two part ways for now. Peter changes into his Spider Suit and swings back to his place to clean up. He gets back and hides all his Spider tech and puts his clothes back on over the suit when Felicia arrives through his window.
Peter is surprised and alarmed to see her, and puts on his mask in a panic, so he is in his regular clothes with his mask on. Felicia doesn't really care and tells Spider-Man that she has a lead on another batch of Spider-Slayers being made in the Harlem Smythe factory. She stands expectantly by the window and Peter looks at the time while stuttering that he has plans. Felicia is surprised by this, asking what kind of plans.
Peter stutters over his words a bit, and Felicia laughs at him before pulling him towards her. The entire time he talks about how he has to meet with someone to work with for a college assignment as he pulls his clothes off to reveal his suit. She tells him not to worry, he'll be back in time.
The pair swings out into the city. Their movements are very similar to the first swinging, only now Felicia is talking about how great swinging through the city and being Spider-Man must be compared to going to college and all the boring aspects of that life, and Peter agrees, though he is hesitant about it. He talks about his job at the bugle, the corner store owner, and how much he loves science.
In the middle of the conversation, Peter's Spider-Sense goes off and he manages to dodge out of the way of a Spider-Slayer swiping at his chest with its tail. Then, five more Spider-Slayers jump out at the pair, though they are all focused on Spidey. In the midst of all this, Spidey activates his Spider-Drone and it starts recording once it gets a safe distance away. The fight spills out into a park right next to a construction site where the Spider-Slayers start to position themselves to use the civilians as human shields against Spidey, causing him to change his approach while Felicia doesn't. During this, Spidey discovers that his webs don't stick to the Spider-Slayer's armor and that the tail is the most dangerous part of the Slayer.
The fight ends rather quickly after that, and Felicia remarks again on how well they work together. Spider-Man investigates the tech again, noting the differences between this model and the previous one, while also seeing a camera on the inside. He notes that they were being watched and before he goes further, his phone pings loudly. He sees a text from Gwen asking if he's almost home and starts to struggle with the choice to go back to Gwen or pursue the tech out loud.
Spidey asks Felicia to look into the tech and the second she says yes, he swings back for his apartment. As he does, he texts Gwen he'll be there in a second. He swings into his apartment, changes, puts all his Spider-Gear away, and takes the hard drive from within his Spider-Drone. He then goes to the roof from inside, then carefully makes his way to the street to avoid being spotted and walks up to his building where he finds Gwen waiting outside. They share a short exchange of words as Peter tells her what took so long. He opens up the door and they begin the awkward trek to his apartment.
They reach his apartment, and Gwen's eyes search the entire place, picking up on how sparse Peters's apartment still is despite him living there for many months. The only signifying thing now that all his web gadgets are put away is the lone Lego Palpatine. Gwen doesn't say anything though, and the two bunker down and start to work on their project.
After about an hour, Peter's phone buzzes and it's JJJ calling him to demand the footage of Spider-Man and his accomplice fighting robots. Peter apologizes to Gwen, flips open his laptop, inserts the hard drive, and starts to ready the footage of Spider-Man and Felicia. He sends it off to JJ then hangs up.
Peter apologizes again, but Gwen waves it away and asks if JJ is always like that. Peter grimaces but says yeah. Gwen asks why Peter works for a guy like Jameson and Peter just shrugs and says Jameson pays the most for videos of Spider-Man. Finally, instead of asking Peter a question that he can't shut down the conversation with his answer, she says how she doesn't like the way Jameson treats Spider-Man.
This breaks through Peter's guard and he asks her why she thinks that way. Gwen proceeds to tell Peter about her dad and how he worked for the DODC (Department of Damage Control). How her dad respected Spider-Man ever since he shut down Adrian Toomes crew. How he said that out of all the superheroes in the world, Spider-Man was the one that he trusted the most to do the right thing. Not because he was a billionaire that was trying to make up for his sins, but because he took the time to help the people on the ground.
Peter remarks that Gwen's dad should debate Jameson some time. That's when Gwen's expression falls. Peter apologizes again, but Gwen waves it away, saying that things are way better now that she has a good group of friends that help support her. Gwen gives Peter a knowing look that he can't hold without feeling uncomfortable. So, Peter asks what happened to Gwen's dad.
She tells him that they lived through the Blip and they managed together, but he died a few months before she graduated. Gwen looks at Peter, and rather than asking about his family—something she can tell he won't open up about yet—makes a remark about how Jameson has to get his jolly's from ranting about Spider-Man.
Peter is again taken aback by this, but this time he cracks the beginnings of his first true smile as Peter Parker. Slowly, the two start to laugh more and more by joking about Jameson's hard-on for Spider-Man and working on their project. Both are unaware of the sun lowering in the background.
Cut to a week later and Spencer Smythe in his office where he is analyzing the footage of Spider-Man fighting his Spider-Slayers. He watches Spider-Man intently, marking down the way he fights, along with the way he seems to know an attack is coming before it comes. He also noticed how Spider-Man struggled more when his webs weren't of use to him. However, he made note of Spider-Man's strength and how quickly he dispatched the Slayers once all the civilians were out of danger.
Smythe turns to his computer and begins typing away to reveal the schematics for his giant Spider-Slayer. He works away for a moment until his secretary calls him to notify him that the men from the government are here to check his progress on their contracts.
The instant Smythe leaves the room, Felicia drops in from the vent in his office to look at his computer. She searches for the rest of the schematics that are part of Smythe's contracts. She doesn't find any but the regular Spider-Slayers on his personal computer. She's frustrated, but still copies and downloads the files to a red hard drive.
Felicia jumps back into the vents, then crawls her way to eavesdrop on Smythe's meeting.
Smythe, this time, is in a meeting room with random government employees and his shareholders. He showcases the giant Spider-Slayer design and the recent success with the smaller ones. A few of the government men counter by saying they heard reports of the Slayers taking innocents hostage, however, Smythe is prepared for this and pulls up the most recent Bugle coverage of the fight in Harlem. Smythe believes that the commentary and skewed editing from JJ is enough to convince the government workers that Spider-Man was the villain of that battle, so he continues and tells them that the Harlem factory is projected to start manufacturing the rest of the Anti-Superhuman Robots later tonight.
While they are impressed and satisfied with Smythe's presentation, the govt workers express their concerns about the situation with Spider-Man due to Jameson's well known bias toward Spider-Man. While the Bugle is a reputable news source, Jameson's views on Spider-Man give them cause to doubt. They don't want another Hammer Robot situation and until their own investigators can ascertain the truth of the situation, they are putting their funding on hold. They leave and the Shareholders lay out their concerns to Smythe. That these anti-superhuman robots are a huge risk. If anything goes wrong this will cripple them worse than the Mysterio disaster crippled Stark Tech since they don't have the goodwill of Iron Man's legacy to fall back on. Smythe reassures the board—albeit with a definite shake to his body language that suggests he is worried—that everything will be alright and that Spider-Man was the villain of that scenario. They tell him he better be right, or he will lose the company.
Felicia growls in her vent and heads for the exit. We follow her through the city and back to her apartment where we see a home that is the stark contrast to Peter's. It is completely decorated with fancy and expensive things. There is a lot of jewelry on display, including the vase from Stark Tower shown in Spider-Man Homecoming (and the Rabbit in a Storm painting from Daredevil is a maybe). She goes over to a corkboard with pictures of every Smythe factory in New York, showing us which ones she has spent the last week searching all of Smythe's locations for the blueprints. All except for the Smythe headquarter building.
Frustrated, Felicia draws an X over the Smythe headquarters and falls back into the luxurious couch in her apartment. That's when her phone buzzes. A message appears from just a number that asks if she's made any progress with the blueprints. Felicia says not yet, but she has a lead. She says she'll be in touch.
We cut to Peter the same day putting his phone away in his pocket as he walks with Gwen out of their class and toward the ESU cafeteria. They catch up on what each other has been doing while talking about how good of a grade Warren will give them in their project now that it's been turned in. When Gwen asks what Peter has been doing, we pan over to the Bugle's coverage of Spider-Man where we see him swinging out of a burning building with a woman in his arms (the camera angle calls back to the cover of Amazing Fantasy 15). Peter responds with a smirk and says same old, same old.
Gwen turns to look at the TV in the cafeteria and asks Peter what it's like to be there taking a video of Spider-Man. He decides to give a bit of the truth, telling her that it's scary and exhilarating at the same time. Everything happens so fast that he sometimes wonders how Spidey manages to do it. He also wonders if he could be doing more to help.
Gwen then asks if he's actually met Spider-Man. Peter, being practiced with this sort of talk due to him working at the Bugle, doesn't stumble over his words like he did back in high school. Peter says he has, his smirk growing wider. Gwen groans and punches Peter on the arm, to which he gives a small chuckle at. She pesters Peter for a bit longer as they get their food, and just as Peter is about to cave, his phone vibrates again. He takes it out to see another post from Ned, this time it's a live stream video of Ned running in on Michelle and the same boy from earlier kissing under a secluded tree and declaring, in a way that only a close friend would do, that they should be considerate of all the single people in the world.
Peter's face shuts down, and Gwen instantly reaches out to Peter. He shuts off his phone and starts to pack up his things. He needs to get out as Spider-Man, to swing, to walk on a wall, to do anything to distract himself. He makes to leave, but Gwen snatches his hand and holds him in place. She says that she doesn't know what went down between him and his old friends, but he's not alone. She's there if he needs someone.
Peter says nothing in response, but his gaze lingers on Gwen for just a moment longer. He then turns around and walks away. After Peter leaves the cafeteria, a new group of people sits down at her table. One of the newcomers looks around and asks where this Peter guy is, and Gwen says something came up with Peter's job. They ask what he does, and we cut to Spidey swinging through the city chasing after a runaway car.
Spidey does his standard quip-and-takedown, however this time he has a bit more edge to his movements. Once he has the criminals webbed up, he doesn't even stay to check on any civilians or wait to talk to the police. He zips away to the Chrysler building and sits at the top, looking over the city at night, and taking a deep breath. However, before Peter can really let his emotions settle to think clearly, Felicia swings up to meet him.
She immediately asks what got his webs in a twist, remarking that he didn't have his usual style or flair when swinging. When Spidey says nothing, Felicia moves in closer, crouching down next to him. She's about to say something when Spidey lifts up the bottom of his mask and kisses Felicia.
She instantly reciprocates, until he pulls away. There's a small silence until Peter lowers his mask and turns away, while we linger on Felicia's expression for a moment. She looks conflicted about something, but we don't know what yet. She stands up and tells Peter to come on, she has a lead on where to find those blueprints. She downloaded some files, but she wasn't able to get all of them
Spidey follows Felicia through the city and back toward Harlem. This time, he is the one who initiates the flirting as they go. The two land on top of the Harlem factory and Spidey stops Felicia before she goes into the vents. Felicia asks what he's doing and Spidey briefly explains his Spidersense to her.
Felicia asks if Peter could tell when she was following him, but he tells her it doesn't quite work like that. If danger is coming, he gets a warning about it, that's why he never knew when she was following him. Felicia is taken aback for a moment, then looks as if she's changed her mind about something. (Or Felicia does the same thing while also remarking how useful that must be with a girl) Spidey hands Felicia a Spider-Tracer, telling her if either of them finds anything to press the button on the top and they will be able to find each other.
With that, Spidey and Felicia take off in opposite directions. We see them sneaking through the factory, each seeing different projects in the early stages of development. Felicia drops into the head office, plugs a blue drive into the computer, and starts to look for the blueprints on the other Anti-Superhuman Robots.
Spidey sneaks through his side of the factory and sees the Giant Spider-Slayer being worked on by Spencer Smythe himself. Spidey slows down, taking a look at everything around him. There's a multitude of deactivated Spider-Slayers surrounding Smythe as he works.
Spidey webs Smythe's hands to the keyboard he was working at and lowers himself from the ceiling. Spidey and Smythe exchange words about Smythe's motivations and the robots. Smythe tells Spidey that he tried to kill him once before when he sent the Goblin to do his dirty work. How Spidey was trying to sabotage his company because they were picking up where Stark Tech fell off, and how Smythe can't wait to be the one to bring Spidey to justice for what he did to his workers and company. Spidey needles him in classic fashion—not believing that any of this happened—and with a bit more of an edge due to the sting of Michelle. Spidey tells Smythe that he's gonna go to jail for making these Slayers by using the money the Govt gave him and without the Govt knowledge. Smythe shouts out in triumph that he won't be going to jail because everything he's done is all legal, because of his Govt contracts, and because Spider-Man is a vigilante and thug who has caused all the problems he's 'saved' them from.
Before Spidey can respond, Smythe shouts the activation code word for the Spider-Slayers and Spidey immediately goes on the defensive to destroy the robots. One of the Slayers cuts Smythe free of the webbing so he can finish the last of the programming on the Giant Spider-Slayer.
Spidey takes down most of the Spider-Slayers until his Spider-Sense blares so loudly that he gets distracted enough for the Slayers to pin him down. As Spidey is pinned, we see the Giant Spider-Slayer rise from its place in the factory.
Spidey shoots a line of webbing to yank on and pull himself free of the Slayers before Smythe can trap him.
Spidey activates his Spider-Tracer and proceeds to do battle with Smythe throughout the Smythe Industries Factory. The giant Spider-Slayer and remaining Spider-Slayers push Spidey to his limits. The Giant Spider-Slayer is made of a material that doesn't allow for Spidey to attach his webs to the robot and the armor is too thick for Spidey to get through in one punch.
Spidey dives into improvisation mode. He uses his elbow to batter the joints of the Spider-Slayer, using his strength and scientific knowledge to strategically weaken different points along the robot, including the glass of the cockpit. Until Smythe manages to bat him away, sending Spidey through the wall. Spidey remarks that he needs something a bit larger than his fists to take out the legs. Then, Spidey remembers the construction site that he and Felicia swung past earlier. Before he swings off, Spidey activates his Spider-Drone and remarks that he's not looking forward to the news tomorrow.
Spidey swings as fast as he can for the construction site, trying to take the streets and paths that have the least amount of people since Smythe is trying to shoot Spidey out of the sky. Spidey has to divert his path a few times so that he can save a few pedestrians from falling debris.
Finally, Spidey makes it to the construction site and starts to let loose. He webs different loose construction beams and hurls them at the cockpit of the Giant Spider-Slayer, cracking the glass even further, and uses his full strength to batter them even further. With the legs weakened and sparking, Spidey uses the construction site to his advantage and flings himself into the cockpit of the Giant Spider-Slayer.
Spidey breaks through the glass and finds the interior smoking and sparking from all the damage. Smythe, however, doesn't notice. All he is focused on is Spider-Man.
Spidey tries to talk Smythe down, but Smythe doesn't listen. This is his moment to bring Spider-Man to justice, true justice. So he pulls a gun on Spidey and fires. Spidey easily dodges the bullet and pulls Smythe toward him with a line of web, then jumps out of the cockpit as it explodes.
Spidey lands and puts a struggling Smythe down on the ground. Smythe immediately takes a swing at Spidey, but Spidey calmly catches it, then webs him to the ground. He then reaches into his utility belt and pulls out a notecard and pen and starts to leave a note for the police.
As he does this, Smythe starts talking, asking if Spider-Man is going to finish the job that flying green devil started. Spidey does nothing to defend himself here. He knows nothing he says will convince Smythe otherwise, so Spidey just apologizes to Smythe.
Sirens are heard in the distance and Spidey recalls his Spider-Drone. Just as he's about to go meet with the police, he remembers Felicia and looks down at his Spider-Tracer to see her location.
We see Felicia on a rooftop close by the Harlem Smythe Factory, holding two separate drives; a red and blue one. The red drive contains all the files she copied on the Spider-Slayers, and the blue contains the files she copied for the rest of the Robots.
Felicia is on the phone with an unknown person. The voice asks if she got everything and Felicia looks at the two drives. Through her face, we can tell that Felicia doesn't want to give the red drive up. She takes the red drive, then destroys it under her foot while telling the voice that he should tell the Big Man that Smythe deleted all copies of the Spider-Slayer files.
The voice is angry and chastises Felicia to which she retorts that she's not a computer expert. The Big Man wanted a thief to get the files and someone to distract Spider-Man, and she did just that. So if he wants the files he will pay up or she will find someone who will.
This is when we hear Spidey's gasp of disbelief (Important note: His mask is still on here). Felicia whirls around to see Spidey, and no dialogue is spoken. She hangs up the phone and her mouth opens, but no words are spoken.
By the time she finds her words, and tries to explain things to an angry Spidey, he thwips away. He needs to just get back. JJ will be expecting his footage and he has a rent he needs to pay. He can't focus on the Black Cat. Peter retrieves his clothes with JJ's initial coverage of the fight playing throughout the city as Spidey swings back to his apartment. The last thing we hear before Spidey climbs through the window of his apartment is JJ talking about how Spider-Man was last seen swinging away from the Black Cat. He changes out of his suit and shoves all of his Spider-Gear away then begins working on editing his footage.
His phone vibrates, but Peter doesn't answer it. He doesn't want to see Michelle with another man, or Ned and Michelle having fun without him. It vibrates again, and again, and again until finally, Peter has had enough and throws his phone at his front door.
That's when we hear Gwen's voice. She's relieved and asks Peter to open the door. Peter glances at the door and doesn't make a move until he hears Gwen ask again, practically begging, saying that one of the neighbors buzzed her in when she said she was the pizza guy and she doesn't want to go get pizza. He opens the door and she rushes in to hug him. As she does, she talks about how she saw coverage of the fight at work and got worried about him. Peter, who hasn't had anyone care about him or interacted like this with anyone since May, doesn't know exactly what to say.
He reassures her that he's fine, even though he has a few bruises on his face, arms, and chest (she can only see the face bruises). Gwen starts to question Peter about the fight (while grabbing a pack of ice from his fridge to place on his face to reduce swelling), and when she gets to the Black Cat, Peter instantly goes back into distance mode. He tells her rather harshly that it's been a long day, and that he really just wants to finish up the final adjustments on the video so he can send it to JJ, so she should just leave. Gwen, however, doesn't back down. She may not know the extent of what Peter is going through, but she knows that he needs a friend now more than ever.
Instead of walking to the door, Gwen pulls out her phone and starts to order Thai food saying that she would cook dinner for them, but she thinks Peter's been through enough (Thai due to May suggesting it in HC. I want to draw some parallels, but it's easily changed to just any other food if I want). They both work in silence, even when the takeout arrives and Gwen sets it down for them to eat as we pan out of the apartment.
Act 3:
Peter wakes up in his bed to his usual alarm clock,—he's still in his clothes from the night before—and gives a sigh. He goes about his morning routine, this time pulling his Spider-Gadgets and suit out of the closet he shoved them into. He looks to his phone, expecting to see a voicemail from Robby about the newest footage, but there's nothing. Instead, just a text that his check is ready for him at the Bugle.
Peter moves toward his laptop and finds a note on top of it. It's from Gwen. She says that he passed out after he finished eating and she saw that he was done cleaning up the footage so she sent it to the Bugle for him. She says she would've stayed till he woke up, but she couldn't find someone to cover her shift this morning. Finally, Gwen tells him that she's planning on getting lunch at the pizza place (or silver spoon) by her work and that she hopes he will meet her there.
Peter looks at the note for a moment until his police scanner app goes off, alerting him to a crime being committed by Big Wheel who had broken out of jail. Peter changes into his suit and packs up his clothes, then jumps out the window.
We get the same tracking shot from Felicia's binoculars, however this time, there's no anticipatory look for the crime. She just follows Spidey as he goes about his web-slinging ways in search of Big Wheel.
Spidey quickly finds Big Wheel and takes him down without any muss or fuss. Only this time, he destroys Big Wheels tech rather than letting the police confiscate it. Spidey leaves his note for the police and swings off for the Bugle.
When he gets there, we see JJJ in all of his glory, along with Robbie and Glory. Peter greets them all warmly, even JJ, and they share a short interaction where Glory tells Peter that if he's got nothing going on, he's still welcome to join them for lunch.
Peter declines again but follows up by saying that he promised to meet another friend for lunch and that he is free tomorrow if they will have him. Glory says that's fine, and Peter apologizes for declining her previous offers. He was having trouble balancing his life, and he's working on fixing that.
With a final wave, Peter leaves the Bugle and swings out to be the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man until Gwen's lunch break. This time, Spidey has more life to his interactions with people. Throughout the movie, he was always friendly, but now it's almost like how he was back in HC. Only, this time, there's a higher level of maturity behind the lenses.
This time, Peter actually checks the time and finds that he has about five minutes to get to the pizza joint (or Silver Spoon). He swings off, changes, and drops into a nearby alley.
Peter walks into the restaurant and finds Gwen in the corner munching nervously on some food. When she finally sees him, her eyes light up like a weight has been lifted from her whole body. She waves at Peter and he sits at the large table.
At first, the two speak over each other, both trying to say something. They laugh, and Peter asks to go first. When Gwen nods, Peter says that for the past year, he's been on his own and that even though it was his choice to give it up, he's been clinging to a life that he's never going to get back. He just wants to say thank you to Gwen for choosing to stick by him. He knows that he's not the easiest person to be friends with.
Gwen reaches forward and takes Peter's hand. She gives him a smile and just says that after all the hoops she had to jump through to get him to talk to her, she's not gonna let him slip away into himself.
Peter smiles at Gwen, then Gwen's eyes dart to the side of Peter as the door to the restaurant opens and she waved to the group of people that just walked in. She pulls Peter to his feet and introduces him to Rand Robertson, Kenny Kong, Sally Avril, and Flash Thompson. They all greet each other warmly and Rand mentions offhand that it's nice to actually meet the elusive Peter Parker Gwen's been talking about.
Peter looks at Gwen, then apologizes to everyone, saying that he's still trying to work out a good work-life balance. Kenny pops in, saying that Gwen told them about Peter's job. Flash interjects that he's met Spider-Man before too, and Peter regards him for a moment before offering to tell them about it over a couple of drinks. His treat since he's been avoiding them accidentally all semester.
Gwen rises to go with him and help as the orders for drinks pile on. As Peter pays for the drinks, his phone buzzes once more and he looks at it to see a new post of Ned and Michelle. He looks at the post—Gwen does as well with a look of worry on her face—then back to the new group of friends laid out before him. Instead of shutting down like last time, Peter instead looks at Ned's account, takes a deep breath, and unfollows Ned.
Peter then looks at Gwen, then back to the group of friends she brought for him, then back to Gwen. He pulls her into a hug, and just says, "thank you"
Peter and Gwen break apart and return to the table with their drinks. The movie ends with the sounds of Peter telling them what it's like to film Spider-Man and joking between friends.
Post-Credit Scene:
We are in an office in one of the Skyscrapers of New York. A towering man in a black suit with albino white skin overlooks the city as the doors behind him open. In walks Mac Gargan. He greets the Big Man and asks what the big hush hush deal is. The Big Man turns around and presses a button under his desk, opening the false wall in his office. The Big Man tells Gargan that they took some inspiration from Smythe's Spider-Slayers for the design, and that his moment for revenge has come, it's time for him to become the only arachnid in town. The last shot we see is a metallic exoskeleton painted green and yellow with a sharp tail behind it.
Important note: In all of the Peter Parker scenes, he doesn't light up like he used to or like he does when he's in the suit. Even when he jokes around, his smile doesn't quite reach his eyes. Until Gwen comes over to his apartment to study and she actually makes him laugh for real.
Major Characters
Peter Parker/Spider-Man
Where is he at the start of the movie?
Peter Parker has spent the last 8 months as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man of Manhattan. He helps everywhere he can in costume, at FEAST, at High schools and Middle schools as a 'motivational' speaker (he tries, but he's still a little nervous with public speaking) however that is all his life is. He is Spider-Man at all hours of the day when he doesn't need to be Peter Parker.
He wakes up, goes out as Spider-Man, goes to the Bugle to drop off his videos and collect his paycheck, then goes back out as Spider-Man until he needs to buy groceries or go back to the Bugle, then he goes home to sleep. Peter doesn't really do friends anymore because of what happened during NWH.
However, he hasn't cut off social interaction as Peter completely. Peter has developed a bit of an edge in the time between NWH and this movie. His comments and quips have a bit more bite to them. He snarks with J. Jonah Jameson and has pleasant conversations with both Robbie Robertson and Gloria Grant (an intern Peter's age). However, it doesn't go further than that. When others ask him if he wants to join them for a drink or a get-together, he declines.
What arc does he go through in the movie?
Peter's struggle in this movie will be with finding that balance in his life of being Peter Parker and Spider-Man. He starts the movie with that balance tipping toward the Spider-Man side. There is a small part of him that still wants to be Peter Parker, but he keeps that part to a minimum because of what happened to May, Ned, and MJs lives in NWH.
This is where Felicia Hardy comes in. She will meet him as Spider-Man and tempt him toward that side of his life. A small part of him will fight back, but after months of being alone and meeting someone who can take care of themselves, he gives in and works with her.
Meanwhile, Gwen Stacy will be trying to pull Peter out of his loneliness after she meets him in ESU and they get paired as lab partners for the Semester. However, he won't reciprocate until the end.
Peter will go from believing Felicia to be right, that he should just be Spider-Man all the time, to believing Gwen when she says that he doesn't have to be alone anymore. Peter also believes that the best way to do this is to keep his two lives completely separate and guard his secret more carefully than before. For both Gwen's safety and his own.
Where is Peter at the end of the movie?
Peter will end the movie the opposite of how he started. Instead of spending every waking moment as Spider-Man, he makes time for the Peter Parker aspect of his life. He's open to having friends in his life again.
Gwen Stacy
Where is she at the beginning of the movie?
Gwen Stacy lost the last remaining member of her family, her father a member of the DOD in the MCU, during the events of NWH after the Goblin killed Aunt May. She was 18 when he died, so she wasn't put into the system and has been living on a mix of her fathers Life Insurance and her nine-to-five job since then.
She also earned a grant for Science at ESU like Peter, and also just like him, she has been on her own for months. She moved into the ESU dorms early and has made a few friends already that have made her feel better and less alone.
What arc does she go through in the movie?
Gwen is a static character in this movie. She won't go through an arc herself, but with help facilitate Peter's growth. She sees Peter and recognizes the loss and loneliness inside of him, and so she resolves to help him. Not because he asked, but because she knows what that loneliness is like and doesn't want anyone to go through it again.
Where is Gwen at the end of the movie?
Gwen will end the movie viewing Peter as essentially her best friend/brother. There is no romantic feelings here, but rather a platonic relationship of support and a connection that only they share with each other.
Felicia Hardy
Felicia's tech and traversal:
Tech:
Felicia uses a suit designed to help her traverse through the city while remaining light and sleek enough to allow her move stealthily in her escapades.
Wrist Mounted Grapple Hooks:
These are a set of retractable grapple hooks designed to help her cross large distances and help her with sneaking around when breaking into buildings. The cables have a length limit.
Climbing Claws and Climbing Boot Spikes:
The Climbing Claws are retractable similar to how Black Panther's claws work and are made of a strong enough metal composite to allow Felicia to climb on walls and stick to steel, while also allowing her to enhance her combat capabilities.
The Climbing Boot Spikes are similar to the claws in materials however they do not retract like the claws do.
The material of the spikes would be from Chitauri metal due to it being stronger than out own metal
Traversal:
Felicia mainly prefers to parkour her way across the city rooftops similar to how Daredevil does, only with a little more style and speed than the Devil of Hells Kitchen due to her prowess as a gymnast. When she comes to a particularly large gap, she will use her grapple hooks to cross it.
Traversal with Spider-Man:
Felicia will mostly attach herself to Spider-Man when they are working together. Partially due to his being faster than her, but mostly due to her wanting to be close to him. Only occasionally, when she wants to show off for him, or challenge him to a friendly competition of parkour, will she let go and traverse by herself.
Where is she at the beginning of the movie?
Felicia is a thrill seeking cat burglar who is just a few years older than Peter. She watched Spider-Man with a fascination for many years, but always stayed under his radar as she is a thief at heart. She has a very evident infatuation with him, but its very surface level.
What arc does she go through in the movie?
Felicia wont go through much of an arc in this movie. She is a rather static character and will help facilitate Peters growth as he starts to think if he gains more friends on this side of his life, he wont need to have friends as Peter Parker.
Where is Felicia at the end of the movie?
Felicia ends the movie destroying the blueprint of the Spider-Slayers, but keeping hold of the other blueprints to sell on the black market. She will end remorseful for how things went down with Spidey, and wanting to make it up to him at some point in the future.
Additional Notes/Fun Ideas
Have the movie start with us following Peter as he swings from his apartment to the Daily Bugle. On his way, Big Wheel will show up and be the opening action scene. After stopping Big Wheel, he will go to the Bugle. We follow his daily routine at the Bugle and who he interacts with, then follow him as he leaves the Bugle and proceeds to spend the rest of the day as Spider-Man
The Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man montage in this scene will be similar to the one in Homecoming, however there will be a lot more down time in between Spider-Manning where Spidey will just hang out by himself and occasionally interact with the people.
Spidey could play a game of basket ball with some kids, referencing what Andrew used to do in between takes while shooting TASM 2
The Climax of the movie will follow Spidey's final fight with the Spider Slayer.
After the Spider Slayer is destroyed, Felicia will show Peter the drive she used to steal Smythe's money and say that
After this, Peter will swing back to his apartment to find Gwen waiting outside his door. He will try to dismiss her, but she refuses. It's here that we get the full backstory for Gwen Stacy. Her story, combined with the connection that had been building between them for the entirety of the movie is what convinces Peter to open up to her.
The ending minutes will be a parallel of the starting. Big Wheel, who had broken free, will be stopped by Spidey after he wakes up in the morning. He then swings to the Bugle where Glory will ask him again if he wants to join some of the other Bugle employees for lunch, to which he replies that he already has plans, but next time for sure. He swings out of the Bugle but instead of going for his usual Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man bout all day, Peter swings to meet Gwen.
Gwen will greet Peter happily and introduces him to Rand, Kenny, Carli, Harry, and Flash Thompson (who got kicked out of MIT).
What follows is a montage of Peter connecting with his collegemates and the last line of the movie will be Peter thanking Gwen for not giving up on being his friend. The final shot is the two hugging.
