Spider-Man: Homecoming starts in the aftermath of The Avengers' battle for New York

Most of Spider-Man: Homecoming is set years after New York was invaded by aliens in The Avengers. But ComingSoon.net reports that the first scene actually takes place directly in the aftermath of the climactic battle, showing how Adrian Toomes was set on the path to becoming The Vulture.

The Avengers didn't really deal with the clean-up and recovery effort set off by the hugely destructive Chitauri invasion - it mostly focused on post-battle shawarma cravings. Very early spoiler warning: In Homecoming, it turns out Toomes and his company have secured a tidy contract to help clean up the mess. But just as they're about to begin, they're stopped by the Department of Damage Control and sent away.

The feds don't want civilian crews cleaning up the Chitauri mess with all those high-powered alien weapons and anti-gravity vehicles laying around. Toomes doesn't really care about their concerns since they put him out of a job. As a middle finger to the man, Toomes spends the next few years pilfering all the Chitauri technology he can. By the time Spider-Man: Homecoming catches up to the present, his company has been run out of business and Toomes is pursuing a more lucrative career as a supervillain, like you do.

Then Homecoming jumps over to the events of Captain America: Civil War, where it shows how Peter Parker got enlisted to help out in the big airport fight and what kind of fun stuff he got up to while he was still in Europe. Then… back to school life.

“After seeing all this amazing, glamorous stuff,” executive producer Eric Carroll explained, “boom… hard cut to him back in his cold weather gear. Riding the subway to school. Crammed next to all the other students, riding public transportation to school and we’ll realize that he’s still waiting for his call from Tony.”

Want more webslinging? Read our full news round-up for Spider-Man: Homecoming, and check out everything we know about the upcoming Spider-Man PS4 game.

Directed by Jon Watts and starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Michael Keaton, Marisa Tomei, and Donald Glover, Spider-Man: Homecoming will hit theaters on July 7, 2017.

Images: Marvel / Disney

Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.

Latest in Marvel Movies
Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield in Stranger Things 4
Stranger Things star Sadie Sink joins Spider-Man 4 and fans are already theorizing she might be X-Men’s Jean Grey
Doctor Doom in Marvel Comics
The Russo brothers say Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars will draw inspiration from multiple comics – which explains how Doctor Doom might fit into the story
The cast of Thunderbolts
Marvel fans are revealing who they'd like to see added to the Thunderbolts lineup, from Moon Knight to a major Hulk villain
Black Widow
Scarlett Johansson doubles down on never coming back as Black Widow: “Natasha is dead. She is dead. She’s dead. Okay?"
Julian McMahon as Doctor Doom in 2005's Fantastic Four
The Doctor Doom actor from 2005's Fantastic Four thinks Robert Downey Jr.'s take on the role in the next Avengers movies will be "pretty extraordinary": "I love watching his work"
Anthony Mackie in Captain America: Brave New World
Brave New World box office crosses milestone for Captain America movies, even though it still might not break even
Latest in News
Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield in Stranger Things 4
Stranger Things star Sadie Sink joins Spider-Man 4 and fans are already theorizing she might be X-Men’s Jean Grey
The Witcher 3
Resident Evil and Witcher 3 mocap director says video game industry layoffs have made it so "nothing is guaranteed," but AI won’t be replacing real actors "anytime soon"
Rift Apart
Retiring Insomniac boss says developers should still tackle new genres, but it's much riskier these days due to time and money
Atomfall screenshot
Atomfall dev doesn’t understand how massive development teams manage to keep organised: "How do you organize a game that has 2,000 people working on it?"
Stardew Valley Baldur's Gate 3 mod Baldur's Village
Stardew Valley player bringing a bit of Baldur's Gate 3 to ConcernedApe's farming sim, now with Larian's seal of approval, says they've played over 1,500 hours and will improve the mod
A Monster Hunter Wilds character holding binoculars.
Monster Hunter Wilds' final boss is even cooler than we thought: series experts point out attacks stitched together from iconic monsters throughout the series