Some Are Disappointed Spider-Man’s ‘Instant Kill’ Feature Wasn’t a Tony Stark Prank
One thing Marvel Cinematic Universe fans always look forward to are the appearances from Spider-Man, aka Peter Parker.
He’s one of their most popular characters. One change the MCU has made to the character from earlier cinematic adaptations is that Tony Stark is responsible for building and developing his suits.
There was one feature built into one of the Stark spider suits that online fans had follow up questions about — one even hoped that it turned out to be a well-planned prank from Tony.
Why Tony Stark builds Spider-Man’s suits in the MCU
Originally, Spider-Man wasn’t a part of the MCU. Sony owned the exclusive film rights to the character. That all changed when Marvel Studios and Sony reached an agreement to bring Spidey to their most popular cinematic franchise. The way they introduced the character to the universe is that he’s discovered by Tony.
In Captain America: Civil War, Tony meets with Peter and tells him he’s been keeping an eye on his development. He also tells him he designed him a new suit. We see Tony design more and more suits for him in each ensuing Spider-Man appearance.
It makes sense — Tony is a billionaire with access to the tech needed to make top of the line technology fit for a superhero. Peter is but a humble teenager who wouldn’t have the time or resources to design suits like that.
The moment when Spider-Man activates “Instant Kill”
In Avengers: Endgame, the final battle sees Thanos and his army taking on what amounts to the entire roster of heroes in the MCU.
This includes Spider-Man, who has returned from the dead after Thanos’s snap five years earlier. When the battle begins, our heroes’ goal is to get control of the Infinity stones to eliminate Thanos.
At one point, Spider-Man comes in possession of the Infinity Gauntlet. He’s wearing his “Iron Spider” suit, and when he’s cornered by multiple Chitauri warriors, he needs a quick way out of the situation. With that, he tells his suit’s AI to “activate Instakill.”
It quickly shoots laser beams at most of the Chitauri in his general area. It’s a cool showcase of what Stark’s suit can do.
Of course, as great a moment as it was, there were some fans who hoped it ended a little differently.
Why some fans were disappointed in Spider-Man’s ‘Instant Kill’ feature
A Reddit thread dedicated to the “Instakill” component of Spider-Man’s Iron Spider suit asked several questions about the armor. One fan commented that they actually hoped it was just a prank played on Peter by Tony:
“As much as I got a kick out of the payoff in Endgame, part of me was hoping since Homecoming that “instant kill mode” was going to end up being a prank that Tony programmed in, and if Peter actually tried to use it, it would just make confetti shoot out of his web shooters or something.”
This probably wouldn’t have worked in Endgame. After all, there wasn’t a lot of time for comic relief at that point in the movie. It was the culmination of ten years of buildup, and the fate of the world was at stake.
A joke that was the equivalent of a cartoon gun that with a sign that reads “BANG” when you pull the trigger wouldn’t really have fit from a tonal perspective.
That said, there was definitely room for a gag like this in one of the Spider-Man standalone films. In fact, it would almost be surprising if, at some point in any future films, Peter doesn’t find a built-in prank from Tony in at least one of his suits.
