Spider-Man and Captain America Didn’t Get Enough Shared Screen Time in the MCU
Matchups between classic superheroes always creates fan anticipation, especially when going on the history of Marvel Comics and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Numerous friendships among superheroes from those classic stories are still being discussed, if not always implemented on the big-screen. One of those is the connection between Captain America and Spider-Man.
In the comics, the relationship between Spidey and Cap was a strong one. There was even a time when Spidey took a bullet for Cap, shot by none other than The Punisher.
The big-screen take on their association in the MCU is one that seemed overly rushed. On social media recently, fans expressed their dismay at Spider-Man and Cap only having two good scenes together.
In comics, Captain America was somewhat of a mentor to Spider-Man
Marvel Comics was always more careful to match up everyone so it provided real quality time and meant something. As recently as 2016, according to Screen Rant, a new comic book series jumped back to Spider-Man’s origins. In the series, Captain America sees Peter Parker struggling with his reputation, hence becoming a new mentor.
The good captain even goes to The Daily Bugle and confronts J. Jonah Jameson head-on about not printing another false story about Spider-Man. At the same time, Cap gives Parker solid advice about how to keep his reputation intact. Parker seemed incredulous at first since Cap always seemed to have a stellar reputation without any screw-ups.
Not that he had a J. Jonah Jameson to deal with, fortunately. This above story, though, offered some valuable insight into what could have been done with Parker and Steve Rogers in the MCU.
Instead, everyone was privy to seeing them fight each other, briefly, in Civil War.
What are the fans saying about Spider-Man and Captain America?
Reddit is a good barometer to gauge how people feel about specific superhero matchups. In a thread talking about superhero combos we may never see again, replies brought divided opinion.
Said one Reddit user: “During watching Endgame’s final battle for first time in theatre, I hoped that Star-Lord would be fanboying in front of Cap in the midst of the battle and would be surprised to see him…”
Another user said: “Steve and Spidey. And… well, Spidey and anyone who he can’t meet anymore. I want to see Spidey and everyone. We got about 2 Steve/Peter interactions in the MCU and they were fantastic. I want more.”
Yes, those two moments between these characters really were memorable, including Spidey shooting a web and taking Cap’s shield in a pivotal Civil War scene. Later, of course, their other scene together was on much better terms.
The respectful connection between Spidey and Cap
No one should forget one subtle character who happened to connect Spider-Man and Captain America across the generations. This was Jim Morita (played by Kenneth Choi) who was close with Steve Rogers in WWII. Morita was a part of the Howling Commandos that battled HYRDA during the war.
Audiences later see Choi again playing Principal Morita in Peter Parker’s high school. On the back shelf of the principal’s office, one can see the picture of Jim Morita, the principal’s obvious grandfather.
Having this connection gave a level of respect between the two not reflected enough in a verbal sense in the movies. Fans still ponder whether Cap really respected Parker based on how distanced they were in age and experience.
Steve did say a few things in Civil War indicating he wanted to mentor Parker after being impressed at his skills. Because Steve had other plans, this never panned out, so any lack of further scenes were strictly due to story circumstance. How Parker would have dealt with losing two major mentors, however, could have been doubly powerful.
