[Warning: This story contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Homecoming]

Spider-Man: Homecoming is by almost every definition the perfect Spider-Man film. By portraying Peter Parker as a 15-year-old high school student, director Jon Watts crafted a humorous exploration — without needing to cover the usual “origin story” grounds — of Spider-Man’s initial growing pains as a hero (and teen). The inclusion of Tony Stark anchored the film in the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe, while also providing Parker with a mentor to help him adjust to life as a hero — eventually without training wheels. But Stark’s (and thus the entire Avengers’) existence within Homecoming does present a tricky problem that Watts had to navigate; a plot hole that is often unavoidable in the MCU’s solo films.

Before I really dive into this discussion, allow me to state what I believe to be an undeniable fact: The MCU is simply awesome. For nearly a decade, and now 16 movies, Kevin Feige and company have created an interconnected universe that boggles the mind (well, at least my mind). Could you imagine if ten years ago someone said you would see Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and Hulk in the same movie? I know I would have probably been upset that the idea was even planted in my head — because it could have been nothing but a cruel tease by a Flash Thompson-like bully. But in 2012 that is exactly what we witnessed, just four years after getting to see the coolest post-credits scene ever: Nick Fury announcing his presence and the Avengers Initiative to Tony Stark (umm, goosebumps?).

But now that we have seen the Avengers assemble, and know that they are always out there somewhere, subsequent solo films have had difficulty avoiding a particularly tricky problem: Namely the “Where the hell is [INSERT HERO HERE]?” query. If the world is going to be destroyed, why should only one hero be fighting to save it? For instance, when Malekith was about to destroy the entire universe in Thor: The Dark World, and this happened to require his presence on Earth, where was Iron Man? Captain America? Hulk? Was Nick Fury really too busy to call Hawkeye and Black Widow for some extra ground support? While this issue does not ruin any of the movies within the MCU, it is a tiny, and inevitable, plot hole created by an enormous cinematic universe in which so many super-powered heroes exist.

And the issue usually pops up no matter how good the solo movie — just look at Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Though it may be considered by many, including myself, to be the MCU’s very best, you still have to wonder why Tony Stark didn’t fly in with some kick ass theme song playing over the speakers to help Cap stop Hydra from possibly killing millions. Granted, it’s a small detail, but it is one of those plot holes that continues to pop up because Marvel movies no longer exist within a vacuum. Let’s say for example that Superman existed in Christopher Nolan’s universe during The Dark Knight Rises; we would probably be forced to wonder why he didn’t just swoop in and save Gotham from Bane and nuclear destruction. This is universe the MCU has created. Yet, the question never needs to be asked in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Jon Watts, and five other co-screenwriters (wow!), navigated the “Where is Captain America (or even Vision)?” problem perfectly by presenting a villain whose motivations were far smaller in scope then we are accustomed. Adrian Toomes, aka Vulture, did not set out to destroy the world in Homecoming. Instead, he was essentially a small-time arms dealer that just happened to traffic in ridiculously dangerous alien tech. His operation was small enough that until Spider-Man swung in he had stayed off Tony Stark’s radar altogether. The one time in the film that Toomes does anything that may result in a massive loss of life, Iron Man in fact does show up, putting to rest any concern regarding his whereabouts. But even if you are to argue that Toomes’ later activities were so dangerous that they warranted the Avengers’ attention, there is a pretty good explanation why they, and Iron Man, didn’t show up to help: Nobody would listen to Peter Parker’s numerous warnings.

Peter repeatedly tries to get in touch with Happy Hogan and continuously gets shot down, usually in comical fashion. If it was up to Peter, Iron Man (and whoever else is currently in the Avengers’ good graces) would fly in to help out during the film’s thrilling climax. You have to imagine if Spider-Man had his druthers, he wouldn’t want to be hanging from a plane by himself with no backup (he’s not Tom Cruise after all). But Happy hangs up on Ned when he tries to relay Peter’s final message — you know, that Vulture is about to steal a ton of expensive and dangerous tech from Stark’s plane. Nobody showed up to assist Peter because not only was it rarely warranted during the movie, but how could they know to help if Happy didn’t listen?

Spider-Man: Homecoming is undoubtedly smaller in scope than most of the MCU movies that preceded it. The action is mostly contained to New York (outside of a trip to the nation’s capital), and major loss of life was only once really in the cards. But even some of the more intimate films like Ant-Man contained moments where you felt that the Avengers, since they are out there, should have been called in (Scott Lang says as much, and this is especially true knowing that Hydra was trying to obtain the Pym particles). Again, this is just a small detail, and it is to an extent eased anyway by the Sokovia Accords, but Watts’ ability to navigate this plot hole is one of many reasons why Spider-Man: Homecoming felt like a complete comic book movie, and has to be up there on the list of best Marvel films ever made.