The common wisdom used to be that your superhero movie couldn't have the hero in a full face mask because the audience wants to see the star. But in a post-Robert Downey Jr world the new wisdom is that you want a full face mask so that your hero can appear in scenes without requiring your big star to come to set. It saves money and time and it makes your big star less likely to burn out completely when you want him or her to be locked in for nine pictures plus cameos.

That applies to Spider-Man, who had been shooting scenes on Captain America: Civil War even before they hired an actor to play him. Recent articles, spinning out of a Vulture interview with Spectacular Spider-Man writers John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein, indicate that Spidey has a cameo in the new film. Here's what everybody is quoting:

Daley and Goldstein will have to contend with special effects of a different sort over the next few months, as they've been drafted to write Marvel's new Spider-Man reboot. That's still in the early stages, as Goldstein says they're going in to Marvel this weekend to look at footage of Tom Holland's cameo as Peter Parker in Captain America: Civil War. "We hear good things," he said. "We might even get to look at the Spidey suit, which is exciting." Forget any rumored cast lists that have been floating around the web, however: "We've discussed certain characters," said Daley, "but nothing is certain yet, for sure."

It's important here to know that Tom Holland shooting his bit isn't the same as Spider-Man shooting his bit. Spider-Man has been on that set for a while, played by stunt men. All you need Tom Holland for is any Peter Parker scenes, because otherwise he can come into a local recording studio and loop Spidey's dialogue at any point between now and release. Basically if Spidey's mask is off you need Tom Holland, but every other scene happens without him.

How many scenes will Spider-Man be in? I don't know the exact number, but sources have recently made it clear to me that there's more Spider-Man in this movie than I expected. Spider-Man doesn't just swing by and say hi - gets his hands dirty in this Civil War. He fights. And his fight scene might be the one that really gets fandom excited - not because of how top tier the face-off will be, but because of how profoundly dorky and unlike any other big screen superhero fight it will be.

So for the record: Peter Parker will have a cameo, while Spider-Man will have a few scenes and at least one fight that will be jockeying for a spot on the best superhero battles ever list.