This is Peter Parker in Iron Man 2. Image: Disney

For years, it was one of the better fan theories out there, and now it’s confirmed to be true: Peter Parker was in Iron Man 2.


“It is Peter Parker,” Spider-Man: Homecoming star Tom Holland told The Huffington Post.

He’s referring to a moment near the end of Iron Man 2 when a young boy wearing an Iron Man mask at the Stark Expo stands up to Hammer drone. Then Iron Man comes down and saves him. “Nice work, kid,” he says. Here’s the scene:

We never see the kid’s face and fans had long thought that could have been Peter Parker, since a) he lives in Queens, which is where the Stark Expo was held; b) Peter would be interested in technology and a fan of Tony Stark/Iron Man; and c) the age lines up.


“I can confirm that as of today,” Holland continued. “I literally had a conversation with [Marvel Studios president] Kevin Feige only 20 minutes ago. Maybe I’ve just done a big, old spoiler, but it’s out there now. It’s cool. I like the idea that Peter Parker has been in the universe since the beginning.”

It’s also possible this won’t be the only retconning we see in the future. Though it’s not covered in Homecoming, Peter Parker was in New York when the battle of New York happened at the end of The Avengers. So we asked director Jon Watts if there was a chance that would come up later.

“You have to think about two really big events,” director Jon Watts told io9. “The one is seeing Tony Stark on TV, reveal to the world that he’s Iron Man. That would be so dramatic. Then, yes, the events at the end of Avengers would be a big deal to a little kid. And I think that might be something that would be worth exploring.”

We then asked Watts if it’s possible that’s where Uncle Ben died and he said, “Oh, that’s interesting.”


Spider-Man Homecoming opens July 7.

Update: Minutes after we posted this article, I just happened to have an interview with Tom Holland and I asked him to clarify how he got this information. Here’s what he said:

It’s funny, I literally had a conversation with Kevin like 20 minutes before [The Huffington Post] interview and he didn’t confirm it, I took it upon myself just because I thought it would be a good story and it’s exploded.


So it sounds like he got an okay from Kevin Feige to say that, but that’s it.

[Huffington Post]