Forget the Green Goblin, Kingpin or even jewellery collector Thanos. When it comes to battling injustice, top of Spider-Man’s agenda is homelessness.
The Big Issue recently reported how developers of the PS4 game brought homelessness to the heart of the narrative.
And it’s a theme that’s been picked up in Spider-Man: Far From Home.
The new trailer, released today, begins with Spider-Man appearing at a homelessness fundraising event. Accompanying Aunt May, played by Marisa Tomei, Spider-Man is seen on a stage in front of banners reading “Welcome to the homeless support charity dinner”.
This parallels the storyline of the game, where one of the key hubs was a F.E.A.S.T. homeless shelter where Peter Parker helps out when he is not fighting crime, alongside his beloved Aunt May. The game also highlighted how homelessness can affect anyone, with Peter losing his job and being evicted from his flat.
But Spider-Man is not the only superhero to show concern about the homeless. In last year’s surprise hit, Venom, Tom Hardy’s roguish reporter Eddie Brock supported homeless people in his community. And when it turned out homeless people were being rounded up and experimented on by an evil tech mogul, well his symbiosis self fought back.
