Spider-Man theory: did Tony Stark engineer Peter's spider?

Before Spider-Man: Far From Home was released on July 2, 2019, I looked at a fan theory that ties Tony Stark and Peter Parker together long before they met in Captain America: Civil War. The theory claimed that Tony's own lab may have engineered the spider that bit Peter, which would explain how he knew to look for Peter and why he felt so much familial responsibility for him. I thought the theory held water on its own, and one more piece at the crux of the argument was based on a rumor about some huge Tony Stark secret.

This isn't about the moment where Iron Man flies down and a young Peter Parker blasts a robot. It's a deeper idea that tries to tie the MCU together and explain why Tony took on the role he did in Peter's life.

Spider-Man entered the MCU through someone else's movie

To frame the theory, a few things matter. First, I don't think anyone would have expected Spider-Man's introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe to come through somebody else's movie, but that's what happened. Maybe we were lucky that the rights were tied up with Sony.

Because of that, Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios didn't even have the option of doing the same old Spider-Man solo movie, which had already happened two times before. Instead, they brought him straight into the team through Tony's recruitment.

Tony and Peter already had a storied past. The most famous moment is the confirmed Easter egg of Peter as a kid: Iron Man flies down, hits the bad guy, says "nice shot kid," and flies off. The theory seemed to tie all of that together.

The Reddit theory: Tony Stark's lab engineered the spider that bit Peter Parker

The theory was posted by a Reddit user to the Marvel subreddit. It argued there was a reason Tony knew who Peter was in the first place: his own experiments at his own lab probably led him to create or engineer the spider that ended up biting Peter.

Under the theory, once Tony discovered something had happened, perhaps the spider going missing from its cage, he was able to cross-reference his AI and work out who Peter Parker was. That led him to recruit Peter when he finally needed him in Civil War.

Much of this made sense to me because of the way Spider-Man was introduced. It might have been opportunity and circumstance that led to it.

Why the MCU skipped Spider-Man's origin story

Civil War avoided Spider-Man's origin story because that made sense for its narrative. Then Spider-Man got his own movie in Homecoming, and it skipped the origin story completely.

Part of that is because Kevin Feige said they didn't want to repeat what had been done before, and you can see that same approach in what they did with the villains. Part of it is also that the Spider-Man origin has become its own trope. They didn't even want to say the line "with great power comes great responsibility" in the MCU, though someday we may hear it.

The Easter eggs are there, though. You can see Uncle Ben's initials on the suitcase Spider-Man has when he's packing to go overseas.

Tony Stark's familial bond with Peter Parker was never explained

The connection between Tony and Peter isn't just an Easter egg. It's been spelled out over the four or five movies they've shared. Think of all the times Tony felt responsible, someone who normally wouldn't fill that role taking up a mentor role for Spider-Man. Even though something very deep is going on in that familial bond, it's never clearly articulated.

There's also the scene where Peter and Tony meet for the first time in Peter's bedroom. They connect on a tech level, and when Tony asks why he does what he does, they bond. But it goes deeper than that.

This theory may be one of the most complicated and eloquent constructions of the great power trope. If great power engineered by Tony Stark creates Spider-Man, then with that power comes the great responsibility of helping shape the person who gained those powers because of your engineering.

The Norman Osborn angle isn't needed

Tony isn't the only person in the universe doing science, and the MCU has shown plenty of people who might be capable of this. The theory goes on to include Norman Osborn as having something to do with whatever was going on back then.

I don't think you have to combine the two. To me the theory holds on its own without bringing Osborn into it. Many things play in its favor, including that the films never went into the origin story or into why Tony feels so responsible for Peter.

The Far From Home rumor about a Tony Stark secret

One more thing sat at the crux of the argument, and it was based on a rumor rather than spoilers. The rumor was that Far From Home would reveal something life-changing or monumental about Tony Stark, some huge secret about what he was doing in that last phase.

That made sense to me because Far From Home was the last movie in the Infinity Saga. Even though Tony had passed away, he was undoubtedly the biggest character and the most central force across the first three phases. The film had a lot on its plate: the time disparity between those who were snapped and unsnapped, and what would happen to a world where everyone was back but lives had changed so much over five years. Still, I felt it was impossible to have a movie in those phases that didn't revolve around Tony.

There were other rumors too, including that Mysterio used to work for Tony. That he was trying to fill the role of Iron Man was obvious from the trailer, whether or not he once worked for Tony or felt some direct jealousy. That mattered less to me than one aspect of the argument.

Would Tony Stark have kept the spider secret from Peter Parker?

The question that kept coming up in discussions after the theory was posted was how Tony felt about Peter, and whether he could keep this secret if he had truly engineered the spider that changed Peter. There was a chance he would have wanted to tell Peter everything he knew about that experiment.

Bruce Banner was on the team, an expert in gamma radiation, and with Professor Hulk now canon in the MCU, he knows how to tweak that to affect his power level. If gamma radiation was involved here too, since it seems to be the only one going around in the MCU, full disclosure might have been the better route.

We've also seen Tony grow in the direction of wanting to protect, in that familial role: the world and his family. Much of his guilt in Civil War centers on the death of a child, raised by that child's mother. His first scene with Peter is between him and Aunt May before he introduces himself. There are subtle Easter eggs everywhere of him wanting to be that parent figure, carrying the mantle of a metaphorical Uncle Ben who exists in the MCU but never appeared on screen.

More likely, though, he would have told Peter if he knew the specifics. Tony has shown himself to be a mad scientist several times, but since day one, transparency and honesty have been true to his character. He couldn't lie to the public about being Iron Man, ego aside, and he was the same when he was hacking SHIELD and when he wanted the team to sign the Sokovia Accords. I think his bond with Peter would have led him to tell Peter everything had he created that spider.

Tony Stark as Peter Parker's Uncle Ben

Either way, the responsibility and affection Tony felt for Peter the entire time is undeniable. If it led to the conclusion that he was ultimately the reason Peter became Spider-Man, I thought that would be an amazing revelation, and it would answer many questions about why Tony behaves the way he does with Spider-Man.

Tony already playing the Uncle Ben role, and the reversal of him perhaps being responsible for Spider-Man, is an eloquent way to express the familiar great power trope. And you don't even have to say the line.