Kevin Feige recently participated in a Reddit AMA. An astute fan asked a question about actor Martin Starr, who most MCU fans may recognize as the academic decathlon team coach in Spider-Man: Homecoming. What you may not remember is that Starr also appeared in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, which starred Edward Norton. Although that version of Hulk was not played by Mark Ruffalo, let’s not forget that it is still considered canon within the MCU.
In response to the question Feige did confirm Martin Starr’s character, Mr. Harrington, is the same person in both MCU films. Mr. Harrington will be returning as the school chaperone in Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Where was he in ‘The Incredible Hulk’?
For those that don’t remember Martin Starr’s appearance alongside Hulk, he played a “computer nerd” (as IMDb.com has it listed) working in the computer lab at Culver University. He meets Bruce Banner when he had disguised himself as a pizza delivery guy to infiltrate his old lab to do further research on a Hulk cure, before running into Betty Ross. Starr also appeared in a deleted scene from the film in which Bruce tries to get the WiFi information from him.
This begs the questions where else has Mr. Harrington been and what else has he seen in the MCU. If you remember his quote from Spider-Man: Homecoming, when he says:
“As you know, we made it out alive,” Harrington says after Peter Parker’s decathlon team nearly gets killed in the Washington Monument. “And that’s the important thing. I couldn’t bear to lose a student on a school trip. Not again.”
Was he on a school trip during the events of Avengers when the Chitauri invaded New York City? Or was it a reference to something else? Maybe Martin Starr’s character will become MCU’s version of Where is Waldo.
Where do I recognize Martin Starr from?
If you think you recognize Martin Starr from somewhere but can’t place it, it may be because he was part of the cast of Freaks and Geeks, a short lived but immensely popular TV series from 1999/2000. Freaks and Geeks help launch the careers of Seth Rogen, Jason Segal, James Franco and MCU alum Linda Cardellini. He also appeared in hits such as Knocked Up, Superbad, This Is the End, the TV series Silicon Valley and regularly appears on Drunk History on Comedy Central.
You can catch Martin Starr as Mr. Harrington in Spider-Man: Far From Home when it hits theaters on July 2, 2019.
