Spider-Man: Far From Home doesn’t just put a period on Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it offers some tantalising hints at the future. That meant, when we spoke to director Jon Watts and producers Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal about the film, we asked about those teases as well as a bunch of other things you may have been wondering after seeing the movie.
So, if you’ve seen Far From Home, we urge you to journey below the spoiler warning and see what the people who made the film have to say about its secrets.
What happens now that everyone knows Peter Parker is Spider-Man?
The biggest hint as to what’s next for Peter Parker comes in the first end credits sequence when Mysterio, from the grave we assume (and probably via the drive Dr. Riva [Peter Billingsley] takes at the end of the movie), releases a video framing Spider-Man for the attacks in London and revealing his real identity is Peter Parker.
Of course, no one involved in the film would say specifically what this means, that would spoil future films, but there was some significant insight.
“Peter is back in a position that is very familiar to comic fans which is being in New York City and revered as a villain by the press and by other aspects of the city,” Feige told Gizmodo.
“So [how] it goes forward, certainly, we have ideas. We have thoughts. But like Tony Stark saying ‘I’m Iron Man’ at the end of Iron Man, the best thing about it is it forces you to do something different and unique in the next instalment. And that’s one of the fun things about the ending of Far From Home is, whatever comes next, it will be unlike anything that has come before.”
Also, in another quote, Feige may have given a tease of exactly how this will play out moving ahead. The emphasis below is our own.
“The story we wanted to tell [is] to set up Peter for a new spin on a very classic Spider-Man conceit that you haven’t seen since the Raimi movies,” Feige said. “Which is J. Jonah Jameson and the notion of this very loud mouth journalist spouting hate towards him, the twist of Mysterio winning, essentially, in the end, and pulling one last trick so that the public now believes, or at least the news is reporting, that he was responsible for the acts that Mysterio did.”
So, it seems, that maybe not everyone will believe what Jameson is reporting. Oh, which reminds us…
Holy shit, J. Jonah Jameson is back! Why now and was it always gonna be J.K. Simmons?
“There was never any discussion of it being anyone else,” director Jon Watts told Gizmodo when we asked that question. “As soon as we knew that we wanted The Daily Bugle and J. Jonah Jameson in the movie it was J.K. or no one.”
In the film, Jameson is an Alex Jones-esque, conspiracy theory-driven media personality who reveals the news about Spider-man’s identity. Evolving the character from his usual role as newspaper editor into something more modern to fit with Mysterio’s mantra that people will believe anything.
“For him to come back and do another version of that character, which is a contemporary television conspiracy theorist in the new world of media, perfectly fit with what we’re trying to say for the entire franchise,” Amy Pascal told Gizmodo. “Of course, he’s brilliant and he understood that immediately.”
“He came into Marvel and met with us,” Watts added. “And I think initially he was like ‘Wait what are you guys doing? What’s going on?’
But as we pitched him the story and showed how it would all fit together, he’s a smart, great guy and he completely got it. It must have been pretty surreal for him to go in and just step back into this role after such a long time but as soon as he started ranting, I couldn’t stop smiling. It was amazing.”
At the end of Far From Home, Peter has started a romance with MJ, the Daily Bugle is back, and he’s swinging through New York. Will the next movie be more like the Sam Raimi and Marc Webb movies?
Far From Home ends in a very familiar place for Spider-Man fans. It finally introduces many of things fans have become very familiar with in the other Spider-Man movies but were purposefully avoided up until now.
“I just wanted to feel like I had earned them,” Watts said. “In Homecoming, I wanted to start from a different place and try to rebuild this character in people’s imagination. And I didn’t want to show people things that they’d seen before. But I do love all those iconic Spider-Man moments just as much as everyone else. I love J. Jonah Jameson and I love seeing a big swing through New York City. I love Peter and MJ’s romance. I just wanted to feel like I had earned the right to put them in a movie first.”
“I think in this movie you see Peter take on the mantle of being Spider-Man,” Pascal added. “Not needing recognition from anyone else in order for him to feel like he’s going to do it by himself. I think that’s evidenced by the fact that builds his own suit at the end of the movie. And I think also because we finally let him swing through New York City, he is the Spider-Man people have been waiting for.”
How did the Skrulls become part of it?
The final tag of the film reveals that Nick Fury and Maria Hill weren’t actually Nick Fury and Maria Hill throughout the movie. They were Talos and Soren, the Skrulls audiences met in March’s Captain Marvel. Though, now, over 20 years have passed since the events of that film.
“That Skrull stuff just felt right in this movie that’s about pulling back all these layers and all these cons and illusions,” Watts said. “It just felt right for the very last tag of the movie to be one last little reveal. And it also added this nice explanation for me as to why Nick Fury was able to be fooled by Mysterio. You know, even though he was blipped away for five years and is on his back foot, Nick Fury’s superpower is suspicion. So how do you explain how Nick Fury could get fooled? That wasn’t Nick Fury. He, not unlike Peter Parker, was also taking a little vacation.”
A holiday which is set deep in space, on a Skrull space ship. Could this be a tease to Captain Marvel 2 or something else? “Everything’s important,” is all Feige would say.
Does the movie tease its big twists before they happen?
If you had an inkling of Far From Home’s big reveals before they happened, that was on purpose. There are several moments in the film where not only is the Skrull plan telegraphed, but Mysterio’s too.
“There are a lot of things in that film for the benefit of second viewings,” Feige said. “There are things you can see with Beck’s team who are scattered throughout the movie before the bar scene. You can see them throughout the Hydro Man sequence and the Molten Man sequence.
And the little things, the mention of a Kree sleeper cell being the basic one, but things like Maria Hill calling him ‘Nick,’ a couple of points he refers to Earth as ‘Your world’ to Peter instead of ‘Our world.’ So little things like are that scattered throughout for people to pick up on at least the second time.”
Did they realise or worry about having two villain twists in back to back movies?
Spider-Man Homecoming included a big villain twist and ended with the villain protecting Spider-Man’s identity. Spider-Man: Far From Home also has a big villain twist in it and ends with the villain revealing Spider-man’s identity. Pretty close, don’t you think? So we asked about the parallels.
“I like trying to surprise people and put twists and turns in a movie,” Watts explains.” I mean [Far From Home] is sort of the other way around [from Homecoming]. In Homecoming, he’s been a villain for the whole movie and then you realise ‘Oh he’s also this nice dad.’ But in this movie, it’s like ‘Oh he’s been this nice friend to Peter’ and then you realise ‘Oh wait no, he’s been a villain this whole time.’”
“We did it for two different reasons, all character-based,” Feige added. “We like the notion that, ultimately, Spider-Man saved him and his daughter and his family and therefore Vulture was a man of enough integrity that he’s going to keep that secret.
Mysterio, quite the opposite. While I think he does have an affinity for Peter, as you see throughout the movie, he still wants to teach him a lesson. For him to understand that it’s a house of cards and then it’s all baloney and the fact people only listen to people if they’ve got capes and lasers isn’t fair.”
Feige continued, “He really believes Peter is the smartest in the room. He doesn’t need that costume to fly around and I think he generally hoped Peter would walk and stay away after giving EDITH to him. And yet he didn’t. He came back and Mysterio, because he’s so cunning and smart, found a way to force him out of it at the very end.”
Did Far From Home kill the idea of an MCU multiverse?
One of the most exciting revelations in the trailer for Far From Home was that Mysterio said he was part of a multiverse.
A word fans were very used to hearing, especially after the release of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The mention suggested maybe all of these worlds are connected. However, Far From Home just as quickly kills that when Mysterio is revealed to be lying.
So, could the MCU be linked with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse?
“Well, I don’t know most of that’s up to Sony,” Feige said. “I mean I think the notion of the multiverse is fun. We first made reference to the multiverse in Doctor Strange. I think it’s something we’ll be playing with in our own way. Obviously, we mentioned it in Far From Home but he’s not telling the truth but I think that’s a fun storytelling opportunity for us just the way they’ve done for years in the comics.”
Never say never.
Spider-Man: Far From Home is now in theatres.