Spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War ahead
Marvel Studios is about to have yet another big year. First, the studio will drop Captain Marvel, its first feature with a female protagonist. Next, fans will get the highly anticipated finale to the Avengers series, Avengers: Endgame, on April 26. They will follow that movie up with the second Spider-Man solo film starring Tom Holland, Spider-Man: Far From Home. Marvel just released the first trailer. It brings back Aunt May and MJ, but also introduced Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio.
In this movie, Peter Parker will head out on a Euro trip with his high school classmates, only to be recruited by Nick Fury for a mission. While that sounds like a romp, this movie also have major implications for the events of Avengers: Endgame and the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline. The last time fans saw Peter Parker, he didn’t “feel so good.” In fact, he was disintegrating into dust after Thanos snapped his fingers at the end of Avengers: Infinity War. Now he seems to be back and in fighting shape.
Here is everything you need to know about the Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer, including a second-by-second breakdown of the teaser.
When does Spider-Man: Far From Home take place?
As noted above, Peter Parker is currently “dead” in the Marvel Cinematic Universe—or at least he has disappeared from it. Now, nobody expects the superheroes who were eliminated in Thanos’ culling of half the universe to remain missing forever. Black Panther, for instance, is set to star in a sequel solo film and therefore will have to return in some way. Many fans have speculated that Endgame will center on the remaining Avengers as they try to figure out how to restore the universe to its rightful state.
Spider-Man producer Amy Pascal has previously stated in an interview that Far From Home would take place “minutes” after the events of Avengers: Endgame. That means at the very least both Spider-Man and Nick Fury (who appears in the trailer) were brought back and are continuing their work fighting evil. But the trailer, at least, makes no mention of the traumatic event that would have just taken place. Perhaps all the disappeared people have no memory of what happened to them?
Alternatively, Marvel could deal directly with the events of Endgame in Far From Home and is just saving those scenes for the film itself.
Does Iron Man show up?
Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) played an important role in Spider-Man: Homecoming: He supplied Peter with the suit, taught him lessons about responsibility and had his assistant, Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), keep tabs on Peter. Their bond became the emotional cruz of Infinity War, and Tony watched Peter die in his arms.
And yet he’s nowhere to be found in this trailer. Assuming that Far From Home does indeed take place after Endgame, it’s possible that Tony has died in the process of bringing Peter and the other heroes back at the end of Endgame. It’s more likely that Tony lives but retires the Iron Man suit, given that Happy Hogan enters the film with a gigantic check for Aunt May’s charity, likely written by Tony himself. It’s also possible that Tony is still playing Iron Man, but Marvel is just saving that information until after Endgame premieres.
Is Mysterio a good guy or a bad guy?
Jake Gyllenhaal, who (fun fact!) once auditioned to play Spider-Man himself back in the Tobey Maguire era, plays Mysterio. In this trailer, he’s presented as a possible hero. He fights a monstrous water creature that is attacking Peter and his friends. But things may not be as they appear.
Quentic Beck, a.k.a. Mysterio, is one of the original Spider-Man villains and often shows up in the Sinister Six, a group of Spidey baddies who eventually team up to beat the hero. Quentin is a special effects wizard and stuntman who becomes disgruntled when he cannot make it as a movie star. In an early comic book run, he decides to fight Spider-Man in order to earn worldwide fame. It’s entirely possible that Mysterio has created the monsters featured in this trailer in order to fight them and look like a hero (a lá Syndrome in The Incredibles).
Here’s a breakdown of every second of the Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer
0:08 Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) seems to be have come to terms with Peter’s alter ego. (She discovered him in his Spidey suit at the end of Homecoming.) In fact, she seems to have recruited her nephew to help her at a charity fundraiser for the homeless. May does quite a bit of charitable work in the comic books and the recent Spider-Man video game.
0:17 Happy Hogan, who works for Tony Stark, is still involved in the Parkers lives. He is seen here hitting on Aunt May, which is somewhat weird considering that Tony spent the entirety of Homecoming hitting on Aunt May. (Tony and Pepper were on a break but are now engaged, so make of that what you will.) They’re really leaning into the “Aunt May is young and hot now” bit.
0:37 Random tidbit: Peter’s passport has no years. Marvel has run into some timeline problems before, specifically with the Spider-Man story, so maybe they’ve decided to scrap dates entirely.
0:40 Peter decides to leave behind his suit. He just wants to have a fun trip with his friends. The international trailer shows May secretly packing his suit for him anyway with a Post-It note that says, “You almost forgot this!” Also of note: Peter uses a suitcase that has “BFP” monogramed on it, probably for his uncle Ben.
0:50 It looks like Peter’s Euro Trip begins in Venice. This blonde classmate seems to be an important new side character because she shows up in several shots—maybe she is a love interest for Peter’s bestie Ned (Jacob Batalon)?
0:54 Speaking of teen angst, a romance between Peter and MJ (Zendaya) has been inevitable since Homecoming revealed MJ’s true identity at the end of the film. It looks like sparks are flying in the sequel. Thankfully, MJ at least gives Peter a hard time about the typical love interest tropes. When he tells her, “You look really pretty,” she replies, “And therefore I have value?” Hopefully Zendaya gets more to do in this movie than play damsel.
1:15 Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Peter meet for the first time. Fury looks to be in recruiting mode. Peter’s relationship with the Avengers has been complicated up until this point. At the end of Homecoming, he opted to enjoy his high school years and act as a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man rather than joining up with the super team. But then in Infinity War, he jumped at the chance to join the fight against Thanos, defying Tony’s orders by following the bad guys into space. At the beginning of the trailer, we see Peter decide to leave his Spidey suit behind and just enjoy his vacation, so this visit from Fury won’t be a particularly welcome one.
1:38 A quick shot sets the stakes: A new villain who seems to be able to manipulate the elements has emerged. (This guy looks vaguely like Sandman, but later shots confirm it’s not that Spidey villain.) Tom Holland has said he will fight the Elementals in the movie, a group of comic book villains who take the form of—you guessed it—the elements. Also who is this woman with Nick Fury? It could be a blonder Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) or a new character we have not yet met.
1:42 Now they’re in London. Also the bridge being on fire is not ideal, considering that Peter’s friends are seen running on Tower Bridge later in the trailer.
1:45 Spider-Man gets a few new suits in this film. This red-and-black version was a staple in the 90s comics. The wings were part of Steve Ditko’s original Spider-Man design and have faded in and out of popularity since.
1:48 We saw the Elemental that uses Earth. Now we get fire.
1:53 Another new suit. This one is called the stealth suit, for obvious reasons.
1:56 And here’s the final element: Water.
2:03 Jake Gyllenhaal finally arrives in a cloud of green smoke as Mysterio. He uses his knowledge of movie magic to create the illusion of power. That includes the green smoke and his helmet, which works as a one-way mirror. At the end of the trailer, Peter’s friends watching footage of Mysterio fight comment on how he looks like a combination of Iron Man and Thor. That’s probably intentional if Quentin has modeled his costume on those of other superheroes.
2:13 Mysterio warns of Spider-Man from the fight—”You want no part of this!” People on Twitter already have opinions about Gyllenhaal’s voice in this role. In his defense, if that sounds like a corny line reading, that’s probably the point. Remember, Mysterio is a failed actor who foists himself on the world stage. The theatricality of the moment supports the idea that Mysterio is actually creating villains to fight himself.
