By Tanvi Jha
Our favorite web-slinging hero returns in his sequel: Spiderman - Far From Home. Everyone in the audience were on the edges of their seats for almost the entirety of this movie. This is the first installment since the events of Endgame, and we get a look at the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) after the deaths of some of our favorite heroes. It is also the first step into Phase 4 of the MCU timeline.
Cutting to Peter Parker, played by the adorable Tom Holland, he is doing his best to move on after losing his beloved mentor, Tony Stark. It seems like he is the next prospective leader of a new generation of Avengers. However, he doesn’t feel ready for the duty and avoids all kinds of questions about it. The movie climaxes when everything seems to be going well, almost too well, when the hidden identity of Mysterio, Spiderman’s alleged ally, is revealed, drawing loud gasps from the audience. The action is further propelled by impressive characterization of both the protagonist and the antagonist -- which also helps establish a solid ending.
When I observed closely, I realised Far From Home is a simple coming-of-age story disguised as a superhero movie. It can even be compared with movies like Ladybird or The Edge of Seventeen. The movie begins with Parker struggling to accept the great responsibility that comes with becoming a leader, being a mere young adult, as he wonders whether he will be able to live up to Iron Man’s legacy or not. It ends with self-acceptance, of not a reluctant but a determined Peter Parker. This framework can be noticed in other stories too, where teenagers are pressured into making important decisions, which mostly end up hurting their loved ones. As a result, they second-guess themselves but then have a dramatic moment of realization that growing up means making mistakes but also having the courage to correct them. Such plots are meant to parallelize the transition from adolescence to adulthood in real life -- the way young adults grow to accept the darker aspects of life in order to embrace it for what it is.
The biggest shockers to the audience were the two end-credit scenes. The first one shows Spiderman and MJ in the city center. A fake clip made by Mysterio, before he died, of course, is broadcasted online, depicting Spiderman as his murderer. He also takes this opportunity to announce Spiderman’s secret identity to the public. The scene cuts off with Parker cussing in shock. It is quite obvious that Peter Parker’s days of being a “friendly neighborhood” Spiderman are definitely over.
As the credits begin to roll up, the audience gets only five minutes to process what just happened when the second clip starts. It shows Nick Fury and Agent Hill talking to someone on their devices before shape-shifting into the green Skrull leaders, Talos and Soren, revealing that they are actually not present on Earth. The camera then cuts away to the person to whom they are talking to -- Nick Fury, who appears to be on a Skrull spaceship.
We do not know what this means, but some NEEEERDS on the internet pointed out that during Captain Marvel, Fury specifically told Carol Denvers that he only eats sandwiches cut diagonally. Yet, in Avengers: Age of Ultron we see that he cuts them right in the middle. So, many have suggested that this could be proof that the swap between Fury and Talos has been happening for a while now since the second Avengers movie. Could it be possible? Or just inconsistency on the Russo Brothers’ part?
While the theories are practically swimming around the internet, one thing is for certain, Phase 4 of the MCU will be unlike anything we’ve seen before.
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