SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME
Spidey’s secret resurrection beckons…
Director Jon Watts
Starring Tom Holland, Jake Gyllenhaal, Zendaya, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders
“I can’t see in this thing,” complained a Spidey-suited Tom Holland recently, larking about in the Jimmy Kimmel studios with a traffic cone on his bonce. With a trailer as-yet un-glimpsed as we go to press, TF empathises with Holland’s Spidey-sensory deprivation. Unless teasing Tom was hinting that Peter Parker has reached his ‘drunken undergraduate stealing road cones’ phase, official insights into returning director Jon Watts’ Homecoming sequel have been limited.
What we can say is when Far From Home begins, unless timey-wimey twists are involved. According to co-producer Amy Pascal, the action kicks off “a few minutes after Avengers 4 wraps as a story”, which roughly translates as: a few twists on from Aunt May’s climactic f-bomb in Homecoming, and a few more on from Pete’s flaky demise in Infinity War. So, it’s not surprising MCU boss Kevin Feige is keeping quiet: after all, Pete’s post- ‘Snappening’ rebirth is still unexplored.
Feige promises this much, mind. First, Spidey is here to help anyone struggling with post-Thanos stress disorder and pre-Phase 4 panic. “What better person to hold your hand,” says Feige, “and lead you into the next incarnation of the MCU in a grounded, realistic manner than Peter Parker?”
Promising a fun “tonal shift” from Avengers 4, Feige also says Far From Home asks, “How the hell are the events of Infinity War and Untitled [Avengers] going to affect him [Parker] as he, yes, goes back to his junior year?”
Answers await as Parker visits Europe over the summer, hitting London and elsewhere with some newer, slicker Spidey duds to hand. Joining him are Homecoming’s Zendaya and Jacob Batalon. Given Robert Downey Jr.’s worryingly conspicuous cast-list absence, Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury and Cobie Smulders’ Maria Hill will mentor Pete this time. Michael Keaton’s Vulture appears somehow, presumably from jail, while rumours of other villains simmer. Did co-star Numan Acar tease Chameleon on Instagram? And was Holland’s watery Instagram post a Hydro-Man hint?
Maybe, but another man of mystery can be banked on. Jake Gyllenhaal makes his MCU debut as villain Mysterio, presumably in his comic-book incarnation as Quentin Beck, a former Hollywood effects whizz with a trippy battery of magic tricks in his arsenal. And, er, a goldfish bowl? A promo tie-in implied that the MCU Mysterio will don the helmet, but we await confirmation. Either way, we can’t wait for Feige to lift the traffic cone of secrecy. KH Spider-man: Far From Home opens on 5 July.
‘What better person to lead you into the next MCU phase?’ Kevin Feige