Spider-Man: Far From Home: New Image Teases A Dangerous Partnership
It looks like Spidey will have a dangerous ally in his first post-Endgame adventure.
A new Spider-Man: Far From Home image posted by Entertainment Weekly appears to show the wall-crawler forging a partnership with Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), a longtime nemesis in the comics who was also seen coming to the aid of the good guys in the flick's first trailer. Star Tom Holland and director Jon Watts also had a few details to offer up about ol' webhead's journey in his second solo outing, and how they attempted to make Far From Home even more audience-friendly than its blockbuster predecessor, 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming.
It's safe to say that we'll be seeing a slightly more world-weary Peter Parker after the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, and while Homecoming saw our hero struggling to take on more responsibility and to be seen as more of a peer and less of a nuisance in the eyes of Tony Stark and Happy Hogan, Far From Home looks to be examining what happens after Parker gets his wish — in spades — and is perhaps not so sure he should've wished for it in the first place. The flick will see Parker accompanying his classmates on a European trip, a trip for which he — gasp! — doesn't even pack his costume. But fate intervenes, and by "fate," we mean "Nick Fury." The superspy shows up to enlist Parker in the fight against towering elemental monsters that show up and begin wreaking havoc across Europe, a development about which Parker may be less than thrilled.
"Peter's ready for a vacation at the beginning of this movie, to say the least," said Watts. "This film is about the world telling him, 'It's time for you to step up and grow up, kid,' and he's saying, 'But I still want to be a kid and go on vacation.'" Tough break, kid — you picked the wrong time and the wrong destination. But then, who among us hasn't had a pleasant trip completely ruined by towering elemental monsters? We can all relate.
Speaking of relatability, Holland singled out that trait as the one most key to his portrayal of the web-slinger, and one that he and Watts sought to build on for the Spidey sequel. While Homecoming put us in the shoes of a wide-eyed kid coming to terms with his newfound role as a superhero, Far From Home's Parker has taken part in an epic struggle with the fate of half the universe hanging in the balance, and the cast and filmmakers were wise enough to know that Parker would have to grow as a character in order to avoid simply becoming too larger-than-life. "Everyone really enjoyed the fact that throughout [Homecoming], there's always something you can relate to with him," the star said. "So in [Far From Home], especially, we tried to tailor the script in a way so that we could hit so many different relatable scenarios, so that not a single person in the world felt left out watching this movie."
Watts seems to have had this approach in mind in introducing Mysterio, as we all know what it's like to look up to somebody who is more capable and, well, just cooler. "If Tony Stark was sort of the mentor in the previous films, we thought it would be interesting to play Mysterio as almost like the cool uncle," he said — and you can totally see that dynamic at play even in the new photo, in which Parker looks completely in awe of his new ally.
Or is he? If Mysterio has sinister ulterior motives, the filmmakers (and Gyllenhaal, for that matter) have done an excellent job keeping a lid on it. But it would certainly be in line with his comics characterization: Quentin Beck, while he has no actual powers, is a visual effects expert and master manipulator whose entire criminal career has hinged on misdirection and illusion. He's a founding member of the supervillain squad known as the Sinister Six (created for the sole purpose of taking down Spider-Man), and has served as a reliable antagonist for the wall-crawler for literally decades. We're going to go out on a limb and say that if Mysterio is truly one of the good guys in Far From Home, it would be a bigger surprise than if not. We all know how Marvel Studios feels about its stars spouting off spoilers; Holland has drawn the ire of his employer on more than one occasion for spilling cans of beans of varying sizes, and as he and Gyllenhaal have become good friends on set, we can envision a scenario in which the young star gently suggested to the franchise newcomer that when it comes to being grilled over plot details, keeping those lips zipped is really the way to go.
At any rate, we don't have too long to wait before all becomes clear. Spider-Man: Far From Home — which is technically the final film of Marvel's Phase Three, unless Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige is having a laugh at our expense — hits theaters on July 2. In the meantime, check out the new photo below.
