New Footage From The Spider-Man: Far From Home Re-Release Explained
Spider-Man may be getting ready to swing out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — possibly for good — but those of us who've grown attached to the MCU version of the web-slinger still have one last chance to catch him in action. After Spider-Man: Far from Home hit theaters on July 2, 2019, Sony Pictures announced in August that they'd be re-releasing the film over Labor Day weekend, complete with an additional four minutes of footage that weren't included in the original theatrical cut.
While this is no doubt an attempt to increase the Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel's already massive box office haul, it's also possibly the final opportunity for fans to see new footage of Tom Holland's Peter Parker in the MCU. While Holland will reportedly still play the character for Sony, as of right now, his upcoming Spider-Man films will have no ties to Marvel's universe, which means that they won't contain any mention of Tony Stark, Happy Hogan, or any of the rest of the characters from the expansive franchise.
So what's included in the four minutes of new footage added to Spider-Man: Far from Home, and is this new action scene worth the price of a ticket? Join us as we break down what's new for the re-release, why it might have been excluded from the original cut of the film, and whether you need to make another trip to the theater.
Peter cuts in line
As Peter and Ned (Jacob Batalon) are leaving school after finishing up their final classes of the year, Peter rattles off a list of things he has to get done before the students leave on their European science trip. (Sidebar: there is very little science on the itinerary, even before everything goes wonky.) First on his list: pick up his passport from the post office.
However, when Peter gets there, he finds himself at the end of a ridiculously long line, which doesn't appear to be moving at all. Anxious to move on to the rest of his tasks, Peter unleashes a small spider-shaped drone from his backpack, which sneaks behind the counter and opens up another passport pickup line, which had been closed so that the postal worker behind the glass could eat her lunch. It's not really necessary to understand the rest of the film — obviously, Peter would need a passport to travel abroad — but Peter's use of a drone here to get his way is a clever bit of foreshadowing, considering how Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal) will later use drones on a much larger scale.
Out with the old
As part of his plan to woo MJ (Zendaya) in Europe, Peter intends to purchase her a glass Black Dahlia necklace — her favorite flower "because of the murder" — in Venice, after which he'll give it to her at the top of the Eiffel Tower. The only problem is, he doesn't actually have enough money to purchase said necklace, which requires him to say goodbye to a few prized possessions in pursuit of some quick cash. After picking up his passport, Peter heads to a local pawn shop, carrying a box of old superhero action figures.
Although the camera only lingers on the box for a second, making it difficult to tell exactly which characters it contains, there is one that Peter decides at the last second not to pawn. Plucking what appears to be a mostly yellow figure from the box, Peter tells the pawn shop owner that he's decided to keep "the robot" after all. This could be a nod to Peter's deep attachment to Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) — although Tony wasn't a robot, his suit sure did resemble one. Or it could hint at another as-yet-unintroduced hero — Sentry, perhaps? — although now that Sony and Marvel have parted ways for future Spidey films, it's questionable whether any of the intended foreshadowing in Far from Home will ever come to fruition. As with the drone scene, this one isn't necessary to the plot, but it is a nice tip of the symbolic hat to the fact that Far from Home marks the end of Phase 3 of the MCU, changing out the old superhero guard and moving toward something new.
A crucial errand
The third item on Peter's to-do list requires a stop in at his local bodega, where he purchases the dual headphone adapter that is so crucial to his MJ plan. After Peter makes a valiant but terrible attempt to communicate what he's looking for in Spanish, the bodega owner corrects him and sells him the adapter, telling Peter he needs to work on his "Spanglish."
Of course, Peter's plan for the dual headphone adapter — to use it to watch movies on the plane with MJ — goes tragically sideways, and he winds up sitting next to his teacher Mr. Harrington (Martin Starr) instead, while MJ and Peter's rival Brad (Remi Hii) watch movies using the dual adapter that Brad just so happened to have with him. The bodega scene isn't necessary to understand the way Peter hoped things might go with MJ, but it does drive home just how much effort he put into getting all the pieces of his plan in place, making his disappointment when nothing goes according to plan that much more palpable.
Cleaning up the neighborhood
The last thing Peter checks off his list before leaving the country is taking down a local organized crime syndicate, which operates out of an Italian restaurant. Wearing the Iron Spider suit that Tony gave him in Avengers: Infinity War, Peter handily takes out a roomful of baddies while delivering a barrage of quips involving one-star Yelp reviews and tips under 20 percent.
After the gangsters are subdued, Spider-Man gives the police the rundown on who's who — accidentally identifying which one was the snitch in the process, and recommending he get a private cell. The police compliment Peter on his new suit and, realizing it's obviously Stark tech, ask Peter if he's planning to be the new Iron Man. Peter demurs, saying he doesn't have time to be the new Iron Man since he's so busy doing the job of the police, but it's one of many reminders we get in Far from Home that Peter is still deeply grieving the loss of Tony, a mental state that Beck takes full advantage of when he shows up on the scene. It's a fun Spidey action sequence, but given that there's no shortage of Tony Stark references elsewhere throughout Far from Home, it's easy to understand why this one didn't make the final cut.
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After Mysterio assumes he has killed Spider-Man, he turns his sights to the other loose threads in his plan — Ned, MJ, and Betty. He decides to stage a massive attack in London, in which Mysterio will save the city from an "Avengers-level threat," but not before there are extensive civilian casualties, including Peter's friends. While planning for this upcoming attack, Beck gathers a group of his accomplices together in a parking garage and reminds them to make sure to take plenty of video during the attack and upload it to the internet, since all the civilians who would normally be posting to social media will be dead. After all, if Mysterio is going to be the next Iron Man, he's going to have to go viral. He then takes a call from Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), who informs him of an Elemental threat in London, which, of course, Beck planned. The scene ends with Beck ending the call and repeating his earlier line, this time with a big grin on his face: "Never apologize for being the smartest person in the room."
Honestly, it was probably to Far from Home's credit that this scene didn't make it into the original cut of the film. While it definitely drives home just how far Beck is willing to go for the sake of his plan, it pushes him a little too far into cartoonish mustache-twirling territory, with his casual talk of dead innocents and his maniacal delivery of his catchphrase at the end. By trimming out Beck's more sinister moments here and saving the worst of him for his final showdown with Peter, it serves to make their ultimate confrontation that much more poignant.
Is the additional Spider-Man footage worth the trip to the theater?
While the scenes added for the Spider-Man: Far from Home mostly consist of fun Spidey stuff, none of it really enhances the plot or the characters in any meaningful way, or gives the audience any new insight. It's all pretty superfluous, and in the case of the Mysterio scene, may actually work to the film's detriment. That said, all the added scenes with Peter are still entertaining, and the restaurant fight is a great opportunity to see the Iron Spider suit in action one last time in the MCU, since Peter doesn't bring that suit with him to Europe.
Whether it's worth a trip to the theater or the price of admission depends on how much you liked Far from Home to begin with, since it's basically the same movie it was before. If you kind of wanted to see the film again anyway, or if you haven't managed to see it for the first time yet, it's a good excuse to finally go. But if you aren't the biggest Spidey fan, or you're on the fence, you're not missing much by staying home and waiting for the digital release.