Spider-Man far from home closed the door on Phase 3 and set up the future of the universe after the events of Avengers: Endgame. As your friendly neighbourhood spoiler-man, I’ll be breaking down of the insane details within the movie that tie into other elements of the MCU. I have covered some of these aspects before but just in case you haven’t watched those videos we’ll be going through the ins and outs of the entire film.
Obviously there will be heavy spoilers so if you still haven’t had a chance to see the film yet then I highly recommend that you wall-crawl your way out of here.
How Mysterio Tricks Peter
The movie picks up in the aftermath of Avenger’s Endgame. Tony’s absence is felt throughout the film including drawings in the classroom at the start, murals on walls and pretty much every city that appears in the movie.
Not only does Tony’s memory linger over Peter his image is also used by Mysterio as one of the ways that he manipulates the character.
Before making his quote-unquote Sacrifice Play, Mysterio mimics Tony Stark by snapping his fingers to make Peter believe that they are similar in their actions.
Seeing Mysterio live whilst Tony died tricks the character into believing that he has a second chance to do the right thing.
When Peter drops the Edith glasses, one of Team Mysterio picks them up for him and hands them over, highlighting that he is irresponsible and will lose them.
Mysterio deliberately chooses a similar appearance to how Tony did in the first Iron-Man movie. He slicks back his hair, has a beard and upon donning the EDITH glasses could be mistaken for the billionaire Playboy.
This tricks Peter into believing that he in some ways is a younger version of Tony and it’s one of the main reasons he sees him being the true heir to the mantle.
Mysterio’s Look
Mysterio traditionally looked like Spock from Star Trek in the comics and when we see the character in flashback he is cleanly shaven so we can assume that this hair and beard choice was done on purpose because he knew that Peter looked up to Tony.
He also likely knows that the character has been close to Doctor Strange as they travelled together to Titan in Infinity War. Mysterio’s magic resembles the runes that Strange uses which further influences the character.
His arms also resemble Thor’s costume in some ways as he has a similar texture and in the end credits, we can see that he did pull from the character’s design in some ways. Peter has mentioned that Thor used to be a myth and that they now study him in psychics so he would be aware of the character.
Always Watching
Beck had clearly been following Peter for some time and he actually appears behind him in venice after Peter goes to buy the black dhalia necklace for MJ.
If you jump to 18 minutes and 15 seconds you should be able to spot him on the left hand side stalking the character.
He’s not alone either and throughout the scene we also see Guterman who appears behind MJ and Peter as they stroll along the canal.
We see later in the movie that Guterman is the storyteller of the group that writes all of the events that happen.
He escapes the kill zone at one point and even tips his hats to the students who he believes are going to die.
There’s also an image of a blonde woman that looks rather distinctive and we see her pop up later in the movie as part of Team Mysterio so it seems like she’s also checking things out.
William Riva also appears and he is revealed to a scientist from Iron-Man one but he’s not the only character that drops in throughout the film. This is Peter Billingsly, the kid from A Christmas Story and he appeared in both movies, even shaving his head to be in the role.
Clues That Mysterio is the Villain
There’s also several clues in the film that everything is not as it seems long before we learn that team Mysterio is trying to get the EDITH glasses.
The first one of these comes during the water attack in which we can see the outline of the Edith drones in the water. Peter is punched full force by Hydro-Man but if you slow down the footage and look really really closely, you’ll notice that when Peter is first hit and also the section of the bridge gets hit it doesn’t actually get wet. It just explodes a bit and then the water from the canal rising up comes and that’s what soaks everything rather than the blast from the punch.
Interesting right?
Well there’s also another subtle hint that Mysterio is fake when Peter is out on the roof after being completely shut down by Nick Fury. During the scene, Mysterio flies in front of him to talk but in hindsight, we know that this isn’t actually the character, so how does he end up sat next to Peter when the two go to talk?
Well as Peter’s talking you will notice that the camera pans from a doorway behind him which almost mimics someone walking from the back to sit next to Peter and then Mysterio joins him.
So I believe that Mysterio was hidden at this point, then snuck behind him from the doorway and sat on the ledge which is where the two illusion came together allowing him to sit down.
Another big hint that everything is all an illusion comes when Peter is fighting the fire elemental and Nick Fury and Maria Hill arrive at the scene in their jeeps. During the attack, there’s a brief moment where one of Mysterios hand laser beam Doctor Strange thingys hits the car but instead of causing it to explode or be melted all we see are bullet holes in the windshield.
This clearly comes from the Drone and is in fact them just firing at the car in order to make it stop. It’s a nice little hint early one that really is a blink and you’ll miss it moment that showcases just how much of an illusion everything really was.
Did Peter Give Mysterio The Idea To Out Him?
The movie ends with Mysterio revealing Peter’s identity to the world but there was actually a setup for this earlier in the movie that shows Peter may have given him the idea.
When coming up with excuses for why he can’t help Fury the ol’ web head says ‘if I’m seen like this in Europe after the Washington Monument, my whole class will figure out who I am and then the whole world will figure out who I am and then I’m done.’
This was said infront of Beck and likely lead to him making the decisions he did.
Skrulls Clues
In the other Post Credit Scenes, we learn that Nick Fury and Maria Hill are actually Skrulls in disguise whilst the two are on vacation. There are also several clues that point towards this throughout the film.
When Nick Fury tells Peter that Mysterio is from the multiverse, he states that the character is from Earth, just not yours. If Nick was from Earth then he would say he’s from Earth, just not ours.
Later in the movie we hear him and Maria Hill discussing Kree during one of their conversations which lets you know that they too may not be what they seem. Nick also hates the thought of Captain Marvel being brought into it so yeah…HE’S A SKRULL AND THE CLUES WERE ALL THERE.
In the post credits scene we catch Nick on a tropical beach which may be a reference to Tahiti from Agents Of Shield. It’s a magical place.
At one point in the film Peter meets with Nick and he gets into a top of the range car. The seatbelt on this snaps quite easily which makes Fury give him a stern look.
Later Peter falls out of the skyscraper after Mysterio’s illusion comes down and he hits a crappy run down car. This is the same car that he and Fury pulled up in and it explains why the seatbelt broke.
When a hologram of Fury arrives it’s given away that he’s fake as the police in the background do not move.
Twisted History
Now this film shows Tony in quite a bad light by making it seem like he was really bad to his staff. However there is potential that they have all twisted what really happened in their heads in order to villanise him.
In Captain America Civil War, the audience is silent when Tony Stark says that the project is called B.A.R.F. but in Far From Home they are laughing. This implies that Mysterio imagined it differently and that the reality of it wasn’t anywhere near as bad.
Easter eggs and References
Another fun thing in the film is Flash Thompson who has some of the most hilarious bits of trivia in the movie.
Firstly his instagram account is called SpideyNo1Fan. When he does a stream we can also see that his followers are pretty much all bots which shows that he isn’t as popular as he thinks he is.
When Peter dons the EDITH glasses and looks around the bus we can see a message from Flash to his mother in which he asks why his parents haven’t been in touch.
They fail to show up to greet him at the end so you can see why he would turn to fake followers.
In addition to this we can also see that Dimitri’s messages are encrypted and this is because he works for Nick Fury.
Now the movie is absolutely packed with easter eggs and references to the comics.
When Happy Hogan and Peter talk we can see a poster that is advertising a wrestling match between Crusher Hogan and Bonesaw McGraw.
The former is who Peter fought in the comics and the latter is who Peter fought in the Sam Raimi film Spider-man.
When taking a photograph they say ‘Pizza’ and you can actually hear a character say ‘Pizza Time’ very faintly which is a nod to Spider-man 2, also by Raimi.
When Peter and MJ kiss we can see a number plate which reads TASM 143. This is a callback to The Amazing Spider-Man 143 in which MJ and Peter had their first kiss.
Betty calls her class Tigers which could be referring to their mascot however it’s also likely a reference to Mary Jane calling Peter Tiger in the comics.
We also see some fake films on the plane including The Snap which is directed by Paul Greengrass. He often makes films based on real world events so it makes sense that he would adapt the events of the MCU. There’s also Finding Wakanda which is funny because it’s been hidden for centuries, Hunting Hydra and Nova with Dr. Eric Selvig. There is of course also Heart Of Iron: The Tony Stark Story which may be a nod to Iron-Man spinoff character Iron-Heart.
On the plane Ned plays Beast Slayers and he wins by using a Halberd. Later in the film Happy asks for a spear and he corrects him by saying ‘That’s a Halberd.’
There are several suits on Happy’s ship that all pull from the comics and these have appeared in a number of graphic novels including the original Iron-Spider design from the Civil War series.
Marvel Zombies get their own nod with an undead Tony Stark appearing in the film, the spider’s that crawl out his eyes are also black widows.
Towards the end of the film we see a hint towards Phase 4 and it lets us know that there are a lot of big things in store down the line.
And that’s our entire list, as always with the MCU I had a hell of a lot of fun making this and I hope you enjoyed it too.
Obviously I’d love you hear your thoughts on the tidbits so comment below and let me know.
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