‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ Trailer and What It All Means

The last time we saw Spider-Man on the big screen, it was during Avengers: Infinity War and he was turning to dust in Iron Man’s arms. He looks a lot better in the teaser trailer Marvel released for Spider-Man: Far From Home.

Hey, Nick Fury, he was turned to dust, too. I think we all knew that those heroes weren’t going to come out the other side of Avengers: Endgame still dead, and I was frankly insulted by the implication we were supposed to believe that for a second. But Marvel isn’t even waiting until Endgame hits theaters to spoil the ending, which is a bit of a surprise.

The big question you’re probably asking is “Hey, why is Jake Gyllenhaal flying around dressed up like a Roman gladiator?” Well, the short answer is because Ryan Gosling didn’t return any of Kevin Feige’s phone calls. Probably. The long answer is that he’s playing Mysterio, one of Spider-Man’s oldest foes.

Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in The Amazing Spider-Man #13, Mysterio is a failed actor and special effects artist named Quentin Beck who uses the power of movie magic to commit crimes while wearing a fishbowl on his head. The fishbowl isn’t that important, but it shows how crazy Steve Ditko’s imagination was and just how creative he was; he made a villain with a fishbowl on his head look good and pose a credible threat to Spider-Man.

In his early comic book appearances, Mysterio worked with The Tinkerer, who designed his suit and gadgets. If you watched Spider-Man: Homecoming, you might remember The Tinkerer as the guy who was making all of The Vulture’s tech in that film. I don’t have any special information that the characters will be connected in the films, but it seems likely.

You may be wondering about Hydro-Man and The Elementals, who appear to be the villains of the piece. The truth is, neither of them are significant characters. Hydro-Man has shown up a few times, but his most notable appearance was in the 1990s Spider-Man cartoon on Fox, and The Elementals were just exceptionally lame minor characters who haven’t shown up in a Marvel comic in almost 50 years.

Also, lame or not, Mysterio in no way has the power to physically fight them. What he does have is the power to make it look like he’s fighting them. I don’t think The Elementals, with or without Hydro-Man, are actually real in this film. I think they’re illusions Mysterio is behind to make himself look like a super-hero, kind of like a firefighter who’s an arsonist so he can be a hero.

The movie does look good, though, and it looks like it’s going to fix some of the problems of the first one. For example, if you take a look at the suitcase Peter is packing, it has the monogram BFP, or Benjamin Franklin Parker, Peter’s Uncle Ben who was not mentioned, even in passing, in Spider-Man: Homecoming. It also hints at a romance between Peter and MJ, though rumors of Peter’s much better girlfriend Gwen Stacy showing up in this film have been around and I’m hoping they turn out to be true.

Spider-Man: Far From Home will be in theaters July 5, 2019.