After the biggest super-hero movie ever, what would Marvel do for an encore?

It would rely on its youngest hero to wrap up Phase Three of the MCU, and start speculation on what will come next.

Spider-Man Far From Home starts slow, as the Web-Slinger tries to deal with new monsters and gets the help of another super-hero from an alternate universe. Peter wonders if he has what it takes to be a super-hero if he’s more concerned about wondering if some girl likes him.

Eventually, he realizes he can combine both if he figures out a way.
The best part, though, is the very end.

BIG SPOILERS BELOW

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LAST CHANCE
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The movie takes place a few months after Endgame, complete with an “In Memoriam” video made by Peter’s high school of the Avengers who died. It shows how people dealt when Thanos erased half of everything, and then again when they came back.

Peter’s enjoying his status as Spider-Man (Tom Holland) as is his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei). He’s preparing for a big class trip to Europe and maybe spend some time with MJ (Zendaya).

However, some monsters called the Elementals have popped up, causing major damage in Mexico and later in Venice (just as Peter and his friends are there).

Soon, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), who are back after they were dusted by Thanos, decide to get Spider-Man to help battle the Elementals, along with Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal), who says he’s from an alternate Earth and has been fighting these monsters. The movie does a clever move hinting the Elementals got to our world due to how Endgame wrapped up.

They all try to stop the Fire Elemental who’s expected to show up in Prague. Peter is still in the middle of his school trip, and he’s got to stay with his class.

Nick decides to change the school group’s itinerary and improve the hotels for the teens. Peter has to help.

Peter gets a new suit and even a special pair of glasses from Tony Stark. It activates a very helpful AI assistant named EDITH. It slightly overreacts to a guy who seems to be interested in MJ.

The Fire Elemental shows up and causes a lot of damage, even nearly threatening Peter’s friend Ned. Peter and Quentin (who’s now called himself Mysterio) are able to beat the monster.

It’s at this point Peter thinks Mysterio should be the heir apparent to Iron Man, not him. He gives Mysterio the EDITH glasses so he can just be a kid from Queens. SHIELD also seems to be happier about Mysterio than it is towards Peter.

So how many out there think Nick Fury and Peter Parker made a huge mistake because Mysterio is a full-fledged villain in Marvel lore and can’t be anything else, not even in movies?

Well…. you’re right!

Instead of a special-effects artist in the comics, Quentin/Mysterio is a disgruntled Stark employee who did a lot of things he thinks should have made him a big deal. Joined by other non-fans of Stark, they set up this scam of making Mysterio bigger than the Avengers. Sure, people will be killed, but he’ll be a hero.

The reveal is played wonderfully by Gyllenhaal. He acts like the tormented hero (even includes a story about personal loss), and a big brother to Peter. Once it’s shown who he really is, he’s an arrogant and bitter man who understands human nature too well. He knows under the right circumstances people will believe anything. Setting himself up as the new mighty hero, thanks to smoke, mirrors and drones, would be easy, despite pesky things like massive destruction.

This is where the movie gets into high gear. It starts a bit sluggish because of scenes where Peter tries to get closer to MJ, and the scenes where everyone is fooled Mysterio is the big hero. Once it’s revealed Mysterio is the villain fans know, that’s when things pick up. Mysterio’s ability to bend truth and reality to his will is very powerful, and Peter gets the brunt of it.

At this point, Peter has to step up and stop Mysterio’s plans to destroy London but wind up being the hero by nearly succeeding. It involves showing that he’s a fake, but he’ll get some unexpected help.

Tom Holland establishes himself well as the best Peter Parker yet. He may be a kid from Queens, but then again Captain America was just a guy from Brooklyn. What’s interesting is that, for the most part, the story keeps Peter/Spidey alone when he’s dealing with Mysterio. Peter may have help from Ned and occasionally talks to MJ, but he’s on his own against Mysterio. He’s unable to tell Nick and Maria about him and the Avengers aren’t available. This forces Peter to go to the next level, even before he plans for his Senior Prom.

The movie also finally decides to let MJ get involved in the story. It shows why she sometimes acts suspicious towards Peter because she actually paid attention to the times he was gone just as Spider-Man showed up. She was able to help him figure out who Mysterio was. It turns out Peter and MJ can make a pretty good team. Hopefully, this will continue in the future, and Zendaya can really get to express herself more often.

Spider-Man: Far From Home is a long epilogue to Endgame, but it’s a good chance for Peter to transition from super-teen to super-hero. He figures out hanging out with the Avengers isn’t enough. What makes him a hero is doing things by himself. That’s a lesson the other Spider-Men learned a lot earlier.

Then it throws in two post-credit cliffhangers that will keep fans guessing until Marvel reveals what’s coming.

One scene seems to revive an old problem, while the other one updates a previous movie and possibly saves someone’s reputation.

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