Spider-Man: Far From Home, out now in theaters, is the first Marvel movie to follow the ambitious Avengers: Endgame. And it has a lot of explaining to do.
It’s a whole new world after the surviving heroes from Avengers: Infinity War traveled through different time streams to reassemble the Infinity Stones and reverse the devastating effects of the Mad Titan’s master plan. Now, the new film from director Jon Watts has the burden of laying out exactly how this world works after the Thanos snap and the Hulk snap-back. But Spidey explains it all.
***Spoilers Below***
Sony Pictures; Marvel Studios
Still here? Okay cool. That means you definitely saw the spoiler warning up top and either saw Far From Home already or don’t consider spoilers to be life ruiners. So, let’s dig in.
The Blip
“The Snap” is what people in the Marvel Cinematic Universe call when Thanos used the Infinity Gauntlet to wipe half of all life out of existence in Infinity War. “The Blip” is what the kids are calling the return of everyone in Endgame.
As we know, Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) helped his fellow heroes in the time heist borrow all the Infinity Stones from different time streams. Then, using a newly crafted Iron Infinity Gauntlet, he bore the weight of all that power and snapped everyone back. Well, everyone affected by the Snap. As we know, those like Black Widow, Loki, and Vision who were killed pre-Snap did not get a Snap back.
As explained in a high school news broadcast from students Betty (Angourie Rice) and Jason (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.) in Far From Home, many of their classmates at Midtown High in Queens turned to dust during the marching band’s performance in the gym. During the Blip, they reemerged in their same spots, which proved to be a little chaotic. The basketball team was in the middle of a game at the time, causing players to collide with re-materializing band geeks.
This jives with what we saw at the end of Endgame. Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Mantis, and Drax returned to the planet Titan where they were last seen in Infinity War, while Black Panther, Yuri, Scarlet Witch, Falcon, and The Winter Soldier returned to Wakanda before they all portal-ed to Captain America’s side. But what about people who were snapped away in, say, that helicopter Nick Fury and Maria Hill saw crashing into a building in the Infinity War post-credits scene?
According to Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, Hulk considered that scenario.
During a Reddit AMA last month, a user asked, “Is it possible that Hulk, when doing the snap, not only brought everyone back, but also brought them back in a safe place?” Feige explained, “We refer to the version of Hulk in Endgame as Smart Hulk. So, yes.”
Five Years Later
Jimmy Kimmel had a valid question when he interviewed the cast of Far From Home: “Why are you all still in high school?”
There were five years in between the Thanos snap and the Avengers’ time heist, so how are Peter Parker (Tom Holland), MJ (Zendaya), Ned (Jacob Batalon), and the other kids still supposed to be working towards their high school diplomas? The cast played dumb at the time, but Marvel has an answer for that, too.
For everyone who didn’t get snapped away, life went on for them. More simply, they aged five years. For everyone who did get snapped away, time stopped for them. It makes sense — they no longer existed, so why would they age? When they blipped back, they returned as the same age they were when they disintegrated. This led to situations like Brad Davis, played by Crazy Rich Asians actor Remy Hii. Brad was once five years younger than Peter and his classmates, but because of the Snap, he ended up being old enough to join Peter and MJ on their class trip to Europe after the Blip.
Then there are people like Mr. Harrington’s wife. Peter’s teacher (played by Martin Starr) thought his loved one was snapped away, but it turns out she just pretended to be non existent. It was better than a break-up, but it also made the funeral for her super awkward.
There’s a lot more to unpack from Spider-Man: Far From Home — including the post-credits scenes (yes, there are more than one) — so check back for more coverage.
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Spider-Man: Far From Home
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