As you probably already noticed, the Far From Home trailer doesn't even slightly acknowledge
the titanic events of Avengers: Infinity War, in which half the population of the universe
succumbed to sudden death, at least temporarily.
It also seems to sidestep the events of that movie's forthcoming follow-up, Avengers: Endgame,
which is set to hit theaters only a couple of months before the release of Far From Home.
To the casual moviegoer, it's as though the fight against Thanos didn't even happen.
But for dedicated fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it's pretty weird to see Peter Parker
just suddenly being alive again.
"Peter, you have to tell me what's going on."
Instead of walking around looking shell-shocked and traumatized, the Far From Home trailer
seems to show the people of the MCU being back to business as usual.
Happy Hogan is there, Aunt May's there, Nick Fury's there, and Peter's biggest concern
seems to be his crush on MJ.
Instead of going through an existential crisis after everything he's seen, Peter is back
to being his plucky self, and has no problem suiting up to go on an adventure with Nick
Fury.
Both of them seem to have recovered from their deaths incredibly well.
What's going on?
"Why all the secrecy?
Why not just tell us?"
"Any attempt on the director's life had to look successful."
"Can't kill you if you're already dead."
The tonal whiplash has led some viewers to craft theories about why Spider-Man's corner
of the universe is so happy-go-lucky, just months after everyone on Earth went through
the most tragic events ever.
This doesn't feel like a world that's been through the apocalypse, so what if it isn't?
What if the world of Far From Home never experienced Thanos' Decimation, because the Avengers managed
to go back in time and stop it from ever happening?
We all know in our hearts that the heroes who died from Thanos' snap will be coming
back to life one way or another, if only because the world demands a sequel to Black Panther.
The default assumption is that the Avengers will beat Thanos, revive the trillions of
dead people, and then proceed from there.
In that potential sequence of events, everyone would still have knowledge of the Decimation
happening.
People would be back to life, but the pain of loss would linger.
So far at least, that does not seem to be what's happening in Spider-Man: Far From Home.
There’s another theory out there: Far From Home might secretly be a prequel to Infinity
War, taking place after Homecoming but before Peter ditched his school bus and saved Iron
Man from getting beaten up.
But according to the filmmakers, this doesn't seem to be the case.
According to Amy Pascal, one of the producers of Far From Home, the Spider-Man sequel will,
quote, "start a few minutes after Avengers 4 wraps as a story."
And it's not just her saying that.
Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has said the same thing, promising audiences that Far From
Home is indeed set after Infinity War and Endgame.
According to the MCU producer, Peter will return to a, quote, "normal life" in Far From
Home.
Of course, it's always possible that the producers are straight-up lying.
"Alright then, keep your secrets."
"Hnuhmm?"
If it's true that Far From Home takes place after the events of Endgame, then we're left
with one big question.
How will the story wrap up in a way that fits with the lighthearted tone of Far From Home?
Reversing the Decimation by bringing people back to life in Endgame would presumably leave
the people of Earth feeling pretty shaken up at the start of the Spider-Man sequel.
Even if Thanos' victims didn't remember being dead, the loved ones they left behind certainly
would.
If that were the case, then forget about going to Europe, Aunt May probably wouldn't let
Peter leave the house.
"And if you die, I feel like that's on me.
I don't need that on my conscience."
"Not a fan of that Tony Stark."
All this adds up as evidence for the theory that the Avengers will spend Endgame altering
the timeline to ensure that Thanos never accomplishes his genocidal goal.
Some believe that the Far From Home trailer all-but-confirms this theory, which is going
back to basics in a way that seems impossible in a world after the Snap.
There's already a lot of evidence that Endgame's plot will heavily involve time travel.
Looking over all the information that we have at this point, a timeline reset seems more
plausible than ever.
Of course, all of this could change.
Maybe we're being played by the marketing, and Marvel has a huge surprise in store for
us that no one will see coming..
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