Spider-Man: Far From Home catches up with your friendly neighborhood wall-crawler as
he heads out of Queens for a wide-ranging field trip through the best touristy vistas
that Europe has to offer.
But it's not all fun and games on this journey abroad.
Let's break it all down with some small details you may have missed in the movie's first trailer.
The first Far From Home trailer includes a close-up shot of Peter Parker's passport,
in which Tom Holland still somehow manages to look like a movie star, in spite of an
intentionally goofy photo.
While the passport lacks any specific years on any of its date sections, it does include
a cute nod to Spider-Man's real-life comic book origins.
Pausing the video to take in all the details, viewers may notice that Peter Parker's birthday
is listed as August 10th, a seemingly inconsequential bit of trivia.
What you may not have realized is that August 10th really is the day that Spider-Man as
we know him was born, with the character making his first appearance in a comic book on that
date, way back in 1962, in Amazing Fantasy #15, written and penciled by Stan Lee and
Steve Ditko.
While the character's origins would be told and retold many times over many comic issues
over the years to come, all the core details are there in his initial appearance.
Peter's now-canonical date of birth in the MCU is a great tip of the hat to the day that
got this whole franchise started.
Much of the first Far From Home trailer showcases Peter making his way around Europe in a sleek
new suit, designed with red and black colors.
While it looks similar to the red-and-blue suits he sported in Captain America: Civil
War and Spider-Man: Homecoming, the Far From Home trailer's new suit seems to once again
pay tribute to Steve Ditko's original comic book cover design, which seems to feature
a suit that's almost more black than blue.
Even more interestingly, this isn't the only change of clothes we see Spidey wear in the
trailer.
Towards the end, we get a glimpse of a new, stealthy looking black costume that Spider-Man
seems to be wearing during a night mission.
It's safe to assume it came from Nick Fury, though we'll have to wait until we see the
movie to know for sure.
Meanwhile, this can be seen as yet another reference to a couple of now-classic Spidey
looks from the comics: the Spider-Man Noir suit, and — of course — Spider-Man's original
black suit.
In an act of mercy to moviegoers everywhere, the MCU entries in the Spider-Man canon have
so far spared us yet another death scene for poor old Uncle Ben.
Sure, sure, "With great power must also come great responsibility," but we don't need another
origin story with Ben eating a street thug's bullet to get the point anymore.
While the character played a major part in the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield Spider-Man
movies, Peter's beloved uncle isn't expected to make an onscreen appearance in the Tom
Holland movies.
But despite his physical absence from the franchise, his presence still looms large
over Peter Parker's story.
In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Peter alluded to a desire to protect Aunt May from undue, Spider-Man-related
stress:
"May cannot know.
I cannot do that to her right now.
You know?
I mean, everything that's happened with her, I—please."
It's a great way to tell the story that so many of us already know, letting viewers engage
with the movie by filling in the blanks themselves.
Far From Home takes this thread further with the initials "BFP" stitched onto Peter's luggage,
visible in the center of frame while he's packing for his trip to Europe.
These initials probably belong to Uncle Ben F. Parker.
It's a heartwarming, bittersweet touch to include in the movie, implying that no matter
where Peter goes on his adventures, whether it's across the pond to Europe or beyond the
stars to Titan, he'll always be carrying a little bit of his Uncle Ben with him.
Picking up where the last Spider-Man movie left off, Far From Home's first trailer starts
with Spider-Man and Aunt May standing side-by-side at a charitable benefit, with May having full
knowledge of the superhero's real-life identity.
Then Happy Hogan, Tony Stark's loyal, consistently-harried assistant, shows up to Spider-Man's charity
fundraiser with a gigantic novelty check from the Stark Relief Foundation, signed by none
other than...Pepper Potts.
The sequence of events seems to imply that whatever happens in Avengers: Endgame, Pepper
Potts will make it out alive - otherwise this reference would come off as a little bit morbid.
One thing that's less clear is just exactly what happened to Tony Stark.
Iron Man was a pretty big part of Peter's life in Spider-Man: Homecoming and Avengers:
Infinity War, and the presence of Happy and Pepper with Tony nowhere in sight is a little
bit worrisome.
We don't want to draw conclusions.
Has he at least made it back from space yet?
The Far From Home trailer includes glimpses of several new bad guys, including a being
made out of water, a fiery monster, and a titanic bruiser who appears to be made out
of sand.
And let's not forget the curiously-violent lightning bolts flying around during an action
sequence at London's Tower Bridge.
The enemies all appear to be reminiscent of some key villains from Spider-Man's comic
past, including Molten Man, Sandman, Hydro-Man, and, potentially, Electro.
But are these monsters really classic Spidey villains?
Or are they something different?
Well, there's one detail you might've missed that could indicate the former over the latter...
While Peter's best friend Ned Leeds has his picture taken in Venice, you can see a boat
in the background floating by with "Asm 212" printed boldly on its side.
Did that combination of letters and numbers tickle your Spidey-Sense?
If so, there's a pretty good reason for it.
The text is a clear reference to the 212th issue of ​Amazing Spider-Man​, published
in January 1981, featuring the very first appearance of Morris Bench - the villain also
known as Hydro-Man.
It's too soon to say if Far From Home​ features that specific version of the character - or
if all these monsters are something else entirely.
But either way, this little code on the boat is a nice nod to Spidey's past.
The tail end of the Far From Home trailer features the grand entrance of Jake Gyllenhaal
as Mysterio, making his debut on the silver screen in a dramatic way.
"You don't want any part of this"
While Mysterio has long been Spider-Man's enemy in Marvel Comics, here he shows up to
fight as a hero — or, at least, that's how things appear to be.
In the comics, Mysterio - who's real name is Quentin Beck - is a stunt man and special
effects expert for the movie business who uses elaborate illusions to appear as though
he's wielding real magic, usually for the sake of committing crimes.
It obviously begs the question - is this trailer pulling a trick on us?
After Mysterio shows up to take over the fight against the gigantic creature made of water,
his exploits end up on a news broadcast, crediting the "mystery man" for fighting back the threat.
Sure, it's possible that Mysterio is just here to help, but what if this special effects
wizard was using high-tech illusions to make these fights happen, engineering himself a
heroic moment at the expense of Spider-Man and countless civilians?
We can't tell for sure just yet, but the way the fight works out for Quentin's benefit
is definitely a little... mysterious.
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