Spider-Man: Far from Home has finally arrived, and it's a lot to take in.
If you're wondering what those post-credits scenes mean for Peter Parker and the future
of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, don't worry.
We've got the answers you need.
And if your Peter tingle is… tingling, that's because there are spoilers ahead!
Bad luck is a hallmark of Spider-Man stories.
This is particularly true in Spider-Man: Far from Home, where bad luck follows him home
and into the mid-credits scene.
After the credits roll, his date with MJ is interrupted by a new bulletin that introduces
none other than J. Jonah Jameson to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Good news to fans everywhere: JJJ is played by J.K. Simmons, reprising his fan-favorite
role from the Sam Raimi trilogy.
Jameson has a video that Mysterio doctored to make it look like Spider-Man was behind
the London attack, and he has no problem showing it.
He also has no qualms about letting the world know that Spider-Man is Peter Parker, outing
the teenager to the world.
Now, in addition to whatever supervillain he battles next, Peter Parker will have Jonah
staring him down, trying to ruin his day and his life at every turn, and that adds a whole
new level of conflict for future films.
"Spider-Man: Hero or menace?"
"Menace?
He was protecting all those people?"
"You take the pictures, I'll make up the headlines, okay?"
The introduction of J. Jonah Jameson and the Daily Bugle into Peter Parker's New York City
is a bold move forward for this little corner of the MCU.
In many past Spider-Man films, Peter at least had the benefit of being Spider-Man anonymously,
while also managing to work for the Bugle as a photographer.
That doesn't seem to be something that would fly here unless he's really good with a fake
ID.
What this suggests is that we're about to enter an era during which all of New York
City is automatically suspicious of Spider-Man.
Worse, it's a world in which Peter will have to lay low and keep any superheroics in the
shadows.
It calls into question every aspect of his life, from his membership in the Avengers
to his remaining years in high school, and his entire future.
He's going to have to find a way around this, and perhaps more than any other teaser in
the film's credits, this condition carries the most weight moving forward.
The mid-credits scene gives us a big tease about the future of Spider-Man, but the post-credits
scene in Far from Home adds an even bigger hint about the future of the MCU.
As Fury and Hill drive away from their London operation, Hill's face changes to reveal that
she's actually the skrull, Soren.
Fury doesn't look shocked at all, and then we see why: He shifts too, and reveals that
he's the Skrull known as Talos.
Audiences last saw these skrulls in Captain Marvel, where they were last seen searching
for a new home.
Now we know that Skrulls are back on Earth after the events of Captain Marvel, and they're
here in a capacity that allows them to impersonate some of the most important people in the world.
The scene doesn't tell us exactly why they're here, but it's clear that they've agreed to
impersonate Hill and Fury as they conduct some kind of mission for Nick Fury.
At one point early in Spider-Man: Far from Home, Fury mentions something about Kree sleeper
cells to Hill.
When it's revealed that Fury is actually Talos, that throwaway line is revealed to have a
much deeper meaning.
We have no idea just yet exactly what the Skrulls are doing back on Earth, but if Fury's
reference to the Kree is correct, their old enemies are also hanging around the planet
as well.
Captain Marvel established an age-old conflict between these two alien empires, which the
Kree won, and made the Skrulls into refugees looking for a homeland.
Now, twenty five years later, both civilizations could be experiencing different circumstances
that we're not fully aware of yet.
Talos' mention of hidden Kree cells while in disguise as Fury suggests that they could
still be enemies.
That adds an important context to this reveal that future films will no doubt build on.
Far from Home's post-credits scene confirms for audiences that Talos impersonated Fury
on Earth while the super-spy lived with the rest of the Skrulls in space for at least
the duration of the film, if not for longer.
What the scene doesn't establish is what happened to Maria Hill.
Given her tendency to work in cooperation with Fury, we can hazard a guess that she's
somewhere on the same ship, helping with whatever mission Fury's working on.
Still, given that the MCU juggles plenty of plotlines at once, we can't necessarily assume
the two are still joined at the hip.
Perhaps she's taking her own time off somewhere else.
Whatever the case, her exclusion is noteworthy.
What's also noteworthy is the film's repeated insistence that The Avengers just don't seem
to be a thing right now.
This is reinforced in the post-credits scene, in which Talos tells Fury that people kept
asking him where the Avengers were and he didn't know what to say.
Obviously the roster would have changed significantly in the wake of Endgame, but numerous heroes
stayed on Earth at the end of that film.
You'd think that Sam Wilson would have put a group together as the new Captain America.
So… where are the Avengers?
We'll just have to see if the next MCU film to arrive gives us any more answers.
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