Spider-Man: Far From Home’s Jake Gyllenhaal Kept Iron Man’s Secret For A Year And A Half

While spoilers for Avengers: Endgame were kept from fans quite impressively until the film released in theaters, the cast of Spider-Man: Far From Home were not so fortunate. As the sequel to Homecoming dealt heavily with the aftermath of Tony Stark’s Endgame death, the cast of Marvel actors had to learn about it well in advance to the movie’s release, including newcomer Jake Gyllenhaal. Gyllenhaal, making his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut as Mysterio with Far From Home, knew about Tony Stark’s death for more than a year and had to keep the secret.

“I found out before,” Gyllenhaal told ComicBook.com. “I mean, I read the script before and I knew and obviously I knew when [Spider-Man: Far From Home director] Jon [Watts] and I first met, you know, the explanation of how everything evolved and what was gonna happen in this. He had to give me the back story of what was going on there. So I’ve known for… I’ve known for about a year and a half.”

Meanwhile, Nick Fury actor Samuel L. Jackson did not find out until he showed up to the Avengers: Endgame set to shoot Tony Stark’s funeral scene. He knew “when we shot the scene,” Jackson says. “We’d already shot the ‘wedding’ before we started this movie.” It’s true: Tony Stark’s funeral scene was truly pitched as a wedding. “Yeah, well that’s what they said,” Jackson explained. “That’s what they called it. They said, ‘We’re having a big wedding shot’ and so you get there and everybody from the MCU is there. It’s like, ‘Damn. What’s happening?’ And then you find out and it’s kinda like, ‘Oh! All right. All right. I’ll go with it.’ And me and Brie [Larson] were the last two, so.”

While Gyllenhaal was given the necessary scoop on the finale of Endgame, no one quite prepared him for life with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Yeah, nobody gave me any download,” Gyllenhaal said. “I was thrown right in the middle of it with not a lot of advice. I would’ve… I probably would have liked some but that’s part of the whole thing is, even if someone were to give you advice to entering this world, you’d still be kinda confused, because there’s just… there’s so much going on, it’s so big, and I mean, the first day I shot, I had to… the first scene I entered when I landed and I shoot lays I’m in, when Sam’s there, you know, that was my first day. So I just jumped down in the suit in 100 degrees, tons of dust, and then right there was Nick Fury. So, you just do it and you hope you can get by.”

Talk about being tossed right into the mix. Gyllenhaal was on set of Spider-Man: Far From Home, day one, in a fully functioning Mysterio costume — battery back on his back and all. Watch ComicBook.com’s entire interview with Gyllenhaal and Jackson in the video above!

What are you most looking forward to in Spider-Man: Far From Home? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram or Twitter!

Spider-Man: Far From Home hits theaters on July 2.