Spider-Man: Far From Home Almost Included First Look At Falcon As Captain America

Spider-Man: Far From Home arrives on the heels of Avengers: Endgame, both wrapping up the Infinity Saga with the 3000th and final minute of the MCU’s 23-movie runtime so far while simultaneously setting the stage for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After Endgame pulled almost every hero ever to appear in the MCU into one film for a joint effort against Thanos, Far From Home takes a more focused approach with Spider-Man at the forefront of his own standalone movie. While the movie is ultimately centered on Tom Holland’s Peter Parker to the point where Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) rejects his request for help from other heroes, it almost included a shocking cameo: Sam Wilson as Captain America.

By the end of Avengers: Endgame, Steve Rogers had passed the mantle of Captain America to Sam Wilson by handing down his iconic shield. It’s a prophecy written out on the pages of Marvel Comics. While talking to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and creative executive Eric Carroll, ComicBook.com heard about the cameo which almost came to be in Spider-Man: Far From Home.

“We briefly talked about bringing in Falcon as Captain America at the end, like maybe once Peter’s arced, and he’s sort of like leading the team, like maybe he calls in a favor,” Carroll explained. “But we also thought it was really important to the arc of this movie that there not be other Avengers available to Nick Fury or Peter, so he’d have to step up and do it himself.”

“Ultimately, Spider-Man: Far From Home is Spider-Man’s journey, whether any other heroes appear in it or not. “It’s all about Peter stepping up,” Feige added, “And Peter getting out of the shadow, not just of Tony but of the Avengers in general. Because by the way, he’s Spider-Man. He doesn’t need to be in the shadow of the Avengers. So other than Maria, and Nick, and Happy, and the emotional presence of Tony… You hear, he asks about Thor. He asks about Doctor Strange and Captain Marvel.”

The conversation might have been so early that it never made it to director Jon Watts. “You go through so many iterations of this story and like so many brainstorm sessions that I don’t even remember that conversation,” Watts explained, adding another idea which had been tossed around, “I remember one point we were talking about if one of the stops along the way through Europe was going to be New Asgard.”

For now, fans can look forward to seeing Anthony Mackie reprise his Falcon role in the Falcon & The Winter Soldier series coming to the Disney+ streaming service. It is expected to begin production this fall. While Feige was reluctant to go into any details of how the events of Avengers: Endgame will affect heroes within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man included, he promises the effects will be felt in time.

For now, fans have every reason to look forward to the newcomer to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Jake Gyllenhaal, who brings a character who will inevitably be a fan-favorite in the form of Mysterio. “Jake is somebody that we have wanted to work for many, many, many, many years,” Feige explains. “Everybody knows the story, that he almost took over for Toby in Spider-Man 2 when it looked briefly like Toby wasn’t going to do it. And finally, this was the role. This was the role that he was, thankfully for us, willing to do. And now of course, it’s perfect, and you can’t imagine any other role.”

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