Spider-Man: Far From Home Sequel Explores Peter Parker Out of the Shadow of Iron Man and the Avengers

The dramatic shakeup that ends Spider-Man: Far From Home was intended to mirror the ending of Iron Man and act as a step towards fully moving Peter Parker (Tom Holland) out of the shadow of late hero Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and the Avengers. Spoilers follow.

“I thought it was a nice comparison to what happened at the end of Iron Man, because for so much of Far From Home, we’re having the world ask Peter, ‘Are you going to be the next Iron Man? Are you going to step up and be the next Iron Man?’ And he makes this decision not to be the next Iron Man, but to be the first Spider-Man,” director Jon Watts told CinemaBlend.

“And it’s Peter Parker, and nothing ever goes according to plan. So we thought, as soon as he was starting to have things figured out, we would pull the ultimate reversal on him, which is — Tony chose to reveal himself to the world. And now this time, it’s Mysterio. And it just made sense in this movie that’s all about lies and deception that Peter’s greatest secret would get revealed.”

Added Marvel Studios chief and Spider-Man producer Kevin Feige, the introduction of J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) and Spider-Man’s secret identity being exposed sets the franchise for a completely different Peter Parker story that’s never been told before on film.

“In the spoiler territory of the end of the movie, we return [Peter] back to New York. And we return to the fun of how awesome is to see Spider-Man swinging around New York. We return to a new classic version of J. Jonah Jameson that we haven’t seen in many films, and yet, in a totally different, new context. And at the same time, charting new ground for [Spider-Man] with, his identity is out there. Which has never been done before in the movies,” Feige said.

“One was [Tony Stark’s] choice, one was against [Peter’s] will. That’s the difference. That was the difference.”

Moving forward, “It’ll be fun to see Spidey back in his element, out of the shadow of Tony, out of the shadow of the other Avengers, as his own man now, as his own hero,” Feige added.

“And yet now facing his own challenges that aren’t coming from Avengers fighting, like Civil War, or aliens coming, like Infinity War or Endgame. It’s all Peter focused and Peter based.”

For Feige, having Simmons reprise his Spider-Man trilogy role but in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is an idea that was long in the works.

“It was an idea we had from the very earliest conversations of, if we at Marvel Studios get to work with Sony and make a Spider-Man movie, we want to bring Jameson back, somehow,” Feige told ComicBook.com.

“And thinking about who it could be, we really thought J.K. as an actor is so versatile, and you look at his amazing iconic performance in the Raimi films. But then look at his amazing performances in Whiplash and in other films. You go, ‘It can be the same guy but a different tone, and tap into sort of more modern, news personalities of today.’”