Marvel Studios Probably Won’t Reverse Spider-Man: Far From Home’s Surprise Ending

The recent history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe tells us the "big swing" that ended Spider-Man: Far From Home isn't likely to be reversed. Major spoilers follow.

In its mid-credits scene, Spider-Man (Tom Holland) is horrified when DailyBugle.net operator J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) outs his secret identity on national television. Jameson drops the bombshell with a tape supplied by fraud Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), who is hailed by the newsman as "an inter dimensional warrior who gave his life to protect our planet and who will no doubt go down in history as the greatest superhero of all time!"

While the character has been outed several times across his near 60-year comic book history, most famously when he unmasked himself during the events of Marvel Comics' Civil War, a public identity has never stuck. But Holland's Parker, exposed and framed for Mysterio's murder, may never again enjoy a secret identity.

In May, when explaining why Avengers: Endgame did not reset after a five-year time jump, Avengers scribes Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely said Marvel Studios chief and Spider-Man producer Kevin Feige "gets excited, especially when a big swing is proposed," telling THR the producer "does seem to respond" to game-changing shake-ups and consequences.

"'Take down S.H.I.E.L.D. [in Captain America: The Winter Soldier]. Civil War.' He sees the value in breaking the toys," Markus said.

"He was always pressing for a good sized time jump and to make it permanent. 'Do it. We'll deal with it and it will just make it more interesting. Why would you undo it and go back to zero?' If we went back five years and undid it, that's five-and-a-half hours of movie that sort of has no point. You loop back around to the beginning and it never happened."

Added McFeely, "It's really important to own it."

A post-credits scene revealed Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is working with the shape-shifting Skrulls, including Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), making it possible the ally aliens play a role in Spider-Man 3.

Talos could easily impersonate Peter Parker while the real Peter appears in the same location as Spider-Man — a similar trick played out in The Amazing Spider-Man #87, where Parker recruited Hobie Brown, a.k.a. the Prowler, to pose as Spider-Man to convince Peter's friends he's not the wall-crawler — but such a reversal would go against the "big swings" championed by Feige.

What's more, Far From Home marks the end of Phase 3 of the MCU, bringing its events full circle to 2008's Iron Man. The first entry in the MCU famously ended with Peter's eventual mentor, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), publicly declaring "I am Iron Man," permanently doing away with Stark's brief flirtation with a "secret identity."

Starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, Cobie Smulders, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Samuel L. Jackson, Spider-Man: Far From Home is now playing.