Warning: Spoilers ahead

Jon Watts’ “Spider-man: Far From Home” (“FFH”) begins immediately after the event that everyone has been calling the Blip. The Blip refers to when half of the population turned to dust in “Avengers: Infinity War” due to Thanos’ possession of the infinity stones. In “Avengers: Endgame,” Iron Man and all the other avengers were able to go back, defeat Thanos and undo the Blip. To put it shortly, everyone who disappeared stayed the same age while everyone who had not ‘blipped’ aged five years.

Since Tony Stark’s death, Peter Parker, also known as Spider-man, faces many problems as he tries to cope with his superhero responsibilities, live like a normal teenager and live up to the civilians expectations of him becoming “the new Iron Man” in “FFH.”

“FFH” received a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes and made $580.1 million at box office. Many sources including Wired and Forbes, “FFH” is still “ruling the box office” and has “quickly became one of the top-grossing movies ever.” The sequel in the Spider-man franchise is currently #46 on the all time ranking list behind Disney’s Aladdin which is a huge deal.

I was able to watch “FFH” twice on the film’s opening week and it got more interesting each time I watched. Although I did enjoy the first film in the Spider-man franchise, I preferred “FFH” over “Spider-man: Homecoming” because of the twists within the plot as well as Watts’ attention to detail throughout the film.

The first key point that made “FFH” one of my favorite Marvel movies was Jake Gyllenhaal’s portrayal of Quentin Beck or Mysterio. Although I might be a bit biased since Mysterio has always been one of my favorite villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), I feel that Vulture was never as much of a threat to Spider-man in “Homecoming” anyways. Mysterio challenged Peter to deal with the hardships from being a superhero, while the Vulture allowed Peter to understand the capacity of his powers.

The MCU has changed the storyline for many villains and characters in past films, but Mysterio in “FFH” was a carbon copy of the villain in the comics. Throughout the first half of the movie, it is clear that Beck tries to earn trust from Nick Fury and Peter especially, but what is not as noticeable is that he will betray them by the end of the film. Beck’s team of bitter former Tony employees and unique backstory is my all time favorite character portrayal and plot twist in the MCU.

Mysterio’s plan to use his advanced knowledge in special effects technology with a team of other geniuses to replace Spider-man as the “next Iron Man” makes “FFH’s” plot more action packed and exciting than Homecoming’s plot. The emotional rollercoaster that Peter goes through from when he first begins to trust Beck to getting betrayed by him makes the film crucial to Peter’s character development.

All in all, Mysterio has definitely proven to be the better villain out of the two Spider-man films.

Another part of “FFH” that held up better than “Homecoming” was the cinematography and attention to detail that Director Watts and Cinematographer Matt Lloyd incorporated into the film. My two favorite scenes include the use of Mysterio’s special effects and hypnosis. Therefore, the way Lloyd and Watts created these scenes made “FFH” both visually appealing and action packed in my opinion.

One of my favorite scenes was when Mysterio manipulated Peter into telling him who he told about his special effects technology which is filled with easter eggs and minor details. Mysterio convinces Peter that he is in a world where everything is going wrong for him. MJ is thrown off a cliff, which is a reference to Gwen Stacy’s death in The Amazing Spider-man, and Zombie Iron Man, from Robert Kirkman’s Marvel Zombies, convinces Peter that “if [Peter] was good enough, [Iron Man] would still be alive.” The scene also ends by Mysterio luring Spider-man to his death when he gets hit by a train. Not only does this scene show exemplary cinematography, effects and details, but it includes a great twist to the movie that “Homecoming” did not have.

My second favorite scene from “FFH” is the bridge scene when Peter tests his “Peter Tingle” while attempting to kill Mysterio. The scene is vibrant in color which makes it pleasing to the eye, but also shows character development within Peter that allows him to defeat Mysterio without being sucked into his hypnosis.

Lastly, the end credits scenes in “FFH” changes many things for future movies in the MCU. In the mid-end credits scene, J.K. Simmons’ portrays J. Jonah Jameson of the Daily Bugle from the Tobey Maguire era of Spider-man films. Jameson leaks footage of Mysterio revealing Peter’s identity as Spider-man and accusing him of wanting to “take over as the only new Iron Man.” Jameson continues to label Spider-man as a villain and Mysterio “the greatest hero of our time.” However, in the post-end credits scene, it is revealed that Fury and Maria Hill have been shape-shifting Skrull Aliens from “Captain Marvel” throughout the entire movie.

These shocking sneak peaks of the future of the MCU have provoked many questions from the Marvel fanbase. With Fury on vacation and Peter’s identity revealed, no one knows what to expect from the Marvel films following “FFH.”

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